Sierra Leone: Lesson #1 PRAYER IS POWERFUL!

My team minus Dr. Dave

A little over a month and my team of 12 Judson University students and 1 professor will be flying to Sierra Leone!!!  One thing I've learned about short term missions trips from my past experience and that's being confirmed for this trip is the importance of the before and after trip as well as the trip itself!  Already this semester God has blown me away by how he's working in my team.  Here is a recent crazy awesome God story from our team:

Friday, January 18th, my Sierra Leone team had our first meeting of the semester.  During this meeting our professors informed us that we only had $7,000 raised for our trip and that the only way we would be able to go on this trip this spring break was if we raised $10,000 in a week.  We talked about waiting to go to Sierra Leone until Christmas break 2013 or even Spring 2014.  We discussed using the money to go somewhere locally as well.  One of my team mates, who is from the Ukraine then stood up and started talking about how he had been having trouble getting his Visa to go to Sierra Leone.  He had been very discouraged and almost ready to quit the class, but that afternoon had received a call from the embassy in Sierra Leone and was encouraged to continue to pursue this trip.  Another friend stood up and shared how she had really wanted to go to Brazil instead, but since the decision was made for Sierra Leone the Lord had given her a heart for the people there.  I also felt very much that God had led us to go to Sierra Leone and already connected our hearts with the hearts of the people in Sierra Leone. Others stood up and shared the same kinds of encouragement.  So, we prayed and asked God to provide for us $10,000 by the next Friday at 5pm.  Instead of leaving that meeting discouraged, I left with excitement and anticipation and with faith that God would come through.  We attempted various special fundraisers throughout the week, but none of them were very successful.  We called, texted, and facebooked friends to ask them to pray and possibly donate.  On Thursday we found out we had a total of $15,000 in our account meaning that to get what we needed to be able to go we needed $2,000 more by the next day.  I got a text message from our team leader on Friday, January 25th, at around 1pm that our total for the day was $17,500!!!  God provided BEYOND what we HAD to have to make it possible to go on this trip in just ONE WEEK!!  It's incredible!  We all took that as a word from God telling us that Sierra Leone was definitely His plan for our team.  Since then planning has been kicked up a notch and we're going crazy getting Visas worked out, fundraising more, planning, and praying, among other things as we prepare!  It's so good to have that reminder that what we are doing is in God's will.  He is the one who made this trip possible and He has been so faithful in every aspect of our planning!

Please continue to pray for my team as we plan this trip!  We are learning as we go!  Thank you SO MUCH to all those who have supported me in anyway!  You are a blessing!  God is faithful, He hears our prayers, and He answers them.

Blessings!
-Miranda