i wrote this 4 years ago and it's still true

i had every intention of making this a well thought out post with meaningful thoughts and ideas. it was going to be real and honest and bring you to tears (in a good way) and make you realize that the world can be a cruel place but there is hope and healing through Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit and your friends and well spent time. i was going to take this paragraph and integrate the weekend's events into what i have realized about community and love and acceptance and dependence; about prayer and healing and support; about taking time to "be still and know that I am God", and "have mercy on me a sinner", and how all the stupid little plans that you think you've made are going to fall apart because you don't know what's best for yourself because you can't do things out of reactions to people hurting you. the sentences were going to all be run-ons but you wouldn't care anyway because you wanted to know so badly what came next that it seemed perfectly logical to not stop and pause for a breath.

i wish i could write this story for you. i really do. maybe one day i will write it; it's just that today i haven't figured it all out yet.

I'm going to India!

Dear Friends and Family,

Many changes have taken place in my life in the last couple years. In 2009, I uprooted my life in southern California to do mission work in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. I spent 8 months working at the Shelter City Youth Hostel in the Red Light District, serving travelers from all over the world and doing a bit of traveling myself. In September of 2010, I started a 2 year master’s program at UC Irvine in Urban Planning and worked part-time at a 3D printing company to help pay my bills in the meantime. This week I am starting my second and final year of my master’s program, and this month I started a new job as the Office Manager of a software development company called Innovative Idea Group. I am excited for what the Lord holds for me this year as the last two years have held many adventures around the world and interesting people along the way.

This brings me to my next adventure: India. I have accepted a position on the 2011 Rock Harbor Church India team. We leave LAX on December 26, 2011 and return January 8, 2012. While over there, we will be partnering with Harvest India, a Christian humanitarian organization whose purpose is to share Christ’s compassion for the poor throughout Andhra Pradesh by sharing basic resources such as food and medication, planting churches, and raising up leaders. To read more about the specific work Harvest India is doing, please visit http://www.harvestindia.org/. Our part in this is to organize and execute a Vacation Bible school for hundreds of Indian orphans, distribute food and clothing to lepers, and share the Gospel message with the poor throughout the villages in southern India. I am both excited and nervous, as most of my travels have been within the Western world and this will be my first experience in Asia in such extreme living conditions.

I’d love for you to participate with me in this ministry! Most importantly I ask that you participate through prayer. Prayer for safety in travel, health, compassion, physical and emotional strength, team unity, and protection from spiritual attack. Ideally I’d like to have one person commit to praying for me each day that I am in India, so I’ve created a Google calendar outlining the team’s itinerary and the first name of the person who has signed up to pray for me that day (please feel free to sign up for more than one day or more than one person a day!). If you'd like to sign up, please contact me directly or leave your name / date in the comments. You can view my calendar here. 

Secondly, I ask that you consider supporting me financially. I have committed to raising $3,000. If you would like to make a donation to my trip, make donations payable to ROCKHARBOR Church. Please do not write my name or the country anywhere on the check. Please mail to ROCKHARBOR Church, attn: my country / my name, 3080 Airway Ave. Suite 100, Costa Mesa, CA 92626. Please note that donations are tax deductible and are non refundable. All donations will go towards the overall cost of the trip, and any excess funds will first help cover the team’s costs and secondly will be gifted to the ministry we are going to serve.

           If you have any questions, concerns, or encouraging words, please feel free to contact me! Thank you for walking this journey with me.