My 15 year old daughter has some exciting news, some unexpected news. Here are the details:
Dear friends and family,
At fifteen years old, I find myself being able to take part in a God adventure I NEVER EXPECTED.
This past summer,the Lord made a way for me to go to Romania on a month-long mission trip with Adventures In Missions (AIM) and fulfill a long-time dream of working with gypsy children. However, one of the downsides to this trip was that I was unable to spend as much time with the kids as I would have liked and build stronger friendships. Fast forward to August and I was home again from my trip and earnestly praying for discernment concerning where God wanted me to go next year. I was expecting--and greatly hoping--that He would send me on another one month mission trip with Adventures in Missions, but a couple of months passed and God was silent.
I prayed that He would send me somewhere out of the states, somewhere hardcore with hurting orphan children I could love (why did I PRAY for this?!), somewhere that *I* wanted to go, and somewhere with AIM. Yet the entire time through this process, I was telling my friends and family that I was open to absolutely anything the Lord wanted me to do ... but I wasn't. I obviously had a lot of criteria that God's plan had to fit into. I had Him stuck rather tight into a box until I realized that I wasn't open I to anything I didn't want. Then, out of desperation, I prayed and told my Father that I finally was really open to anything that HE wanted. That night I was presented with this incredible experience:
THAILAND.
Thailand, with its population comprised of less than 1% Christians. Thailand, with its poor people that live on less than $1 dollar a day. Thailand, with its approximately 2 million women and children involved in prostitution. Thailand, Thailand, oh Thailand! And I'm going there? Yes, I AM.
The Espys, a couple that my family has been friends with for several years, will be moving to Northern Thailand in less than three weeks to live and work with Michael Johnson's Northern Thailand Impact Ministries (N.T.I.M.). I will be leaving sometime after mid-April to stay with them for at least two months. While I'm there, we will work at an orphanage N.T.I.M. started for children rescued from abuse, abandonment, extreme poverty, and were at risk of being sold into prostitution. I will be able to interact with them almost DAILY, enabling me to build the close friendships I wished for in Romania. There is also an English Class outreach, a ministry for HIV/AIDS victims, an Open Doors program that provides street children a place to go that is safe and will get them off of the streets and out of begging for a few hours, a rural tribe outreach, and a church.Everything I prayed for has taken the form of Thailand perfectly and I honestly cannot WAIT for this spring. I know that the Lord has incredible plans for this adventure and it will be something that will have a lasting impact upon me. And thankfully, the entire trip isn't going to cost that much, either! Turns out that plane tickets to Southeast Asia are rather affordable, as long as you buy them extremely far in advance. And then my living expenses for the entire two months there won't amount to any more than $300.
The only way I'm going to be able to go to Thailand will be with my friends' and family's support. I need so much prayer, as do the Thai people. There is so much spiritual darkness there. I need prayer that I will be able to raise all my money to go ahead and buy my ticket within the next month or so, and that traveling itself will be very smooth (I have, like, a BAJILLION layovers! Yikes.). Please, if you feel God leading, I need all the financial support I can get --- any and everything helps to reach a goal of appoximately $,1400. But not only that, I TRULY do need your prayer support.
Thanks and in Him,
Betsie
My blog:
http://betsie-daredtomove.blogspot.com/
The post about my trip:
http://betsie-daredtomove.blogspot.com/2010/10/i-am-going-to-thailand.html
N.T.I.M's site:
http://gontim.org/main/category/blogs/michael-johnson
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