Mission Trip to Honduras: Raising Support

[Agent-X-]

Hi y'all. As some of you have already heard, I'm going down to Honduras to support an orphanage. We will be building infrastructure and being good role models for the kids. I'm looking forward to this opportunity.

The catch is, I need to raise $1600 for the cost of the trip. I know that's a large figure to pay, but the more people who choose to support me with even $20, the more attainable this goal becomes. Obviously, if you feel like you can send more, that helps too.

Below is a copy of the support letter I've mailed out. If you are interested in supporting the orphanage, contact me via PM or email.

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings! I hope that you are enjoying the Christmas season and that you are well. I am presently working toward a Masters degree in Computer Science with a specific interest in interface design. Since my freshman year at this school, I have been involved with an awesome campus ministry group called Chi Alpha (XA)—Chi Alpha stands for Christ’s Ambassadors in case you are wondering. It has been one of the best parts of my college experience and has been a good place for building lasting friendships and growing in my personal walk with God. This year, I’ve been privileged to co-lead one of our small group Bible studies that meet in the dorms on campus.

Through XA, I have the exciting opportunity to go on a mission trip over Spring break. We are going down to Tegucigalpita, Honduras to help an orphanage called the Children’s Village. The Children’s Village cares for kids who have been orphaned by lack of family or whose families didn’t have the economic means to raise them. Many of these kids have suffered physical abuse, malnutrition, and chronic illness from living in the streets. As a result of their living situation, they have also suffered from a lack of education. The orphanage provides them with a good loving home, healthy food, clean clothing, school supplies, and toys. We will be working in conjunction with Worldwide Heart to Heart Ministries (WWH2H) who organizes and sends mission teams to Honduras. I will be part of a 15-person team that XA is sending to Honduras. While we are there, we will help build fences for the orphanage and be a positive, loving influence on the kids. I have never participated in something like this before, and I’m very excited to see what I can do through God’s power.

I would like to invite you to support this cause by praying for the Children’s Village orphanage, the children, and for our team. Please also pray for our safety, our team’s unity, and for the success of our cause in Honduras. I would also like to ask for your help financially as I must raise $1,600 for the cost of the trip by January 8th. This covers the cost of transportation (including airfare), food, housing, and general expenses. Any amount of support from you would be a valuable investment in my life, the kids’ lives, and the Children’s Village orphanage.

If you would like to support me financially, I have enclosed an envelope for you to mail your donation. Your donation is tax deductible, but you must make it payable to Chi Alpha and my name can’t appear anywhere on the check. My name is already on the envelope, and that is all that is needed for our accountant to identity who the support is for. In order to begin preparations for this trip, the money is needed by January 8th or soon after. Even a small donation, no matter the amount, can mean a lot in financing this trip. I hope you will consider supporting me so I can go to Honduras.

Any support that exceeds my financial need for this trip will go toward other XA mission endeavors.

I look forward to this trip as I will get to help people and share God’s incredible love with those who have experienced poverty in a way that I have never seen before. I want to thank you for reading this letter and look forward to hearing from you. If you have any questions, please feel free to call me.

Take care and God bless,

Tackiness aside... If you have questions, feel free to ask them here. If you would like to support, I can give you the details for where to send the support.

:)

[Lauren T.]

When my brother served a two-year full-time mission, my family almost entirely supported him. There were a few donations from church members, but the majority of the funds came from my parents. Are your parents or parental-like figures contributing to your goal? Good luck coming up with that kind of money. :thumbsup:

[Agent-X-]

When my brother served a two-year full-time mission, my family almost entirely supported him. There were a few donations from church members, but the majority of the funds came from my parents. Are your parents or parental-like figures contributing to your goal? Good luck coming up with that kind of money. :thumbsup:

Thanks Lauren. My parents will support me, but I'll be honest. They're poor. There's no way they can support me enough to offset the need to raise support.

I hate to ask people for help, but I'm just going to keep asking. Call it a lesson in humility. I can't afford to pay it all on my own, and I don't have much more than my parents for family support. :)

[bravos4evr]

Church's have tons of money, I think if the church is going to benefit by your doing mission work then they should have to pay for it.

just my 2 cents.

[Agent-X-]

My church is a college missions group. We don't have any money. We don't stand to personally gain from this.

While I could turn to the churches where I've been involved, I also know how fruitless that would be. The average church receives at least 80, if I recall, support requests each month. However loaded with money these churches might be, their committee filters through these 80 requests and decides to support only a select few.

My pastor, for example, doesn't get nearly as much financial support from churches as we would expect. I don't agree or disagree with what these churches must be doing with the money, I do question it, but the point remains that no churches are going to opt to support my trip. They have their own missionaries they're sending out.

So while I agree with you, it's kind of futile. So I'm looking to the people who know me, which includes ChopNation. I don't have expectations, only a notion that I didn't work hard enough if I didn't give all of you a chance to support me. :)

[Lauren T.]

Church's have tons of money, I think if the church is going to benefit by your doing mission work then they should have to pay for it.

just my 2 cents.
The church subsidized the majority of the cost of my brother's mission. We currently have over 50,000 missionaries serving around the world, and each missionary is only responsible for $400/mo. To quote Wikipedia:
Missionaries are expected to pay their own expenses while on the mission, often with assistance from family and friends. In the past, each missionary paid his or her actual living expenses, but this approach created a disproportionate burden on missionaries who were assigned to more expensive areas of the world. In 1990, a new program was introduced to equalize the financial responsibility for each missionary and his or her family. Now, all young missionaries pay a flat monthly rate which is then redistributed according to regional costs of living. The cost of a mission as of January 2006 is USD (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_dollar)$400 per month, which helps to cover food, lodging, transportation, and other mission related expenses. Missionaries are asked to bring extra personal money for any personal items they would like to purchase. Once the money is received by the Church it is then redistributed to the missionaries in amounts proportionate to the cost of living within the assigned mission area. As families now contribute to a general fund for missionary expenses, the sum is deductible under many nations' tax policies regarding charitable gifts.My brother saved up for his mission by working through his teen years, and my parents ran the rest of my brother's mission costs through my dad's business as a charitable contribution, for the tax deduction. The church provided tax receipts.

Of course, not all religious groups have that sort of structure or financial freedom.

[bravos4evr]

Sorry agent x, I assumed that you were going on a mission for a an individual church itself ( or for like the mormons or catholics). I can see your problem with raising funds now as it is for a student group( who never have any money). My bad!

[The Rap]

I've always found the concept of missionary work to be interesting and the real difference between Christianity and Judaism. Whereas Christians always want to bring you over to their religion the specific stated law in Judaism is that if a gentile approaches you and say, he want so convert to Judaism, you are required to do your best to talk him out of it.

The one reason I think that people who are not Jewish get the opposiet impression is the work of one sect called the Lubavitcher aka Chabad who have centers in almoist every country. In fact it was the Chabad house that was the primary target in that cowardly terrorist attack in Mumbai in which the young rabbi and his wife were brutally murdered.

But one thing they do gives them away and nmeans they adhere to the lawas. Whenever any Chabad person approaches you their first question is, "Are you Jewish?" So what they are doing is ok in the Jewish religion and that is to try to get irreligious Jews to come back to the fold and become religioius. Being a non-believer I always have a standard answer when they approach me. I simply say, "No comprende?"

[Agent-X-]

Wow, thanks Michael. That was an interesting read, as I didn't know that about Judaism.