FUNDED!!!
Writing the title in all caps just doesn’t even begin to describe how excited and blessed I am! This past year a local church has “adopted” my elementary school and really poured into our campus. They have provided teachers with lunch, given ice cream after school, helped teachers pack up their rooms, read diligently with our students each week, etc. They have been a beautiful model of how the Church should be active in their communities. I have been so blessed to get to know Nathan and Katie through their volunteering and we have become fast friends. However I was completely blown away when I received this text from Nathan last week, “Our church would like to help support you and your mission this summer and fund the remaining balance of your trip if you would like.” I almost fell out of my chair at dinner! A church I don’t even belong to is funding my trip…and they didn’t even know the balance on my account!!! God is so very good! Their generosity of their time and money have really impacted me and challenged me to make sure that I am living the life Christ has called me to as well as to remember that I am a missionary even in my home town. I would like to say THANK YOU to everyone who has funded me and supported me and I would ask that you would share this story and help challenge others to live a life of daily surrender to our beautiful Savior, Jesus Christ.
Soli deo gloria,
Laura
Summer 2013
Dear friends and family,
I am so excited to announce that I will be headed back to Nicaragua this summer to meet up with the Global Journey team!
I will head down mid July where we will get to go back to Somoto to work along side the same church we were with last year. My heart leaps for joy just thinking about it. Even better I get to go with my dear friend Julia and my friend Tina who is living in Nicaragua is going to get to meet up with us for a few days as well!
Last year our time in Somoto was spent doing a lot of evangelism and encouraging of the Christians there in the city. I was touched by the deep community and the willingness of the Christians’ there to serve us by cooking all our meals, walking us everyday, and lavishing blessings on us when we were there to serve them.
I would greatly appreciate you lifting me up in prayer specifically for:
- boldness with sharing my testimony
- safe travels
- raising the $500 for my trip
I will keep you posted as the trip details get finalized!
Blessings,
L
Global Journey 2013 Update
Hello World!
Well just a short year ago during this time I was anxiously awaiting to find out who my team members were, which countries I would be going to, and slightly freaking out about it all! This summer, while my role in GJ has changed, I am still so exciting to see the trip unfold.
There will be one team going this summer and so far we are still looking for a few more males (so if you know of anyone interested please let me know). I am overjoyed to also say that one of my team members, Jackie Nance, will be the female leader for this summers’ team. In addition to Jackie returning, Meghan will be spending some time in India, and Sarah will be returning for a time in Slovenia. At this point I am planning on returning to Nicaragua and I am beyond ecstatic to get to go back to a country that holds such a dear place in my heart.
I am so blessed to now be living at the same apartment complex as Sarah and Steven so we get to spend a lot of time together and Sarah has graciously let me help her with some of the planning and I will be helping out with the training, debrief, and other aspects of the GJ team. I am so excited to continue to be a part of this amazing opportunity to spread God’s love all over the globe and I thank you all for your support.
a few months later…
Hello!
Some days it seems like I was just on the Global Journey yesterday and other times it feels like it was ages ago. So much inside of me has changed since this summer’s trip. I learned so very much that it’s hard to put into words even now, especially since my learning from the events and experiences are not even close to being over. God is still teaching me new things (and sometimes a repeated lesson or two) about community, prayer, His love, and so much more! I cannot thank you enough for your support both financially and through your sweet prayers on my behalf. So now I come before you again, with a thankful heart, asking that you would continue to pray as I try and determine if I am going to lead another trip summer 2013.
I have a beautiful photo book of my trip this summer so if you would ever like to hear lots and lots and lots of stories and see beautiful faces of God’s children from around the world please let me know! It would be my pleasure to share with you.
The 6th Country
It is hard to believe that this Global Journey is almost over. In less than 24 hours I will be home… But I will never be the same. God has taught me so much this summer! He has done “far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.” Ephesians 3:20 I am excited to return and yet so sad to say goodbye to the brothers and sisters I have shared life with for the past two months. I know that as I return God will continue to reveal himself to me as I process all that I have seen, heard, and learned. And while I will most likely never be surrounded with the exact same group doing the same thing again our journey does not end when the plane lands tomorrow. Tomorrow we will disperse throughout the US and begin our time in the 6th stop of this trip…this time we will just stay longer than 10 days. God has called each and every person to be a missionary for him exactly where we are. God has called you “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14) so we will “go out with joy and be led forth in peace” (Isaiah 55:12) and we enter into the next phase god has planned for us!
Thank you for reading my blog and supporting me throughout this trip. I am so blessed to have such amazing friends and family and I would love to share more about my trip when I return.
Prayer is action
“if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear them from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.” 2 chronicles 7:14
To “pray” or to be “in prayer” are actions. I however to often forget how powerful and necessary this action is. throughout this trip God has been teaching me about prayer- how he loves for me to talk to him and how prayer changes me. My stay in Slovenia was no exception.
Slovenia is a land that is trapped in sin. The beautiful landscape points to the creator that these people have abandoned for generations. Satan’s grip will only be loosed if first the nation is drenched in prayer and second if people go to Slovenia to share the gospel. I have had the privilege of doing both! And those of you who have faithfully prayed for myself and my team as well as financially sent us have also played a major role in the spiritual warfare that is taking place in Slovenia.
I am not the strongest mountain biker (to say the very least)- in fact I was the weakest, which was extremely humbling. Sometimes in the midst of the physical challenge of biking it was a struggle to understand my role on the trip. However while I was walking my bike up and down the mountains I had lots of time to pray. Also we gathered to pray as a team several times each day, we prayed as we travelled to villages, we had prayer walks over each village we entered, and we had personal quiet times, and one time my team took a wrong turn and got to pray for over 2 hours as we hiked a mountain trail that never led us to a village. God revealed to me that my main purpose in Slovenia wasn’t to be the best biker, to get to the villages the quickest, or even talk to many people there. My role was to cover their land, it’s people, the missionaries, and my team in prayer. And that isn’t a calling to take lightly.
So while I am leaving this beautiful land (as I write out this blog) I am not leaving my calling. For God has graciously given us prayer- a way to commune with him at all times. And the calling to pray for the lost and to draw near to the Father through prayer I never ending for we are commanded to “pray without ceasing” (1 thes 5:17)
I love and miss you all!
Laura
Slovenia
Uganda
Uganda is one of the prettiest places I think I have ever been. It is lush and green everywhere and currently it rains almost everyday and the weather is usually in the low 80s each day and much cooler in the evenings. It is awesome. While here we have been working with the Lwanda Orphanage here in Mbale and the children are precious. We have made several new friends and the time here as really flown by.
I feel like in each stop God is reteaching me the same lesson…how much he loves us. It is really crazy when you ponder it. And every time I think I get it he shows me another way in which he not only loves me but all of his creation. What an amazing God I serve.
We have heard reports that even more of our friends in East Asia have come to know the Lord since we left which is beautiful and so rewarding. I think all of us are still so blown away by how much we have been changed by each place.
Our team has decided to memorize Romans 8 together as a team for the rest of our trip. I would like to challenge you to memorize it with us as well.
I love and miss you all!!! Talk to you again in Slovenia 🙂
India
June 17th, 2012
India is hard. 118 degree weather with no AC, dust in every single crack and cranny, feeling nauseous with no place to retreat. And then you see Preeti smile, or Raziya gives you a hug and yells “AUNTIE” and suddenly you refocus and the sweat rolling down you body doesn’t bother you because this is where God has called me for these 11 days and there is NO better place to be than exactly at the center of His will. It has been so humbling to spend Father’s Day at an orphanage. God is not only my Father but the Father of these beautiful children as well. I am so blessed to be used by God in such a tangible way- of course I would love a cold shower, ice cubes, and to sleep in my own bed- but not more than I want to be singing “Jesus Loves Me” amongst this group of young, beautiful, Indian children.
Intro to India
June 15,2012
We arrived in Deli last night about 10pm (it was 102 degrees) and reunited with the other GJ team at the airport. We got on a bus and headed to the orphange where we will be staying and working this week. Currently the students are on summer holiday so any kids that have any relatives have left for a visit so there is about 50 kids currently at the orphanage and about 20 of us. We spent this morning loving on them, playing games, and drinking as much water as we can possibly stand. It is rediculously hot (high of 119) but already I know that these children and this foreign land will forever hold a piece of my heart. When you think about what really matters in a Christian life though things like AC and showers don’t even make the list and it is very humbling and powerful to stand amongst a group of orphan children, with our heads covered for worship, and to sing out in praise to Him who sits on the throne. Our God is such an amazing and great God and even when we are tired and uncomfortable. I am so excited to see what all God has in store for us during our 11 day stay here with both teams together.
I love and miss you all so very very much…have a sonic ocean water for me 🙂
-Laura
Laura Randolph 