Exciting News

Yesterday I was commended by my church, Northside Bible Fellowship. Basically what this means is that they support my decision to go to South Africa and will be accountable to me just as I will be accountable to them. They will support me both financially and in prayer. Northside has set me up with a prayer partner and expect me to keep them up to date with what's happening in my life in regards to South Africa. At first the reason I was getting commended was so that there would be a way for Canadians to donate to me through Northside and still get a tax receipt since I'm going to South Africa with an American organization, but now it's grown into something much more meaningful. When this whole process first started I googled what it meant to be commended by the church and this was one of the coolest descriptions:

 A commending, which is distinct from ordination to church office, is the solemn recognition of a person as set apart for a particular work of ministry.

I believe that in this description they are talking about commissioning a pastor rather than commending a 'missionary' but it still stuck in my mind. I like the idea of being 'set apart' for something specific. I don't know if I'll be a full time missionary when I get older or not but I believe that all of us are 'set apart' for work in ministry where ever we are, whether that means going overseas or simply going to the office. Everyday we can be ambassadors for Christ representing him in the way we live our lives.

Some more exciting news is that I might have a good friend coming with me to South Africa! She is still in the application process and has run into some difficulties already but hopefully she'll be able to come as well. That would be so amazing. Though I'm fine with going by myself it's always nice to have something familiar with you, that and this friend is such a blessing to my life it would be magnificent if we could share this experience together.

So I know that I'm not following the normal two question format but I really can't think of anymore questions so I'm going for a new format. I will still have questions each entry but they may end up being the same questions each time, so here they are:

1. How far away are you from your goal?
Well, physically I'm 15732.6 km away from South Africa. Financially I'm $2,173 away for my goal. Compared to the original amount it seems small but it's still a lot money left to raise. If I had 217, 300 more pennies I could reach South Africa financially. physically it would take around 82,803,160 pennies laid out flat to get from here to South Africa.

2. How can I pray for you?
Some prayer request would be:

• That my yard sale on May 4th would be successful in raising funds
• That my friend will be able to come with to South Africa as well
• That the team that ends up going to South Africa bonds really when and is unified.  

Well, that's all folks. More to come I'm sure, just stay tuned in.

The April Addition

Well, I'm not sure what other question I could answer. I think I've covered my 5 Ws so I just I'll just come up with a question...Okay I've got one or two.

5. What are you going to do after your trip?

I will be getting back from my trip in December 2013. I plan to work until summer then I'm open to anything. I've always thought that I would become a nurse but now I'm not so sure. I dream of mine would be to do the COLTS program at Crowsnest Lake Bible Camp next summer, but again I'm not sure. It's God's call, not mine and right now I'm don't really feel that He's pulling me in any one direction. To answer the question, after my trip to South Africa I plan to work and then go into college or university for some program and maybe do the COLTS program in between.

6. Tell us about how you're preparing for this trip? (but feel free to go off on random tangents)

At the moment most of my preparation for this trip consists of raising money and praying. At first my big income was people buying my crafts but now that has died down so my main income for this trip consists of babysitting money as well as my salary from my job at Target. I have also applied for a summer job at a camp which I'm really excited for assuming I get the job. Another (hopefully) big source of income will be from the yard sale I'll be having in May, which I am also excited for. As for prayer, I'm praying for anything and everything for this trip, mostly I've been praying for unity in the team that is going. I've been on a missions trips where there was discord between some of the team members. I found it was really hard to show God's love when there was little love within the team. I've also been praying for the families we'll be staying with and the people we'll meet and so many other things.

There we have it. Two more questions finished. But I'm seriously running out of questions, I don't know what you guys want to know about (assuming anyone is really reading this) So let me know if you have a question for me no matter how random.

How to Donate

For those who don't know and would like to donate this is how:

A) Step 1: Go to www.experiencemission.org and click on the Donate link located in the top navigation bar.
Step 2: Select the large Sponsor a Volunteer box.
Step 3: Select one of the two options to Sign In.
Step 4: Complete the Sponsor a Volunteer process. (You will need my User Id which is NHIL1002.)

B) Order a toque, crocheted item or one of the many other crafts I'm making to help raise money.

C) Donate your stuff you no longer need to my garage sale which will be on May 4th at Northside Bible Fellowship Church (2911 Edmonton Trail NE, Calgary, AB)

D) Ask me to Babysit

If you have any questions just send me an email at naomi.hills1@gmail.com

Another Day, Another Post

3. What makes you think God is calling you on this trip?

If I could answer this question in one word it would be peace, but I'll expand on that. I know that God is calling me to go on this trip because I feel peace when ever I think about going. The first response I usually get when I tell people I'm going to South Africa is "be careful." South Africa is known as a dangerous place. I was told that Johannesburg airport is ranked as the most dangerous airport in the world, I don't know if this is true but I find that I'm not afraid either way. I've heard my 'horror' stories about South Africa. I've heard about how people will slice open your backpack and take your things or just kill you for your backpack. I've heard how if you stop at a red light there is a high chance that you'll be car jacked and so many other stories. But I don't feel any fear about going. I feel complete peace. When ever someone mentions a story like that I simply think well if that happens to me it's God's will. I know that I'm meant to go on this trip because of the peace I feel in this decision.

4.  What will you be doing for the three months that you will be in South Africa?

To be honest, I couldn't tell you. This program does has a set schedule. The goal of the Immersion Program is to develop leaders who ask the hard questions about God, themselves and humankind. As cultural lines become blurred and authentic friendships are formed, they hope that every team member will get a clearer picture of Gods unique purpose for their life and how they should live out this mission in a way that serves others. In other words for three months I will be serving others. Whether that means getting involved in children's ministries or building a house we will be there to do it. We will move from community to community and serve them in what ever way we can. This is one of the things I loved about this program because I believe that God will take us to amazing places because we're letting Him lead, not a set schedule.
 

The First of Many

I find this a little weird writing about stuff in my life that anyone can read. I mean I'm used to writing letters where I know who I'm writing to so I can be silly or sarcastic and I know they'll understand it even if it's on paper. I guess what I'm trying to say is bear with me in these next few months as I get excited about my trip and eventually go on it and that I find it weird to be writing to no one and everyone at the same time. Throughout these months I plan to answer two questions with each post (so I can acutely have something to talk about) but once I'm in South Africa I'll probably foprget the questions and just tell you what's happening. So, question 1...

1. What is worrying you the most about this trip?

Well, there is always fear of the unknown so that’s a minor worry right now, e.g. what will it be like, who will be on my team and other factors like that that I'm in the dark about. Another worry is the danger of the country, many people have warned me about the crime rates of South Africa but I trust that God will keep me safe or teach me something when I'm in danger. A more major concern is money; with only 75 days until $1400 is due for the missions trip little pockets of doubt are beginning to pop up in my mind about if I will be able to raise enough. I'm always amazing at the generosity of people. I know that I'll have support and have had support. But I also feel like this is going to be a lot more work than the past mission trips. I'm not complaining, I'm willing to put in the work to be able to go, but it's a lot of money to raise. You see the $7000 is the cost I have to pay the organization, it doesn't include my flight to and from New York (where I'll be flying out of and into before and after the trip) vaccinations and other things that I'll need to take with me. So that's a...well not really a worry but more of a concern. Needless to say a lot of prayer is going into and has gone into this trip. I know that if God wants me on this trip , which I feel he truly does, the money will come.

2. Why this trip?

I knew that I wanted to take a year off before jumping back into school. I also knew that in this year off I wanted to go on a long term mission trip so I started looking around. First I looked at the well-known organizations, such as YWAM and OM, but none of them really fit. Either they would start before I turned 18, which is the required age for most long term missions, the date wouldn't work or I wouldn't like the program. I then started Googling mission trips and I came across a few great organizations, one of them being Experience Missions. Slowly after reading into the organizations and getting more info I had it narrowed down to Experience Missions and one other trip. After praying about it for a while I felt that Experience Missions was the trip the I was being called to, I then applied and after an interview I was accepted. So to answer the question I choose this trip because it fit with what I wanted to do, I didn't just want to go into 'the field' each day and come out I wanted to be immersed in the culture and this program lets me do that.

Okay, two questions down! I'll be sure to continue to answer questions and update you on my progress in the coming months before I leave for South Africa. If you have any specific question just comment below and I will try to answer them.