The fundraising finish line, that is! I wanted to give you an update since it's been about a week since I announced that I am at 92% of my budget and *hoping, praying* to be leaving for Costa Rica on a jet plane next month.
So, what's happened over the last week or so--lots of great conversations with potential supporters, a new $100/month pledge and then some, a new $1,200 one-time gift and lots of prayer! I've said it once, I've said it a million times--THANK YOU!!! It's because of YOU that I am sitting here, hopefully one month from leaving for a three-year adventure with God and teenagers in Costa Rica. YOU who are sacrificing financially and sacrificing of your time to walk alongside me and God to minister to teens in Costa Rica who desperately need to hear of a God who loves them unconditionally and has a BIG plan for their lives.
I still have $380/month or $4,500/annually left to raise in pledges over the next three years. And I have exactly 16 days to do it--yes, 16 days--until August 10th, the deadline for going on staff if August. Could you join me in one of the following ways?
(1) PRAY! Pray for God to move boldly over the next two weeks to help me raise the remaining funds.
(2) Increase your monthly gift by $5, $10, or even $20! Could you join the 25% of my current supporters who have prayerfully considered increasing their support and heard God's response as yes?
(3) Ask your friend, neighbor, co-worker or fellow church member to consider supporting me with a monthly or annual gift--I only need 10 more new supporters! You're inviting them to join you on the greatest journey God has called us to--sharing His life, His love, His hope with those most precious to Him.
"And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward." -Matthew 10:42
"What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost." -Matthew 18:12-14
I thank God for each of you, dear friends!
Monday, July 26, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Exciting Fundraising Update!
I am happy to share that I have reached 92% of my budget! In the past couple of days, I've had some current supporters step up their giving and some new major supporters join the team!
I also made a very tough decision. I decreased my salary by 1/3. This was a difficult decision, but I feel as if God has been moving in the last couple of weeks and really wants me in Costa Rica in August! I know that all of my supporters make a financial sacrifice to be a part of my team and support Young Life in Costa Rica. I stand with you doing the same!
The new salary level will be sufficient (tight! but sufficient) while I am in language school and living with a host family. After I finish language school, though, I will need to increase my salary to meet the increased cost of living by myself (or hopefully with a roommate). I hope you will be able to join me then in helping meet the increased need!
I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to all of you have provided financial support, encouragement and prayers. There is no way I would have gotten through the past 1.5 years without you--and I consider each of you angels sent by God!
THAT SAID, I still have $425/month ($5,100/year) left to raise in monthly pledges over three years in the next 15 days (yes, 15 days!) to be able to go on staff in August and leave for Costa Rica for the start of the school year and my language school semester. Please let me know if you know of anyone who might be interested in joining my support team with a monthly gift of $25, 50, 100 or more! And as always, I appreciate your prayers in helping me leap this last hurdle to cross the finish line August 1st!
I also made a very tough decision. I decreased my salary by 1/3. This was a difficult decision, but I feel as if God has been moving in the last couple of weeks and really wants me in Costa Rica in August! I know that all of my supporters make a financial sacrifice to be a part of my team and support Young Life in Costa Rica. I stand with you doing the same!
The new salary level will be sufficient (tight! but sufficient) while I am in language school and living with a host family. After I finish language school, though, I will need to increase my salary to meet the increased cost of living by myself (or hopefully with a roommate). I hope you will be able to join me then in helping meet the increased need!
I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to all of you have provided financial support, encouragement and prayers. There is no way I would have gotten through the past 1.5 years without you--and I consider each of you angels sent by God!
THAT SAID, I still have $425/month ($5,100/year) left to raise in monthly pledges over three years in the next 15 days (yes, 15 days!) to be able to go on staff in August and leave for Costa Rica for the start of the school year and my language school semester. Please let me know if you know of anyone who might be interested in joining my support team with a monthly gift of $25, 50, 100 or more! And as always, I appreciate your prayers in helping me leap this last hurdle to cross the finish line August 1st!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Passports, friends, visas and urgency
What do these four words have in common, you ask? Well, I'm about to tell you! If I haven't shared with you yet my latest obsession, please indulge me. A friend shared with me the following blog about a young woman who is a missionary in Africa shortly after I returned from my two-week trip to Costa Rica in early April. While I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Costa Rica, it was somewhere between trying to communicate with the taxi driver the location I desired in Spanish by myself and the silent stares of girls in cabin time (small group) following Club each night of the service trip as they processed what a personal, loving God might look like--it was somewhere in the midst of this that I started to get a bit nervous. God, are you REALLY calling me for THREE YEARS in Costa Rica? Do I REALLY have what it takes to effectively and passionately live and communicate your Gospel each day with high schoolers from around the world? Do I REALLY love you enough to do this?
God's resounding reply--YES, WITH MY HELP! And His first bit of help came in the form of an email from a friend with this blog address: http://www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/. I pray that you find time in your busy life to read every single entry Katie has written. Her words are honest, biting, challenging, uplifting, heartbreaking and utterly FULL of faith. God used these words to speak these Truths to me:
-It will be harder than you can ever imagine, and yet I will be there, I will guide you and I alone will bring you JOY in the midst of the struggle
-The work you will join Me in is not glamorous--it is thankless, dirty, never-ending
-I am more than enough for you, your every need and every desire and the adventure I wish to invite you to join me in is going to change you forever
-My children, every child in Costa Rica, is waiting for you--waiting to hear what you will tell them about Me, waiting to see what a life with Me looks like
-YOU ARE MINE, YOU ARE LOVED
Man, did I need to hear that! And it was the swiftness with which He brought that message that confirmed to me, and all the many other ways He continues to confirm to me, that I am called to love kids who desperately need to hear of God's love. And that while God can and would use any extreme measure to communicate this to these kids, He's chosen ME. How unbelievably humbling!
So, back to those four words. I really encourage you to read Katie's blog post from today (June 28th). I've missed her...weird, because I don't even know her. But she hasn't posted recently, and I've missed her. This post blew me away. I sit here struggling to attack the fundraising process with the passion with which I love God and love lost kids and here He challenges me: Do you approach the process leading up to your time in Costa Rica with the same sense of URGENCY with which Katie sought to bring Patricia home with her? You see, loved one, said God, I love you with that urgency, I love the kids you will work with in Costa Rica with that urgency, and you must have that same urgency!
So, I fall before God and you, my dear friends, family and supporters who have faithfully walked alongside me in this journey over the past year and I URGENTLY ask you to help me fulfill the remaining 25% of my budget so that I can join Jessie and Boo in Costa Rica for the start of the school year in August. With a heaven perspective, I am URGENT because there are kids in Costa Rica who have never hear the name Jesus, never heard that He loves them, and have never had the opportunity to join Him on the greatest adventure! With an earthly perspective, I am URGENT because international schools in Costa Rica lost two interns and a full-time staff in June (they returned to the US) and that leaves just two staff for kids who attend Young Life from four schools--not NEARLY enough when we have 12 dedicated, loving volunteers at Westfield High School alone! And also because we moved Wyldlife camp (camp for middle schoolers) to the Fall, which means we begin the day that school starts building relationships with new kids to invite them to the best weekend of their life to hear the greatest love story ever told!
So I ask you with URGENCY, please join me by:
(1) Sharing with me the names/contact info. of 3-5 friends who would like to hear the amazing ways God is working through Young Life in Costa Rica and invite them to be a part of it!
(2) Host a dessert event to invite your friends, family, neighbors to hear in person more about Young Life Costa Rica
(3) If you already support me and Young Life in Costa Rica, prayerfully consider increasing that gift by $10, 20, 30/month or even doubling your gift! God is blessing you so that you can bless others. Is He calling you to be a bigger part of what He's doing in Costa Rica?
(4) Prayerfully consider asking your church to partner with Young Life Costa Rica and then call your Pastor and call me!
Thank you, thank you a million times over for your love, support and friendship. And thank you for your sacrifice.
P.S. I was just looking up the word "urgent" in the Bible and found it in a really cool place.
"The king's command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace." -Daniel 3:22-23
As the story goes, King Nebuchadnezzar ordered all of the people to bow down and worship him. But Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (or Rack, Shack and Benny from VeggieTales) refused to worship anyone but God. So, the King had them thrown into a fiery furnace, but when the King looks in he sees four people walking around and then Rack, Shack and Benny are removed from the fire without one hair on their head burned! What's even cooler is what they said before the King threw them in the fire:
"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." -Daniel 3:17-18
Wow! Talk about guts! Moral of the story: There will always be "Kings" in our lives calling us to bow down something other than God--in the lives of international school kids it is wealth, success, need for attention, partying, etc. And this King was URGET, so God calls us to be URGENT as well--URGENT to share His story, His hope, His life and the life He is offering each one of us.
God's resounding reply--YES, WITH MY HELP! And His first bit of help came in the form of an email from a friend with this blog address: http://www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/. I pray that you find time in your busy life to read every single entry Katie has written. Her words are honest, biting, challenging, uplifting, heartbreaking and utterly FULL of faith. God used these words to speak these Truths to me:
-It will be harder than you can ever imagine, and yet I will be there, I will guide you and I alone will bring you JOY in the midst of the struggle
-The work you will join Me in is not glamorous--it is thankless, dirty, never-ending
-I am more than enough for you, your every need and every desire and the adventure I wish to invite you to join me in is going to change you forever
-My children, every child in Costa Rica, is waiting for you--waiting to hear what you will tell them about Me, waiting to see what a life with Me looks like
-YOU ARE MINE, YOU ARE LOVED
Man, did I need to hear that! And it was the swiftness with which He brought that message that confirmed to me, and all the many other ways He continues to confirm to me, that I am called to love kids who desperately need to hear of God's love. And that while God can and would use any extreme measure to communicate this to these kids, He's chosen ME. How unbelievably humbling!
So, back to those four words. I really encourage you to read Katie's blog post from today (June 28th). I've missed her...weird, because I don't even know her. But she hasn't posted recently, and I've missed her. This post blew me away. I sit here struggling to attack the fundraising process with the passion with which I love God and love lost kids and here He challenges me: Do you approach the process leading up to your time in Costa Rica with the same sense of URGENCY with which Katie sought to bring Patricia home with her? You see, loved one, said God, I love you with that urgency, I love the kids you will work with in Costa Rica with that urgency, and you must have that same urgency!
So, I fall before God and you, my dear friends, family and supporters who have faithfully walked alongside me in this journey over the past year and I URGENTLY ask you to help me fulfill the remaining 25% of my budget so that I can join Jessie and Boo in Costa Rica for the start of the school year in August. With a heaven perspective, I am URGENT because there are kids in Costa Rica who have never hear the name Jesus, never heard that He loves them, and have never had the opportunity to join Him on the greatest adventure! With an earthly perspective, I am URGENT because international schools in Costa Rica lost two interns and a full-time staff in June (they returned to the US) and that leaves just two staff for kids who attend Young Life from four schools--not NEARLY enough when we have 12 dedicated, loving volunteers at Westfield High School alone! And also because we moved Wyldlife camp (camp for middle schoolers) to the Fall, which means we begin the day that school starts building relationships with new kids to invite them to the best weekend of their life to hear the greatest love story ever told!
So I ask you with URGENCY, please join me by:
(1) Sharing with me the names/contact info. of 3-5 friends who would like to hear the amazing ways God is working through Young Life in Costa Rica and invite them to be a part of it!
(2) Host a dessert event to invite your friends, family, neighbors to hear in person more about Young Life Costa Rica
(3) If you already support me and Young Life in Costa Rica, prayerfully consider increasing that gift by $10, 20, 30/month or even doubling your gift! God is blessing you so that you can bless others. Is He calling you to be a bigger part of what He's doing in Costa Rica?
(4) Prayerfully consider asking your church to partner with Young Life Costa Rica and then call your Pastor and call me!
(5) PRAY. Pray for God to intercede, to lead me to those who He has prepared to be a part of this support team, and to provide for the rest of the funding by August!
(6) Got another (even better!) idea? Send it my way...I would love to hear it!
Thank you, thank you a million times over for your love, support and friendship. And thank you for your sacrifice.
P.S. I was just looking up the word "urgent" in the Bible and found it in a really cool place.
"The king's command was so urgent and the furnace so hot that the flames of the fire killed the soldiers who took up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and these three men, firmly tied, fell into the blazing furnace." -Daniel 3:22-23
As the story goes, King Nebuchadnezzar ordered all of the people to bow down and worship him. But Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (or Rack, Shack and Benny from VeggieTales) refused to worship anyone but God. So, the King had them thrown into a fiery furnace, but when the King looks in he sees four people walking around and then Rack, Shack and Benny are removed from the fire without one hair on their head burned! What's even cooler is what they said before the King threw them in the fire:
"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." -Daniel 3:17-18
Wow! Talk about guts! Moral of the story: There will always be "Kings" in our lives calling us to bow down something other than God--in the lives of international school kids it is wealth, success, need for attention, partying, etc. And this King was URGET, so God calls us to be URGENT as well--URGENT to share His story, His hope, His life and the life He is offering each one of us.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Young Life Costa Rica Service Project Video!
Well, friends, it has taken me FOREVER to finish this project! Part procrastination, part stumbling through learning how to use iMovie :) But here it is--captured in video, pictures and song--10 minutes for a snapshot of what the Young Life Service Project looks like in Costa Rica. I hope you enjoy it! Please feel free to pass the link on to friends, family and co-workers who might be interested in supporting Young Life in Costa Rica!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nipCeq7H6GQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nipCeq7H6GQ
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Pura Vida Newsletter: April 2010
Hi friends! After much thought, I've decided to make a change in how I share with you my newsletters. To protect the privacy of those included in stories in my newsletters, I will no longer be publishing them on my blog. However, each time I put out a newsletter I'll put up a post like this announcing I've completed a newsletter and inviting you to email me to receive a copy and/or be added to my newsletter email list!
I would love to continue posting my newsletters, but since I work with youth and online security is at a premium these days, I want to be sure I am being both respectful and safe in what I share over the Internet. If you would like to have a copy of my latest newsletter, please email me at ali.c.campbell@gmail.com and I'd be happy to send one your way! This newsletter includes updates on my fundraising goals, stories from my recent trip to Costa Rica to help lead the annual high school service trip and much more!
I would love to continue posting my newsletters, but since I work with youth and online security is at a premium these days, I want to be sure I am being both respectful and safe in what I share over the Internet. If you would like to have a copy of my latest newsletter, please email me at ali.c.campbell@gmail.com and I'd be happy to send one your way! This newsletter includes updates on my fundraising goals, stories from my recent trip to Costa Rica to help lead the annual high school service trip and much more!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Pictures from the YL Costa Rica Service Project!
On the bus on the way to Isla Cocal!
One of my groups with the family who will live in the house we just built--before it was just scrap metal and black plastic. Now they have actual walls--pink walls!--and later in the week we were able to give them a roof, as well. In all, the kids and leaders built several houses, put walls in some already constructed houses, painted houses and a local elementary school, cleaned up trash and painted trees to protect them from bugs/rotting and held a carnival for all the local kids on the island! 5 days of hard work...and 29 kids and leaders who got the chance to see Jesus in the families/kids we served and hear about His life every night in Club.
Club in a tent! Each night we had club in a tent with light bulbs strung across the ceiling. We played games, sang songs and heard from Tank, our speaker for the week from Colorado, about Life. God. and Life with God. Kids also got a chance to debrief what they were seeing and experiencing at the start of club and in cabin times after club.
One of the coolest parts of the week was playing with the kids on the island. And watching our students, who often have to grow up way too fast because of the lives they lead and their family circumstances, be kids. "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me." -Matthew 18:5
Our whole crew! It was a great week. We were able to serve nearly 20 families...a bunch of international school kids from wealthy families got a chance to see real poverty and Jesus in it...and we heard about the amazing adventure God is inviting us to walk with Him. Life. God. and Life with God.
I'm so excited to get back this summer...start langauge school (desperately needed!)...and next school year to continue the relationships with students started on this trip. These kids blew me away--their stories, what they've seen and experienced in their short lives, and the amazing things God is doing in their lives!
Won't you join me in praying for these kids and the families we served? And I invite you to partner with me in bringing the hope of God and His invitation to join Him in the GREAT ADVENTURE to kids from all over the world who will one day be leaders all over the world. Want to know more about how you can partner with me? See the sidebar to the right and email me at ali.c.campbell@gmail.com! I look forward to hearing from you!!
Monday, April 5, 2010
29 kids and leaders, one island, and lots of memories!
Friends, I write this from my friend (and future supervisor's) living room with a gentle breeze blowing through the trees outside the window and bright sunshine streaming in. It's an almost perfect morning following an awesome week doing service work with kids. All 29 of us leaders and kids boarded a bus last Saturday and headed off to a small beach town called Quepos where we stayed for 8 days working every day on a small island called Isla Cocal. We worked every day for 6-7 hours building homes, constructing walls in existing homes, painting houses and a school and playing with the kids on the island. The last day we spent at the beach, relaxing and soaking up the sun and reflecting on the week. (And maybe getting a little sunburnt :)
It was a very long, but very rewarding week! The families on the island had next to nothing...some with only black plastic for a roof and walls, others with scraps of tin. They ate a diet consisting mostly of fruits grown in their yard (coconuts, mangos, water apples, etc.) and rice, beans, and fish caught in the ocean. And the stories, oh the stories, of struggle, hardship, lack of housing and food, and pain/heartache. But they were so thankful, and they thanked God for sending us! It was so awesome to watch a kid listen to these stories and their gratitude and watch it pierce their heart.
Each night we had Club after dinner--playing games, singing songs, and listening to Tank (our speaker from the US) share about us, God and life with God. It was for sure different than camp in the US. We had no sophisticated sound and light system, not a beautiful room to host us, but rather a tent with mosquitos. We didn't have a professional musician, but two kids who played guitar unplugged. It wasn't dramatic, but God was there. He filled Tank's talks with truth and beauty and wonder, and the kids responded with questions and thoughts and amazing insights from their lives.
As I sit here reflecting on this past week, I'm amazed at how God provided and showed up in really different ways than I've experienced before. I'm amazed at these kids who both at once are just like any other kid in the US (struggling with friendships, family issues, and school) and yet are also dealing with these things in a completely different social and cultural context that seems so foreign to me. And I'm more certain than ever that Young Life's vision of reaching every kid, everywhere for eternity is being realized here in Costa Rica among international school kids in both big and small ways.
I leave Wednesday to return to Indiana where I continue the marathon of fundraising reaching the last leg where I'm both tired, weary and yet hopeful as I catch a glimpse of the finish line. I've been accepted to langauage school here in Costa Rica that begins the first week in May and I'd love to be here to start then! But it will take an additional $1,200 in monthly commitments to get me here. I'm trusting God to provide, trusting His timing and His plan. Thanks for walking this long road with me...thanks for your prayers and encouragement...I wouldn't have made it this far without you!
It was a very long, but very rewarding week! The families on the island had next to nothing...some with only black plastic for a roof and walls, others with scraps of tin. They ate a diet consisting mostly of fruits grown in their yard (coconuts, mangos, water apples, etc.) and rice, beans, and fish caught in the ocean. And the stories, oh the stories, of struggle, hardship, lack of housing and food, and pain/heartache. But they were so thankful, and they thanked God for sending us! It was so awesome to watch a kid listen to these stories and their gratitude and watch it pierce their heart.
Each night we had Club after dinner--playing games, singing songs, and listening to Tank (our speaker from the US) share about us, God and life with God. It was for sure different than camp in the US. We had no sophisticated sound and light system, not a beautiful room to host us, but rather a tent with mosquitos. We didn't have a professional musician, but two kids who played guitar unplugged. It wasn't dramatic, but God was there. He filled Tank's talks with truth and beauty and wonder, and the kids responded with questions and thoughts and amazing insights from their lives.
As I sit here reflecting on this past week, I'm amazed at how God provided and showed up in really different ways than I've experienced before. I'm amazed at these kids who both at once are just like any other kid in the US (struggling with friendships, family issues, and school) and yet are also dealing with these things in a completely different social and cultural context that seems so foreign to me. And I'm more certain than ever that Young Life's vision of reaching every kid, everywhere for eternity is being realized here in Costa Rica among international school kids in both big and small ways.
I leave Wednesday to return to Indiana where I continue the marathon of fundraising reaching the last leg where I'm both tired, weary and yet hopeful as I catch a glimpse of the finish line. I've been accepted to langauage school here in Costa Rica that begins the first week in May and I'd love to be here to start then! But it will take an additional $1,200 in monthly commitments to get me here. I'm trusting God to provide, trusting His timing and His plan. Thanks for walking this long road with me...thanks for your prayers and encouragement...I wouldn't have made it this far without you!
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