Tomorrow, Tomorrow!!!

I can't believe the time has come!  Lacey and I leave tomorrow for Rwanda and Kenya!  Ahhhhh!!  Please bear with me as I'm a bit scatterbrained right now.  I'm finishing up the last of my preparations for the trip.  Bags are nearly packed.  My mom is here to help my husband care for the kids, which is especially necessary since Mike had to have emergency surgery to repair a hernia on Thursday.  The kids don't seem too concerned that I'm leaving.  I hope they'll be just fine while I'm away, though my heart already aches when I think about leaving them.

Sunday after church I was covered in prayer by my Evangelist and one of our Priests.  They prayed especially that there would be an entourage of angels with us.  I am holding fast to this prayer.

I want to take time once again to thank each and every one of you.  Each of you has contributed in a very special way through prayer, support, financial gifts and donations for our auction. Everything you have done has not only helped us to achieve our goal of going on this mission trip, but you have also built up our spirits and brought tangible proof of God's love and desires for us.

Today I especially remember a wonderful family who has gone above and beyond.  I want them to know that I will be bringing them with me in spirit as I take along a little token that was given to me just less than five years ago.   Little wings will remind me to believe.  Sending you much love!

I will be bringing along a journal to jot down (well, probably write extensively) the experiences that we have in Africa.  Should we have access to WiFi, I will do my best to pop in to the blog and make an update.  Some of you have been signed up for emails from Home of Hope so that you can keep tabs on our progress and travels.  We'll take lots of photos and we look forward to sharing them with you all!

Thank you once again and please continue to keep us in prayer.

Love,
Michelle

The Time is Drawing Near! Please Help.

I know that many of you may be getting tired of my pleas for help, but please read the caption of this photo. This is why I am going to Kenya!!! I have been placed on a medical team as well as a women's ministry team to assist these at-risk expectant mothers. I still need to raise $1194 to be donated directly to Home of Hope in my stead.http://homeofhope.ca/sponsor/onlinesponsorshipform I only have a few more weeks before the deadline! Please help me go to Africa. For these women, their babies and for all of those who have donated for me already. I don't want to let them down!

We want to REACH them before they need to be rescued:
One of  Home of Hope's FAVOURITE projects right now is helping starving, 
pregnant prostitutes in Kenya who see the sign to not throw 
their babies away. You can partner with us to help women and save their children.

Love,

Michelle

Cost Breakdown - An Update

Sigh...as you can see our total $ to raise has increased as we have received updated information from Home of Hope on what we owe them after flights, then we've been told about visa costs, and have to cover flight taxes and immunizations.  So, I thought I would provide you a breakdown as to what we owe and what we have each received thusfar.

	HOH	Taxes	Immun	Visas	Incident.	Total Ea.
Lacey	2200.00	400.00	500.00	80.00	500.00	3680.00
Michelle	2200.00	520.00	500.00	80.00	500.00	3800.00
Total						$7,480.00
Earned Thusfar
Lacey	$2,640.00
Michelle	1267.00
Auction	885.00
Total	$4,792.00

The Auction totals are going toward the Taxes, so we're nearly there for those!  If you would like to make a direct donation to Home of Hope for myself, please do so by using the "Donate Now" button above and be sure to enter my name in the "Comments" box.

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated!  You are so amazing and we are praying for all of you to be richly blessed!

Please pray that we can be spiritually and emotionally ready for this trip.  I have been so busy with all of the upkeep and logistics of fundraising, and now I have a new job (thank you for your prayers about that!) that I feel I really need to spend more time on preparing spiritually.  Please pray that I am able to do so and not allow the stress of all of the logistics to keep me from it.

Love,
Michelle

Stand By Me

It takes one person to make a difference.  It takes a village of support to get them there.  Will you stand by us?

We can't do it alone.

We'd like to extend a special thank you to those who have recently joined us in our mission to raise funds for our trip to Rwanda & Kenya.  Thank you to our newest sponsor, Impact Nutrition of Lethbridge.

Thank you to my friend, Connie Livingston, of Birthsource.com for also sharing our story. 

Thank you to all of you who have bid on our online auction items.  Your support means so much.

If you haven't donated, yet, please do think of us.  We have about a month to finish raising funds to go directly to Home of Hope (Lacey has finished this portion) to ensure we are able to go on the trip.
God bless you all!

Love,
Michelle

Lights, Camera, Action!

We're so excited!  As you can see, we've made some updates to our blog to help you see how we're doing with our fundraising as well as make it easier for you to donate.  Thank you so much for your donations thus far.  We are praying God's blessings for all of you!!

A quick update, Lacey is still at about $1681.78 and I, Michelle, have now raised $448.22!  Slowly but surely we are making it!

We will be starting our Facebook auction within the week and will post a link here.  We now have several more items for all of you to bid on including plumbing services, massage, doula services, and more!

The big news for today is that we will be on Global News Lethbridge tonight with Mark Campbell!  Check us out at 6:00 pm.  The broadcast will also be online.  We will share video here when it is posted.

We will also be appearing on the Miracle Channel program entitled INSIGHT.  We will be on-air twice in March.  Once earlier in the month and again on March 25th.  We will keep you updated you on that as well.

Finally, we'd like to leave you with the following video.  As you watch, let these children move your heart.  Look at what God can do!  Look at what you can do and are doing as you support us to reach these little ones.  We cannot wait to hold them in our arms!

God bless you all!

Love,

Michelle

Awesome Responsibility

First, some updates:  The flights have been booked!  We're counting down to April 30th when we will fly out of Calgary with the HOH Team!  Lacey has raised $1680 so far. (Woo Hoo!!)  I have raised $300. I am looking for a job to help me raise funds, though so far it has been difficult to find something that works around church and our family's schedule.  We will be booking our immunizations soon (ouch!) and are continuing to look for businesses to donate to our online auction, which will unfortunately will not be able to take place before Valentine's Day.

Now to the reason I'm writing today.  I recently received an amazing and completely unexpected donation.  I was so touched by it that I started thinking about how much I feel responsible to each of our donors.  Let me explain.  We, of course, are seeking to do what we can for the women and children of Rwanda and Kenya.  We want to be tools in the hands of our Heavenly Father.  We must not, however, forget that you, our donors, have entrusted us with a great responsibility to see through this mission trip.  We must work hard to raise the funds to completely pay for our trip so that we are able to go to Africa and do this work.  When we are there, we promise to remember each of you as we do the work we are assigned to.  When we see the faces of the children, we will remember that it is because of you that we are able to help them.  It is an awesome responsibility and one we do not take lightly.

In closing I would like to share with you a video about one of the ministries we will be involved in.  It is called The Stella Project.

A special thanks to each of you who has donated, read our blog and said a prayer for us.  May you be greatly blessed!

Love,

Michelle

It's Getting REAL!

Yes, I'm shouting!  I can't tell you how exciting it was to attend our first (albeit virtual) meeting with the members of our Home of Hope May 2013 team!  We received our basic agenda via email today and went over it during the meeting.  We discussed some of the wonderful things we will be able to do during our trip such as teaching young children, ministering to women, and helping care for infants in the Dream Centre.  I'm particularly excited that I've been added to the women's ministry team, which is something that has been on my heart so much, especially to work with the expectant mothers.  Lacey and I will be working together with teens, sharing our testimony and with music (wink).

We were able to communicate following the meeting with our team leader, Brian Thomson, and a couple of the ladies we'll be working with in women's ministry.  It was so wonderful to hear what they have already been doing in Rwanda and Kenya, praying with women and helping them to overcome shame and fear and embrace our Heavenly Father.

Tonight, I have a lot to think about.  We still have so much to do to prepare for our trip.  We ask for your continued prayer.  If your heart is so moved, we are still in need of donations to help us reach our financial obligations for the trip.  All funds must be in no later than April 15, 2013.  We pray that we are used for God's glory.

In closing, I'm happy to leave you with this, a video with Brian Thomson, showing some of what Home of Hope is doing in the Dream Centre.   Enjoy and God bless!!

Love,

Michelle

All Hands on Deck!

...Praying hands, that is.  We're asking you to be a part of our prayer team.  As we work hard to prepare for our mission trip, evil spirits will work hard to try to deter us from doing God's work.  Will you help us?  Areas where we could use prayer are:

• Strength - We need strength to work toward reaching our goal of serving in Rwanda and Kenya.  We also need strength to battle against negative influences that may try to shift our focus.  We need strength to handle what we will face in Africa and the sorrow and tragedy we may see.
• Health - Prayers that we are healthy as we prepare for our trip and while we are on it.  We will be doing our best to take preventative measures against the prevalent illnesses of the area with vaccinations, etc.  Please also pray for the health of our families and our fellow missionaries.
• Protection - Please pray for protection for ourselves and our fellow mission workers while we travel and are in Rwanda and Kenya as well as the protection of the loved ones we leave behind.
• Blessing - Please pray that we can be of good service and a blessing to all those we meet and work with in Africa
• Financial Miracles - We are working hard to fund raise for our trip and organize all finances necessary to be a part of this mission. Please pray for financial miracles for us so that our trip may be fully funded and any monetary burdens to be lifted.

Once again, thank you so much for all of your love and support!

Blessings to you all with much love,

Michelle

Necessary Things

First of all, thank you so much for your amazing response to our undertaking!  We have been so touched by your words, pledges of financial support, and above all your promises of prayer.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Over the next few weeks, we'll be posting some of the items currently needed by the projects we will be assisting with in Rwanda and Kenya.

One item that has come to our attention is desperately needed in the Dream Centre housing the rescued infants in Kenya.  The children there are cloth diapered and their diaper covers are in poor condition.  If you have any gently used diaper covers, "seconds," or extra covers that you no longer need, we would be happy to take them with us to the Dream Centre. Please email Michelle or Lacey or post on our Facebook Event and we will provide you with an address to send these items to.  *Please note: We are located in Canada, so extra postage may apply.

God Bless You!

Love,
Michelle

Why Africa?

Thank you so much for visiting our blog.  I'd like to begin by giving you a little background into why I personally feel so strongly about embarking upon a mission trip to Africa - specifically Rwanda and Kenya - this Spring 2013.

When I was growing up, we had visiting ministers come to our church several times a year.  Many of them had worked in "far off lands" like India, Africa and Asia.  I would fight to sit close to these people of God and listen to their stories of the mission work that they did.  One story particularly touched my heart, even as a little girl, and I've never forgotten it.

Somewhere in Africa, I'm not completely sure of the country, there was a place where children were taken and murdered.  A trough ran to a body of water and it spilled over as a river of blood.

I prayed often for these children and their lost souls.  From my early childhood on, I felt a strong connection to infants and expectant mothers.  In my adulthood, after my own children were born, I found my calling as a certified birth doula and I now work helping families welcome newborns into their homes.  

I try to keep abreast of women's and children's issues worldwide and advocate for better healthcare during the childbearing year.  Still, I was shocked when my longtime friend, Lacey Klassen, told me about what was happening in Kenya.  Newborn children are being thrown away in a city dump. Home of Hope is working to rescue these children and have set up the Dream Centre, where children are fed and cared for.  Yet, with so many children being left in the dump, Home of Hope has their hands full caring for them and needs volunteers to help with feeding, educating and supporting expectant mothers, and even simply holding and loving these sweet little ones.  

After months of praying and talking things over with my husband and my two children, I feel compelled to go to Kenya and Rwanda to assist Home of Hope in their efforts.  I know that there may be dangers, but I do not fear.  I know the Lord is with us and He will protect us.  I dream of the faces of infants and children.  I dream of their mothers in their desperation.  A piece of my heart is in Africa and I know a bigger piece of my heart will be left there when I return from mission work.  

Dear family, friends and supporters, I ask for your prayers.  Pray for the children.  Pray for Home of Hope.  Pray for Lacey and me in our efforts to raise funds to go to Africa and, above all, pray for our safe travels.  We look forward to sharing our journey with you.  We are so thankful for your continued support!  

God Bless You All!

Love,

Michelle