The Joshua Project states the following, "The Deaf of Ethiopia live similarly to any other person within their given cultures, but are cut off from meaningful interaction with them. The vast majority of Deaf Ethiopians, who live in rural areas, spend their lives in extreme isolation. They are looked down upon as mentally deficient and evil because of their lack of speech. In many places they are misunderstood as being a result of sinful behavior, or some form of supernatural curse. They are not seen as suitable marriage partners and may even result in the entire family's loss of status. For this reason they are frequently sheltered even further from the outside world and communicate only with their families or those close to them through small amounts of writing or signing, if they are able." (https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/19007/ET)
I am so excited to share with you the opportunities that this trip is presenting, but these opportunities are not possible without your partnership. I am currently 20% funded and am still in need of $6,000. Please pray about how much God is asking you to give and how you can partner with me in order to help spread the Gospel to those in Ethiopia. God is faithful in sending those that He calls, and so I know that He will provide the funds for these opportunities.
As I prepare for my trip I am praying not only for myself and my own preparation, but also for the Ethiopian people as a whole. Join me this week in praying for the church planting movements among Muslim peoples (Somali, Afar, Borana, Argoba, Guragae, Oromo, and many more).
You can check out more information about missions in Ethiopia at https://www.sim.org/en_US/-/ethiopia You can donate to my trip by following the instructions at https://rrmission.weebly.com/support.html Facts and information referenced from: 1. https://www.britannica.com/place/Ethiopia 2. https://www.sim.org/en_US/-/ethiopia 3. https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/july-august/ethiopia-missions.html 1/15/2019 0 Comments Ethiopia 2019 UpdateAs I have been praying over this trip, the last month it has seemed to feel like things have not been going in the right direction with trip plans and progress. While I did get approval for placement in Ethiopia with an amazing organization, something has not felt right. I started to pray about whether or not this is the trip/internship that God wants me to take this summer and He has been telling me no. While I do not understand this change of direction of this trip, I will not go if I do not feel like God is 100% calling me to at this time. While He is still calling me to Ethiopia, for some reason He is telling me that now is not the right time.
I am still interested in this internship and I am planning to postpone it until next summer or until further notice. God seems to be telling me that right now is not the time. I do thank you for all the work that everyone has done for this trip but I will not go feeling as if things have changed rather abruptly with God not leading me to this for some reason at this specific time. Thank you to all of my supporters for your continued prayer and encouragement. All money donated will remain in a fund specifically for my mission trips. I would ask that you continue to pray for whatever opportunity God has for me next as well as for my continued studies at both Emporia State University and Central Christian College of the Bible. 10/27/2018 0 Comments Updates and Fundraising!Placement Update:
I have been approved to work half in have with possibly two different medical ministries as well as also maybe working with a street ministry group during my time in Ethiopia, but we are still looking for someone to "adopt" me for the summer (aka have a place to crash). The contact in Ethiopia says that she is hoping for full placement approval for me with all matters figured out in the next couple weeks. So prayers for finding someone I can stay with would be gratefully appreciated. Fundraising Update: In the meantime, even without 100% confirmed placement, I am going to officially start fundraising! I am having a couple hangups with the apparel fundraiser and the coffee fundraiser as well as donations directly to SIM cannot talk place until after 100% confirmed placement. But I am going to start my official fundraising now. So with that in mind, I would ask you to pray about how you could contribute to this mission trip. First I would ask for your continued support through prayer. Nothing has happened throughout the process of preparing for this trip without prayer, and it shouldn't be any other way. So please continue to pray for this process. Second, please pray about how God may lead you to support this trip financially. I have been very blessed to have an amazing group of Godly people throughout my journey in missions that have been sensitive to the call of God. Your love, prayers, and financial support are what have allowed me to go to various parts of the world and teach the Gospel and bring healing to the lost. So please pray as to what God might call you to do. Any and all donations are appreciated. Right now the best way to send financial donations is through either Paypal (I will insert the link at the end of this post) or through the mail. If you would like to have my address to send a donation please email me. Right now that is all of the updates I have. I am continuing to bathe this trip in prayer and I will continue to let you all know about updates as they happen! Thank you! 10/1/2018 0 Comments Forgetting His FaithfulnessI have a confession... I love to be in control. I don't just admit that I have a tendency to be a control freak, but that I actively love it. I love planning out every part of my day and all of my goals and dreams, and not surprisingly, this part of me pours out into my missions sometimes.
One of my goals for having this platform is to not only inform my supporters about missions, but also to be 100% transparent in order for people to understand that I am just an ordinary person that God is using, and that God can use them too. So with that in mind, I have a bigger confession. I am guilty (many times over) of forgetting God's faithfulness. Recently I went on a women's retreat with my church. During our individual reflection time, I couldn't help but question my internship this summer. It has seemed like things have taken so long and that things just aren't falling into place like I thought they would. Maybe this was God telling me that this isn't the right trip. Maybe my own agenda is coming before God's and I just thought that God was telling me to go on this trip this summer, but instead, He is saving it for another time. With all of these things I was basically saying, "maybe God isn't faithful... maybe He won't come through on this one..." I will be the first to say that this is not the first time that I have forgotten God's faithfulness. So many times in my life I have doubted if God will pull through, and guess what, He always does. So in the middle of all of my doubts and fears at this women's retreat, I just decided to let go. I decided to stop worrying about what might happen and trust that God is in control and that things will happen on His timing, not mine. Today is Monday. I have been awaiting an email from my SIM internship contact regarding even the ability to go to Ethiopia and serve in any capacity this summer, let alone the previous problem of not having doctors present within the time frame that I will be there. I opened my email to discover a message from my contact. I have to be honest, I was excited by this email. But within reading the first couple sentences, I knew that things had turned around. The previous issue about not having doctors present and not being able to serve in any type of medical capacity changed to have multiple medical/healthcare opportunities as well as a possible street ministry opportunity. The idea of having a hybrid internship, serving in two parts of Ethiopia and not just one, also came up and is a definite possibility. After reading this email I was so happy. I was so relieved. But the words that the Holy Spirit gave me slapped me in the face. "Don't you trust me? Don't you know that I am faithful? When have I ever not come through for you?" I realized in that moment that my own worries had clouded my mind and my heart to remembering the faithfulness of God. Or maybe I just wanted to be in control and not have to trust that God would be faithful, but that I could make it all work out. How quick we are to forget that the God we serve is faithful and will always come through. When God puts a desire in your heart, He will fulfill that desire. When God starts a work in you, He will complete that work. When God calls you to go or to do, He will be with you every step of the way. We serve a faithful God, but we have to remember and trust His faithfulness. 9/18/2018 0 Comments Ethiopia 2019~ Donation UpdatesHey, everyone!
Now that I am approved as a short-term associate for SIM, I am able to start some fundraising. There is an important catch with this though since I have not had my official placement approved, I am not able to have donations be tax deductible. Once I get my placement confirmed and approved, SIM will open an account for me that I will share with everyone. This will allow you to send a donation directly to SIM, for my specific trip, that will be tax-deductible for you. I will be starting my product fundraisers before I get placement confirmation since the product fundraisers are not officially tax-deductible since I am not a 501(c)(3). So if you are interested in getting some products, the fundraisers for those things will be opening soon! If you are interested in making a direct donation, you are able to do so, but it will not be tax deductible. If you are looking to make a TAX-DEDUCTIBLE donation, do not donate yet, and I will keep you updated as to when and how you can make that donation directly to SIM. If you have any questions or concerns feel free to comment below or directly contact me! Thanks again! 9/18/2018 0 Comments Ethiopia 2019~ SIM STA ApprovalGood news regarding my SIM internship!
I have been officially approved as a short-term associate with SIM! I am very excited that I have officially gained approval, but there are still several steps that need to occur in order to get confirmed placement. A few things that you could be praying for are opportunities to serve in Ethiopia. A few of my possible areas of ministry that I desire to work in this summer are healthcare and human trafficking ministry. I just learned that working with doctors may not be a possible opportunity this summer since the months that I am going are usually the months most of the SIM doctors return home for a break. Please pray that there may be other healthcare opportunities such as working in small clinics or any sort of healthcare exposure. Aside from that, just be praying that there are sufficient opportunities for me to be able to work in Ethiopia this summer. At this point I am open to doing all types of ministry in Ethiopia, the most important thing to me is that I get exposure to the Ethiopian language and culture. Another prayer request is for the current SIM staff in Addis. There is rioting going on which is causing delayed communication, which is delaying figuring out ministry opportunities during my internship. I cannot stress enough how important your prayers are to this trip and to ministry in general. Thank you for all of your love and support! Stay tuned for fundraisers that will be starting soon! |