Hello dear friends!
First time blogger here. Unless you count old-school Xanga as a blog… (?) Not sure what is an appropriate opening post. How about you just picture me holding a pair of oversized scissors cutting through a red velvet bow…. and viola! The blog is open for business! Or blog-ness. Or whatever it is that blogs do. :)
As you know or have probably suspected I am not in Thailand yet. Youth with a Mission Children at Risk Discipleship Training school (Or YWAM CAR DTS) starts January 6th (ahh!). Right now I am getting ready. Applying to graduate school (Prayers appreciated!). Taking GRE tests. Getting everything together. And fundraising, fundraising, fundraising! What I want to share with you first is the letter I have sent out to many of you. It shares a little snippit of my story and all those the steps led up to the giant leap of faith I’m taking. I hope you will take a little time to read it, and keep me in your prayers!
I have felt a strong calling to the missions field since an early age. I remember when I was sixteen, I wrestled with God about this calling. While spending two weeks in a discipleship program at New Life, Colorado Springs, the passion for missions consumed me. I fasted and prayed earnestly for God to show me His plan for my life. I knew God was calling me to be different than many other young people in my generation. I didn’t want the “American dream” if meant costing me the call of God on my life. I wanted to see God, and I wanted to see Him move in the nations. I ached for the people of Asia, and God blessed me with dreams and visions of the people of Nepal, Bhutan, India, and other dark places in the world spiritually. Feelings of inadequacy and insecurity, however, pressed heavily against me for some period of time. After high school, I became extremely discouraged, and felt that I had “missed God” and somehow those things I was convinced of as a teenager were not part of His plan for me.
As I entered college, I once again prayed for God’s plan for my life. Although I felt confused and (if we’re being honest) a little hurt by what I felt was my great “failure” in hearing the voice of the Lord, one day while I was praying I audibly heard God say to study psychology. I changed my major, not really know what psychology was (or even how to spell it!). I absolutely loved it. During college, I had the opportunity to work as an in-patient recreational therapist assistant at the psychiatric facility Vista Health for a little more than a year and a half. During this time, God softened my heart to His some of His very special children: the abused children and the children with such severe psychiatric problems their parents, foster parents, or DHS workers could no longer care for them. It was hard. Very hard. But I learned and grew so much, and it was a magnificent opportunity to serve the children of my culture and my city, and to develop an overwhelming compassion for them. My heart as a missionary began to beat once more as God rekindled the passion for missions.
During college, I also learned more about the issue of human trafficking. I learned about how children were being kidnapped from their homes (or sold by their parents in many cases) and forced into a lifestyle of sexual slavery. This injustice and cruelty startled me, and I wondered how I had not known about it before. Although the problem is widespread and includes our own country, it turns out that those nations that I saw as a teenager in my dreams and visions have the highest rates of human trafficking. I also learned that many missionary organizations keep psychologists on staff to help rehabilitate and counsel those victims of trafficking who have been liberated. Although many of these victims have come to know Christ through the work of missionaries, the psychological and emotional wounds are devastating, and require time and counseling during the healing process .
And this is where my story catches up to my current life. I graduated this summer (hooray!) with a bachelor’s in psychology from UA Fort Smith. While my hopes are to be accepted into a graduate PhD program for clinical psychology and start graduate school next fall, 2013, I feel that God has asked me to set aside one year of my life to seek Him in the missions field overseas. As I prayed about this missions trip, I felt God leading me to a special Discipleship Training School (DTS) by Youth with a Mission (YWAM) in Bangkok, Thailand that is specifically focused on educating students about the problem of human trafficking and working with children who are at risk to be trafficked. This is a full-time six month long program that begins in January and will last until May. The first twelve weeks are the lecture phase focused on training. The next twelve weeks are an outreach phase where we will be traveling to different locations to do missions work.
My number one priority in writing you this letter is to ask for your covering in prayer. Bangkok is a big city, and Thailand has very different culture than ours. I will be needing lots and lots of prayerful covering as I adjust to the culture for this lengthy period of time, and I will also need lots of grace as I will be away from my friends and family for so long. I ask that you agree with me in prayer that I will be a blessing to the children and their families and a light to a place that is very spiritually dark. I ask that you will pray for my physical safety, protection, and health during my trip. I ask that you would pray that God would reveal Himself to me and His plans for my life. And most of all, I just ask that you pray for the children. They are suffering so much, and so many are still trapped in a horrific lifestyle that I can’t even imagine. Remember them. They need freedom. They definitely need our prayers.
My second reason for writing is to ask for your financial support. Because YWAM DTS is a full-time program, I will not have the opportunity to earn money while I am there. Although the cost of living there is reasonable, it is still not cheap. My tuition, which includes housing, meals, and transportation in Thailand, will cost approximately $3,209, plus an outreach fee from $2-3,000. The outreach fee covers the cost of airfare/traveling during the last three months of the DTS where we will be doing missions work abroad. I also must pay for my airfare which I estimate to be between $1,000-$1,200. I am prayerfully believing God will be able to meet this financial need. I ask for your support in prayer, and if God leads you, your support financially. I can’t tell you how thankful I am for your support over the years. As my family, friends, and church family, you have made a world of difference in my life. Your support and encouragement have guided me and challenged me as I’ve searched for God in our very dark world and corrupt culture. I am so thankful for you and the favor God has given me in this life. I’m praying for you and with you. Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions about YWAM, my missions trip, or the story I’ve shared with you.
Yours always in Christ,
Hannah
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