We're Back!

Hello everyone!

Jessica and I have returned! We landed in San Francisco last night around midnight and made it to bed around 2am. It was a very long day of travel, but we are home safe and sound.

We both had such an amazing time in Panama. In fact, as the trip came to a close, we both found ourselves wondering if we couldn't just head back to the islands for one more week.... we saw God working in us and through us, and it was so exciting to be able to be a part of the things He is doing there.

We spent a lot of time playing with the kids there and caring for them in various ways, and we also had the opportunity to buy some food and supplies for some very needy families in the island communities and pray for them and with them. I was able to see a lot of the same kids again as I have on previous trips, which is always special to be able to reconnect with them and see how they have grown and changed since last time.

God has also been doing some great things in our hearts as we were away, and it was exciting to see God working out those things in each other, and in other members of our team as well.

Your prayers were felt deeply throughout the trip, and we are so grateful for and encouraged by each of you! We are so excited to share some stories and adventures with you, so be watching for more stories and pictures coming soon!

Christmas Eve

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the houses,
Every creature was sleeping, except for Jessica and Rachel who were awake from all of their excitement…."

 Or something like that, anyhow.

 With Christmas Eve upon us, Jessica and I have only a few days left until we depart from Panama!

 
The fundraising is done.
Packing is nearly finished.
We are busy putting the final things we need into our bags, double-checking our packing lists, and excitedly texting each other.
 
Nerves.

Excitement.

Anticipation.

 

We were able to spend some time last night talking and shopping for some Christmas gifts for the island kids, and we are both ready to go! While there is still some anxiety for both of us, as there always will be with any situation that includes a lot of 'unknowns', we are both incredibly excited as well!

 

As Christmas Day approaches, we both have been careful to take a moment and reflect on the incredible gift of love and sacrifice, and the humility that Christ showed when he first arrived on Earth as a tiny baby all those years ago. Those qualities are ones that we hope to bring with us and display brightly as we tell the people in Panama about the true gift of Christmas - Christ - and what an incredible gift that was. It is such an excitement and joy to be a messenger to carry that good news to others, whether across the street or across the globe. Our prayer for you is that you would take a moment to pause in this season that, all too often, becomes hectic and busy, and rest in the peace of God's presence, in the Immanuel - God with us.

 "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6

 

 Take the time to rest in His peace and His presence, and rejoice in His goodness and graciousness He has shown to us.

 

Merry Christmas!

The church on one of the islands has a homemade paper Christmas tree!

Final Update On Our Fundrasing

Hey Everyone,

Rachel and I are leaving THIS Friday!! We are so exited and can not believe we will be leaving so soon. The time has flown by so quickly. Rachel and I decided to commit to going on this Panama mission trip early in October, which meant that we each had to fundraise about $2,500 in two and a half months. The thing was - we knew we couldn't fundraise that much money in that short amount of time, combined with the fact that both of us were in college for those months which meant we were going to be occupied with assignments and classwork leaving us a limited amount of time to spend working on our fundraising.

Rachel and I are both fully funded!! Thank you!!

We knew we couldn't do it, but we knew someone who could. God could easily handle this task. Only God could provide for us in these circumstances. We trusted God to provide for us even when the time came closer and closer and it could seem like we couldn't make our goal. God used each one of our friends, family members, church family, and even strangers to complete the  fundraising goal. We are so encouraged by the thoughtfulness and generosity of everyone who donated. Your kind words of encouragement and prayers are also a blessing and mean a lot to us. We honestly could not have done this without all of your support!

Less than three weeks!

Hello everyone!

Well, with less than three weeks to go before we leave, Jessica and I are getting super excited!

We bought our plane tickets a few weeks ago, so our flight itinerary is finalized. We will be leaving the day after Christmas, and we have a pretty long layover in Texas. We'll be in Panama on the 27th! We have been finishing up our fundraising (watch for another post on that), buying some things we need to take with us on the trip, and are getting ready to start packing.

We each still have about a week left of the semester for school, so I know that preparations for the trip will really get underway as soon as we are finished with finals.

Some things that you can be praying about as we are leading up to the trip are:

Some of the flooding in the San Blas.

• Pray for the people of Panama, especially those we will be working with, that their hearts would be open to the Gospel.
• Pray that God would do incredible things in us and through us.
• Pray for our hearts and minds to be open to what God has for us.
• Pray for safety and health throughout the entire trip for the team.
• Pray for the safety of the families on the islands - they have had some pretty heavy flooding in the past few weeks.




More flooding.
 


• Pray for the last bit of our fundraising to come in!

The way that God has been bringing everything together for this trip has been incredible! Jessica and I have already seen him working in some amazing ways, and we can't wait to see what He will do once we arrive in Panama!

Update on Fundraising: Part One

Hey Everyone!

We wanted to give you an update on our fundraising so far. As a quick reminder we are needing to fund raise a total of $5,000 for both of us. 

To date we have raised $1,267 from Rachel and myself individually fundraising and our church envelope fundraiser, which means we still need to raise $3,733 in roughly a month.


We thank those who have already donated so generously - we truly appreciate the partnership and support.


If you would like to donate to help us go serve in Panama, we would be so grateful! We are already seeing the ways that God is moving and working and we are so excited that we get to be a small part of what He has planned for the San Blas Islands this Christmas.

• You can send or give a check to Jessica or Rachel, made out to either one of us or Big World Ventures. 

• You can donate directly to Big World Ventures online at : http://neverthesamemissions.org/donate/ using a credit card and filling in either one of our names in the Missionary Name box.

• Participate in our envelope fundraiser. There are still some envelopes left ranging from $1 to $50. There are available every Sunday after church in the lobby.

• Pray for the people of Panama, that their hearts would be open to the Gospel, and that God would do immeasurably more even than what we could imagine.

• Pray that the Lord will provide for us in an extraordinary way.

You are making a difference! Thank you!

Rachel and Jessica

Coming Soon: An Envelope Fundraiser

Hi everybody!

Some of you have already asked how you can get involved with our trip this Christmas, and we're so grateful! We need you and we're so excited to bring you along as much as we can.

We are going to start an envelope fundraiser. How it works is there are fifty envelopes, each with a number on them (1-50). Each person gets an envelope and fills it with the matching amount - so if you take the #2 envelope, you put in $2, the number #36 gets $36 and so on. If all the envelopes get filled, we will have raised over $1,200!

We will have the envelopes set out at our church after the regular service time. We are also planning on doing two sets of envelopes since there are two of us going.

We are asking that everyone bring the envelopes back to Jessica the following week at church, or at the very latest, by the 23rd of November. We are going to be using the majority of the money from this fundraiser for our plane tickets! We are also asking that everyone would put their name on the back of the envelope so that we can properly thank everyone who is supporting us!

Be on the lookout for those starting this Sunday!

Grateful for all of you,

Rachel and Jessica
 

Our Mission: How You Can Help

Friends,

We are leaving for Panama in about two and a half months. We need your help!

For both of us to go, it will cost about $4,600 including airfare, room and board on the island, and other travel-related costs.

We also would like to purchase our plane tickets within the next two weeks, which will be the best time to buy them before the price skyrockets.

 Jessica and I are trusting that we can raise enough for our plane tickets (about $1800) in approximately two weeks. Can we do it? Nope. Can God do it? Absolutely!

Please pray for us! And consider joining us on our journey and partnering with us to bring the Gospel into these remote regions of Panama.

Some very specific ways you can help:

• You can send or give a check to Jessica or I, made out to either one of us or Big World Ventures. (Although if it is made to Big World, we cannot use it to pay for flights).

• You can donate directly to Big World Ventures online at : http://neverthesamemissions.org/donate/ using a credit card and filling in either one of our names in the Missionary Name box.

• There will possibly be a fundraiser or two coming up sometime in November. You should definitely come to those. :)

• Pray for the people of Panama, that their hearts would be open to the Gospel, and that God would do immeasurably more even than what we could imagine.

• Pray that the Lord will provide for us in an extraordinary way.

We are so excited to share our adventures with you as we travel!

Rachel and Jessica