Last blog from the states!

It's 12:30am, so please pardon my sleepiness!

This is my last message from the states! Sign up for the email updates on here! I probably wont be able to respond to individual emails while I'm out there.

SO i'm all packed! I was packing and unpacking and packing all day today. And then tonight our team had a packing party for the supplies.

First update on that... GOYA received a donation of 2 SEMI TRUCKLOADS FULL OF VITAMINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So, since we are limited on how much we can take, we packed 30,000 pills. The rest will hopefully be shipped at another time or some will definitely be taken for the next trip in June. P.S. they are accepting applications for the June trip if you're interested in going!

We collected 232 sunglasses! A big thank you to Vine Community Church's youth program for donating 190 of them!

We are also bringing with us 100 bible bags, A handful of reader glasses donated by the Lions club, a bunch of medical supplies donated by the Bloomington Fire Department, and a bunch of newborn receiving blankets.

I'm really excited to be working with my team. All three of them are medically trained. 2 of which are firefighter EMT's. I can't remember what April does... sorry April! I think she works in a hospital though.

I got a little more information as to what I'll be doing my final 2 weeks there. I will be doing a lot of data collecting for the organization, since the board of directors can't be there. This includes searching for land to hopefully build a school. I will also be doing assessments and various other things.

Anyway, i'm super excited to see what God does out there! We are supposed to leave Bloomington tomorrow around noon and head up to Chicago. Our flight leaves in the evening. After that, we will be landing in London for a 12 hour layover. Wahoo! Then we will be on an 8-10 hour flight straight to Nairobi, Kenya. So I will be flying probably a total of 16 hours. Hopefully I will be sleeping on those flights!

Please keep me and the rest of the team in your prayers as we begin our clinic!

Thank you everyone for all of your love and support! This trip would not be made possible without it!!!

Love,
Stacy

suffering... just in time for xmas!

This trip is soon approaching!

I can finally say that I feel prepared to go. For the past 6 months, God has been equipping me for this trip. After much prayer from all of my friends, I can finally say that I feel like I can do this. My heart is open to whatever I experience, and my hope is that I see these people as my brothers and sisters--not people with a label attached to them. While I want to help them with their medical needs, I yearn to hear about their personal stories. I look forward the most to hearing about their lives.

God is sending me on this trip for a reason. I don't know yet what it is, but his promises have held true. At the begnning of this trip, he told me that I would raise enough funding to go. Through this process, he has proven to me how little faith I have. He has countlessly provided funding for this trip. Not only did he provide enough funding for me to go, but he provided MORE funding for me to stay by myself for an extra 2 weeks. I remember earlier this fall he told me that I would recieve a large amount of money. The next day, an aquaintance showed up on my doorstep with $100. Later that week, I was given $300.

What amazes me the most is that I put in 10% of my personal money for this trip. The other 90% is from you. To be honest, I don't think God wanted me to put in any of my money, but being as stubborn as I was in the beginning, I wanted this trip to happen. How selfish of me to take matters into my own hands; this was God's plan...not my own!

Through all of this, God has been showing me a bigger picture. My pastor back in Carbondale said it best this morning... that as Christians, we must suffer and endure hardship to attain spiritual maturity.

Many of you know me to be a "planner" or what I call a "control-freak." As I have SLOWLY given things to God, I've suffered. But the suffering was really all in my head. Suffering to me meant not knowing what was next for me. So this past year has had a lot of "suffering." I suffered because somewhere in the back of mind I didn't think this trip was going to happen since I wasn't personally contributing to making it happen. I suffered through doing poorly on the GMAT test, not sure if I'd make it into grad school. I suffered being told that my test score wasn't going to make the cut even though my GPA was a 4.0. I'm STILL suffering not knowing where I'll work after this trip.

But you know what? It's worth it!

Pray for me this week. Especially for distractions.

Love,
Stacy

13 Days!!

We are getting so close!!

Don't forget that we are still accepting UV protected sunglasses! You can drop them off any time between 9am & 5 at the Cybernautic Studio: 900 W. College Ave, Bloomington

Just a quick reminder that we will be having our packing party on Sunday, December 27th @ 5pm at the Cybernautic Studio as well.

Make sure to double check the items listed in the field guide so that you remember to bring everything you will need. :)

~Roxy

As we get closer to December 28th, the departure date of our medical team, there are still needs to be met!

1. We are looking for donations of UV protective sunglasses to distribute to adults suffering from cataracts or to prevent such an issue from occurring.

2. Our Medical team needs $931.37 which will cover all medical supplies that they will need during the Medical Clinic, December 28, 2009 -January 11, 2010

Contact Roxy to learn how to donate specifically to the medical supply fund.

3. We need $2856 to build our 8th grade students a classroom. Click here to learn more about this opportunity!

Thank you for choosing to make a difference in other people's lives this Christmas!

I reached my goal!

This world is full of hatred…but it’s also full of love.

You have all proven that love is powerful. Your prayers, laughter, and personal stories have all been inspiring.

Do you see what has happened? You have all proven that our hearts are full of yearning for adventure. Some may say they are too old, too broke, too… you get the picture. But if I had for one moment listened to the too’s of this world, I wouldn’t be going on this trip.

This trip was just a vision. From the realistic point of view, you would think you were just crazy… it was a day dream… if even that. God gave me the courage to take a risk. I could have not said a word to anyone about what I saw. I could have gone about my day going through the same motions in this world; which all too often gets us caught in. Instead, I took a risk. The risk of being ridiculed. The risk of being told I was naïve. Comfort is numbing. Comfort on the outside sounds good, but on the inside it is a death sentence. Instead of being comfortable, I took that risk. That is one of the best decisions I have made. I challenge all of you to step out of your comfort zone—to come alive again and step out of the numbness that we think is life. You may find to be much happier by doing so.

God grows us by going through pain and suffering, but only if we are willing to take that risk. Jesus told us that we must have childlike faith. Risk can be considered childish. If so, then I feel honored to be called childish.

Thank you for believing in me. Thank you for being a friend. Thank you for helping me reach my goal. Now go out there and do it yourself!

Love,

Stacy