Jan 23, 2010 | Uncategorized
Hi dear ones! I am excited to share with you about this opportunity, because I hope some of you folks in the North Carolina, or USA area will answer the call!
Our dear friends Frank and Sharon Dees run a wonderful missions organisation back in NC called Youth On Mission (YOM)and they are organising trips to Haiti in the next few months to help with the relief efforts there. I personally don’t think you could sign on with a better couple of folks to be a part of a life-changing experience to touch lives and be a blessing in an incredible time of need.
Before you switch off or click to another post I just want to encourage you — yes, you — to consider that this could be a possibility for you. Your boss might actually give you the time off work to go and be a part of this. (You won’t know until you ask). Your church might be willing to do some car washes, bake sales, etc., to raise the funds to help you be a part of this. (You won’t know until you ask.) People might even offer to help take care of your kids. Your professors might say it’s okay to miss a few classes. So before you say n-n-n-oooo think about the possibility of saying yes. Rich Mullins used to say, “If you ain’t called to stay, you’re called to go!” (That might be my paraphrase…but think about it!)
Here are the details from Frank:
Good afternoon, I pray that you are all well. I want to let you know about opportunities for you to directly help with the current relief and recovery efforts in Haiti. I will be traveling with our International Mission coordinator Bob Adams and a team of 12 volunteers into Haiti the week of February 27. The team will work with YOM’s partner ministry SCORE International, which has a served in the Dominican Republic for 20+ years. Below is specific information on where we will be serving and what we will be doing.
The level of interest and desire to help has been amazing the last several days as God has brought about the right partners and opportunities to go and assist in whatever capacity the Lord allows. The small contribution that our ministry can make is summed up in our mission statement:
“Youth On Mission exists to meet spiritual and physical needs by equipping and mobilizing short term mission teams for the purpose of sharing the love of God through His son, Jesus Christ.”
This is why we exist and what we seek to do every day. The disaster in Haiti is another opportunity for all of us, as the body of Christ, to meet these spiritual and physical needs by sharing the love of God through his son Jesus Christ. I pray that we will all assist in whatever capacity and by whatever means we are able.
YOM will recruit another team for the week of March 6-12. This is the second week that I will be in Haiti after our initial group returns to the U.S. Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti and YOM as we seek what our part in this will be going forward. Please let me know if you have any questions, thoughts or concerns that we can help with.
March 6-12 Â –Â Trip Cost: $1,300 per person
1. $500 NON-REFUNDABLE deposit is due at registration to secure a spot. Tickets will be purchased at the time of registration; therefore, no one is registered until the deposit is received.
2. Spots will be given on a first come first serve basis; we cannot hold spots without at deposit.
3. Final balance is due by FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19
Cost includes: Airfare, meals, lodging, ground transportation, insurance, and supplies. Application and notarized Medical Release form must be completed by February 19. Anyone under 18 must be accompanied by a parent.
Ministry Locations:
You will travel to one of the following ministry cities during your trip at the discretion of our partners on the ground. You will not be able to choose which city you go to. As of 1-22-10, most ministry is currently based in Jimani.
1. Port au Prince (PAP): In PAP we are working with an orphanage that sits right beside the runway for the airport. Teams will use the orphanage as a base camp to distribute supplies and provide medical help.
2. Jacmel, Haiti: this is a town on the southern coast of Haiti, about 30 miles south of PAP. Jacmel is not getting relief teams because of the difficulty of reaching the location. SCORE is working with the Mayor of Jacmel and we have a building that we can use for our base camp there.
3. Jimani, D.R. This is the town right on the border of Haiti. Refugees are flooding out of Haiti and coming to Jimani. A local hospital there has offered to let SCORE International use an entire floor of the hospital to work with the refugees. This will be a location where medical teams can provide much needed relief.
Tentative Trip Schedule:
Saturday: Fly from USA to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. SCORE will pick you up at the airport and take you to a hotel in Juan Dolio, Dominican Republic.
Sunday: Purchase food, water, and medical supplies. Travel to your ministry city.
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: Work in your ministry city. (Medical clinics, food and water distribution, etc.)
Thursday: Travel from your ministry city back to Santo Domingo. Stay in town of Juan Dolio that night.
Friday: Fly home to USA from Santo Domingo airport (SDQ).
What to Bring:
Pack light! Bring two to three changes of clothing. $100 or less of spending money will be plenty unless you are bringing extra cash to buy donation supplies with. Sleeping conditions may vary in your ministry city, so be prepared to sleep on the ground or in rough environments. Most common items needed on the trip include: flashlight, sunscreen, towel or wash cloth, snacks or protein bars, bug spray, sleeping bag or tent, and toiletries. Also, it is a good idea if everything you bring for your own needs fits in a backpack.
How to Sign Up:
Call YOM @ 1-800-299-0385 or email yom@yom.org or visit our website (www.yom.org).
Send in the paperwork via email or fax as soon as possible. YOM needs full payment for your trip by FRIDAY FEBRUARY 19. We accept Visa and MasterCard, and check.
Safety Concerns:
As of right now our people on the ground do not foresee and safety concerns in the Dominican Republic. This is why we feel it is best to bring teams in through the DR and stage the trips from there. As the groups go into Haiti, we will have a security envoy that will travel with them. The situation on the ground changes day by day and safety in Haiti is never guaranteed. We will do our best to keep you posted about the safety level of the teams in Haiti
Health Concerns:
There are no required immunizations at this time. You can refer to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) website for up to date information about shots and immunizations. (www.cdc.gov)
Passports:
Yes, passports are required to fly into and out of the Dominican Republic as well as travel between the DR and Haiti. If you do not have a passport and want to get one with an expedited service, try www.visahq.com The 2 day service costs $200 (plus the regular passport fee of $135). At checkout, enter the promo code HAITIHQ to get 50% off of the service fee, making it only $100.
Extra Nights:
We have had some inquiries about people wanting to go on a Rapid Response trip and stay for longer than the 7 day / 6 night trip that we have planned.
If you would like to go and then stay an extra week, we can do that. The price is $50 per person per night for any extra nights ($350 for one extra week, $700 for two extra weeks, etc).
Please understand that when the team leaves their ministry city on Thursday morning that you will have to return with them to Santo Domingo.
We will not be leaving anyone in a ministry city or in Haiti in between the trip dates.
You will return to a ministry city with the next team on the following Sunday.
Ultimate Goal:
The ultimate goal of our Rapid Response Mission Teams in twofold. We want to go and provide physical and medical relief to those in need, but more importantly we want to share the Good News of Jesus Christ and meet their spiritual needs.
Frank Dees
Youth On Mission, Director
frank@yom.org
www.yom.org
www.facebook.com/YouthOnMission
1-800-299-0385
(Caroline here) Well, guys and gals… I think that sounds like an amazing opportunity! If I wasn’t halfway around the world here in SA I would really be keen to jump in! If you are interested or have more questions, I would definitely suggest touching base with Frank or visiting www.yom.org. If you decide to go, please let me know! We (me and hopefully your fellow readers) will keep you in prayer during the trip, and I would love for you to guest post on the blog about your experience when you get back! Please pass this post on to anyone you think might be interested!
Jan 17, 2010 | Uncategorized
I thought I’d share this website with you in case you haven’t come across it yet. At the Hope For Haiti blogspot, there are lots of cool giveaways, you can win some great prizes, and each dollar you contribute goes toward relief efforts in Haiti AND counts as an entry for whatever prize you’re hoping to get! Perhaps one of each? There are some adorable accessories, scrumdiddlyumptious-looking cookies, advertising spots, photo shoots, web design packages…a little bit of everything. I highly recommend checking it out! Just click here:
Oct 26, 2009 | Stories, The Good Word, Uncategorized
There’s this really intriguing moment recorded in Luke 9, often titled ‘The Cost of Discipleship.’ In it, Jesus has conversations with three people whom I suppose you could consider potential disciples. At first it all seems a bit cryptic, but with some deeper thought about it, there is so much richness to it! Care to dig in?
In the first conversation, Jesus and the disciples are journeying along the road, the usual, and someone says, “Lord, I will follow you wherever you go.†Jesus responds with “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.†Seems a little out there, but to me I think Jesus is basically saying, “Brother, I don’t think you really have a clue what you’re signing up for. It’s not as glamourous as it looks.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote about these conversations in The Cost of Discipleship, and he reads this as a person showing up to follow Jesus without any respect for the call of Jesus. He doesn’t wait for Jesus to call him to follow Him, and he lacks respect and understanding for what it means to follow Christ.
What does this mean for us? I think one lesson we can learn from this is that following Christ may not always look the way you think it should. You may desire to follow Him to teach English in China. He may desire you to be faithful with your work and life in Tennessee. Perhaps the call of God will be for you to go to China next year, but for now, you are called to be faithful where you are. This might mean being faithful to the Lord at a Pawn Shop when you want to be out on the field as a missionary. (For a season, that’s what it meant for me). Some of the people Jesus healed asked to follow him and He told them no. This didn’t mean He didn’t want them to follow Him in the sense of being believers and walking in faith, it simply meant their call was not to leave their village and travel around with Him like His disciples.
There’s a good example of this just one chapter earlier in Luke 8. Jesus heals a demon-possessed man, and the man begs Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sends him away, saying, “Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.†So this man’s calling was not to follow Jesus in the physical sense — to go with Him to the places where He was teaching and healing, but he still had a calling from God — to go and tell people about what the Lord had done for him. For whoever listened, this guy would be preparing the way for the Gospel, and for the preaching of Jesus’ death and resurrection, in the hearts of those with whom this man shared his testimony.
Back in Scotland, when we went out for fish and chips, instead of getting “take-out” we were going out for a “take-away.” And in all of this I see an incredible take-away. Many of us might say “I’m not called to go and share my faith in Africa. I’m not called to be a pastor or a youth minister or an evangelist.†That may well be true. But that does NOT mean you do not have a calling from God. If you are in Christ, you are still called to tell people about the good things the Lord has done for you.
The Great Commission was not just a suggestion for the people who would step into full time vocational ministry. By God’s grace, you know Him now, and you are still on this earth, so you have work to do! And little doves don’t need to fly out of the sky and deliver this calling to you on a scroll in order for you to know it’s yours. If you are in Christ, He has good works prepared in advance for you to walk in. Whoever you are. Wherever you are. (Ephesians 2:10) You are called to preach the Gospel, make no mistake. And those neighbours of yours, and those coworkers of yours, at the Tax Office, in the Pawn Shop, or wherever you may find yourself, are people who may not hear the Good News unless you share it with them. In the wise words of Gwen Stefani, what you waiting what you waiting what you waiting what you waiting what you waiting… for?
You may have noticed, dear reader, I am coming to a close and we’ve only covered the first of the three interactions. Fret not! This post is “to be continued†and we’ll look at the next conversation very soon. Until then, start asking yourself, am I walking in those works Christ prepared in advance for me? And if not, hop to it! He could be back any minute!
Jun 23, 2009 | Uncategorized
June 23rd marks the two year anniversary of my marriage to Mr. Mark Collie. The Lord has blessed me with His exceeding abundance in Mark and I am so thankful for him in my life. Although we were living in Scotland at the time, we were married two years ago in my hometown, back in Washington, North Carolina. The wedding was indeed a splendid event, and I am so thankful to our parents and many others who were a part of making it happen. My Mom survived, and now both her daughters are married! God is good!
One moment I look back on with extra thoughtfulness is the bridesmaids’ luncheon I enjoyed with my bridesmaids (and my delightful sister/maid of honour) the day before the wedding. The luncheon itself was wonderful, but there was one tiny hiccough that has been on my mind. Although it’s not a hard and fast rule — perhaps it is in the South? — it seems a lovely and delightful tradition that the bride makes a speech at this event, in thankfulness to the hosts, and of course to her bridesmaids. I did have gifts and thankfulness to pass along to my girls, but my words were a bit lacking. If the excuse that I had never previously attended a bridesmaids’ luncheon, or that I was preparing for the wedding from 3,500 miles away is not sufficient, well, I have no other.
At any rate, it is in my heart to take the opportunity now to say a few words to the girls without whom my life would be a completely different story — and not nearly as beautiful or sweet as it is. The world is so much a richer place because there is such a thing as friendship. I am grateful! Without further ado…
Shelley — My friend, I am so thankful for you. If it weren’t for the Lord putting you in my life, I might still be a double agent — confessing Christianity while walking in rubbish and darkness. Praise the Lord we met in Senora Powers’ Spanish class! You have always encouraged me toward the Lord, and so much because of you I began to truly seek Him and find Him. Our laughs and tears are so incredibly precious to me — from the time we forgot to pay our phone bill and had our service cut off to the time we wept that the cow your grandmother named after me died. Our story is too good to be fiction. I am thankful for you and looking forward to the pages ahead. SO much love.
Brittany — What a woman of the Lord you are. Your faith and the depth of your love for the Lord is incredibly inspiring. You are such a constant presence – a voice that I can count on. It never ceases to amaze me that we can be together after months and months — or longer — and it feels as if we’ve hardly been apart. I treasure your friendship, your ability to simply listen and be present, and your love for life and for laughter. You are a priceless one of a kind. I hope we can inspire a scarf night at the Durham Bulls again some day. In the meantime, please know I love you so much!
Heather — Now Mrs. Colley! I could not have survived my first year in Scotland without you. What would I have done? How the Lord blessed me, as I was so far away from home, to bring a little bit of home to me in you! Â I am so grateful we seized the day and had our adventures in Europe together before your departure. Although I hope I never leave my purse on a train in a foreign country again, I look forward to more adventures with you in the days ahead. You are such a voice of reason and peace and I am so thankful you were here as the Lord brought Mark and me together. Again, what would I have done without you, my ninja biscuit?! I love you!!!
Camden — If it weren’t for our friendship, I might be a terribly serious person. I am so thankful for the love of laughter that I learned from you. I want to continue to live in the days ahead as we did in days gone by — looking for a reason to smile, or giggle, and enjoying moment after moment unashamedly. I look forward to celebrating the incredible gentleman the Lord brings into your life — and I can’t wait to see how funny he is! The delightful (mis)adventures of our youth are framed in my heart always. My grassy C-Dawg Spartan Cheerleader, it’s okay I’m a limo driver… call me! I love you. Buh-bye.
Julie — My word, my dear, what a gem you are! Â I am overjoyed that you came all the way from South Africa to be a part of this special time in my life. Your friendship is an incredible blessing — I honestly don’t know how I would’ve made it through those first few days in Edinburgh without you. A friend who is willing to stay with you in a freezing cold flat and sleep cuddled up to the kettle — that is a friend indeed! Your heart and passion for following Jesus is so inspiring. You challenge me in my walk with the Lord, and have encouraged me to trust the gifts God has put in me. I look more like Jesus because of you! I look forward to times ahead with you, in the country I’ve come to consider the most beautiful on earth — our beloved South Africa. I will rejoice to be there with you again soon. To Table Mountain and back…stax of love.
Amiee — As iron sharpens iron, so one friend sharpens another! Thank you for being such a Barnabas, and sharpener to me during our wonderful days together in Greenville. Thank you that you are still a friend and sharpener to me now! I hold on to the dream that we will see each other regularly years and decades from now, and send each other gifts from the nations where the Lord sends us. How amazing that the Lord has already begun to bring those dreams to pass! Praise God for you, sweet friend. I hope we will continue to dream together — big dreams of doing incredible things for the glory of our incredible God. You are so special and precious to me. LOVE YOU!
And last but not least,
Dodi — my sister in blood and in Christ. I am so thankful the Lord chose us to be knit together in family for all of our days. Even if you say I’m adopted! 😉 You are such a beautiful person, inside and out, and your service to the Lord is such an inspiration to me. You took the Lord at His word and began to give up one thing after another to follow Him — and you set an example for me and for many others to follow. I trust the Lord’s word that when you seek Him first, He will add everything else to you — and I rejoice with you at seeing some of that come to pass just now! Thank you for rejoicing with me at this special time in my life. I am so thankful that we will continue to rejoice together, and even weep together, again and again for the rest of our days. You mean more to me than I can express. In His Blood and Ours, I love you always.
Well, blogreaders, thanks for giving me a moment to share those thoughts. Seize the opportunity to say how much people mean to you whenever you can — even if it’s the second time around!
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