Dear Friends and Family,

If you know me well (or at all really), you know that I'm not a missions-trip kind of person. In fact, I'm not even really an outside kind of person.

I am terrified of flying, I hate bugs, I don’t enjoy the idea of a seven-hour bus ride into the heart of the Amazon Rainforest, and I REALLY don't like the idea of carrying toilet paper in a fanny pack to use the bathroom in the trees. I don’t even like sitting in my own backyard in the summer because of the bugs. So when I say that this trip to Ecuador is not something I would ever choose on my own, I mean that with my whole heart. And yet… here I am.

About a week ago, I felt a very clear and persistent call to go, not because it felt comfortable, logical, or safe, but precisely because it didn’t. I tried to talk myself out of it (and still am). I listed all the reasons it didn’t make sense, I reminded myself of my fears, and I thought through all of the bills that the money could go towards. But the calling didn’t go away. So now, I'm asking all of my friends and family for their support.

From February 21 through February 28, I’ll be traveling with our church to Sucua, Ecuador, working alongside the Ecuador Hope House, a home for girls who have experienced abandonment and trauma. While we’re there, our team will be building a house for a woman who opened her heart and offered what little resources she had to abandoned children when no one else would.

I don’t believe that we are called only when we feel brave. I think sometimes we are called when we feel weak, afraid, and completely out of our comfort zone... because that’s exactly where I am even as I write this.

The total cost for me to take this trip of faith is $2,250 and I’m asking for your support, whether through prayer, encouragement, or financial help. Every donation, no matter the size, helps make this mission possible.

Thank you for believing in me even when I’m scared. Thank you for helping me say “yes” to something that stretches my faith far beyond what feels comfortable. And thank you for being part of a story that I know is being written, even when I don’t yet know how it will end.