China or bust!

I have been selected to go on a Woman-to-Woman Worldwide mission to China in November and I am so excited!!!  Last september, I went on my first women's retreat: it was through the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).  I heard Rev. Kathy McDowell speak about her trip to Turkey the year before and was inspired.

I have met and heard of people going on mission trips to other countries, and have always been amazed at the people who are called to do this.  While I would love to visit other countries, I find it intimidating enough to share my faith with strangers, and not so strangers in this country.  I cannot imagine me taking the gospel to non-christians in another country or planting a new church overseas - God may have to send a large fish to swallow me if he wants me to go.  I believe the strengths God gifted me with lie more in the area of encouragement.  I have felt God use me in situations, to listen and understand where a struggling person is coming from, to help them and encourage them.  I am a teacher at heart, and enjoy getting people to look at things in a different way.  I listened to Kathy speak of her experiences with the woman in Turkey - muslims, christians, refugees and felt called.  I picked up a brochure and went to the website listed.  There I discovered this year's trip is to China!  Having always wanted to go to Asia, I thought, "what other sign do I need? This is it!"

This is a picture of Rev. Kathy McDowell.  Here is a link to an article offering more information on her trip to Turkey: http://www.gadisciples.org/news/cong/Peachtree_Corners.htm.

 Here is the link to the website in the brochure I got from Kathy: http://www.discipleshomemissions.org/pages/DW-womantowoman.  This website has information about past missions and the upcoming trip to China.

I received my acceptance notification on April 20th, and facing the task of writing a letter to ask for donations, I promptly procrastinated - anyone suprised?  Overwhelmed with the end of school and trying to get my students to finish their work and my own son graduating high school, the task was buried.  My church has kept on top of their part - and is raising 1/3 of the cost of the trip, and I just received a call that another third is coming from my region.  Thank you, God - only $1500 left to raise.  I wrote a letter and emailed it to my amazing wonderful sister, and editor-in-chief on call.  In spite of the fact that she just moved a week ago and is preparing for a beach trip on Saturday - she helped me with the major overhaul tweeking required.  I have posted it on Facebook in my notes and will soon be emailing and snail mailing it to everyone I know!  But,since my letter said information could be found in my blog - I couldn't procrastinate any longer.

I am going with 13 other women, who I do not know!  This is a scary thought, isn't it?  Thank goodness I like people.  I have found and friended 8 of them on Facebook and they sound amazing!  We have a girl coming from Florida (about 1/2 my age) who graduated from high school only 6 short years ago and is now in college - and speaks at least 2 languages fluently.  We have a lady coming from Texas who adopted a daughter from China.  We have a lady coming from Virginia who is a nurse.  We have a lady coming from Illinois who is a reverend, has her Phd, and founded a women's ministries.  We have a woman coming from Kentucky who has a masters of divinity, is a minister, and is an editor/writer of a section of the newspaper in her town.  We have a lady coming from California who is a lawyer.  We have another lady coming from California that is only 28 and has been an admin asst at her church for 8 years.  We have another lady coming from North Carolina who is only 30.  We have a lady who is not on facebook, but she let me know she is coming from California.  We have another lady who also does not use facebook, has been on several mission trips with youth, taught high school for 25 years and is coming from Oregon.  There are 3 other ladies I have not been able to reach - but everyone I am able to reach, is very nice.  This seems like a great group of ladies, some even a little intimidating - but definitely diverse.  I cannot wait to meet them!