Dear Friends and Family,
As
you may or may not know, I have had a nagging desire to do humanitarian work
abroad for quite some time. I have also
been very intentional about my desire to do work that is sustainable and helpful
in the long-term. Some service
programs—faith-based or not—seem to do more harm than help, acting as temporary
band-aids for much larger issues. As a
result, I have waited for the opportunity to arise where I knew I could
contribute, in earnest, to a small piece of the greater good. That’s where my amazing church family comes
in.
I have
been attending City Grace Church, a
small Christian Reformed Church in New York City’s East Village, since
September of 2010. I am blessed to have
an amazing support system and group of friends there; they really are my second
family. Our Social Justice Task Force
has been engaged in serving the City for some time, but we wanted to challenge
ourselves with a larger project overseas.
After careful consideration, we decided Haiti was the place to go,
especially in light of having weathered Hurricane Sandy together just a few
months ago.
From
July 27 to August 2, I will be traveling with ten other folks from City Grace to
work with kids and families and help with some construction projects. We are
working with Praying
Pelican Missions,
an organization which partners with 398 individual church communities in Haiti,
connecting them one-on-one with groups like ours (you can watch their promo video below). Despite billions of dollars in foreign aid following
the earthquake in 2010, there is still much work to be done. Our week of service will be uniquely tailored
to our group’s gifts and to the specific needs of our assigned community. The advantage of this sort of individualized,
grassroots approach is that it allows for a more long-lasting connection to the
community we serve. We will establish relationships
with our host community and will likely return to serve there on a yearly basis,
as long as there is a need.
Haiti
will be my first mission trip of any kind, so as you can imagine, I expect to
have a challenging, worldview-reshaping experience there. I am only one person. And I know there is very little I can do in a
single week. But if there is one thing I
have learned over the last ten years or so, it is to not put God in a box. While I may affect very little immediate
change, God will use my efforts to impact the big picture. I expect to leave Haiti changed. I hope my time there broadens my
consciousness of human need. I hope it
deepens my compassion. I hope it shakes
me out of my comfortable, First-world mindset.
I hope it stretches the limits of my understanding as I learn a new culture. I hope I can help, but I am just as hopeful
that my time in Haiti will undoubtedly draw me closer to God, teaching me to seek,
trust, and glorify Him more each day.
And you can help me with all of this.
By
the end of June, I am responsible for raising $1,200. Airfare accounts for half the budget and the
balance will cover food, lodging, and gifts to the local community in Haiti.
Collectively, our team needs to raise $13,200. Would you please consider a small gift? A
gift of any size would mean so much to me. Honestly.
To
give:
1.
Click here.
2.
Scroll
to bottom and click the “here” hyperlink to give. This will redirect you from
City Grace's website to a secure system called “easy tithe.”
3.
From
the panel on the left of the screen click “quick give.”
4.
Select
“Haiti Support – Mollie McComb” in the drop-down menu, and fill in the
rest of your info as directed.
Even
if you are unable to donate your money, your prayers and well wishes are always
immensely appreciated. If you are of the
praying persuasion, please pray that a) I would seek out God through this
process and not shy away from what he might show me and b) our team would gel
and experience true community serving together.
This
trip would not be possible without the support of my friends and family, and I
thank God daily for the amazing people like you that He has put in my life. Love and endless thanks to you all.
With
the fullest of hearts,
Mollie
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