The Big Reveal~ Day 3

I told you on Monday about my opportunity to go to The Allume Social Media Conference at the end of this month.  And yesterday, I was finally able to share with you that I am an (in)courager.

It is an exciting week for me.  Today, I want to share something that is very near and dear to my heart.

It started when I was a little girl.  My mom would share slides from her time in Mexico.  She lived outside of Mexico City for four years, working in an orphanage as a nurse.  And then she met my Dad and the rest as they say is history!

I loved seeing her pictures and hearing her stories.  I joined our "mission minded kids" group at our church.  And when I was 17, I went on a missions trip to Australia for an entire summer.

It was in the middle of a field with my journal in hand, listening to kookaburras laugh and watching kangaroos hop across the distant end of a field that I KNEW I wanted to serve God with my life.  I didn't know exactly what that would look like, but the calling was strong.

I attended Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and majored in International Ministries (Missions).  I loved all of my missions classes and the two missions trips that I was able to be a part of as a requirement for graduation.

God did not call Dave and I to an international mission field, but my passion for missions has remained strong.  We were able to participate in a trip to Guatemala with our youth and then I joined a women's team to Japan.

The trip to Japan was 11 years ago.  Every opportunity for a missions trip since then has fallen through.

Until now!  God has provided a new opportunity.  In a little over a month, I will be travelling to the Dominican Republic with 5 other women from my church, joining with Lifetree Adventures, to distribute backpacks and Spanish New Testaments and to love on the kids that we will meet every day.

This will be my 6th international missions trip, but it will be the first for all of the women going with me.  Knowing how God used my first trip to solidify my desire to serve him, and knowing the way that each subsequent trip has only increased my love for Him and for the world, I can't help being incredibly excited about what God wants to do on this trip.

Lifetree works with local ministries in each of the countries that it serves.  As the details for the trip continue to unfold, I am amazed at God's goodness!  We will be working with World Vision and Compassion- ministries that are doing amazing things in the lives of children throughout the world.  It has always been one of my dreams to meet a child that I sponsor.  That won't happen on this trip as the girl that we sponsor through World Vision lives in Honduras, but knowing that it is possible- well, that is truly remarkable.

We have been told that there are 3 children in the Dominican Republic who are available for sponsorship through Compassion.  If you have never sponsored a child, might you consider sponsoring one of the precious ones in the DR?

Your prayers for our team as we finish the final preparations are so appreciated.  This trip will be a first of many things for my sisters and I can't wait to share this time with them.  Pray that God would use us to accomplish His will.  Pray that we would bring all glory to Him.

Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:18-20