February 16 Teleconference

The Every Orphans Hope teleconference began with devotions from "Guide to Short Term Missions" which was about trusting in God alone in a deeper way by giving up total control.

We were told our mission begins now as God prepares us for this trip. A missionary mindset was discussed using Romans 12:3 to help us pray about respecting the culture where we are traveling and sharing the gospel.  Rom 12:3 ''For by the grace given me I say to everyone of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.." Another aspect of the missionary mindset is understanding the importance of sharing the Good News with these little ones who have no hope and have not had the opportunity to even know who Jesus is.  Romans 10:13-15  "For Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.  How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?  And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?  And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?  And how can they preach unless they are sent?  As it is written: 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news'."

Last night Les and I witnessed a big Hawaiian who originated from New Zealand sing a song that he says always brings him to tears. It was very heartfelt because it was a song about when the first missionaries came to his island to bring the Good News and how he weeps every time he first sang the song.  He was an amazing singer and performer who shared the Good News in a mighty way.  Another mountain top experience for us last night, so far away from home on this remote island where I write to all of you.

IMPORTANT:  To all of you who wish to partner with us to help these little ones we invite you to Pray for us on this journey.  Your prayers are very important.  We are paying our own expenses on this trip but there are added costs to pay for the children who come to the camp for a week.  We encourage you to consider donating to this wonderful organization to help make this trip the most successful possible.  If you are led to do so you can donate on the website http://everyorphan.org/how-to-help/support-our-ministry/donate/  - just fill our names as Missionaries and the rest of the requested data.  You can make a copy for your tax deductible records.  If you have already donated and did not do this please email cheryl@everyorphan.org and she will add the necessary data to your previous donation.  We have just learned that donations not specified for this mission trip go into the Every Orphans Hope general fund and are not necessarily applied to this trip.  

During the conference we were also encouraged to journal.  This encourages pause for thought and helps us with the process, preparing our attitude and mindset before the trip. This will help us to acknowledge that God's plan is perfect even though we may see things we are not prepared for. Knowing this it will help us to respond correctly. 

We were given a website to study which you all may be interested in reading, especially if our journey interests you enough to want to join us.  It is a snapshot of Zambia --  http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2359.htm.

During the week of Camp Hope for the children the lesson plans we will share to teach the children about Jesus will focus on the following topics: Truth, Faith, Hope, and Love.  More on this later.