Being involved in missions so much, I have written my share of support letters asking for financial and prayer support. But it doesn’t get easier. I still feel uncomfortable doing it. And for my Africa trip, I had decided not to send one, since I used frequent flier miles for my flight. But since, the root canal incident, I decided to send a letter. I don’t know why they make me so uncomfortable. That’s how missionaries earn their salaries…through support. But I’m not a full-time missionary, so I feel like people will be thinking that I’m just asking for money to go on a vacation or something. But God has always been faithful in providing, sometimes as a result of a support letter. This is the horrible plea for money I sent out today.
I never know how to start these letters. I feel like you are just reading it, dreading the point at the end where I tell you that I need financial support. So to save the suspense, and get the dread out of the way, I will tell you now that the plea for funds is coming. But first….
Exciting news! No, I’m not getting married. I am going to Kenya, which is exciting to me. After two years of living with my grandpa, (which I’m so thankful I have been able to do), he has moved into an assisted living home, and I am wondering what is next I do have a bit of vision for the immediate future.
I am going with an organization called HEART (Health Education for Africa Resource Team), and with my friend, Vanessa Reed, who some of you know. www.africaheart.com
I will be involved in different aspects of the outreach in which HEART participates. One of the main objectives on this trip is for the organization to continue to build and maintain relationships with people of influence in Kenya. . HEART has recently acquired a facility that needs to be equipped and arranged to accommodate the many teams that will be coming in the next few months. Many other projects are also in the works. Health and AIDS education seminars are one of HEART’s main focuses. They are also working on a project to ship crates of medical supplies that have been donated. Vanessa is doing research for a book on FGM (Female Genital Mutilation).
There is lots going on with HEART, and I’m not sure exactly what I will be doing. I kind of jumped into this blindly. But, isn’t that how most mission trips are? Even when you think you know what you will be doing, you end up being surprised?
So, I would like to ask for your prayers that God would use me in whichever way he sees fit. I leave in two weeks, and I have had some large unexpected dental expenses come up, which I thought would keep from going to Kenya. But I have decided to take a step of faith, trusting that God has a plan and will provide. So, I also could use prayer for finances.
I really do appreciate your prayers and hope this letter finds you all well. I’d love to hear from you.
If you would like to help support me financially, there are a couple of options. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation, checks can be made out to HEART with my name not written anywhere on the check. If you don’t need it to be tax-deductible, they can be made out to Rhonda Hutchinson. If you would like to pay by PayPal, let me know, and we can arrange that.
They can be sent to:
Rhonda Hutchinson
PO Box 1362
Colfax, CA 95713Oh, and I will be in Europe from June 1st to June 16th, and would love to see some of you guys.
My name is Rhonda. I am blessed to live in a beautiful place out in the country with my wonderful husband. In addition to our "real" jobs (I work at a garden center and he is a teacher), we have a small farm where we raise vegetables, eggs and chickens to sell at local Farmer's Markets. We are currently fixing up/remodeling a house into which we will soon be moving...hopefully. In my free time, (what is that?) I enjoy traveling, cooking, crafty projects, reading and watching the sun set on the hills.
The last time I was thinking about going on a missionary trip, I was talking to a missionary leader for a church and he said that it’s a requirement for people going on trips to raise their own money for it. For me, I could easily tell my parents that I’m going on a missionary trip and they would pay a large percentage of it, if not all of it. It’s not supposed to be that way though. I need to make sure that I go out and fund raise it myself. This benefits me on a number of levels. So, I know the letter writing part tends to stink, but really, it is important.
Rhonda – email me (peter@welmoremile.com) and we’ll figure out a PayPal thing.
-Peter
Rhonda –
I know precisely what you mean. I went through the same issues last year with Guatemala – I didn’t know if God even WANTED me to write support letters, since I had only a couple years earlier to go to India – and my brother was trying to raise support to go to Puerto Rico. From the same people.
My dad and I fasted and prayed for direction or a miraculous puddle of money to drop into my lap, until I felt the Lord leading me to write people anyway. My dad came to me a few days later and he said that He felt the Lord telling me to write letters. Such amazing confirmation! It’s so humbling to ask for assistance, no matter what the case is. He provided just enough for me to go. How good the Lord is! This life really is a Game of the Royal Way. (ever read Brother Andrew?
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I am sure this will not go down well, but I am from the so called ‘third world’, specifically Zimbabwe and all these middle class missionaries do not impress me. It is just a Christian variant of the secular Gap year. An advert for how holy one is. Do you think that ‘God needs you’, Yes all of you, to come here, and teach us about him? Third world churches are far stronger than the churches in the west. Dont your contries have the problem of Godlessness? Drugs, pornography, violence, crime, people generally not caring about each other. All your old people are packed off into homes where immigrants care for them for less than minimum wage often. Why can not more of you christians be a light in your own homes, jobs etc. I am sure that it would make a far bigger difference for someone at your job to see that not everyone binge drinks and sleeps around, than to spend the annual income of a family in the country you are going to, building a hut, helping the environment and ‘teaching *them* about God. It makes me very sad to see this phenomenon. Just like victoran ladies collecting for ‘the poor black babies’ (who in fact were quite happy left alone) than for the people dying in the debtors prisons and gutters of London.