Dear Family and
Friends,
Over
the last year, with God’s guidance, our family has taken steps toward becoming
missionaries. We have recently been accepted to the Iris Global Harvest School
of Missions in Pemba, Mozambique, where we will receive both the spiritual and
practical training necessary to be successful in the mission field. School days consist of worship, prayer,
bible study, and lectures led by Heidi and Rolland Baker (the founders of Iris
Global) as well as many other established missionaries. Evenings and weekends are a time for
serving alongside Iris staff as they care for more than 300 children, travel
into the African bush to share the gospel, pray for the sick, feed the hungry,
and visit the garbage dumps, hospitals, and prisons to bring the light and love
of Jesus Christ. The training
begins October 1st, 2014 and lasts three months.
As
we prayed about how to share this with all of you, the Lord kept saying to me
(Carolynn) “Just show them my heart.”
At the center of God’s heart are His children and His sacrificial,
never-ending LOVE for them (Romans 5:8, 8:38-39). And His greatest desire is that a personal, intimate, loving
relationship with Him would be their heart’s greatest desire. There are millions of people in the
world who have never heard the name of Jesus and there are millions of people
in the world who have heard His name but don’t believe Him to be their
Savior. How will these people ever
have the chance to truly know Him if no one tells them? And who can tell them unless someone is
sent to them? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring
good news!” (Romans 10:14-15). Mike and I have felt the Lord calling our family
to partner with Him in spreading the good news of the gospel and the love of
Jesus Christ that will draw others to Him.
The
purpose of this letter is to ask if you would prayerfully consider partnering
with God and our family to make this opportunity possible. There are several costs associated with
this trip and, on our own, we are unable to meet the financial deadlines. Tuition for the school in Mozambique
and extended outreach in South Africa will total approximately $11,000 (due by
August 25th). Plane
tickets for our family of five (from the USA to Mozambique to South Africa and
back home) will cost around $10,000 (due ASAP). Travel costs, which include
visas, luggage, medication, insurance, drinking water, sanitary supplies, etc.
will total approx. $10,000.
I
would be lying if I said that I didn’t lay awake some nights freaking out over
this seemingly impossible amount.
But each time, the Lord reminds me to look up at Him instead of down at
the problem because with Him, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26). He also reminded of this verse from 1
Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the
work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in
vain.” With my eyes, once again,
fixed on Jesus I can be confident that He will provide the right resources at
the right time through the right people.
Might you be one of those people?
I hope so!
There are a few
ways you can donate money:
1. Our church has graciously agreed to collect money on our
behalf. If you would like to make
a tax-deductable donation to our trip, write your check payable to Moran Park
Church and put “Trip 112” on the memo line.
The address to
send the check to is:
Moran Park Church
Attn: Missions
97 W 22nd St.
Holland, MI 49423
2. If you don’t want a tax-deduction you can mail a check
directly to us. Our address (until
August 15th) is:
628 Highpointe Dr. Apt. 11
Allegan, MI 49010
3. You can give online at http://www.irisglobal.org/giving-center/harvest.
They will accept money on our behalf only for tuition and extended outreach
costs. They do not accept money
for flight costs or other expenses.
If you choose to donate this way, you will also have to send an
additional email to tuitions@irisglobal.org
notifying them of your payment.
Make sure to give the full name(s) of who the money is for, whether it
is for school tuition or the extended outreach (code HS21C-02) along with your
full name, address, email and any details of how payment was made including any
transaction numbers or name of sending bank.
If you would like
more information about Iris Global and the Harvest School go to http://www.irisglobal.org
Click on
“Missions” then “Harvest & Global Schools” then “Pemba”
If you would like
to learn more about our journey to this point you can check out our blog at http://www.becausewesaidyes.blogspot.com
You can also
contact us through our email sidlauskasfamily@gmail.com
Thank you so
much! We pray that each person who
reads this letter is able to feel God’s presence in their lives and see His hand
at work in unmistakable ways. We
pray that you would feel His unsurpassed love for you and that you would turn
to Him for guidance in all things.
Above all, we pray that you would have faith in Christ alone as your
personal Lord and Savior.
Love,
Mike, Carolynn,
Lucas, Amelia, and James Sidlauskas
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