HEY EVERYONE!!
And still yet another update from Fort Worth, TX. I am nearing the beginning of my trip and would like to update y'all on what has been happening here. I originally got to TX May 20 to share my testimony at a Youth conference. If you got my last email, that conference was amazing and God really worked on my heart even as I shared some tough parts of my testimony. Since then, I have just been helping around at my friend's church and just hanging with some of her friends while preparing for my trip.
I leave next Friday (June 10th) for Garden Valley, TX where we train for 6 days before leaving for Nepal. In Nepal, our ministry is going to be a drama called the Journey Man as well as teaching English in schools, ministering in a recovery center for sex trafficking victims, and street ministry in which we walk around and share the gospel will those we encounter in the village. We will be in Kathmandu -Pokara Valley
In India, we will be in Chennai, where we will also be doing the Journey Man drama, VBS for kids, prayer ministry (similar to street ministry) and also Servant Evangelism where we assist with everyday household chores and present the gospel through building that relationship. Below is a tentative Schedule for this summer.
Tentative Trip Schedule for Summer:
* June 13 – Arrive in Garden Valley, TX and meet your team
* June 14-15 – Train for your mission to Nepal
* June 16 – Depart Texas for Nepal
* June 17-July 4 – Minister in Nepal
* July 5 – Spend the day touring Nepal
* July 6-11 – Minister in Nepal
* July 12 - Travel to India
* July 13-30 – Minister in India
* July 31 – Spend the day touring India
* August 1-2 – Depart for Texas
* August 3 – Spend a last day with your team and prepare to go home
* August 4 – Depart for home and change the world
*Project Directors and Team Leaders are required to arrive to the Global Expeditions' headquarters on June 10
Financial Need:
I had such a great response as of my last update and am so grateful to you all for praying and supporting me.
Here is where I am now, financially:
$30 - mission acct balance - this is what is owed for me to go! This is everything that Global Expeditions requires to be paid in full before the trip. PRAISE GOD! this is significantly lower than the $400+ I listed in the last email! Thank you JESUS!
$200 - spending money - I put this amount although I know GE recommends a bit more. ($50 per week) What this money would contribute to is fun treats, souvenirs, and also phone cards, and anything else that may come up that is not a necessity but would be nice to have
If you want to give - please support me through my paypal account which is : rhemma.payne@gmail.com or click on the Paypal button on this blogsite
Prayer Requests:
* My needs: that they are met!
* My health : my eyes, tooth have been bothering me in particular; overall health!
* My project: Project Directors: Kenny and Tanya; Team Leaders, Missionaries; ministry contacts
* My growth: This trip is going to be an amazing opportunity for me to grow spiritually, please pray that I'm willing and open to these changes
I appreciate all your prayers - immensely. I have so many who are willing to support and pray with me and it can be overwhelming. In it all I'm trying to remain grateful! Keeping my Attitude of Gratitude! Satan would rather me fixate on these last minute expenses and health needs but I'm choosing to stay grateful and thankful to God who has brought me this far!!! He is faithful to complete it! Thank you all for allowing me to share this with you as I prepare to have an experience of a lifetime.
I'm reading the book The Shack right now, a fiction novel about a man whose daughter is abducted and murdered; after receiving a mysterious note that he believes is from God inviting him to go back to the shack where his daughter was murdered, he sets out to get some answers. It is here that he finds himself interacting with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit through various situations that help him address all his hurt...while finding out about God and HIS goodness....
.... I mention this book only to share with you where I feel like I am right now. I feel as though I am learning about God in a whole new way in this point in my life and having to address some religious ideas I have of HIM and learning to truly live my life solely for HIM.
What does that look like? What does that feel like?
I'm learning about myself and how I tend to run from things that challenge me, how I use anger to shield hurt, how I expect people to fail - which translates into expecting (and sometimes hoping that God would fail to). In regards to this trip, I know that it is important that I confront head on my biggest fears in hopes that I will have an experience similar to this character in this book - believing that when I meet God a place of hurt, brokenness, and massive amounts of unknowns, and ugly truths (about myself) that I don't want to see, that He will be there - preparing an encounter for me, specifically designed for me, an unforgettable experience with HiM that I will never forget. My shack represents my fear of flying that I will continuous conquer, my challenge to share my life with the teens on my team, my hurts, guilt, shame from choices I made prior to receiving Christ....and many other things I've tried to hide away in my heart.
I know this trip to Nepal and India will help me address myself as I share my life with those I've never met. This is why I am fighting until the very end to go! Yes, I want to go overseas and share the gospel, Yes I want to see people healed, delivered and SAVED in Jesus' name! BUT I also want to meet God in a different way, willing to be vulnerable and willing to have HIM address whatever He needs to address in my overseas shack.. giving HIM permission to shake my world up...
My prayer is that we all will be able to find that adventure that is both exciting and challenging to go on, knowing that through all the preparation, all the fears, that we would risk it all for the chance to meet God face-to-face and to have an experience that no one will be able to take away from us!! FIGHT FOR YOUR ENCOUNTER WITH GOD! He has an experience designed for you and only you, you just have to decide whether or not you will accept the invite to go away with Him!
God bless you all and thank you for reading!! I leave you with this..one of my favorite songs right now by Jesus Culture, Come Away
lyrics: "it's gonna be wild, it's gonna be great, it's gonna be full of ME"
Jesus Culture "Come Away"
It's gonna be a wild summer!! Love you all!!
