When I think about packing hope in a tiny shoebox and sending it to an unknown child somewhere in the world that needs God, it makes me cry because it is such a tiny thing to do to let the orphaned, down-trodden, war torn children know that God loves them and cares about them regardless of who they are and what they have been through! With each of the boxes, the children are given an opportunity to learn more about Jesus and many are invited to churches for the first time. The gift goes far beyond just a little shoebox full of gifts and often can change the lives of children who receive them. With missionaries, we are sending hope in the form of a person to share God's love with those individuals. They are armed with knowledge, tools, and talents to do God's work and minister to those who need it. They don't just invite people to church, but they go out and meet the needs of the individuals and share God's word and his love with them where they are!
Last week, Dan & Christi Ucherek came to speak at our church during the Sunday school hour. They are currently preparing to head to Guatemala to minister to orphans at Eagle's Nest International. They will be helping to care for both the physical and spiritual needs of these children. We send shoeboxes hoping that one life might be changed by the love of Jesus Christ, but what about sending a missionary??! Someone who can potentially change MANY lives by showing them the love of Jesus. Can you help send some loving Christian people to a foreign country to share the love of Jesus with children who have no families and a community in need of God's love? Dan & Christi have a heart for Jesus and his people and a heart for orphaned children and widows and they are willing to take a step out on faith and follow where God leads them to share the Gospel! I encourage you to read their blog (http://godetchedyourname.blogspot.com/), PRAY for them and the people they will be ministering to, stay up to date with their journey on facebook, and also to help financially to send them to Guatemala!
Currently, as Dan & Christi are preparing to go, they are still in need of quite a bit of their funding. Someone has offered to match all funds raised by Tuesday night (5/15) up to $2000. That means whatever you donate in the next 24 hours is DOUBLED!! Please help them with any amount you can to reach the $2000 because it will then be doubled to $4000! CLICK HERE to get to their donation page online. You can then click "DONATE" where you will be given the opportunity to make a one time gift or set up for a monthly gift if you would like to continually support them. They are still in need of around 65 or so people to give $30 monthly to help support them. Are you one of those people??!
**UPDATE: They have reached their $2000 goal (doubled to $4000!) And another donor offered to match another $1000!! THEY HAVE REACHED BOTH OF THOSE GOALS, but still need quite a bit of their monthly support! You can still give**
Please help send HOPE to Guatemala in the form of a willing family of MISSIONARIES!
Over the next few weeks, I will also be highlighting the work of some of the other missionaries that we support and how you can support them too because we pack hope with every missionary we send!
How exciting! Praising God for their provision as well as for the hearts of these missionaries. I also usually focus on OCC but posted about a missionary also.
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