Following the Kenyan Compassion Bloggers...

I followed the Kenyan Compassion Blogger's trip.  This is Reverb has the best photographs of the experience.

The Truth Comes Out

I have looked at opportunities to visit our Compassion children in the past as just out of reach for us financially. I was too worried about the money to even let myself *think* of being able to go. Now I have been abundantly blessed through the generosity of so many people that this trip to Tanzania is happening and I am surprised to find myself scared of it.

The Truth Has Come Out.

When I consider the huge scope of what will be in store for me when I get to Tanzania and seeing the depth of this poverty up close - Seeing it. Touching it. Smelling it. I am scared. And I have realized that I am afraid of how I will feel when I do see it. I think that in the past, blowing the opportunity off due to financial constraints has been an easy excuse. From God's point-of-view, the money is the easy part. I never would have believed that in the past but I'm seeing it and experiencing it now.

I also have realized that I have always felt myself unworthy of being chosen for such an opportunity. Surely, God has someone better equipped than me to accomplish this task he has in mind. I am wrestling with this one. It's brought a lot of self-doubt to the surface of my soul that I didn't even realize was there. I do not feel worthy of this blessing.

Every curve of this path to get me to go on this trip has been made straight. In 2 weeks, I have made $725 from bread sales alone. My church hometeam paid my deposit. This morning, I was handed $250 from an anonymous benefactor. By our estimations, I am only $500 away from being "paid in full". It's obvious that for God, it's not about the money.

I am in the midst of a huge spiritual growth spurt from just the process of trusting God to get me to Tanzania. He could have done all this trusting growth without taking me to Tanzania. I think the big lesson is going to come from that experience and I am quaking in my sandals. I am excited and scared all at the same time.

Please pray for me as I process this experience and glean from it all that God has to offer.

~~~Andrea

"Spread The Word"

I have been thinking a great deal about how I'm going to earn/raise the money for this trip. I asked for some advice on what I could make/bake to earn some money. A few of my good friends suggested different kinds of bread. I make a really good English Muffin Bread and I whip up a chocolate/cinnamon butter spread that goes with it and it's very popular around here. I decided that I could make up a few loaves a week and sell them for a donation. The first batch is out of the oven!

I'm calling my bake sale "Spread The Word!" I'm going to Tanzania!

David is going to take a few loaves to work to see how he can do with them there. I have a few friends at church who are also interested in a few loaves. I think this is really going to work and work very well.

I am going to be doing a lot of baking!

BIG NEWS!!!

I am going to go to Tanzania to meet one of my sponsored children!

I heard about the upcoming Compassion International Advocate Tour last summer and wanted to go immediately. I worried about all of the details and thought it just couldn't happen. When the itinerary came out, my husband suggested we use some Frequent Flier Miles that were essentially unusable for anything else. I looked into it and was pleasantly surprised that it would work! But there was a small problem of fronting the deposit on such short notice.

I prayed about it and talked it over with David and we started plotting about how we could put the money together quickly. This past Saturday, I told my small group at church about it and they offered it up as a prayer request. On Sunday morning just before church, my hometeam leader approached me to tell me that the hometeam had come together to cover my deposit!

I was so touched and blessed. I burst into tears!

I will be traveling to Tanzania on July 17th and staying for 10 days. I still have some financial details to work out and would like prayers for that. But the hard part - taking the leap, deciding to go and letting God handle the details is done!

I will be meeting our sponsored child, Sara Reuben Kelele. She is 17 years old is wonderful young lady.

Resurrecting my blog

It's been a while, hasn't it!

I have had a few days of deep introspection and am reevaluating some of my priorities - where I spend my time on the net and the kinds of relationships I want to have with other people. I am recognizing a very deep need for real face-to-face friendships over coffee or Panera.

I also recognize that my work with Compassion is without a doubt, the most important thing I have ever done. We received a request today and it contained pictures of kids who are waiting for sponsors... some of them for 5 months, 8 months and one of them was still waiting after 13 months. Breaks my heart. I can't do much more than we already are, I can only share the ministry at every opportunity.

Since I last left this blog, we had a successful series of Compassion Sundays at our church. 30 children were sponsored over the course of Lent. I am hopeful that we'll be able to present the ministry to the small groups at our church over the coming months. Our church is sponsoring a medical missions trip (not associated with Compassion) to Guatemala next summer. To carry the momentum of missions beyond that trip, we're going to have a Compassion Sunday focused on Guatemala. We'll offer sponsorships of children only from Guatemala and possibly, connect them with the general area of where the medical missions trip will be. Perhaps, over the course of time, we'll be able to establish missions trips to the Compassion Center in Guatemala to offer VBS or even sports camps. I'm the most excited about the prospect to have a sports camp in Guatemala. Sports are a very important aspect of our church's ministry and ties in perfectly with the importance sports plays in Compassion's ministry model.

Another new development is that my husband went through the process to become a Compassion Advocate. We make a great time. He's wonderful at the admin stuff and I'm good at the communication/presentation part. He is just loving the work and it's a wonderful opportunity for us to do something together.

My husband and I have also started the Elder Training Program at our church. It's an intensive three year program. I plan on sharing our progress in that program here as well.

Thanks for hanging on through my dry spell.

~~Andrea