The Leap: part two.

Right now I am sitting in "the nursery" of where I nanny little Virginia.

She's two.

Her parents texted me this morning that they... or the mother... was in labor and they needed me to keep VA while they went to the hospital. I was definitely in the middle of baking 100's of cupcakes at my other job when I got the word. Thankfully, there were some other people that had just come in to take over for me.

VA is napping, so I'm taking this chance to hopefully write up the rest of the story of how it all came about.

So, I got the email.... sometime before Christmas.

Talked to God...

Waited. Prayed.

....and finally applied towards the middle of January. yes, it took me that long to only apply (it was one of those application type things that you had to be 100% sure that you wanted (or could) go).

The woman I nanny for is an oncologist and is finishing up her fellowship here in Charleston at the end of June? ....maybe its May?... Anywho, she decided to take a job outside of Charleston which would put me out of nannying her child after they leave. Or I guess children now! :) So it just seemed like the timing was perfect.

Finish a job... and go for a trip that may open new doors in my life. Sounds like a plan!

A month later I heard back from a 963 Missions guy whom interviewed me in order to join the team for Ethiopia.

The interview went well and I was accepted onto the team! WOAH! It's official.... I am going to Ethiopia for an entire month. I haven't even been outside of the U.S. except for islands like the V.I. and Puerto Rico, and even then they are U.S. owned. Booooo!

It's scary yet exciting at the same time.

Traveling and seeing other places and cultures has been a huge interest to me for a long time and have never really thought about doing it by myself at all until now....

Would I rather do it with someone? YES!... but God didn't give me that option, and I think that in the scheme of all things it will be for the better.

(ooook..... that was one of the longest days ever! since the last written sentence, VA woke up too early, the baby was born, VA tantrums in the car about what park to go swing at, get home uber late, showered, went downtown for small group, came back home to snuggle into the covers to warm up...... to now.)

So you are probably wondering, what is this trip all about?!

Well, here are the details....

So, Mocha Club is the organization that is putting it on..... in which they are using 963 Missions to organize all their trips. Mocha Club is an organization that I have been supporting for a few years now who supports many ministries over in Ethiopia, Kenya, and other African countries. The ministries include... providing and teaching how to have clean water, building new schools, rehabilitating women from the prostitution trade and giving them basic job training skills once they get out, to ministering to the street boys. If you want to look into it more their website is here.

The trip I will be going on is for one month.... June 21st through July 17th. We will be going to the rehabilitation centers for women who have been in the prostitution trade, helping them out and hearing their stories. Oh, how God will open my eyes with this.... It will be SO painful yet so good!

Then I think we will be spending some time possibly with the street boy ministry going on..... I'm not exactly sure what specifically we will be doing there.... mainly due to the fact they are still organizing how that ministry will look. Also, we will be going to the new school Mocha Club has helped fund to build, and ministering to the children there.

God has given me SUCH a heart for this trip lately and I don't even know the full details yet! I know that I would not be going on this trip if there wasn't such a big push from the Lord to send me.

.....It's like one of those outer body experiences, when you see yourself doing something that is way out of your comfort zone and you don't know why you are doing it but you're doing it because something outside of you is forcing you to do it? Yeah.

I find myself doing that on Wednesday night church services..... we have been on a healing prayer kick lately (which freaks me out!!.... but is soooo intriguing to me!). And every time, everything in my body doesn't want to go up to get prayer, and every time! there is this force pushing me up there to get prayed for (God). These services are not like those ones you see on t.v. where there is screaming and people falling down and vibrating or convulsing or anything. They are services where they provide people who are gifted to pray and hear from the Spirit to pray for you and pray for healing for anyone that wants it.

Woah.... let me get back on track here now...

the trip... so, not much more details than that except the date and some other little details. The team that will be going will not meet up until we get on the plane to Ethiopia. We have conference calls once every couple of weeks as soon as our teams are finalized and put together. So I will not know a soul on this trip! YIKES!

Once we start having conference calls and more info about the trip will be known, I will update you all with what all things are going on, what you can do to help, and what all you can be thinking and/or praying about.

There are however, two things you can already be doing to help:

1. Pray for a congealed team that will be productive and service oriented (service oriented? really?...Yes! because there are those few sometimes that just go, just to go and have "fun"...or whatever)

2. Help donate to the trip! ANY little bit counts!

How can you donate?

1. Send me a check @ 1240 fairmont ave. #15 Mount Pleasant, SC. 29464

2. Donate through the Mocha Club website.

3. Send Mocha Club a check... at.. uhhhh.... i don't have their address right at hand but email me if you need it.

The total cost of the trip includes all trip costs $3,750 that Mocha Club needs me to raise and send to them... then there are the other things.... like, my rent for the month I'm gone, and shots and immunizations (holy crap! I didn't realize how much that stuff costs! or how many shots I have to have. ew. that will be a fun day.)

Grand total= $4,777

I have been knitting (awesome) scarves and making (awesome) bracelets to help raise money and for those that donate. Those who are able to donate $200 or more will receive a scarf. and for those who are able to donate $50 will receive a bracelet as a token to remember you have given towards my trip.

For those of you that want a support letter I will be sending out soon.... shoot me an email with your address.

Yuck. I always hate and dread the "please donate section".... but it is really muchly needed, and very appreciated if you can. Otherwise this trip wouldn't happen.

I'll try to keep everyone updated as the journey continues.....

The Leap: part one.

Well, I have been putting off and putting off posting about this mainly for the reason of not knowing how to explain it.... but, I'm just going to go for it and rely on God to give me the right words to explain how I came about what will be a life changing embark-ment in my life.... most likely... hopefully. If not life changing then at least a huge adventure.

Lets just say that 2010 was not my year....until, this December. At the end of the month I received an email from an organization I had been supporting for a few years now with a list of trips they were offering to members. One was a trip to Ethiopia for one month, along with other here and there two week span trips.

It kept pressing on my mind and heart to where I ended up praying about it with the intention of figuring out whether God was calling me to go or not. I kept it to myself for awhile.... talking to God saying...
"Lord! give me some sort of sign!..
Please just tell me what to do!..
I want to hear your voice!...
I don't have the money to do this!..
There is an urge inside of me to apply and go!...
I'm living month to month, how am I possibly going to do this!...
I just want to love on others Lord...
I just want to be a servant to Your beautiful plan...
Help me find the faith to take that leap!"

Months, maybe even a couple of years before, I had been thinking about joining the Peace Corps. I had filled out two applications but never sent them in, mainly for the fact that I just didn't have a peace about it and it was a little unsettling. I had also talked to a few people about it and got some advice... it sounded a little Bear Grylis style. I didn't want to go over to some country I've never been to and try to help their people without some sort of plan of action!... or a knowledge of what the true problems they had or their true needs!

I won't go into to much detail on that because that is beside the point.

So I prayed.

and waited...

I wanted to keep it to myself for awhile because I didn't want it to be something that I mentioned to everyone and then never end up doing it.

Keeping it to myself made it more real to me.

After awhile I brought it up nonchalantly to a couple of my friends who would have had some wise input and told them a little about the organization and trip.

They both of course told me are you "kidding me?! GO!"

I told them that a big part of it (my doubts about going) was the money.... I didn't know how I was going to raise $3,750 to go, plus my rent bill for that month away. Susan told me that "If this is God's plan, money is not going to stop Him from sending you out there, He will find it and raise it for you."

She's right.

Why do I doubt the power of God sometimes when I know He has the power to do anything?! He heals people physically and emotionally so why would money ever stop Him?

I'm sure God laughs at the silliness of moneys power on people... yet he does so much good with it by using it. Just another example of how God uses some of the bad things in life for good. Not that money it's self is bad... but, ehh you know what I mean.

As I remember, before I even got this email, there was a man I was sitting next to in church in which I felt this presence of God wanting to say something to me through him.... It was really strange!

Finally after the sermon was over and after Steve said the peace (everybody awkwardly looks around looking for there "God's peace" first victim, sometimes that whole things seems just silly to me, and then there are times where it is really nice!) the man turns to me says "God's Peace, are you a missionary?"

"What?! uuuuh no?"

"Well why not? you should go be a missionary!"

"umm, ok." thinking to myself.... "this guy is a kook, what the heck?... but that was an intriguing comment non the less...hmm, God!, I knew and felt this guy was going to say something weird to me. What are you wanting me to get out of that?"

It was a somewhat uncomfortable experience but something inside of me just went on talking to him about missions and stuff.... he told me about some things he's been involved in, then gave me the web address for one that sounded interesting to me.

I mentioned that weird encounter with a friend of mine who said "Yeah, that guy is really weird, he came up to (so and so) and said something similar." So, I am glad I told her. Why am I glad? To keep things in check (whatever that means). I now truly believe that this man was just trying to recruit people for mission trips that where being offer through and outside of the church. But something about that whole encounter raised some curiosity in me (about something I had been thinking about for awhile already).

After I got home from church I immediately looked up that website he wrote down for me. I can't remember the name of it, but it sounded pretty interesting but didn't really motivate me to look or think any further into it and just left it at that.

Until....

a few weeks later, when I got this email.

To be continued.