Family Mission Trip

My name is Bridget and I am the oldest daughter of ten! I am here to tell you about some lovely people doing great things for people in need. Growing up, my family has always found ways to support mission work and serve our neighbors in the world just like Jesus would. My wonderful brother Marty and his wife Elizabeth along with their growing family of Ethan (20 Months) and Felicity (4 months) have the amazing opportunity to go to Nigeria to serve mothers and babies at Carry Them Ministries. They will be leaving with two other siblings Erin and Patrick in October, to spend a couple of weeks living and working with the local people. Their goal is to support children in an orphanage as well as mothers needing lactation support to provide for their babies. Elizabeth recently became a Certified Lactation Counselor, so her and Erin will be helping at the breastfeeding center while the guys work and play with the 200+ kids at the orphanage run by Back2Back Ministries.

Her are a few amazing stories from Carry them Ministries and the orphanage Back2Back Ministries!

Friday morning we were called in to feed and find a home for a baby who could no longer stay with her mother in prison. Immediately after picking up this baby, we got a call for a baby, 12 minutes old, whose mother was caught trying to traffic her. Our staff picked her up and provided this precious baby with her first meal and skin to skin the first hour of her life; as well as an adoptive family to love and protect her.

Shortly after, a mama walked into our clinic with twins, weighing only a few pounds each at several months old. Desperate for help for her babies, she had gone to the “white woman” to see if there was something in her breast milk that was killing her babies. She had lost all four of her previous children when they were each only a few months old and she was close to losing the twins now. We were able to pray with her, grieve with her over the loss of her 4 babies and celebrate the life of the newest set of twins while helping her latch and encouraging her on her breastfeeding journey.

Baby boy 4 months old and 5.5lbs who’s mother passed away in childbirth was brought in by his aunt as he was extremely small due to being fed watered down formula. This aunt was now caring for 14 children, with an income of less than $1 USD and felt she had no way to provide the nutrition this child needed. We provided her with supplies to pump and educated her on how to begin "relactation" in order to feed her nephew breastmilk. A few weeks later, he came for a checkup and had doubled in weight!! These are just a few of the stories from last week’s clinic and some of the 40 babies we are currently supporting in Nigeria, Africa through Carry Them Ministries. This non-profit organization was started by several of Elizabeth's friends to empower moms and save babies through lactation support and breastfeeding education while showing them the love Christ has for them and that every life matters! When the ministry started, 1 in 28 babies in Nigeria would die before their 28th day of life but God is doing AMAZING things to reverse this statistic! Carry Them Ministries has helped over 250 babies in 3 years and we are growing exponentially! Elizabeth say "It has been an honor and privilege to be the US administrative person for the past two years".

In order for this group to make the trip a success, they need a few things. First and foremost prayer!! Please pray the their passports, visas and all paperwork come back before they have to leave. Pray for smooth travels for the nearly 36 hours of flight/drive time, that God will bless the interactions they will have while they're there! We want the missionaries serving there to feel supported and encouraged and those they encounter to feel the love of Christ!

They are also in need of financial help. Their goal is $10,000 by Sept 30th! We are full of faith and trust in the lord that this will happen, and that the people that this group encounters because of these gifts will see the love of Christ through their work.

https://carrythem.org/

https://back2back.org/