My team and I met together recently for another Peru missions project meeting. At first, these were awkward: I half knew half of the kids, and the other half I didn't know at all. But as we've met together a few times now and are talking about practical things and details about the trip, I feel that we have really connected and are started to be a real team. Many of my questions being answered there was a big relief as well!
So now for the update. The two ways I have asked people to help me are: #1, to be prayer partners praying for my team, me, our leaders, long-term Peru missionaries, and those we will be witnessing to, and #2, financial partners who give as God calls them with cheerful hearts, for "God loves a cheerful giver." (2 Corinthians 9:7).
First I want to update you about prayer partners. God has wonderfully blessed me with three very faithful prayer partners: my Mom, my Dad, and Brenda. I want to thank each one of you for obeying God's calling to you and impacting many for eternity! You are a gift from God to our whole team.
About finances: whenever I tell anyone the total cost of this trip, they gasp, get big eyes, or, you know: the look a 6-year-old gets when you tell them you make a hundred dollars every day. God has, from the beginning, given me a great peace about the price, and he has made trusting him for it easy. This is completely his work alone! I am already 1/3 of the way to reaching my goal -- and I have not yet sent out my mission letters. Rejoice with me, our God is great!
This missions project has made me better understand what treasures in jars of clay mean. God is the awe-inspiring treasure, beautiful beyond measure. I am the jar of clay: not anything special, expensive, sturdy, or worthy of myself, but only looked at because of the great, undeserved gift from God: salvation to a wretch like me. Rejoice with me, for our God is merciful!
Saturday, January 26, 2013
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
The Dish Cloth Ministry
There is a lady at my church who lost her husband a few months ago, and God has really connected us since then. For just a few minutes after the sermon, we talk and encourage each other before going on with life, and those few minutes have meant so much to me lately -- I have known a friend who acknowledges my grief and cares enough to ask about it.
When this lady heard of my going to Peru this summer (Lord willing), she offered to make me and my friend dish clothes to sell as fund-raisers. Well isn't that sweet? I didn't think until she gave me the first few how she had to buy the materials and utensils to make them, pick a design, sit down and knit or crochet them for a good chunk of her day, and then simply offer these beautiful pieces to me free of charge; investing in me and the kingdom of God, and gaining eternal rewards. But even more amazing and special than these dish clothes is the miracle God has done: he took the heart of a sweet lady and broke it, asking her to trust him, then through the pain caused her to reach out in a gesture to further his kingdom and help someone else, me. We serve an awesome God!
My family has purchased a few dish clothes, and me being the 24/7 family dish dawg, I love using them! Although I loved the ministry from the dish clothes, I was at first leery of actually using them. I am picky when it comes to dish clothes, but when I used these, I instantly fell in love with them! They are a little bigger than usual, but thick soft. They also wash well and still look pretty! Apart from the practical sense is my favorite aspect of the dish clothes: as I wash dishes (I have a bit of time into it being a family of 7), God reminds me to pray for the lady who made them, my team of youth going on the mission trip, our leaders, the full time missionaries in Peru, and the people we will me witnessing to: people who need Jesus just as much as I do. I wind up praying most of the time doing dishes, spending time with God and thinking of others as I do a simple, domestic duty.
Now I am passing the baton: if you have been reading this blog and are interested in helping to send this missionary to Peru, to tell others about Jesus and bring glory to God, I am putting up dish clothes for sale from this post. There are different sizes, designs, and colors, and they do the job well. I was originally planning to put pictures of them on this post, but the camera broke, so I'll be a little delayed. The price of the dish clothes are $5.00 each, with no shipping charge due to their small size and weight. The rewards from God are eternal. I want to ask anyone purchasing them (as well as anyone reading this) to take a moment and pray for me, my team, our leaders, and the Peruvians.
If the lady who made these dish cloths happens to read this, I want to say thank you so much for this ministry, not only to others, but also to me. Who would have ever thought that God could do a miracle in hearts partly because of a dish cloth?
When this lady heard of my going to Peru this summer (Lord willing), she offered to make me and my friend dish clothes to sell as fund-raisers. Well isn't that sweet? I didn't think until she gave me the first few how she had to buy the materials and utensils to make them, pick a design, sit down and knit or crochet them for a good chunk of her day, and then simply offer these beautiful pieces to me free of charge; investing in me and the kingdom of God, and gaining eternal rewards. But even more amazing and special than these dish clothes is the miracle God has done: he took the heart of a sweet lady and broke it, asking her to trust him, then through the pain caused her to reach out in a gesture to further his kingdom and help someone else, me. We serve an awesome God!
My family has purchased a few dish clothes, and me being the 24/7 family dish dawg, I love using them! Although I loved the ministry from the dish clothes, I was at first leery of actually using them. I am picky when it comes to dish clothes, but when I used these, I instantly fell in love with them! They are a little bigger than usual, but thick soft. They also wash well and still look pretty! Apart from the practical sense is my favorite aspect of the dish clothes: as I wash dishes (I have a bit of time into it being a family of 7), God reminds me to pray for the lady who made them, my team of youth going on the mission trip, our leaders, the full time missionaries in Peru, and the people we will me witnessing to: people who need Jesus just as much as I do. I wind up praying most of the time doing dishes, spending time with God and thinking of others as I do a simple, domestic duty.
Now I am passing the baton: if you have been reading this blog and are interested in helping to send this missionary to Peru, to tell others about Jesus and bring glory to God, I am putting up dish clothes for sale from this post. There are different sizes, designs, and colors, and they do the job well. I was originally planning to put pictures of them on this post, but the camera broke, so I'll be a little delayed. The price of the dish clothes are $5.00 each, with no shipping charge due to their small size and weight. The rewards from God are eternal. I want to ask anyone purchasing them (as well as anyone reading this) to take a moment and pray for me, my team, our leaders, and the Peruvians.
If the lady who made these dish cloths happens to read this, I want to say thank you so much for this ministry, not only to others, but also to me. Who would have ever thought that God could do a miracle in hearts partly because of a dish cloth?
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