Women’s Team to Asia Countdown

After a full day of working and serving in a tribal village, my teammate and I sank into the back seat of the truck for the ride home. As we processed all the doors God opened that day, we did some dreaming with our partners about future potential.  God planted the idea in our hearts and minds to come back and do a first ever tribal women’s retreat with the people group. Taking a Women’s Ministry short term team to minister specifically to women had long been on my heart, but God began to put the dream together there in the back seat of the pick up truck!

In two weeks from today I take off for Asia! I am beyond excited!!!!   I’m taking a team of 4 teen girls and 4 women (including myself AND JoHanna!) for a ministry trip to work with partners who are very close to our hearts. Though I tend to be someone who is very open, when publishing on the web, I am very careful not to share anything that would put our partners in jeopardy or compromise their work. If you wonder why I intentionally leave out certain words, names, and specific places, that’s why! I wouldn’t ever want to be the cause of creating a limitation for those we love who are laboring for the Lord in restricted places. With that said, I DO want to share all I can! I also covet your prayers as we finish up our prep, take off, and serve. In the next couple of weeks, I’ll be sharing some details with you … but I may also be “away” from my blog a little more, as I get my heart, mind, body, team, and home ready for departure.

Today I just want you to meet my awesome team! I have been praying about a team like this for a long time … okay, years.  This particular team has focused on mentoring HERE, by partnering teen girls with women, so each one is building into the life of another. Our ministry THERE will focus on serving children, tribal women, and villages. More details another day on “what” we’ll be doing. And then we’re excited to come back as ambassadors, the girls in particular, for what God is doing in Asia. I am praying that this opportunity will leave a deep imprint on the lives of the 4 girls who are serving with us and that their hearts will be intertwined with the hearts of the girls in the orphanage. Wouldn’t it be cool if God created bridges of friendship that last for years to come?

Not only are we all busy finishing exams, finishing home school, wrapping up the year as principal, taking school students on a final trip, getting ahead at the office, going to work, and stashing food in the freezer at home … we are also practicing skits and music, working on testimonies and lessons, gathering materials for crafts, and thinking about what to pack. Most of all, we are preparing our hearts.

To help my team prep to serve, I’ve been sharing Ready Set REACH! on Fridays, but it’s also tailor made for anyone getting ready to reach a neighbor or serve in summer Vacation Bible School or just go to the store with more of an “others” outlook. Tomorrow I’ll be sharing Week #7’s free download.  Look for more about our team’s ministry, the children of the orphanage, and the women God loves in Asia next week!