Missions

Missions to Belgium: A Family Opportunity for Discipleship, Service and Spiritual Growth

When called to the Missions Field, you go. The Lord will provide a way.

I have been mission-minded for quite some time but didn’t realize it. Maybe it was the Lord nudging me all this time but the timing and right doors weren’t quite available… until now. You can read more about my thoughts on missions at this post.

My daughters and I, together, have been mission minded since we started putting together the VBS outreach at the local church a few years ago. We had been called to reach the community and to teach the love of our Lord Jesus.

Now there is an opportunity to extend our outreach for the Lord overseas in Belgium. In a town just outside Brussels, we will be helping to revitalize an old paper factory while discipling and praying for the local community and being a Christian presence in an increasingly secular state.

Operation Mobilization, partnering with Lifetree Adventures, has established a mission and outreach center in Brussels as well as church planting training. Our church home is supporting our trip with a generous contribution as well as prayer and spiritual support.

VBS is fun and full of amazing opportunity to reach the youth and their families, but sometimes missions involves hard work. I will refer to this as manual labor. To teach the younger generation that missions involves all things for God and sometimes we need to do the hard stuff, this is a great opportunity to fulfill this understanding.

We ask that you consider partnering with us in prayer and, if you feel led, with any financial contribution  Thank you all for your generous support. Please share this journey with your loved ones and friends via social media.

Our family verse:

I (we) can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (us) Philippians 4:13

All proceeds will go directly to pay for our trip expenses, and any funds that surpass our need will be put back into a missions fund for our church and to the organizations that we will be working with.

The best way to give financial support is by contacting me (we no longer have our GoFundMe page).

 

UPDATE ONE (11-19-2018):

“God, we are excited to serve You. May we be faithful ambassadors as we serve you with our whole hearts. Remove any selfish desires or ill motives and align our hearts with Your purpose. Create in us a selfless and humble heart to reflect Your love. Prepare us for this commission. We want to learn more about You. Amen.” -from the YouVersion mission devotional

UPDATE TWO (11-21-2018):

We are very grateful for the very generous donations that we have received outside of this online campaign. Our family really appreciates your support through monetary donations and prayer. We feel confident in the work we will be doing for the kingdom and the discipleship that we will administer and receive.

UPDATE THREE (12-5-2018):

We are just under 2/3 of the way for our fund-raising goal as of today. Through generous donations, turning in recyclables, selling home-made skirts, and a garage sale, we are making great strides in telling people about this special missions, our family’s goal, and paying for our trip. Thank you all very much. Much Aloha to you!

UPDATE FOUR (12-19-2018): 

Today brings you our very best update! We are 75% of the way to our fund-raising goal! Thank you all for your generous support. You are amazing and have blessed us immensely.  If you wish to give financially, please contact me for further information. What we are looking for the most is prayer.  More on that in a bit.

Here are some more updates:

We have our flight itinerary, and saved $1500 in funds hence helping our fund-raising. We found some good flights and hope that all goes smoothly when our travel date approaches.

We have also met with our trip organizer on a video conference. We received some great information, more details, and spent time understanding the process of this mission a bit more. We have another video conference set up with our organizer and the Belgium missionary for late next month. We were told that the missionaries in Belgium are very excited that a mom and her two daughters will be coming to support their operation. This is a wonderful opportunity to serve with my daughters and we are thrilled that we have such great support.

Here are our specific prayer requests for now:

  • Two others are considering joining our team. Please pray for them and that choose according to God’s will for their lives
  • We still need to raise about $1700. We are waiting to hear back from several people who have expressed interest in supporting us in this way. Please pray that they give according to the Lord’s leading.
  • Please pray that Gabby’s broken leg heals properly and that she is stronger than ever. She will be having physical therapy hopefully starting at the end of January, we travel in March.
  • Please pray for health for our entire family, including my husband and the other children who are staying home.
  • Prayers for my husband’s requested leave so that he will be available to care for the children staying home and for us if we have any emergencies.
  • Please pray for our spiritual well-being as we start prepping through prayer and study in the new year.
  • Pray that we can sell the rest of our fund-raising items very soon.

Thank you all very much. Please check out the following videos I have posted about the organizations that we will be working with. We are beyond excited to help serve others and the Lord in any capacity that He calls us to.  It is an amazing opportunity to serve with my daughters. This is a grand blessing that I hope will grow our Lord’s Kingdom and strengthen our faith.

 

 

UPDATE FIVE (1-8-2019):

A BIG MAHALO NUI LOA to all who have supported us in our mission fund-raising, prayer and encouragement (and also for those who have given little goodies to help us in our travels). We are almost to our goal. God is good, all the time! We only need to raise $525 as of today. We are very blessed by all of you and we cannot wait to tell you how God has used your investment into growing and discipling His kingdom.

We have further prepared with some other needs. We have found a great deal on luggage. There will be a grand attempt to bring only carry-ons. This will be a big feat for Maryann and my three pairs of shoes! We have also needed clothing since the girls have now outgrown most of their cold weather items that were last worn four years ago. Living in a tropical climate is a wonderful experience, but leaves us ill-prepared for travel. Christmas was a great time for several items that we needed and can use next winter as well.

Our family will be having another video conference in a few weeks with our mission organizer and Belgium missionary. At that time we will also be finding out if anyone else will be joining our team.

Our prayer requests for today are as follows:

  • Prayers for spiritual and physical health and protection for our entire family
  • Prayers for the rest of our financial need
  • Encouraging support from our community
  • For us to be well-prepared
  • Prayers for Operation Mobilization and Group Life Adventures and their ministries
  • Prayers for the Belgium missionary team
  • Prayers for our missions organizer
  • Growth in our faith walk

Thank you all. If you are wondering what we will be doing with any funds that are above our need, we will be donating to the mission in Belgium.  We can’t wait to share more with you after our next meeting.

Thank you.

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