Here I am. Send me!

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" ~ Isaiah 6:8

Today I am leaving with my church to go on a 10 day mission trip to Central Asia. Due to the sensitive nature of this country, I am not allowed to say where I am going. This is a Muslim country, but Christianity is not illegal. The danger is not to us, rather it is to protect the field workers in the country. I can say that I am not going to any country that is currently attempting to overthrow its government. But, we will be in a variety of locations over the next 10 days interacting with an unreached people group. In fact, until a few months ago, there was not a single known believer in this particular people group. There is now 1.

My church, First Baptist Church Alexandria, has a passion for missions in Central Asia. This time, we are working with the International Mission Board to create an interactive prayer guide. Because there are so many unreached people groups who are difficult to find or even interact with, this project will hopefully create a prototype to help reach unreached people groups not only in Central Asia, but around the world. Hopefully this will allow people to come after us and go into dangerous areas and simply pray for these people, without the danger of getting caught for prosletizing.

Our mission is to travel around in the region and take pictures of anything and everything we can. For example, if we took a picture of a door frame, we would write a prayer for God to open the doors to their hearts that they might be willing to listen and seek Him. If we see a mosque, we would pray that God would encourage the people to ask questions or their imams and seek the real truth. That they would grow frustrated with their religion and seek answers elsewhere. If we take a picture of a restaurant, the prayer would read that we hope the people are filled with a hunger and a thirst for God's word. Etc.

It is going to be an incredibly long 10 days with considerable travel and long days. There are four of us going on the trip, one other girl and two guys. We will be working with the field workers and translator all day and then doing the editing on the project at night. We would greatly appreciate your thoughts and prayers while we are gone, especially for safety and good health.

We are leaving today (Wed.) and will be returning on the 19th. Luckily for me this completely covers my spring break and I am not missing a single class. I'm incredibly excited about this trip. I have had a interest and passion for the Central Asian peoples since my summer in Kyrgyzstan (not where we are going). When I left my host family, I promised myself that I would go back to the region one day when I could actually make a difference. The first day that Caleb and I walked into this church in August, they had a Kyrgyz yurt on the stage and were talking about their heart for missions in Central Asia. It was a perfect match. I can't wait to see what God has in store for this trip.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me financially in order to make it possible to even go on the trip. It is so far away and domestic travel in the country can be tricky, so it was rather expensive, but everyone has been so generous and completely covered the cost of the trip for me. Thank you. Now we ask for your prayers not only for us but for those we will come in contact with while we are gone.

The blog is going radio silent for the next 10 days. There won't be internet where we are going and I'm not even taking my laptop or cell phone. BUT, when I get back I promise lots of updates and pictures.

"Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” ~ Matthew 28:17-20