Unreached...

The Lord God has put his Spirit in me,
because the Lord has appointed me to tell the good news to the poor.
He has sent me to comfort those whose hearts are broken,
to tell the captives they are free,
and to tell the prisoners they are released.
He has sent me to announce the time when the Lord will show his kindness
and the time when our God will punish evil people.
He has sent me to comfort all those who are sad
and to help the sorrowing people of Jerusalem....
The Lord makes me very happy;
all that I am rejoices in my God.
He has covered me with clothes of salvation
and wrapped me with a coat of goodness,
like a bridegroom dressed for his wedding,
like a bride dressed in jewels.
The earth causes plants to grow,
and a garden causes the seeds planted in it to grow.
In the same way the Lord God will make goodness & praise
come from all the nations.
~~Isaiah 61



This video moved me... Why hasn't God called me to work with 'unreached' people...people unreached by his Word?! There are millions still out there that haven't heard, & don't have hope in his love, grace, & mercy. Then it dawned on me...the people He has called me to work with in Kenya are unreached by medical care. They are my unreached people. God knows what he's doing...

Diddo...

Shocked...

My heart hurts for Kenya. Why not all the other countries suffering around the world? I can't fully explain it...except to say that is where God wants me. This Fall, World Vision published an article about child mortality throughout the world. It's shocking...it's sad. Here are some of the things I read:



- 9.2 million people are starving in the Horn of Africa, mainly due to drought
- 9.2 million children under the age of 5 died last year because of diseases & poor living conditions in developing countries

** Major causes of child mortality: neonatal causes (37%), pneumonia (19%), diarrhea (17%), other (10%), malaria (8%), measles (4%), AIDS (3%), injuries (3%) **



- 4 million babies die in the 1st month of life every year, mostly due to prematurity, asphyxia, & severe infections because they have no access to care
- a child born in a developing country is 13x more likely to die in the 1st year
- in sub-Saharan Africa, 24% of children <5 years old are moderately or severely underweight because of malnutrition
- malnutrition is an underlying cause of 1/3 of child deaths

KENYA is one of the top 15 coutries in the world with a high child mortality rate!


What in the world can we do about this?!
I feel like I have some answers to this question because of some training Angie & I received at ECHO (www.echonet.org) this year... It's an amazing place!
- nutrition
- clean water & sanitation
- agriculture
- education
- health care
- microenterprise development
- advocacy
- Christian nurture



World Vision is working with these projects around the world. But so is AfricaHope...in Kenya (minus the microenterprise developement...at least not yet:) ). Hopefully we'll we working together since we're both in Narok, Kenya. I'm so excited to be a part of this team that is already making a huge difference in the lives of the Maasai, especially the children. Come join us :)


www.africahope.org

http://media.worldvision.org/magazine/wv_autumn09/combating-child-killers/index.html?lpos=ctr_img_CombatingChildKillers

Thank you for asking...

I have been surprised throughout this whole support raising process. God continues to bring forth supporters despite my scattered, unorganized attempts. One thing that has surprised me the most is when people respond with, "Thank you for asking". Seriously? You're saying thank you to me because I just asked you for money? It's very humbling. And so exciting that people are thankful to be in involved with God's dream for me. Thank you for saying "thank you" :)


Here are some of the most creative support raising ideas friends & family have come up with:

- Party...Jewelry party!
A new friend of mine that I met at one of my supporting churches has hosted Silpada jewelry parties and is donating all the profits to me!

- Redirecting money
Another friend has quit smoking, and is sending the money she used to for cigarettes to me! This idea made me really happy...I am a nurse after all :)

- FLUSH Fund
A local New Harmony coffee shop is fundraising with their toilet!

Idea by Laura Hudgins - Made by my mom :)

- Persimon pudding brownies
There is a huge, historic persimon tree near my parents house in New Harmony. My mom collected them, cooked up some persimon pudding brownies, & proceeded to sell them out of her golf cart at Kunstfest in September! After all...New Harmony is a golf cart community :)


Hopefully the creativity will keep on coming...

Masterpieces...

On most other days I have a list of blogs I want to write running through my head, but no time to do it. Today...God has cleared my head and given me rest...thank you :) So, I'm going to let this pretty amazing video speak instead...enjoy...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXut0HxncvY

HWTH???

New Mission Systems International (NMSI) is growing...and growing fast! There is currently a waiting list for the fall missionary training program. If NMSI continues to grow at this rate, we estimate there will be 400 new missionaries to send out over the next 6 years! And that's in addition to our 200+ missionaries in almost 30 countries already. It's amazing to watch God work! In order to train, send, and support all of these missionaries, more housing needs to be built as well as some renovations completed. All of this costs money, of course. NMSI launched it's first capital campaign in 2008 called "How Will They Hear?" (HWTH?) to meet these needs. www.nmsi.org/hwth.aspx

Will you help us? Visit: www.nmsi.org/donate.aspx

"But before people can ask the Lord for help, they must believe in him; and before they can believe in him, they must hear about him; and for them to hear about the Lord, someone must tell them; and before someone can go and tell them, that person must be sent." ~Romans 10:14-15


My COAT class (aka mission training)...an amazing 2 months


The proposed campus...Fort Myers, Florida

God's preparations...

Last year, a church met with two people from a mission-sending agency to talk about the work their organization was doing in Africa. They had been connected through a national campus ministry conference being hosted in the church's hometown. This church had been inspired and convicted in part by Bono of U2 (www.one.org)to respond to the poverty and HIV/AIDS crisis in Africa. They liked what they heard about the ministry and work being done in Kenya and decided to visit this past March. The week they schedule their trip, a previous member of the congregation contacted them and informed them she had been called into full-time mission work in Kenya with this same team they were about to visit. It was reaffirming for both sides. About 3 weeks ago, that church announced to their congregation their decision to partner with the ministry in Kenya, as well as individually support the missionary!

The mission agency is New Mission Systems International. The ministry is AfricaHope. The church is Crossroads Christian Church of Newburgh, Indiana. The missionary is me. And one of the people in that meeting last year was Angie, the other nurse going to Kenya! As I found out how the pieces of this story fit together, it became evident to me that God has been working on his plan for my life for a long time…bringing many separate areas of my life and connecting them all together. It’s pretty cool…and so reaffirming:)