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On the far Horizon and Getting Closer - Russia 2013



As long as I can remember, both my sister and I have wanted to adopt. Throughout our childhood, our favorite movies and books have always centered around adoption – adopted characters, misfit families of people who weren’t related but became “family” when they needed it most.  It’s no surprise that our favorite Bible verses have been adoption verses as well, verses like Psalm 68:5-6, where God says that He is the Father of the fatherless, who places the lonely in families.
Perhaps that’s why Russia has always been on our hearts, a place of interest to us both.  I even studied Russian for a year in college, soaking up the language and dreaming of the people there.  According to some reports, there are over 700,000 orphans in Russia alone, living in more than 2,176 orphanages or on the streets – and the numbers are rising each year.  The outcomes for these children are particularly grim, most of them “aging out” of the orphanages around the age of 16 or 17 and facing life without support or skills.  According to the Russian Child Welfare website, nearly 40% of these children become involved in crime, 10% commit suicide, 33% are unable to find jobs, and at least 20% of them are homeless after leaving the orphanages.[1]

This fall, my sister and I have the opportunity to do something about it, to travel to Russia with Buckner Internationl (www.buckner.org) to minister to orphans for a week and a half and to lose our hearts in God’s work to liberate those tied down and held back by injustice, to lighten the load of those heavily burdened, to free the oppressed, to share love and supplies with those who have none (Isaiah 58:6-7).  And we can’t wait.  We will be distributing shoes to the orphans we encounter, possibly facilitating a Vacation Bible School, and loving on as many of the kids as we can while we’re there. 

We are asking for your help today.  First of all, we are asking you to pray with us as we approach our trip date in October – pray that God will prepare our hearts to see and hear His voice, that He will equip us to love the children and workers we encounter, that hearts will be ready to hear the Gospel and that lives will be forever changed. But we are also asking you to consider whether or not you would be able to help us get there.  You see, as volunteers on this trip, we are 100%  responsible for raising support, which will cost us each approximately $4,000.  So far, we have each raised approximately $500.   If God puts it on your heart to help us, we would like to let you know that we are raising funds through the Visiting Orphans Online store, where you can buy shirts and jewelry to remind people of the Biblical call to orphan care.  You can check out the merchandise available at the following link: ww.visitingorphans.org/catalog/apparel[2].  You can also donate online to our personal trip fundraising websites:
Amanda: http://www.kintera.org/faf/r.asp?t=4&i=1033678&u=1033678-376169832&e=6511642255
Abi: http://www.kintera.org/faf/r.asp?t=4&i=1033678&u=1033678-375830000&e=6511632285
All gifts to our individual fundraising pages are tax-deductible and would be SO much appreciated!!

However you are able to support us on our journey, whether through faithful prayer or financial assistance, please know how much we appreciate you and how much we look forward to sharing with you about the trip! 

[1] http://www.rcws.org/aboutus_statistics.htm
[2] (Select the items you wish to buy and proceed to the check-out page.  There will be a section titled “Donation Information,” where you can choose for part of the proceeds of your purchase to support a “Team member or Ministry.”  In order for a part of your purchase to benefit our trip, you need to simply type “Buckner Missions” in the Team Member space.)

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