Hi everyone!
I just wanted to
send an update before we leave in just over a week!! First I wanted to say thank you to everyone
who has supported me or any member of the team whether it be through prayer,
encouragement, advise, or finances.
God never intends for His work to be done in isolation and I’m so glad
that He doesn’t! It means so much to us
to see the sending team God is shaping.
A lot has happened
since I sent the first letter (in the mail) so I wanted to catch you up. First thing is that I won’t be going to
Mexico right after Uganda. There are
many reasons for this, part is lack of communication between myself and the
organization I was planning on working with, part of it is a lack of adequate
time to plan the trip out, and part of it is finances. I had a tall order financially to make this
summer/fall workout and God has not yet opened the doors to fulfill that
order. As of today (7/23/14) I’m about
$1,250 shy of being fully funded for Uganda and I have
had very little come in specifically for Mexico. My God is a great God I know He can take care
of what I need for Uganda and I know that He may be closing the door to Mexico
at this time for whatever reason but even though thing aren’t where I thought
they’d be by now God is still at work. In
that He is still working, if you haven’t already done so would you consider being part of the sending team for either the team as a whole or myself? I can’t help but think of Paul whenever I’m
sent out and how he shares the joy of ministry with all his supporting
churches, I’d love to be able to share that with you!
Tonight we had our
last meeting as a team before meeting to head out on the 4th. At the
meeting we spent some time alone praying and thinking. There were two main things, other then
praying, that we were asked to do with that time. First was ask God what He would have us
(individually and as a team) learn, see, do etc. through this trip. The second was to not only write down what we
think or expect God to do, but also what we personally desired from the trip. After the time apart we came together and
shared our top one or two things and I thought I’d share with you also as you
are part of the team! What follows is
what I entitled “Hopes for Uganda”
1. I’m so excited and deep desire to truly see
God at work in a place I’ve never been.
God is God no matter where or when you are but God is a personal God who
reaches individuals, cultures, and eras in different ways, much as you and I
talk to the various people in our lives in customized ways. We use different vocabulary and body
language, there’s a different leave of intimacy, and we spend time with each
one differently. I believe God works in
our lives similarly; He reaches us in a way that makes sense in our
relationship why still fully maintaining His consistent nature. I’m excited to hopefully see God working in
ways I’ve never seen before!
2. I’m super excited to support and encourage
the staff. I’ve realized recently that my
heart is in ministry, when I’m not building into others lives and when I feel
like I can’t spend time with someone because my break is over, or I have to run
to the next thing, or whatever I don’t feel like I’ve accomplished much, if
anything. I end up drained when what I
was doing wasn't that “hard”. Because of
that I’m so looking forward to our aim on this trip being to love-on the staff
and build into their lives.
3. Along with that I’m really excited to get an
opportunity to refocus on service. I’ve,
for many reasons, seen myself slipping from the other focus to the me focus
and I don’t like that. I’m anticipating
that this trip will help remind me of why I love serving and get my head back
in the game, so to speak.
4. Our theme for the trip is “Portraits of
Grace.” Grace is something that I can
see God writing all over my life right now especially and I’m excited to have
this opportunity to dive into the topic and intentionally focus on it. I hope to see God teach me how to both give
and receive true grace.
5. Lastly, at
least lastly from the short list I wrote down during the meeting, I hoping that
God will use this trip, the team, me, to light a fire under the behinds of those
who are staying home. Not everyone is
called to cross-cultural missions BUT everyone is called to missions. I’m hoping that through this trip people will
start to think about missions and their role in the work and then get up and do
what God is calling them to do. We as
Christians are called to have our citizenship in heaven and our focus in
eternity, is that your focus? Do you
live each day like Jesus is returning tomorrow?
If not I hope this trip encourages, convicts, convinces, teaches you (and me) to
make changes.
So there you have
it, my current short list of hopes for this trip. There you also have an update so you know
best how to support and send. Hopefully
you realize just how important you are as part of this team. I want you to know how important it is to
those who are sent that they be sent well, knowing that there is a team staying
behind that will support them however God calls them to support. Thank you for being part of God’s work!
Following His Leading,
~Heather
S.D.G
