Support Letter for the World Race

Dear

For many years my heart has been burdened for missions.  God began working this into my heart after my first trip to Romania in 2006.  A few months after returning home, I felt God’s call to surrender completely to missions. At the time I wasn't sure what that would entail, and after a few years I believed I had lost the passion I once felt. In October of 2011, God began to reawaken that call. Last year I was able to go to the Ukraine on two separate trips. One was a work trip on a home for graduated orphans, and the other was to help host a camp for orphans. Both trips solidified my desire for missions.  This year, I was able to travel with my church (joined by my mom and brother for their first trip) to Belize and minister to other missionaries there.

I first became aware of The World Race through a friend,  and about a year later I came across a newspaper article about a young lady leaving for the Race. At that point I began researching and reading about the program, but I had to trust God’s timing for when I should go.  After another year, the World Race was again brought to my attention.  This time I began seriously praying and felt it was time for me to step out and take the leap of faith. 

The World Race is an eleven month journey around the world.  In those eleven months I, with my team, will visit eleven countries and team up with ministries already in place to reach that area for Christ. What we will be doing will look different country by country, day by day. Some days we may be in the streets ministering, hosting VBS, or working in construction. Other days may simply encompass the daily grind of grocery shopping and caring for those on my team.  Every day will be full of prayer.

So why go? Ultimately I have been asking God for a long time what I’m supposed to be doing as a twenty-something, and this is an opportunity for me to step out in the call I believe He has on my life. It is a journey to minister to the least, lost, orphans, widows, and poor.  I don’t take this call and trip lightly.  I am essentially committing two years of my life to this endeavor with the hope of making a difference for Christ and being fashioned to look more like Him. With everything surrendered to God, here I am preparing for another, very different, mission trip.

I have signed up to leave in September 2014 for eleven months. Not only will I need a lot of prayer, but I have to raise all financing for the trip.  I will need to raise $15,500 plus $764 for insurance. That is a bit overwhelming, but that’s why I am trusting God and asking if you will partner with me.  Would you consider a monthly donation?  Or even a one-time gift?  If you can help in any way it will be much appreciated.  As I have heard often (and believe) “little is much when God is in it.”  Thankfully, I don’t have to have all of the funds all at once. Here is an actual break down of my financial needs:

§  $150 Deposit - Due 11/11/2013 (2 weeks after your acceptance date.)

§  $3,500 - Due 6/28/2014 (2 weeks before Training Camp)

§  $7,500 - Due 8/18/2014 (2 weeks prior to your trip)

§  $11,000 - Due 12/1/2014 (End of 3 months on the field)

§  $15,500 + $764 (*Insurance) = $16,264 - Total Due 3/1/2015 (End of 6 months on the field)

I cannot begin to thank you enough for taking the time to read this letter, and for your prayerful consideration of helping me reach this goal God has given me.

You may feel free to contact me or check my World Race blog: http://brookeconn.theworldrace.org/.

Through Christ,

Grand Announcement or Life is About to Change...a lot

Just a few days ago I got a call that I had been praying about for a few months now.

"You've been accepted!"

What!!!!...

Okay, let me back up.

At the beginning of this month I applied for a mission trip called The World Race. I wasn't really sure what I was doing, but I knew that God was asking me to take a step of faith (remember this post?).  So I stepped out and waited to see what God would do (here).  Little did I know this is what would happen.  I was hoping but...

So as it stands now I will be leaving in September 2014 for eleven months and each month will be spent ministering in a different country.

Here is my tentative route. To learn more hit the banner above.

Haiti




Bolivia




Peru




Ecuador




Malawi




Zambia




Zimbabwe




Thailand




Malaysia




Vietnam




Cambodia

To say I'm excited is an understatement!

I am still in shock at times and yet my brain has kicked into overdrive. Yes I have a year but that's really not all that long to get ready for a whole year of travel!

I wish I could say more but time constrains me at the moment.  I will say that in the coming days I will begin blogging on the World Race site.  As soon as I get that set up I will post the link here so you can keep up with me.

For now I ask for your prayers as I start this process.  I do, as any other missionary, have to raise my own support.  This trip will cost roughly $16,000 plus the gear I will be needing. And I know there will be a lot of changes in store for me and those around me.

I cannot wait to see what God does in the coming weeks and months!

Through Chirst,

Lady B

(Brooke)

Did I?

Did I really just do that? Did I really just take a leap of faith?  

It's kind of odd to take a leap of faith and then have to wait. In a sense it feels like your just hanging out there not sure what is going to happen, but the truth is I have landed just where God wants me to- in His arms resting and waiting.  Who knows what will come of this jump.  Perhaps nothing.  Perhaps everything. Maybe it is just one step on the journey.  Maybe it's the beginning of a whole new adventure. Only God knows and it is in Him I trust!

Step of Faith

Waiting- A Verb

Waiting, it seems to be my lot in life or so it feels.  I have often struggled and at times still do with waiting, but I have learned something recently and straight from God too (those are the best lessons)- waiting is a verb!  Before I could learn this lesson, though, I had to be broken; more broken than I have been in a long time.  See I was complaining to God about having to wait, “I’m tired of waiting, God.  I want to do something.”  And many such pleadings, but then in that moment when I ran out of things to say God whispered to me, “Are you willing to do nothing for my sake?”  That stopped me; was I?  I pleaded, I thought, I cried and then, oh so sweet, I surrendered.  Was it hard? Yes.  Do I struggle?  More than you can imagine, but I know where my peace is and it is to Him I turn.
As I said I have learned waiting is a verb. It is not just about sitting around twiddling thumbs.  The years of waiting are a time to do.  These are the years we have to learn and serve freely.  Here are a few things that God has provided for me in this waiting period.
Recently my church has started an emergency response team.  We are in the training stage right now, and so far I have been able to get my First Aid/CPR, chainsaw safety, and power line safety certifications.  I am also working on the FEMA IS classes (well, I’m supposed to be).   Who knows how this will be used in the future, but it is definitely good to know!
God has also given me the opportunity to volunteer once a week at our local crisis pregnancy center.  I absolutely love it!  Being a part of saving the lives of many innocent children and helping many women/families that have no where else to go is a blessing.  To see the faces of the girls and women that come in, some are heartbreaking and some are so full of joy.  Also in my free time I have been able to read some of the curriculum for the parenting classes we offer. 
Of course I have been working also.  As of right now I am working at Allstate and cleaning.  I rather enjoy both and I most definitely am learning from both jobs.
Another opportunity God has presented to me is being a part of coordinating our local father/daughter dance.  My dear friend asked me at the beginning of this year to come alongside her and another lovely friend as the third person on the “team”.  It has been so exciting so far and a little daunting, but this is God’s dance and He has everything perfectly planned.
Of course what better to spend my time of waiting than with my family.  I have had the delight to visit with several family members just in the past weeks.  And there is the perk of being a homemaker in training (if that is the path God takes me down). Being able to hone my gardening skills will be fun this year (some day I will be like my Nana)! And as always there are the kids at church I can pour more into. 
As you can see waiting has not caused me to become lax or lazy, but just the opposite.  By surrendering all my time to God (moment by moment preferably), He has opened up many opportunities to serve Him, serve others, and even learn new skills. 
With all of this going on it is sometimes hard to stop, but the sweetest part of this period is by far my time with God.  Spending time with my Beloved Bridegroom could never be matched.  Though I am often distracted, using this time to know Him more will carry me so much farther than any other skill I pick up through life.
In what ways is God asking you to wait? How have you been using the time?

Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!
Psalm 27:14

Tidbits

There is so much here to think about!  I listened to all of these today and now my mind and heart are in such an uproar.  “God, I want to be Your lady of prayer, following Your call, fighting with/for You, completely obsessed with You and bringing You complete glory- simply because You are worthy.  No other reason but You.”

Tell me what time you spend alone with God and I’ll tell you how spiritual you are. ~Leonard Ravenhill

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I want to be one who compels them to come!  I want to lend to God, but not so I can be repaid, just because I want them to know they are loved!

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I want this passion!  I want to want to fight without desiring comfort!
”We were called to advance a Kingdom!  To live with a Passion!  To fight for Him!  And to only, every once in a while, drop our swords and look up for a smile.” ~Paul Washer

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Am I all out for Jesus?  There is no in between and that makes a simple question both hard and simple.  Am I all out for Jesus?

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“Lord Jesus, I’m going to obey you, and love you, and serve you, and do what you want me to do, as long as I live, even if I go to Hell at the end of the road, simply because you are worthy to be loved, and obeyed and served…” ~Reidhead 
What is God going to get out of me?

PostScript- I am trying to type up my full testimony. I believe it is about time I had it completed.

Amazing Morning!

Wow, God is so amazing!  I cannot even begin to put into words the awesome time I had with Him this morning.  First off, I was talking to Him about living a set apart life in not just my inner man (character) but also in my outward man (environment, time, dress, etc.).  Afterwards I read Psalm 75 which was really good but I felt like reading more so I went to my reading schedule (which I have not been keeping up with but God had a reason for that) and read Leviticus 19-23.  It was amazing! There are  at least five verses that spoke about being holy or set apart, I was so excited that I just felt like God put them there for me today!  Then I went into my prayer time, and I have only done this once before, but I made a list of all the urgent prayer requests and as I made the list I added people as they came to mind.  I had no idea why I was praying for some of them, but if they came to mind I wrote them down and prayed for them.  It was the most amazing prayer time I have ever had.  I spoke with God about decisions people had to make, I called out to Jehovah-Jireh and pleaded with Jehovah-Rapha.  I shared my heart with my Beloved and my Father.  I cried; I laughed.  I feel a little weird sharing this stuff with you but I really feel like I need to.  Honestly, this is only the second time I have ever done this and I am so ashamed that I have not called out to God like this on behalf of so many.  That is something I want to change.  I want this kind a prayer to be just like breathing!

That was not the end of my amazing morning, though.  When I got up, in the time it took to wash my face and brush my teeth and one or two other things (about ten minutes), Mama told me about an email we had gotten asking for prayer.  As I read it I just started crying all over again.  It was from one of those people who had happened to pop into my head.  Everything I had prayed for (before reading the email remember) was in that email!  Wow, I am beyond blown away.  I had no idea but God knew and He led me to pray for this precious family and their ministry!

Never, ever think that your prayers are not important!  God hears them and He leads His people by His Spirit to pray for those in need!  I love my Lord and I am falling more in love with Him ever moment!  It is the greatest thing in the world.  I could go on and on, but I am sure it would be repetitive.

Please continue to call out to God daily for those in need and those that He brings to mind.  You never know when it will be life changing for someone, may be even you!

Through Christ,

Lady B

PostScript: I really feel like God must have something big planned, because satan is really on the prowl.
Please pray for those you know and do not know. Pray that God would send in His angels to do battle. That He would raise up warriors willing to fight for Him!

Learning- The List

I feel as if I keep learning more about myself.  Today it was the fact that apparently I have not completely surrendered the pen of my love story to God.  I realized that although I had “surrendered” it to God I had my own ideals of the kind of man I want to marry.  I even went so far as to say, “God I do not want to marry _____.”  Maybe I have good reasons for saying I do not want to marry a certain person but what reason is good enough if it is God’s will? 

It is hard to lay that down.  As ladies we tend to make lists (guys may also, I do not know) but what if the man God had for us matched nothing on own carefully constructed list.  Outside of being a Christian who follows and serves God what if the man God has prepared for us is nothing we ever wished for?  Would you be willing to lay down your desires for God’s will?  Will I?  I hope I can lay this down, take up my cross and follow God into whatever He leads me. 

Through Christ,

Lady B

Thoughts for This Season

1.  I have been on the defensive.  In my spiritual walk, I have waited for satan to strike and then fought back in prayer.  I realized this Thursday, when I found out Grandpa had died.  I knew him for eleven years, yet I never once fell to my knees begging God to turn his heart to Him.  Not once did I ask him if he knew Christ, and then I found out he was dying a few weeks ago.  Then I prayed; then I tried to speak to him, but was it too late?  Has satan already struck the ending blow?  Not just with Grandpa but others, I have waited and now I wait no longer.  I want to be on the offensive.  I want to be there attacking satan (with God) before he even gets the chance to choose his next target.  It will take practice but no soldier goes into battle without some training.  Sometimes the battles even make him stronger.

2.  I want a man who will cherish me.  I want a warrior-poet.  Often I dream of the warrior side as just fighting for the things of God.  Yes I do want that to be my husband’s focus, but I also want him to be my warrior.  I want a man who will stand before me, God and the world and proclaim, “I love you.  I will fight for you; I will die for you!”  And, yet I have already found the perfect One who says, “I love you.  I am fighting for you; I died for you!”

3.  I did, in fact, watch Prince Caspian tonight for the first time in two years (since the day I watched it in theater).  Honestly, it is a love-hate kind of thing.  I hate it because it does not follow the book!!!! (what can I say, I am a purist)  But I like it because, well, it is Narnia.  Just do not expect anything more from me or I might go into a rant.  (very spiritual, I know)

4.  I will get my school work done so I can get to working on my Christmas presents and other projects.

5.  I will finish cleaning my room when I wake-up.

6.  I need to stop staying up so late and implement the schedule I wrote up Friday nigh…er…Saturday morning.

7.  This Thanksgiving when you think about the first celebration, remember the tragedy those Pilgrims went through before that day.  When you see the family of four think- the husband recently lost his wife (perhaps in childbirth), the wife was widowed the previous winter and the children lost their parents to some disease.  Yet they all came together to make a family and give thanks for this new country.  A country of freedom.

Through Christ,

Lady Helen