Support-raising is going well! It's been an exciting past two-week journey. Last week, I was pretty much at my wits end thinking, Lord, I really don't know what else to do. So far this whole summer I've always had an idea for where the next percentage of support would come from --either because people had told me they intended to give, or because there were groups of people I hadn't talked to yet but I knew would probably support me if I went to them. This time, I had exhausted all my contacts and social circles and had no clue for where else to go to ask for the last 20%.
Working from home has been gong well in that by the end of last week, I had been productive enough on all the major departure projects (like immunizations, visa application, etc.) and support correspondence to be sort of sitting on my thumbs. On Wednesday, I asked God for a sign to encourage me and strengthen my trust that He really WAS working. I told Him that it would be a lot easier to believe if I actually SAW something happening! ;) But my monthly support account hadn't grown in weeks. That night, it grew by 2%! I was heartened, but still had no clue where the last 18% would come from. I told the Lord, God, if you want me to DO something, let me know and I'm more than happy to do it. Or if I should just sit back and let You work, that's fine too, but give me peace of mind and heart either way. No divine voice thundered from heaven, but the verse that kept going through my head all week was Habakkuk 1:5
“Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly astounded. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told."
Over the weekend, my roommate and I planned to visit her hometown about 2.5 hours away to pick up a couch she had for our apartment. I made arrangements to speak at a church there since I knew the pastor and a few others in the congregation. It was a small church (about 40 people). The area is well-known for having been hit hard with the recession, so my purpose for going was more to fellowship with the people and to seek their prayer support for the work in Asia. I did not expect to receive much financially.
God must really enjoy blessing in unexpected ways because the number of people in that church who came up to me after my presentation and said they wanted to pledge monthly was more than I've EVER received. Ever. (I've spoken to about 15 churches or church groups in recent months through the support-raising process.) I was blown away.
Several more people have responded to my emails today saying they want to pledge monthly, so... at this point, my actual account is still at 83% monthly and 95% or so in the one-time. (The one-time is hard to know exactly because it's based on future expense estimates, but I'm very close to 100%.) But if everyone who has told me they plan to send pledge and giving information in does soon then I will have about 94% of the monthly and 100% of the one-time. Hoooray, God! I DO need 100% in both areas before I can actually book a flight, so keep praying that this will happen!
Thank you for all your love, encouragement, and prayers!!
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