Haiti Update: January.

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Whew, it seems like just yesterday I sat down to write the December update. I supposed that means April is going to sneak up on in a fury of preparations.



Thank you for the kind words since I announced my intentions to go to Haiti. Your encouragement has lifted me up and grown my excitement for all that the Lord has for me on this trip. I've read every comment, text, e-mail, and tweet with your words and soaked them up!

I had my first missions meeting yesterday. I was excited to finally get a little more info after felling like the last month my mind has been swinging with Haiti info. I will say, I got a little scared when I realized how phyical this trip will be. We will be doing construction, which I knew, but this will include lugging and laying 35lb cement bricks for the foundation of a church in Haiti. Ouch. I've been advised along with the rest of my team to train, physically, for the difficulties we will experience physically. Jillian Michaels and I have some big dates coming up!

I'm pleased to announced I've been officially 'approved' to go from the church - so this trip is REAL!

Many of you have been kind enough to want to help! I've spend some time thinking about how this could best be done. I LOVE finding ways to contribute to others mission ambitions myself, so I wanted to find real, tangible ways for you all to be a part of this trip (if you want too) whether you're a friend, neighbor, family member, or blog world friend. So here are some ways you can help, all of which I would be grateful for!...

1. Prayer. I mean it when I say that if what you've got to give is prayer - I will TAKE IT! I am excited, peaceful, and confident in the Lord's provision for my safety, finances, etc but I will take every last prayer with a grateful heart. This is certainly a crazy little adventure of which, I will need the Lord direction every step of the way. If you're committing to pray for me - I'd love to know about it, and I would also love it if you'd remind me along the way that you're praying and how you're praying! That would really to my heart good.

2. Supplies. If you want to 'give' in a tangible way, I still need a few supplies. I shared before that my Mom bought quite a few things from my list for my trip as stocking stuffers, but there's still some basic supply needs. If you aren't in Tampa but you'd like to send me a supply care package, I will happily e-mail you my address (as long as I semi know you - so I'm not giving my address to creepers ha ha).

Here's a list of some of the things I still need:

- Water purifying tablets (you can google them - they're for international travel)
-Granola bars and...
- Other prepackaged snacks
- Peanut butter
- Dry shampoo
- Baby wipes
- Hand sanitizer ( I got some in my stocking but I'm thinking I may need a good bit of this)

(May I state as a disclaimer that if I end up with too much of any of these things I will happily donate them to my fellow travelers. I promise not to hoard 100s of packs of baby wipes all for me)

3. Treasure/Trash. Yep, you read that right. What might be your trash can be turned into treasure. My sweet friend Jess has agreed to host me a yard sale and I will be accepting any donations of things you no longer need/use/want to be sold to benefit my trip. I figured this was a simple way that anyone who wanted to contribute would have a chance to do so, however big or small your donation. So if you want to clean off your bookshelf, clean out your closet, or get rid of a pile of tees taking up too much room in your dresser save them for me! The yard sale will be Saturday, February 18th in the Northdale area - and I will most likely start taking the donations in the week before (I can't store them for 6 weeks...) Again, if you want to ship a box of stuff, I'll take that too.

4. Finances. I wanted to list this last because I'm not a big fan of asking for money. So I'm not going too. I'm just going to put it out there, that if you want to contribute financially to my trip - that would wonderful. The trip itself costs $900 and in addition I have to get immunizations, a passport, etc. So it's not cheap. I trust the Lord to pave the way and feel completely comfortable with it all. But several of you have asked about giving and I am touched my your generosity. If you're interested in giving money wise - please e-mail me for further info.

(Another disclaimer - if there is a crazy influx of funds I do promise not to use your money on a new handbag - if I raise over what I need for this trip, I will be donating the rest to the members of my team who need funding as well. All donations will go towards the Haiti trip)

For more info on any of the above need listings you can e-mail me at: thequeenbc@gmail.com

Thank you for your continued love and support.

Love,
B