Want to win $250 while helping me get to Uganda??

It’s that time of the year.  You know…post Christmas and pre-tax refund.  The time of year when many of us are just barely making ends meets after spending too much on Christmas gifts and  getting ready to watch our mailboxes closely for that long awaited W2 (unless you usually owe, in that case, I am SO SORRY!)  The last thing you want right now is someone asking you for money for their cause.  I get it.  Really, I do. 

Too bad I’m going to ask anyway, but at least I have a little incentive (thanks to a generous supporter).

In case you haven’t heard me shouting it from the rooftops yet, I’m going to Uganda in March.  In just 12 weeks.  (Give me a moment while I recover from that statement.  As if I’m not freaked out enough by flying to Guatemala often, yes, now I’m going to get on a plane and go to east Africa….deep breaths…..).  Want to know the crazy thing?  I have NO IDEA how I’m going to get there.  I just know I will…somehow, someway.  And that’s where I hope you come in.  I need sponsors in a BAD way.  One to sponsor the whole trip or lots to sponsor small portions of it.  Either way works for me, but whatever it is, I need $2500 for this trip and I need it pronto. 

I’ve been praying and thinking and praying and thinking some more of how to raise the cash.  I’ve gone through every option that I tell people to try when raising money for Guatemala mission trips.  (I may have to rethink some of my suggestions because when it comes down to it, some of them have just been dumb and I would never even try it….sorry past AAB team members who have been on the receiving end of bad suggestions!)

A bake sale won’t work.  My cookies always come out as crispy as potato chips, my cakes always split and (not to share their secrets or anything), but most of my local friends just aren’t the baking kind.  I can’t have a yard sale because I’m yard-saled out.  If you’ve been in my house lately, you’d see that I really just don’t have anything left to sell except my really old TV and I better hold on to it because Danny needs entertainment while I’m in Uganda (not to mention it would only get me five bucks.)  I thought about doing a raffle, but I don’t have anything big enough to raffle off and really, does anyone want to see another person standing in front of Wal-Mart selling raffle tickets?  So here’s what I came up….

We’ll give away money (ok, really a Visa gift card, but if it works like cash, it’s really the same, right?).  Anyone that helps me get to Uganda by sponsoring me with a $10 donation will be entered to win.  For every $10 donated, you get another entry. $10=1 chance, $20=2 chances, $100=10 chances….you get the idea.  We will announce the winner at 5pm CST on January 15th.  If you can’t donate $10, can you sponsor me with $5, even $1?  Seriously, any amount will help.  And PLEASE PRAY.  And again, if by some chance more is raised than what is needed for the trip, all remaining donations will be turned over to AAB to be used for programs to assist families in Guatemala.  So by all means, if we make it to 100% and you still want a chance to win, keep donating.

It’s easy to donate.  You can ChipIn on the top right of the blog using your credit card, you can send it directly through PayPal to terry dot bracey at gmail dot com (be sure to say it’s a donation for Uganda, please) or you can mail me a check or money order (let me know if you need my address).

Now, you have until January 15th, but don’t wait until then to get it done.  Go ahead and do it now before you forget (like I usually do in situations like this).

In all seriousness, I really need your help.  Without sponsors, this trip will not happen.  I can’t wait to see how God is going to work this out.

OK….enough babbling…thanks in advance for helping me finally get to Uganda!

ChipIn for Uganda

This is a super weird place for me.  Usually I’m the one trying to help people come up with ways to fund their mission trips to Guatemala (or wherever).  It’s hard for me to ask for help, even when I’m asking people for money to support families in Guatemala.  It’s doubly hard for me to ask for personal help, like I’m doing right now.

So everyone knows that I know that for now we have been called to work in Guatemala and most know that I know that I also need to get to Asia (who knows if it’s really Cambodia, Thailand, India…only time will tell) and I’m going to India on a mission trip in September.  Some know that several years ago I also began feeling that familiar tug on my heart for Uganda specifically.  I tried to ignore it, but it hasn’t gone away and now I have the opportunity to possibly begin realizing what it’s all about.  I don’t think these heart tugs to these very specific areas in the world are coincidence so if God opens the door for me to get there (like with India later this year), I have to take it because obviously there is something I am supposed to see or do there.  I didn’t expect 2012 to be full of open doors, but that’s what has happened.  Now I also have the chance to travel to Uganda in March and I am trusting that even though I do not know how I am going to get there, He does and will provide the way.  Both the India and Uganda trips are with our church, with people that we know and trust, so again I do not think it is coincidental.  I am so thankful that after years of praying the doors have swung wide open to these areas of the world that have been on my heart for so long and I do not have to travel on my own or with a group that I do not know to either the first time.

Here’s the deal.  I need help to get to Uganda.  Again, I hate to ask for help, but I keep hearing in the back of my mind, “You have not because you ask not,” and I know that the Lord so often uses others to help people get to where He wants them to be.  I’ve seen it so many times with AAB team members and in the ministry itself.  So I’m asking for your help.  Would you consider donating any amount to help me get to Uganda?  Time is running short and I know it’s right after Christmas when everyone is strapped after all the usual holiday expenses, but if you can donate even the smallest amount, it will be a huge help and I will be forever grateful.  This is one of those times when literally every dollar counts.  You can donate online by clicking on the ChipIn button on the top right of the blog or by check or money order (let me know if you need my address).  Even if you cannot contribute financially, would you join me in praying for this trip…for funding and for the trip itself?

If, by chance, more than enough if raised to cover the trip, all remaining money will be donated to AAB to support families in Guatemala.

What’s In A Name?

Like so many, I am looking forward to celebrating Christmas.  Focusing on what it is truly about is important to me and I am spending time this week reading Scripture that is all too familiar, but still so fresh and new.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

I am slightly obsessed with names.  It may take me a while to remember a name, but once I get it, I rarely forget it.  And I would much rather put faces with names in ministry…like in Guatemala…or anywhere else in the world…where I believe with all that I am that people are more than statistics and projects.  Each person has a name and a story. 

Perhaps that is why I so love the many names of Jesus.  Because he is more than just someone that was born and died.  Because he has the best story and it is never ending.  As if I had never read it before, what “he will be called” has stirred my heart in a new way tonight and I can’t help but speak his name which describes so much of what he is to me.

He IS called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace and by me he is called Savior, Almighty, Healer, King of Kings, Bread of Life and Living Water, Messiah, Holy One, Emmanuel, Comforter, Redeemer.  Jesus. And this is just what I find myself saying.  A quick google search reveals hundreds of names by which he is called (whether they are accurate or inaccurate I do not know). Oh how I love to speak his name…the one name that has more power than any other…the one that I live and would die for…the one who left his throne to save sinners like me. 

With such a powerful meaning, how could I lose sight of what Christmas if really about?

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas.  May you be filled with peace, love and joy during this most beautiful season.

Think About Rethinking It

It’s time to get honest.  And real.  I don’t always “practice what I preach”.  But that ends.  Right now.

For years I’ve all but begged people to give more of themselves.  At Christmas time especially, when the materialism I despise overtakes so many of us.  Myself included.  When people ask me every year what I want for Christmas, I tell them to buy a water filter for a family, feed the hungry, something, anything, but purchase a gift for me that I do not need.  Don’t get me wrong.  I like to get gifts as much as the next girl.  I still get giddy when I’m ripping pretty paper to shreds while wondering what’s in the box.  But I like to give more than I like to receive and for some reason (must be that whole “love like Jesus” thing) I consider it a GIFT to myself to give to those in need, to share the Gospel, to love.  Only once in my life has anyone given me such a gift.  Last year, a friend gave me a Christmas gift.  It was a check made out to AAB to purchase a water filter.  Best Christmas gift.  EVER.  Seriously.  Call me crazy, but her gift to a family I love in Guatemala was an incredible gift to me.  I can’t help it.  I was made for this.  And you want to know something?  I think we all were, but somewhere along the way (you know, that whole sin and fallen world deal) we lost what it’s really all about.

So here I’ve sat every year for years complaining about how people need to give more of themselves to those that really need it instead of buying that one size too small sweater, a picture frame or a candle for the person that really doesn’t NEED anything at all.  Because let’s face it.  Some of us think we are in need.  New flash: chances are, we’re really not.  I’ve seen real need and it ain’t pretty, folks.  But every year that I’ve complained about how I want people to donate to others on my behalf, I’ve gotten myself caught up in what I so dislike and have filled my shopping cart with those same gifts that people do not need or want that half the time go unused and sold in yard sales six months later.  Never once have I done the very thing I’ve asked people to do for me.

No matter what anyone says, I do not “do enough” because I believe you never can.  There is always more that I can do because that love just never stops overflowing me.  Some say that we do not need to do this because churches and organizations around the world do this kind of stuff.  To that I say, WE ARE THE CHURCH and since we have one of those organizations, we’re pretty much that, too.  This is our job.  If everyone left it up to someone else the world would be in more chaos than it already is.  So this year I am doing what I’ve begged people to do for years.  Instead of worrying about trying to find the best gift for that person that has it all or, dare I say, enough, we’re doing Christmas the way we think it should be done this year.

I love to give gifts and remember, I like to receive them.  There is nothing wrong with exchanging gifts.  NOTHING!  So don’t blow up my email account or voice mail with “you’re a scrooge” messages.  Trust me, there will be plenty of presents under my tree this year, I will thoroughly enjoy whatever gifts I receive and the super excited 4 year old in our house is getting his much anticipated visit from Santa, but this isn’t like Christmases past.  Everyone that usually gets a gift from us is still receiving a gift.  You’ll get a small happy…maybe something special that we know you really want or could use or some of your favorite fresh baked cookies and along with that, you’ll be receiving the gift of knowing that you are feeding a starving child, giving the life saving gift of clean water, sharing the Message of Jesus (imagine that….is Christmas about anything else??) in countries around the world.

These are the organizations we will be using to give Christmas away.  If anyone wants to join us, please do.  You can find gifts to give from $5 and the maximum is unlimited.  Why don’t you consider still purchasing that gift for someone, but make it $5 less than you planned and donate a $5 Bible to someone that doesn’t have one instead or spend $10 less on that person’s gift and donate a mosquito net on his behalf?  It’s that simple and so easy and there are many options.  I am NOT saying that you shouldn’t give gifts, I’m simply asking you to consider spending a little less on the material things and give something that is really needed to people around the world.  The first, Lemonade International, is a ministry in Guatemala.  You can provide children with shoes (and a local shoe maker with an income…you know we love that!!), help pay a teacher’s salary and more.  Samaritan’s Purse and Compassion International do not need any introduction.  Across All Borders is not doing anything specific for Christmas this year and I am not even advocating specifically for our ministry, but of course if you would like to give the gift of a clean burning stove, Bibles, feed children, etc., through us, you can visit our website to make a donation.

You know (or maybe you don’t because I can’t imagine that anyone would intentionally ignore this on purpose)…Americans spend more than 450 BILLION DOLLARS a year on Christmas!  To me, that spells INSANITY.  Americans must be living in some kind of blind dream world.  Because do you realize that experts believe that just 20 BILLION dollars is all that is needed to make sure everyone on the planet has access to clean water??  Water is just one of the world’s issues, but imagine what the world would be like if just for one Christmas we gave everyone in the world clean water and used the remaining 430 BILLION DOLLARS on other issues.  Talk about alleviating poverty and imagine how many people would be reached with the Gospel!! 

Yes, I’m a little crazy.  I’ve never denied it.  But I’m not crazy in the way some people think I am.  I may be considered generous, but never will I be generous enough.  I may love the poor and oppressed, orphans and widows, but I will never love enough.  And even though I’m crazy, I am not crazy enough, because the reason behind my generosity, my love, my craziness is a Savior that gave it ALL and clearly laid out for all of us how we are to live our lives.  It’s that simple.  I take Him seriously and literally.  He takes care of our little family of three and has called us, just like He has called everyone else, to give ourselves away for the Kingdom’s cause.  How can we ask others to live this way if we do not?  So here we go.  Will you join us?

Not A Typical Thanksgiving

This year we did not celebrate Thanksgiving as usual.  Far from it.  There was no watching the Macy’s Day parade, cooking all morning and running around at the last minute getting every thing ready for family, watching football all afternoon, napping and eating again.  No, this was not our typical Thanksgiving.  Most Thanksgivings I am more concerned with getting to wherever we’re supposed to be on time or making sure the pie turns out just right.  But today…

I looked into the eyes of a 20-something Muslim woman that is paralyzed from the waist down and listened to her story.  She was eight years old when her parents were murdered in front of her eyes and when she was raped, shot and left for dead in Somalia.  As I hugged her I wanted nothing more than to take her pain away, past and present, and prayed that she will one day understand that there is hope in the One that came to save her.

I shook hands with a boy that arrived just two days ago from Sudan and I wondered what he must be thinking about his new home.

I knelt on the ground and rubbed the back of a woman from a small country that borders Nepal as I tried to understand what she was saying.  In the end, I think she was overwhelmed and eventually calmed down as she got used to all of the activity.  Later I smiled as I watched her making a necklace and taking extra plates of food back to her room…something I’m sure she was never able to do during her 20 years in the refugee camp in her home country.

I spent time with a Muslim family in their living room.  They fled Somalia not long ago.

I was on the verge of tears when during a prayer a woman we were serving walked over, grabbed my hand and bowed her head to pray with us.

I was reminded of the simplicity of the Gospel.

And tonight I am praying for each and every one that we served, those that I was fortunate to meet and those that I did not.

We spent the day with others from our church serving at a local refugee community that houses refugees from ten countries.  Some are Christians, but the majority are Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and other religions.   We played games and did crafts with the children, served lunch, distributed food and necessity bags and shared the love of Jesus in words and action.

In the end, as we prayed, I couldn’t help but look around at those that had come to serve and the Christian refugees that had joined us, hand in hand, in prayer and thought…this is what heaven must look like.  In heaven, it won’t matter what country you were born in, the language you spoke, the color of your skin.  A huge circle of brothers and sisters from literally all over the world joined hands today to give thanks to Him.  We saw just a glimpse of heaven today.

Everyone that knows me knows that my heart is in international missions, but my passion for missions started right here in this country when I was child serving wherever and however I could.  Today I got the best of both worlds.  This was the best Thanksgiving I have ever had.

2012 Trips

As I am working on the big post with details about last week’s trip (I will try to get it up sometime next week), I thought I would share trip dates that have already been scheduled for 2012.  So far we are forming teams for March 12-17, 2012 and October 15-20, 2012.  Detailed information about these trips will be posted on the website in the coming weeks.  If you are interested in traveling either of these weeks or would like to form a team of 5 or more to travel any other week of the year (excluding Easter, 4th of July, Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks), email me at terry at acrossallborders dot org.

Different Worlds, Same Heaven

From the time I pulled into the parking lot on this bright, beautiful day, I knew it was going to be hard for me to get through.  Leaving Guatemala is never easy for me.  When the next day is Sunday and I have no time separating church there and here, it makes it a little more difficult.  Without early arrivals and long layovers it takes only 4 hours to get to Guatemala from here.  It’s just 1601 miles away.  I often wonder how so many different worlds can exist on one planet.  Different cultures I understand, but it seems as if we live in totally different worlds.  Just 4 hours from each other.

I get out of my car and walk into the church that I love so very much.  One of the first things I see is one of our team members surrounded by people intently listening to her.  She is talking about the trip and is already on the verge of tears as she was much of last week.  What a new experience this is for me.  What a wonderful one it is.  I never get to see team members right after a trip because they usually live in other parts of the U.S.  This was the first trip our church has joined with us to take.  She is so deep in conversation that I ignore the urge to move everyone out of the way to hug her and simply pat her on the back and keep walking to my class.

I’m late, but that’s OK.  Stopping to chat with people along the way wanting to know all about the trip is exciting.  Once in my class I sit next to another team member and open my Bible to what is already being discussed.  And that’s when I begin to get a little shaky.

The size of our ABF room is almost the size of the entire church in Pueblo Nuevo.  We have carpet and padded seats and tables covered with table cloths.  There are enough chairs for everyone.  No one is dirty because we all had access to warm showers this morning.  Our clothes are clean and are not torn.  There are purses hanging from the chair backs and wallets sticking out of men’s pockets and even if someone in the room was considered “poor” by U.S. standards there would really be no comparison to that which we just came from.  Everyone has a Bible or a Bible app and we can all read and write.

We are discussing Luke 19:11-27, the parable of the ten minas.  Rarely does my focus wander during class, but today it was in and out.  Our teacher happens to a friend and the missions pastor of our church and his wife is a dear friend that had just returned from Guatemala with me.  I paid no attention to the reading or to much of the discussion because my mind was 1601 miles away, but I did hear some of the comments made by our teacher.  He’s made so many comments over the last few years that have stuck with me and yesterday was one of those days when his comments pulled my wandering mind back to the present, where it should have been.

“Where is our sense of urgency?  Why are we acting like we have plenty of time.”

“Do we walk the aisle, get baptized and that’s it?”

“Christians are rewarded for the things they do for the Kingdom so why are we not doing more good?”

We walk out of class and more people want to hear about the trip.  I speak to the pastor’s wife for a few minutes and make my way into our super comfy sanctuary.  Padded pews, carpeted floors, a big screen in front, an incredible baptismal, the perfect lighting, a top of the line sound system.  I take my normal seat in the front and wait for it to begin.  I know it’s coming.  The music starts and though I open my mouth to sing, nothing comes out.  Tears fall and my hands shake as I hear everyone singing, “You make beautiful things, beautiful things out of the dust…”  A child is baptized then we greet each other before more singing.  I walk around openly crying as I find each person that spent last week in Guatemala to check on them.  As if Revelation Song is brand new, it gets me again.  “Jesus, your name is power, breath of living water, such a marvelous mystery…”

I know that not so far away a tiny church is packed.  The pastor and his family either walked or rode what I affectionately call a chicken bus a few miles to get there.  It is raining and everyone else made their way through dirt and mud in the best clothes they have to get there.  They have no instruments other than a single guitar and no sound system.  They do not have enough room for the number of chairs they need so it was likely standing room only.  But I’ve seen the worship and it is so real and dare I say more genuine than so many of our churches here.  The words they sing do not just come out of their mouths.  It comes from deep within and is poured out as a true offering of praise.

Both pastors begin their message at close to the same time.  I am moved, as usual.  My mind and my heart is torn between two places.  I am so thankful for where I am and where I’ve been and I long to be in both places at once, knowing it will never happen.  But then I realize that I could not be more wrong.  I will never be able to be everywhere that I feel connected to while on Earth, but Heaven is a different story.

We all get the same Heaven.  I’ve said for as long as I can remember that we aren’t different than anyone else in the world.  We may have a lot of differences which usually boils down to money and what we spend it on, but we aren’t all that different.  I spent my morning learning more about and worshipping the same Lord our friends in Guatemala learned more about and worshipped.  Depending on what is at the core of our hearts, people all over the world are more the same than we are different.   

I cannot even scratch the surface of imaging what Heaven will be like, but I do know that for the first time ever I won’t feel torn and for the first time ever all those that I love in the world, no matter where they are right now, will all be in the same place at once if they have given their hearts to Jesus.  With all of my doubts and uncertainties in this thing called life, that is the one thing  I am certain about.