April Riggins' Healing Journey
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Please help us raise money to support and bless a true servant of God - my friend April who was recently diagnosed with cancer. There's a song that says "you can have this whole world, just give me Jesus," and that pretty much sums up April. She is a woman who said “yes” to Jesus at twelve years old, and then "yes" to missions when she went on her first trip to Russia at the age of 14. After several missions trips throughout Africa and Asia over the next few years, Jesus said “yes” to her and led her to a life serving as a full-time missionary around the world for over 25 years now. She decided to move to Thailand and serve with Life Impact Int’l. For 10 years she worked to rescue and bring healing to hundreds of children who were victims of child trafficking in Thailand, Burma, and surrounding countries. During this time they also did extensive ministry and evangelistic outreaches in Pakistan, Indonesia and the warzones of Burma (Myanmar).
After returning to the US, she spent two years with Global Frontier Missions in Atlanta, GA – an organization that works with refugees in a community labeled “the most diverse square mile in America.” After completing her time at GFM, God began opening doors in SE Asia. Since then April has spent most of her time ministering and working with the local National Christian leaders in Indonesia, Burma, Vietnam, Laos, India, and Thailand – working to spread the Gospel to those who have never heard.
After all her years serving, April (along with co-founder Sara) decided to form a non-profit ministry. She took a leap of faith and One Spark International (www.onesparkintl.org) came to life in 2021. While others struggled through the pandemic, April and Sara saw more doors than they ever imagined fly open. They begin to partner with local Christian leaders in impoverished and underserved countries specifically where the Gospel has not been heard. These partnerships help equip and empower Nationals with skills to help their communities become self-sustainable, and to give them the training tools necessary to help their people excel despite a lack of resources. The vision is to 'spark' transformation in these communities through Biblical discipleship, English language learning, business, agricultural and vocational trainings.
When we say “yes” to Jesus, sometimes we expect life to look a certain way. But Jesus often does things differently than we do. In that vein, it was quite unexpected for April to kick off 2022 by being diagnosed with Stage 3 Nodular Melanoma- a rare and aggressive form of cancer that has an 80% chance of spreading and recurring in the first year alone. It was unexpected to learn her oncologist and medical team have her scheduled for one year of monthly immunotherapy treatments (immunotherapy is a different drug infusion than chemotherapy, but it has many of the same side effects, plus a few more).
We want to help April get the therapy and treatment she needs, but as a career missionary she has few personal resources and her insurance does not even pay for everything the traditional therapies recommend. April is believing God for healing and complete restoration. She believes He called her to this new ministry “One Spark” to advance His kingdom and is committed to continue to say "yes" to serving Him throughout this process and continues to give Him all the glory. She also believes He has a lot more work for her to do and we want to help her pursue every possible option available including holistic and nutritional therapies to give her the best chance at life.
This donation page has been established to allow others to say “yes” to Jesus by helping April in this fight for her life and the many additional expenses that come with battling cancer. Please consider praying for and contributing to her treatment expenses and therapies so she can continue serving and spreading the Gospel which has been her life work. Check out her ministry here at https://www.onesparkintl.org. and consider blessing her as she blesses others in Jesus' name.
Thank you all and God Bless you!
After returning to the US, she spent two years with Global Frontier Missions in Atlanta, GA – an organization that works with refugees in a community labeled “the most diverse square mile in America.” After completing her time at GFM, God began opening doors in SE Asia. Since then April has spent most of her time ministering and working with the local National Christian leaders in Indonesia, Burma, Vietnam, Laos, India, and Thailand – working to spread the Gospel to those who have never heard.
After all her years serving, April (along with co-founder Sara) decided to form a non-profit ministry. She took a leap of faith and One Spark International (www.onesparkintl.org) came to life in 2021. While others struggled through the pandemic, April and Sara saw more doors than they ever imagined fly open. They begin to partner with local Christian leaders in impoverished and underserved countries specifically where the Gospel has not been heard. These partnerships help equip and empower Nationals with skills to help their communities become self-sustainable, and to give them the training tools necessary to help their people excel despite a lack of resources. The vision is to 'spark' transformation in these communities through Biblical discipleship, English language learning, business, agricultural and vocational trainings.
When we say “yes” to Jesus, sometimes we expect life to look a certain way. But Jesus often does things differently than we do. In that vein, it was quite unexpected for April to kick off 2022 by being diagnosed with Stage 3 Nodular Melanoma- a rare and aggressive form of cancer that has an 80% chance of spreading and recurring in the first year alone. It was unexpected to learn her oncologist and medical team have her scheduled for one year of monthly immunotherapy treatments (immunotherapy is a different drug infusion than chemotherapy, but it has many of the same side effects, plus a few more).
We want to help April get the therapy and treatment she needs, but as a career missionary she has few personal resources and her insurance does not even pay for everything the traditional therapies recommend. April is believing God for healing and complete restoration. She believes He called her to this new ministry “One Spark” to advance His kingdom and is committed to continue to say "yes" to serving Him throughout this process and continues to give Him all the glory. She also believes He has a lot more work for her to do and we want to help her pursue every possible option available including holistic and nutritional therapies to give her the best chance at life.
This donation page has been established to allow others to say “yes” to Jesus by helping April in this fight for her life and the many additional expenses that come with battling cancer. Please consider praying for and contributing to her treatment expenses and therapies so she can continue serving and spreading the Gospel which has been her life work. Check out her ministry here at https://www.onesparkintl.org. and consider blessing her as she blesses others in Jesus' name.
Thank you all and God Bless you!
Organizer and beneficiary
Sara Whitten
Organizer
Kerrville, TX
April Riggins
Beneficiary