Here is our ITINERARY!
October 15 - Depart Vancouver for Managua, Nicaragua
November 15 - Depart Managua for Guatemala City
December 15 - Depart Guatemala City for Port-au-Prince, Haiti
January 14 - Depart Port-au-Prince for Johannesburg, South Africa
February 15 - Depart Johannesburg for Nairobi, Kenya
March 15 - Depart Kenya for Mumbai, India
April 15 - Depart Mumbai for Thailand
May 13 - Depart Thailand for Cairns, Australia
June 14 - Depart Australia for Vancouver
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Monday, September 17, 2012
DONATING INFORMATION
Some of you have been wondering how and where you can donate. A few options are:
1. Write a cheque out to Jocelyn Loewen or Rachael Adams
2. Deposit money into our bank account at Envision Financial
Account number: 2439388
3. e-mail transfer money to jocelynandrachael@hotmail.ca
thank you all for your continued support and prayer!
if you have any further questions, feel free to contact us anytime :)
1. Write a cheque out to Jocelyn Loewen or Rachael Adams
2. Deposit money into our bank account at Envision Financial
Account number: 2439388
3. e-mail transfer money to jocelynandrachael@hotmail.ca
thank you all for your continued support and prayer!
if you have any further questions, feel free to contact us anytime :)
Friday, August 24, 2012
Update!
First of all we want to thank everyone so much for helping/participating/ and donating to all our many fundraisers! We have been able, as of TODAY, purchase ALL our flights for our trip!!! This definitely could of not been done with out each one of you! Just a quick update of what we have been up to this summer...
To start off, in May we had a very successful Golf Tournament at Cultus Lake Golf Course! Around 60 people came out to golf and over 80 people came to eat! Thank you so much to everyone who donated items to the auction, came out to golf and have dinner, and everyone who helped with the planning and setting up and running of the tournament! And a huge thank you to the Golf course and Jeff and Michelle for providing such an amazing golf course :D From the tournament we raise over $3000!!
In June we had our first Krispy Kreme Fundraiser where we made just over $600! Thank you so much to Jenna, Jordyn, Jorja, Grason, Philip, and Bethany for helping sell the donuts!
To start off, in May we had a very successful Golf Tournament at Cultus Lake Golf Course! Around 60 people came out to golf and over 80 people came to eat! Thank you so much to everyone who donated items to the auction, came out to golf and have dinner, and everyone who helped with the planning and setting up and running of the tournament! And a huge thank you to the Golf course and Jeff and Michelle for providing such an amazing golf course :D From the tournament we raise over $3000!!
In June we had our first Krispy Kreme Fundraiser where we made just over $600! Thank you so much to Jenna, Jordyn, Jorja, Grason, Philip, and Bethany for helping sell the donuts!
At the end of July we had a Vacation Bible School where about 25 kids came out and about 10 volunteers! We learned about the full armor of God and the importance of putting it on everyday! Our profit on the VBS was just about $800! Thank you so much Jess, Naomi, Mom (Lynn), Bethany, Erin, Alex, Philip, Ashley, Sam, and Monika for helping out, we could NOT have done it without you all :D
And this month we have done another Krispy Kreme fundraiser and Pub Night! Both went really well and combined we made just about $1500!! For these two fundraisers thank you so much Grace, Bethany, and Andrew for helping with selling 150 dozen donuts! and thank you so much Kathleen and Erin for setting up this pub night and to everyone who came out!!
We have another huge praise report and thank you! There have been a number of people who have donated significant amounts to our trip and we want to say that we are so thankful and really appreciate it. Not only is it extremely helpful, but it shows that you really believe in us and what God has asked us to do. So thank you!
As September is coming up we would like to have another fundraiser but we are not sure what yet... so if you have ideas let us know! Also we do have one planned for October 5 (10 days before we leave so we would love to have lots of people come out so it can be a goodbye/fundraiser party!). It will be an appy night at the golf course, and there will be some hockey game on, and also we will have some fun games :D
As I said above, we have been able to purchase all our flights, but we are still needing our in country expenses and costs for preparing for the trip (medical insurance, shots, equipment/supplies...). Our estimated amount that we still need to earn/fundraise for the rest of our costs, including preparation costs and in-country costs, is about $10000. We know that this is alot, but we also know that God has gotten us this far and that he has ALL the glorious riches, and will provide :D
We couldn't say thank you enough to everyone who has been a part of one or all of these fundraisers! but seriously... THANK YOU! :D
IF you would like any information about our trip or have any questions for us, please ASK! :D Also if you are wanting to financially support us monthly or a one time donation, we can give you any information on how to do that. Just email us (jocelynandrachael@hotmail.CA) or facebook, as well we would greatly appreciate it if you were to continually keep us in your prayers during this time of preparation and of course during the trip!
Thursday, June 28, 2012
It's not from us
The desire to travel the world
The hunger for something deeper
It's not from us.
The drive to help others
The idea to give all we have
It's not from us.
The love we can provide
The words of life we can speak
It's not from us.
It's all from Him
He deserves all the glory
Monday, June 25, 2012
Moving Forward!
We have been working hard in the last few months planning fundraisers, getting people involved, and having fundraisers! It's been quite the journey and we are so thankful to everyone that has been a part of it in any way! Both our fundraisers that we have had, the pub night and golf tournament, have been so successful! We have fundraised $5000, and just seeing that figure, we know that God is in this trip and is blessing it already. Throughout the whole time planning this trip, we have learnt that God is really teaching us to lean on Him for all things, the biggest and hardest thing he is working on in us would be finances. This trip is such a big trip that seems quite impossible in our humanly thinking when trying to come up with the finances. The next big step that we need to take with this trip is to purchase our flights. We have been able to get a travel agent that has been able to create a whole itinerary for our trip, which was not an easy job as we tried with two other agents prior to him. He has come up with the complete flights and told us we could book as soon as we were ready, as prices are going to change the longer we wait, but one problem... we don't have the funds yet! He has quoted that the entire trip, it will cost each of us $6943 - $13886 for both. This means that we still need to raise $8886. If you would like to donate, any amount, you can donate on gofundme http://www.gofundme.com/scifs (highlight and then copy and paste into search bar) , as well as we are in the process of becoming part of love global that is a website for helping missionaries with funding through providing tax reciepts for donations. We will let you more about that soon! We thank you so much for all your support and pray that God will bless you a hundred times in return!
We also would ask if you would join us in prayer during this time that God will provide the money and for us not to limit God, and for us to just believe and trust in Him each day and not become anxious or worried.
We also would ask if you would join us in prayer during this time that God will provide the money and for us not to limit God, and for us to just believe and trust in Him each day and not become anxious or worried.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Worldly Cultures vs Kingdom of God Culture
I have just started reading the book based on the organization Free the Children which is about a group of kids that started this organization about helping children all over the world that are working at very young ages in very unsafe conditions. As I began to read it I began to get the overwhelming feeling where you begin to think about all the MANY different issues around our world. In school I became very interested in my global development classes and wanted to continue on in that, but never really knew what direction I exactly wanted to go in, and at the same time felt like it was a overwhelming area as there is just so much.
It's so hard because not only is the issues concerned about the extreme poverty people live in, the proper education or lack of education, health problems, governmental issues, and so much more, but also the cultural differences that I can even begin to imagine that make it so difficult for a person to try and help or give input on an issue in another country. Different countries have different ways of doing things and often come from practices brought down through the generations. How do you tell a culture that has never placed importance on women, or have placed them below men's importance, that they have a right to education or should be able to voice their own opinions? Why would they choose to believe another cultures way is right rather than theirs? How do you help a community/country with health issues if all their lives, parents lives, and grandparents lives, have never had their living conditions focused on basic health practices or whether they have even had access to such knowledge. How do you tell a country that laws should be created for working conditions if they have never known anything different?
Thinking about the endless concerns and problems that need to "fixed" becomes so overwhelming if we try and think of solutions we can do on our own with our earthly ideas. Unfortunately as humans, our first instinct is not to think about others and their needs, but rather we think about ourselves and what we can do to help ourselves succeed. Living a life with this mentality is how our world has gotten to the place where thousands of people are dying because they don't have enough food to and eat and at the same time people are dying because of obesity; a world where children have to work in horrible conditions and are never given an opportunity for an education, and at the same time as people buying so much stuff they have to spend money on storage containers to hold it all. God never intended our lives to be so self-focused. He clearly states that we should put others needs above our own, as he knows what the outcome is when we don't do so. When we begin to take our eyes off ourselves, not only will we have enough, but so will those around us. This concept unfortunately is not accepted with our human thinking. This leads to the one and only solution to all the problems that are occurring throughout the world. From heartbroken, lost and lonely individuals, to the extremely poor and starving, and every other hurting person, is that they need to know that there is a God that loves us so much and to then take the step in gaining a growing (daily) relationship with Him knowing there is a God that not only loves you unconditionally, but wants to/ and will, take care of your every need. Every person needs God in their life. With God in our lives we no longer have to worry about what we will eat, where we will sleep, what we will do with our futures, or anything else, because God has it in control and wants the best for you... all we have to do is accept Him and trust him completely. As we stop being completely consumed about ourselves and what we need (as God's got it all) we begin to want to help those around us obtain not only the physical needs, but their spiritual needs as well. Lastly, as in the beginning I mentioned that one of the biggest difficulty with trying to help with global issues is the differing cultures around the world. As people begin to come into a relationship with Jesus and begin to see the world as it is supposed to be, the way it was created, the culture of the kingdom of God will be on earth! Although all people come from different cultures, people will understand and want to follow the culture God intended for His people. This can only be done through people's acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior and their acceptance of the Holy Spirt into their lives to lead them into the life God has planned for them!
I am not very educated on the many issues around the world, and I do know that their is many efforts being made to help make these issues decrease, but I can just imagine how much change could occur if people just began to understand how much God loves them and how much he can help in all these situations. He is the only one that can make lasting changes!
I never planned writing this.. I think better when I write things down, and as I was finishing it up in my notebook I felt like I was to share it here on the blog.
- Rachael
It's so hard because not only is the issues concerned about the extreme poverty people live in, the proper education or lack of education, health problems, governmental issues, and so much more, but also the cultural differences that I can even begin to imagine that make it so difficult for a person to try and help or give input on an issue in another country. Different countries have different ways of doing things and often come from practices brought down through the generations. How do you tell a culture that has never placed importance on women, or have placed them below men's importance, that they have a right to education or should be able to voice their own opinions? Why would they choose to believe another cultures way is right rather than theirs? How do you help a community/country with health issues if all their lives, parents lives, and grandparents lives, have never had their living conditions focused on basic health practices or whether they have even had access to such knowledge. How do you tell a country that laws should be created for working conditions if they have never known anything different?
Thinking about the endless concerns and problems that need to "fixed" becomes so overwhelming if we try and think of solutions we can do on our own with our earthly ideas. Unfortunately as humans, our first instinct is not to think about others and their needs, but rather we think about ourselves and what we can do to help ourselves succeed. Living a life with this mentality is how our world has gotten to the place where thousands of people are dying because they don't have enough food to and eat and at the same time people are dying because of obesity; a world where children have to work in horrible conditions and are never given an opportunity for an education, and at the same time as people buying so much stuff they have to spend money on storage containers to hold it all. God never intended our lives to be so self-focused. He clearly states that we should put others needs above our own, as he knows what the outcome is when we don't do so. When we begin to take our eyes off ourselves, not only will we have enough, but so will those around us. This concept unfortunately is not accepted with our human thinking. This leads to the one and only solution to all the problems that are occurring throughout the world. From heartbroken, lost and lonely individuals, to the extremely poor and starving, and every other hurting person, is that they need to know that there is a God that loves us so much and to then take the step in gaining a growing (daily) relationship with Him knowing there is a God that not only loves you unconditionally, but wants to/ and will, take care of your every need. Every person needs God in their life. With God in our lives we no longer have to worry about what we will eat, where we will sleep, what we will do with our futures, or anything else, because God has it in control and wants the best for you... all we have to do is accept Him and trust him completely. As we stop being completely consumed about ourselves and what we need (as God's got it all) we begin to want to help those around us obtain not only the physical needs, but their spiritual needs as well. Lastly, as in the beginning I mentioned that one of the biggest difficulty with trying to help with global issues is the differing cultures around the world. As people begin to come into a relationship with Jesus and begin to see the world as it is supposed to be, the way it was created, the culture of the kingdom of God will be on earth! Although all people come from different cultures, people will understand and want to follow the culture God intended for His people. This can only be done through people's acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior and their acceptance of the Holy Spirt into their lives to lead them into the life God has planned for them!
I am not very educated on the many issues around the world, and I do know that their is many efforts being made to help make these issues decrease, but I can just imagine how much change could occur if people just began to understand how much God loves them and how much he can help in all these situations. He is the only one that can make lasting changes!
I never planned writing this.. I think better when I write things down, and as I was finishing it up in my notebook I felt like I was to share it here on the blog.
- Rachael
Monday, April 16, 2012
Here we go... GOLF TOURNAMENT!
Hey everyone!
So Rachael and I have been doing a lot of planning and are getting ready to prepare for this journey God is preparing us for. He seems to be opening up doors and really confirming to us daily that this is where He wants us. Our mission is to reach to those who need Him, those who are wandering and are missing out on the things that God has--which is incredibly much! We want to not only touch the lives of those we encounter but you, here in Canada, in the Fraser Valley. We are unsure of how this adventure may unfold or where it may take us but we are prepared for whichever direction that may be. Trusting in God and letting him direct and lead us in everything we do. We really want Him to be known and for Him to shine through us. So we are diligently seeking Him and making sure we are truly focused on the plan that He has planned for us, so although plans change we are walking by faith and going ahead with the planning. What good would it be if we did nothing and expected something to happen.
October is going to come quicker than we will expect and we have a lot of planning and fundraising to do. We would love to have anyone to join us as we take this leap of faith and move forward in these next few months. We appreciate all your prayers, encouraging words, and belief in our mission, it means a lot to both Rachael and I. We know that this missions trip cannot happen without God, and without your generous hearts and willingness to join us on our mission--whether that be financially, through prayer or any other way!
so what is next:
We are hosting a Golf tournament fundraiser!
when: Friday May 11
registration time: 2:00-3:00
shotgun start: 3:00
Dinner: 7:00
where: Cultus Lake Golf Club
what: shotgun tournament, contests, silent auction, dinner and prizes!
tickets are $40.00
if you would like a ticket or anymore information on our missions trip please don't hesitate to ask!
email: jocelynandrachael@hotmail.ca
and find us on Facebook -- jocelyn N Rachael
and "like" us on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/JocelynAndRachaelsMissionsTrip
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