Friday, December 30, 2011

Brasil Part 2: Make it Rain



Okay, fine. "Make It Rain" wasn't the phrase our team leaders, Stephanie and Tucker, used when they told us that we were each individually responsible for raising $2,900 for our Brasil mission trip. To make matters more complicated, we didn't have any fun chocolate bars, magazines, or other paraphernalia to incent people to make a donation. Instead, we were encouraged to write letters to friends and family members simply asking for money, eeeek.

At first, I considered the old fashion trick of sending a letter in the mail, along with a pre-addressed stamp envelope. The stamp is the key, because really, who would do nothing and let an ENTIRE stamp go to waste, when the price has been increasing exponentially over the years and is at an all time high of $0.44??  However, due to time restraints, I instead opted for the go-to mass email. One blind carbon copy email later to 235 of my closest friends, I was confident my time spent fundraising was done. WRONG. My fundraising journey was extremely long, and I soon found out that only seven people had responded and donated a total of $460. (Note, I was extremely appreciative of all these donations!!!)

I knew I had to step it up, especially since I had only a month left to raise this money, and some of my team members had already raised half if not all of the $2,900. On November 5, 2011,  two weeks after the mass email, I decided to individually email 30 of the people on my original list, hoping that my last attempt would be a success. I got several responses almost instantly and was so excited, until I opened the emails....
 "I would love to support you financially; however I'm unable to do so at this time.  I've already exceeded my giving budget for the year." 
 "We are currently committing all of our tithing to XYZ at the moment, good luck!"
"We'd love to support team Brasil. In fact, we already donated to several others on the team."
" We'd love to pray for your trip."

Shoot. My team leaders had recommended to not reach out to people more than 2 times max for donations... what on earth was I to do? The only options I had left were gain new friends, reach out to relatives who I never normally contact, or possibly give some money myself. I decided to go with the give money myself, and wrote a check for $250 which was my parents' early Christmas present to me. In addition, I posted a G-chat status stating the real-time amount I had left to raise, hoping this would non-aggressively encourage people to donate. 

There was one thing I was forgetting though, and that's God. The Bible tells us repeatedly that God is in control, and that if it's in His will He can make anything happen. As such, we are to be bold and ASK for whatever we need, and have confidence that God is capable of delivering:
 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!  Matthew 7:7-12
Not only is he capable of giving us anything, we have to be patient and wait sometimes...which is very difficult for a type A person who likes to be in control.
"Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord" - Psalm 27:13-15
Once I remembered this key ingredient missing from my plan, I began praying and waiting. So what was the result of all of this? As of December 2, the day I left for my trip, to my knowledge, I had raised $2,970, $70 more than I had ever needed! What's even more crazy is the fact that when I returned, I found out that I had actually raised $4,150....$1,350 more than was even required!!!! WOW. Below is the slow and gradual process by which the dough rolled in.


The funny thing is, I never would have even considered to pray for God to give me MORE than I needed to raise.... but I guess that just shows how limited I am in my thinking. This was a great reminder that He is able to do ANYTHING beyond our wildest dreams. 
 "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21
What's even crazier, is that my team as a WHOLE raised $4K more than we needed to!!! Don't worry, the money will be put to good use. We have been told that the money will first be used towards helping other Global Impact trips that are underfunded, but most likely be given to Open Arms, the organization our team worked with in Brasil. We should know for certain where the money goes within the next six months.

So what is the morale of this story? Is it that God is just a genie in a bottle at the disposal of Christians who are in need of wishes to be granted? ABSOLUTELY NOT!  The point is that we should be BOLD in our prayers, come before God and ask Him anything that is on our heart! Does he have the capability to make it happen plus 10 fold? Absolutely. But does that mean he always will make it happen? No. We must remember that God wants our desires to become His. The more time we spend with Him, the more we will want what God wants for us, and it's at this point that He will give us our hearts desires. "Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalm 37:4 


That's all I've got. Thank you to the many financial donors and prayer warriors who supported me in this process :). I couldn't have done it without your help!

Sunday, December 25, 2011

The Real World: Brasil



This is the true story, of nine strangers, picked to go on a mission trip together, have their lives changed. Find out what happens when people stop being efficient, and start operating under Brasilian time. This is the Real World: Brazil. 




How did you end up on this trip?
The church I go to, Frontline, has a ministry called Global Impact. Global Impact sends 8-10 people on various mission trips throughout the world (Peru, Brazil, Tanzania, Ethiopia SE Asia, Guatemala, Burundi,)  in a given year. Anyone that wants to go on a mission trip has to apply online and go through an interview process. I know it sounds odd, why would I have to interview to volunteer, right? But it's done to ensure that people going are wanting to go for the right reasons (ex.get closer to God), and not just going as a way to have a cool vacation. Interviews are also conducted to communicate the level of commitment required for a trip (i.e. having to fund-raise a couple of Gs per trip, having 5+ four hour meetings months prior to prepare, etc)

For me, I had always wanted to go on a mission trip through Frontline, but  but due to logistical reasons (i.e. didn't have enough vacation at work, would have to miss two weeks of school etc) I was never able to go. However, this summer I noticed there was a trip heading to Brasil for 10 days, which would allow me to miss only one week of class! What's more , a good friend of mine was set to lead the trip which got me even more excited. So I prayed, then applied, had my interview, and voila! 

Where exactly were you?
Assis Brazil, a small city within the state of Sao Paulo. From what I experienced, Asiss is a very poor city, which has a ton of violence and almost everyone is a drug trafficker (even grandmas) as it is in the middle of the typical drug route (Bolivia/Columbia to Sao Paulo city). 

What did you do there?
LOTS OF STUFF! But this is what made it in the top 10

#10. Fed monkeys
 -we went to a random sugar cane farm that was conveniently beside some jungle like area, started doing typical calls to let the monkeys know we had arrived (ooo ooo ooo ah ah ah! ) , and then waited for 20 min. Soon enough about 100 came out of the jungle and we literally handed the monkeys bananas and papaya. 

#9. Ate tons of meat and drank amazing drinks of all shapes and sizes
- breakfast lunch and dinner. Chicken, Ham, and about 100 different variations of beef, even something which was allegedly better than filet mignon ! Oh and dinner is usually served between 10pm-12pm, obviously!  drinks were mainly fruit smoothies.... acerola & pineapple, acai & strawberry, and peach juice, guava juice, oh and coffee that was served in tiny cups that hold the equivalent of a shot.

#8 Worshiped with locals via Lucas playing acoustic guitar
- sang aloud to tons of familiar songs alternating between English and Portuguese. Songs included Mighty to Save, I Want to Know You More, Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord. 

#7 Starred as Eve in a no-words skit 
- our team performed this skit for kids at the Christmas party and for inmates in prison. The idea was to show using actions and background music, a simplified story of Christianity. As Eve, I had to   pretend to eat an apple, feel ashamed/naked, get caught up by the world/sin, and then finally meet  Jesus and have my relationship stored with the Father.

#6 Delivered free vegetables to impoverished families
- every Tuesday, Open Arms picks up free vegetables from a grocery store and delivers them to the families of the kids that come to Open Arms activities. some of the vegetables were starting to rot, but we were told this was better than nothing :( . Although some people weren't very receptive to Americans helping to deliver the veggies, Holly assured us that they would ask the following week where we were, which would then allow them to share why we came, talk about Jesus, etc.

#5 Hosted Christmas party for kids
- our team hosted various craft stations, one of which allowed us to take Polaroids of the kids and let them decorate a frame to keep (none of them ever had a picture of themselves). the site for the party also had a ginormous pool, which the kids loved even though most couldn't swim

#4 Asked to play Mighty to Save on the piano
- at church last minute without practice! Thankfully the guitar was super loud haha

#3 Shared my testimony at church in front of 50 people while Mike translated to Portuguese

#2 Built an entire playground
- made entirely out of tree trunks! 

#1 Visited a prison and played with inmates ( sans cuffs, chains or fiberglass)
- for the record I won one game of ping pong but got completely schooled in checkers

What did you learn?
Patience, humility, joyful service, and so much more! The next few posts I plan to dive into more about what I learned during fundraising, building the playground, and visiting the prison.

Oh, and in case your wondering, the copy in the picture translates to "Love that changes". Tutto bom!

DISCLAIMER: MTV Real World is not involved in this. The logo was used as a parody. sank you!