God's continued blessings

Much has happened since the last blog post - finals, graduation, graduation speech, the trek back to PA, reuniting with friends and supporters, meetings, and lots and lots of sorting and packing!

 I am so very thankful for my Missionary Support Team (MST) who have made many transitioning things more easy for me.  They are such an awesomely cohesive team - clearly God-orchestrated!

Another praise is that I am fully financially supported!  Any additional monies that come in will be used to fund my future years in Guinea Bissau.  If, for whatever reason, I am unable to pursue a longer term, the money will go to the Weaverland Mennonite Church (my home church) Discipleship Ministries fund to be used for other missionaries needing financial support.

I will be having one last fundraiser before training starts in mid-June.  Get ready for "The Village Experience" - an evening of food, fun and friends.  There will be a silent auction at 5, a Guinean dinner (by suggested donation), a presentation to learn more about what I'll be doing in Guinea Bissau, and kids activities.  Hope to see you there!

Thank you to my friend Julia for the awesome invite design!

The end of some things, the beginning of others

Firstly,  I thought it important to address the situation in Guinea Bissau since so many of you have been asking me about it.  A few weeks ago, there was a coup that upset the government of Guinea Bissau.  I have been in good communication with my team there, and village life in Catel is very unaffected by what's going on in the capital.  Plans have not changed for me - I will continue to pursue my plans for departure in August.  If you are looking for more information or updates about what is happening in Guinea Bissau, I would recommend searching for "Guinea Bissau" on Al Jazeera (http://www.aljazeera.com/) or BBC's website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/).

The school year is finally coming to a close for me.  It has been a rather difficult last two weeks wrapping up classes when I would much rather be raising support or talking to you all about Guinea Bissau.  In fact, even as I write this blogpost I have a paper waiting for me.  I'm kind of hoping it writes itself. :)  I will be taking finals all next week and graduate on May 12th.  I will arrive in Lancaster County, PA sometime on Monday, May 14th.

The third order of business for this post is to update you on fundraisers.  We had a very successful, high energy fundraiser at my church here in Indiana on Sunday.  There was rather large turnout and I was very excited to have some of my international friends there as well.

We also ate a very yummy African lunch (thank you to all who helped to prepare it)!

I then shared about God's journey that brought me to the place in my life that I am moving to Guinea Bissau.  I will be in Indiana for a few more weeks and then it's off to Pennsylvania!  I would love to meet up with you one-on-one to tell you more about my journey if you'd like - just let me know!

Fundraisers remaining:
April 30 and May 1 - Eat supper at Yoder's from 4-8, present the coupon (found on my facebook page), and Yoder's will donate 15% of your bill to my fundraising efforts in Guinea Bissau

June 10 - The Village Experience at Weaverland Mennonite Church: silent auction, ethic food, and activities for kids!  Tickets to come.

I have felt so very blessed along this journey.  Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me and is behind me in this adventure that God has me on.

Just the Beginning

So, chances are that if you are reading this blog, you already know the purpose it serves and the story of God's work behind it. That being said, I thought I would start things off by asking you to join with me in this incredible adventure God has me on.  Join the team!

For those of you who aren't as familiar with how my life is about to change, I have included my prayer letter, which has just recently been sent out.  It explains a little bit of my heart behind the move to Guinea Bissau and also identifies what needs to happen before that.  If you would like to receive a hard copy of it, just let me know!  Thanks for reading!  Welcome aboard!



To my dear friends and family,

My heart is bursting with joy, excitement, and anticipation as I write this letter to you!  God has done a huge work in my life in leading me to where I am today, a graduating senior of Purdue University.  The growth I have experienced while here at Purdue is invaluable and has contributed in the decision I have made to do a year-long missions internship with Eastern Mennonite Missions (EMM) after graduating in May.

I will be joining two teammates, Andrew Stutzman and Beryl Forrester in a village called Catel in the small country in West Africa called Guinea Bissau.  While I’m there, I will be using my International Agronomy degree to help develop the agriculture there, as well as helping to develop a women’s ministry.

Habakkuk 2:14 says, “For as the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of the LORD.”  I am very excited that God has called me into the work that He is already doing in West Africa, that every tribe, tongue, and nation would confess His holy name.  I would ask that you pray to see if God is calling you into partnering in this outreach as well.  There is an opportunity on the page enclosed to note if you would like to support me spiritually through prayer, relationally by receiving the newsletters, or financially by pledging money towards the just over $19,000 that I must raise.

As you are praying about ways that you can be involved, pray too for the ministry there.  Pray that the Holy Spirit would go ahead of me and working in people’s hearts in Guinea Bissau.  Pray also for church leadership, that God would raise up strong spiritual leaders amongst the natives to grow the church. And pray too for the women there that I would be ministering to, that they would be open and receptive to a new relationship.  I thank you ahead of time.

Your fellow laborer in Christ,

Adrianne