It Came! It Came!

I got home today from a long, hot day on the square at two different arts festivals to find THIS in my mailbox!

How exciting! It seems like we JUST sent the paperwork off yesterday! 

Being a nerdy social studies teacher, I L-O-V-E the fact that there are all sorts of patriotic quotes on the inside by famous Americans. I'm getting all geeked out over my passport!

I'm also pumped about the fact that my Yankee Candle fundraising catalogs are here. I've got 5 pages of order forms, people, so get out your checkbooks ;) 

What's great about this fundraiser is that for every item I sell, I get to keep 40% to go to my Zambia fund. So that means for every jar candle that someone purchases for $25, I get to deposit $10 in my account at the church! So, I just need to sell about 300 candles ;) Just kidding! But every candle sold puts me a little closer to spreading the love of my Savior and acting as His hands and feet. 

If you want to browse my brochure and you're local, just let me know. If you don't want to buy a candle, but you want to support this trip, I'll be more than happy to zip over the tax deductible form for you to send in a donation to the church. I'm relying on God to help me provide for this trip, so if you are reading this and feel like you want to help out financially, get in touch with me and I'll be happy to give you details for donating.

For EVERYONE reading this blog, those who can afford to donate and those who cannot, I am also requesting your prayers. Now that the passport is here, this trip is feeling even more real to me! I truly covet your prayers for my preparations, my travel, and my teaching while I am with the children of Zambia.

Thanks for keeping up with the journey so far! I can't wait to fill you in as we get even closer! May 2013 - that's just 8 months away!!!

Love in Christ,

Dallas

SOZ-in-Training

Zambia Updates, and a Bush Barbecue!

I'm excited to be able to fill you in on some fun for our trip to Zambia! Here's what you've missed since my last post:

#1 - My passport paperwork has been processed! (Say that 10 times fast!) Woohoo! Thanks to special friends Mike and Dianne. I love you both, and I truly appreciate that gift!

#2 - Our church session has approved two fundraisers for the VERY near future! I've been waiting to fill you in, and now that we have approval, I've got some fun details for you!

First, we will be having a Yankee Candle fundraiser from September 21st through October 10th. This is right at the end of the month, so hopefully you'll be able to buy a candle (or two or three!) from us at this time. We'll have brochures to hand out soon, but if you want to start a "wish list," I certainly won't stop you! These will be here before Thanksgiving, so it's a great time to order some fabulous fall scents for your holiday get-together. It's also the perfect time of year to order Christmas gifts. Please consider placing an order with us when our brochures are available!

Also...

Have you been thinking about this trip to Zambia and wished you could be a part of the mission? Well, you don't have to travel to Africa to experience the call of the wild!

The Sisters of Zambia are hosting an African Bush Barbecue, located in the safety of South Enota Drive! 

Where: 

First Presbyterian Church

800 S. Enota Drive

When:

Friday, October 5th

5 pm - 7 pm

Here's our menu:

BBQ Pork

Curry Chicken

Vegetable Beef Stew

Macaroni & Cheese

Rice

Couscous Salad

Baked Beans

Hot Dogs

Tea / Lemonade / Water

We will also have assorted desserts and wild animal cookies for the kids! Children will be able to decorate their own cookies in the shape of elephants, monkeys, and other safari animals.

Of course, in order for this to be a traditional bush barbecue, we have to have a huge bonfire! We are also pleased to announce that there will be live music for your enjoyment as well, so bring your favorite outdoor chair and prepare for a fabulous evening out!

Tickets for adults: $20 each

Tickets for kids: $5 each (for families with lots of children, all of your children can eat for $10 total)

Order your tickets from any Sister of Zambia today!

It'll be great fun, and we ain't "lion!"

Love in Christ,

Dallas

Peace

I don't know about you, but I LOVE it when God speaks to me through a sermon! This morning, Pastor Dan was preaching on peace. He reminded us that the apostle Paul tells us not to "worry about nothing; instead pray about everything." (Philippians 4:6)

Well, I've been a little worried about being able to afford this trip. Pastor Dan also told us this morning that only 8% of our worries are actually something to worry about; 92% of them are out of our control or are too unlikely to occur. I felt like God was speaking to me this morning! There's no need to worry about anything on this trip! However, I should be praying about it for sure.

And I have been praying, and I will continue to do so! Will you join me in praying for the Sisters of Zambia? Our names are all posted in the right column of the blog.

I know God hears our prayers, and I'm certain He's heard mine about my Zambia trip. I've gotten another two appointments to raise money for the trip, and a lovely, wonderful, dear friend of ours has offered to pay for my passport! Praise be to God!

It's hard to have peace if we're worried. If there's something going on in your life that has you worried, remember the words of the apostle Paul. I know that's advice I surely need to take, too! Pray for me, and I'll be praying for everyone who reads this blog as well.

Peace be with you!
Dallas
SOZ-in-Training


P.S. I've changed my computer background because I'm so excited about Zambia. Can you tell? :)

Raising Funds

Hello everyone,

Now that I have the trip itinerary, it's time to start preparing for my journey. I've got a little over 10 months to get ready. I've got to visit the travel clinic for preventive treatment for malaria, yellow fever, hepatitis, and a new tetanus shot; I've got to get a passport and prepare to get my visa; and perhaps most dreaded of all, I've got to ask for donations.

I do NOT like fundraising. Asking people for money makes me so uncomfortable. However, I know that there's no way I can afford a trip like this on my own. I simply have to make money. If, at the end of my preparations, I am still short, I can ask for some money from our church's endowment fund. I'd like to be able to raise all of it myself, but $4,000 sounds like a huge amount.

So even though it makes me uncomfortable, I've just got to do it. I've got a great friend who's been on mission trips to foreign countries and has had to raise money, so she's been helping me think through creating a donation letter. Another SOZ-in-Training has sent me the letter she uses to allow donors to receive a tax credit on their donations. I'm prepared to start sending out letters and praying that people feel led to help me on this mission.

Like I said, I really didn't like the idea of asking for money. I'm a Google kind of gal, meaning that when I have any kind of problem, I start googling for solutions. I found a great website that talks a lot about out of country missions, and one blogger said something to this effect: If God has called me on this mission, would He really call me and then not provide the funding?

This may sound trivial, but this part of the journey is requiring me to get out of my comfort zone and put my trust in God. I've prayed over the letter I wrote, and I've prayed over ways to raise funds. I'm not a crafter, I'm not a baker, and I'm not a handy kind of lady. I do love technology, though, and have had a few friends offer in the past to pay me to help them get some new technology set up in their classrooms. As I was thinking (and worrying) about fundraising, the idea came to me to offer these services and donate all the money I earn to my mission fund! So I took a chance, made a flyer, and put myself out there to see if anything would come of it. I'd be lying if I said I didn't have any doubts about it, but I prayed that God would use this as an opportunity to get me started on my way.

I will tell you with certainty - God works! I put the flyer up yesterday, and I've already had two "appointments" and raised over $100 for the trip - just within two days! That just amazes me! I have another appointment scheduled, and I pray that God will continue to bless this endeavor.

I've also had a few friends who said that they'd donate to my mission fund. I'm looking forward to sending out my letters this weekend, and I thank God for friends who want to see this mission succeed.

Of course, I'd love to raise more than the $4,000 in expenses and leave behind a donation at one (or more) of the homes in Zambia. I'm confident that God will provide for this mission!

I also know that not everyone can donate funds, so I will also continue to ask people to pray for me, the other Sisters, and the people in Zambia that we seek to serve. I hope that if you are reading this blog, you will add this mission to your prayer list.

Thank you for reading!

Blessings in Christ,
Dallas
SOZ-in-Training

Trip Itinerary

Hello, dear readers and prayer partners!

Now that I'm an official SOZ-in-Training, I thought I'd tell you a little bit about the trip we'll be taking next summer.

My last day of postplanning for the upcoming school year is May 20th. The other five Sisters and I will fly out on May 23rd and arrive on May 24th. The flight is, I think, 16 hours. We will have a 3-hour layover in Heathrow, then fly directly to Lusaka. Saturday, the 25th, is the big open air market. I'm looking forward to exploring all the treasures I can pick up there!

While in Lusaka, we will be teaching and playing with the children at the House of Moses, Learning Center of Joy, and House of Martha. We will spend several days there. Then, we will travel about 3.5 hours away to Siavonga and spend a few days teaching the children living at the Namumu Orphanage. Just to give you an idea of the children we'll serve: the children at the House of Moses are infants to toddlerhood, children living at House of Martha are 4 years-12 years in age, and Namumu Orphanage is for children who are of school age, including middle and high school students.

Circled in red are Lusaka (top) and Siavonga (bottom)

We'll spend the last part of our trip on a traditional African safari. So exciting!

We will fly back home on June 6th (early that morning) and we'll have another layover in London, this time for 21 hours. I'll get to explore a city I've always wanted to visit, if only for a little bit! We will arrive back home late on June 7th.

I am looking forward to blessing these children by teaching them and showing them the love of my Savior. I am looking forward to being blessed by the love I'm sure I'll feel coming from those children. I'm looking forward to the growing I'm sure God has in store for me. Like I said before, I've never left the US before, so this is a BIG trip for me! However, I can't deny God's call for me, no matter how nervous I am or how foreign all of this will be.

I'm terrified of flying - so please keep my flights in your prayers! I also ask that you pray for the children living in these homes in Zambia. The Namumu Orphanage has a theme verse from the Bible, and I'll end the post by sharing it here:

James 1:27a Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress...


Blessings in Christ,
Dallas
SOZ-in-Training

Click the links to read more about House of Martha and Namumu Orphanage.

It's Official!

Hi everyone!

My name is Dallas, and I'm a fifth grade teacher in Georgia. On this blog, I'm going to be writing about my journey to become a Sister of Zambia! Read on to find out more about what this means.

Our church has a group of women called the Sisters of Zambia who travel yearly to Africa to volunteer in a children's orphanage called the House of Moses. The House of Moses is located in Lusaka, Zambia's capital (and its largest city).  In the past in Zambia, like in many other African nations, if a mother with an infant died and did not have family to care for the baby, the baby would typically die a few days after the mother. Adoption was not an option for babies in this circumstance. However, the House of Moses, which has been recognized by the UN as a model for best practices, has been created to care for these precious infants in the hopes of finding them loving forever homes.

This year at our church's World Missions Conference, we got to hear about the latest trip to Lusaka and the children at the House of Moses. I felt God tugging at my heart and soul as I heard the stories about these sweet babies, and I felt my heart break when I learned about the burials our Sisters witnessed during their stay at the orphanage. When the Sisters said that they wanted teachers on the next trip, I knew God was calling me to Zambia.

We just had our first meeting, and it's official - I'm going to Zambia! I've never left the United States, so I've got to get a passport and a visa. I've got to get shots, take some pills, and learn about exchanging US money for the currency in Zambia. I've got to get over my fear of flying and prepare myself for a 70 degree winter! Right now, the big issue ahead of me is fundraising! I've got to raise around $3,500 - $4,000 for the trip. I'll blog more about that later.

I hope to write about all the aspects of our journey to Zambia, and I plan to post lots of pictures and stories during and after the trip. I'm so excited that God has called me to be a part of this! If you are a reader of this blog, I ask you to pray for me as I begin this journey and during my trip (May-June of 2013).

Thanks for reading!

Blessings in Christ,
Dallas
SOZ-in-Training

*Click here to read more about the House of Moses.