Musings from Graceland

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WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE A PART?

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As most of you know, my oldest daughter will be going to Swaziland, Southern Africa, next July to serve as an Adventures in Missions ambassador missionary for one month. While there, she'll primarily be ministering to children and teenagers who have been affected by the HIV/AIDS scourge and extreme poverty that is wrecking that nation.

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Her trip is going to cost her $4,500...that includes her airfare, 1 week of training at the AIM headquarters in Georgia, food, housing, transportation expenses in Swaziland, etc. One of the ways that we are raising her funds is by selling handcrafted GraceWorks jewelry. The pieces range in price from just $1 for some of our simply sweet little girl bracelets to $15 or $20 for some of our sets. Most of it, though, is in the $5 range making them affordable for most budgets. They make great gifts and people can buy them knowing that they're not just blessing the person receiving the gift, but also bless our daughter and those she'll be ministering to in Swaziland.

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Here's how you can be a part of this endeavor. If you're local, you can buy jewelry from us...we're even happy to custom-make items according to your preferences. If you're local or live anywhere in the Continental USA, you can SELL jewelry for us. We don't ask that you give us any money up front. Just tell us how many items you'd like to sell and let us know if there is a particular type you're interested in selling (for instance, jewelry that would appeal to children or certain colors to target a school or social organziation) then we'll get the jewelry to you. When you're finished selling the jewelry, you either send us a check or put the amount in my daughter's online account. And whatever you don't sell, just give back to us. That's it!

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BTW, our family doesn't benefit financially from the selling of the jewelry. ALL of the money that comes from the sales of the jewelry goes straight to the missions trip. We use very, very small amounts of profits to buy needed supplies or pay for shipping, but since almost all of our materials are donated to us, we can keep our jewelry prices down and use almost all of the proceeds to benefit the missions trip.

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Last year, my mom and a couple of friends sold jewelry to their friends and fellow church members. We made a few hundred dollars just through their efforts alone.

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Places and ways you can sell the jewelry:

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• Set up a table in your church foyer
• Sell it to your Sunday School friends
• Post pictures on your blog or website
• Sell to co-workers
• Take it to your homeschool group
• Set up a booth at a local craft fair or festival (many of these offer "free" booth space for non-profit purposes)
• Sell to social club or sorority sisters
• Make this a service or missions project for your church group or service organization
• Put up a display at your place of business
• Set up a table in the student center or dorm at your university
• Show them to your relatives at family get-togethers

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So whether you want to start small and try selling just 10 bracelets or you want to go big and sell a big lot of assorted items such as keychains, earrings, i.d. badge "necklaces", anklets, bracelets, chokers, and necklaces...it's all to eventually bless "the least of these" who urgently need to know that Jesus loves them and has an incredible plan for their lives....and to experience this love in practical and tangible ways through the ministry of my daughter and her AIM team.

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Thanks in advance and please feel free to let me know if you have any questions.

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To learn more about the upcoming missions trip, visit the team website at Adventures in Missions.

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Here are some examples of the jewelry we make:

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Also available are "letter" bracelets that can spell out school, organization, group, or country names as well as other words such as "love", "pray", "BFF", or "big sister".

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You just tell us what you want...color, words, style, size, WHATEVER...and we'll be glad to design special ones just for you!