My Story and God's Plan

Many of you who are reading this have received a letter in the mail explaining the missions trip that I hope to attend. I hope to educate you about the plight of the estimated 143 orphans worldwide and what you can do to help them as well as raise support for my trip.

First of all, I want to tell you about my story and the realization of God's Plan for me. Growing up in a wonderful Christian home, I was taught to care for the underprivileged and the people who were worse off than I was, but it was not until my family began the adoption process of my younger sister from China that I began to realize that plight of orphans worldwide. This past year, I started reading my Bible and praying daily. This has allowed me to grow deeper in my relationship with the Lord.

While reading through the book of James, I came across James 1:27 which calls for the "care of orphans in their distress", consequently, this is also the motto for Shaohannah's Hope. Things just snowballed from there and I began to read more and more Bible verses talking about caring for orphans.

The hardest part about all of that was knowing what to do, knowing how I fit into God's Plan. I began researching different websites and my mom came across showHOPE, part of Shaohannah's Hope, an organization founded by Christian singer and songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife, that provides grants for Christian families in the adoption process. I came across a link to a teens missions trip to China. Interested, I began to learn more about it, but the missions trip was already in China! Not to be discouraged, I began saving up for this year's missions trip.

The trip will cost between $2,500 and $3,000. I hope to raise this money by doing various chores and tasks (such as babysitting, petsitting, etc), donations, and "Change for Children" jars (these jars are more thoroughly explained on the sidebar). Prayer support for the trip is also needed.

Elizabeth