Prayer Pit

This past weekend, I drove up to Grand Rapids for various reasons; a bachelorette party, wedding, meeting with people to share my STINT presentation and to be prayed over by my church at school. It was such a cool experience!

They asked me, as they do other missionaries, to come to the stage, share briefly how I was called to this specific ministry then, as a congregation, they prayed over me. They call this the Prayer Pit. So many people spoke truth and encouragement through their prayers, it brought a tear to my eye as I realized how caring and supportive this body of believers truly was toward me and this ministry.

"I pray for France, Lord, it is a dark and dry place. May she not only a light, but a flood light to Your power..."

"Give them intimacy with You as they prepare for this time of ministry..."

"Jesus grant them safety in travels..."

"Supply each of their needs so they may do Your work..."

Man, it was sweet! I am truly thankful for not only the experience and encouragement, but also the support of this group of Christ followers.

This week in Grand Rapids, I have been able to meet with 3 families and God had truly shown up once again in both prayer and financial support! I love the conversations that spring forth from presenting to people -- it seems to be a time of refocus for all on what is truly important in life, the ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE! How cool that all parties involved help in furthering God's Kingdom!!

Prayer Request:
- Diligence in my personal quiet times
- More opportunities to meet and present with people
- Prayer for the staff in the NAMESTAN office in Paris, France

87 days to go...

Today I have decided to begin my official STINT blog. I actually have been meaning to start it for a while now, but since moving home from school, things have been crazy!

God is truly blowing me away with people's generosity. As humbling as asking for financial support is, it is totally worth it to see God's faithfulness in making things happen ~ I recently read in the Bible "It is more blessed to give than to receive"(Acts 20:35)... but I know too that I am being blessed. For me, I think the most challenging part of support raising is the initial asking. I hate to be an annoyance for "another burden", which is easy to believe I am because I'm asking for money! But I was recently encouraged and reminded to be constantly prayerful through out this time of support raising because it draws me to Jesus' feet - where I should be. After all, He is the giver of peace!

Some expectations of this blog for you readers out there:

• Pictures - man, will there be a lot of pictures! I bought myself a Nikon SLR digital camera (you know, the one with multiple lenses) and plan on taking tons of pictures.
• Video - once I get my small regular digital camera fixed (the LCD screen is cracked :(... any one know how to fix that if I bought the part??) many videos will be shared as well! You might feel like you've been to France...Spain...Turkey... Afghanistan... and any of the other countries we will be traveling to.
• Stories - Oh and there will be stories! More so once I am over there come mid-August.
• And finally, Prayer Requests - Part of my communication with you, my supporters is to share with you prayer requests about myself, the ministry, people I meet, and anything else that may come our way. I would love for this ministry to be bathed in prayer!

So, with all that said, here comes the first batch of Prayer Request:

1. Faithfulness in personal quiet times - it is easy to place value in making phone calls, writing thank you letters etc. over being personally filled.
2. Having an attitude and heart of praise as I contact people about support.
3. That God would continue to call others to give to this ministry.
4. For the individuals I will come in contact with over the next year. That God would be softening their hearts, drawing them closer, bringing questions into their hearts and minds.

If any of you have prayer requests, I too would LOVE to pray for you as well! Just email them to me :) hannah.booth@uscm.org

Love,

Hannah