Introduction

My wife Bianca and I have had a burden for Mission's work for quite some time now. In 2008, we moved to York, Pennsylvania, where God blessed us with an amazing church. Living Word Community Church is a place full of grace and generosity and love. We were immediately struck with the love of God in the faces around us from our first Sunday visit. It felt like home. Months later, I know that God brought us here for a reason. As we became more and more involved in the ministry, the uniqueness of this Church in sharing the love and beauty of God's Grace became more and more evident. We have met the most amazing, caring, genuine people here that I have met in my entire life.

One of the things that I that I love most about LWCC, is that this is no Sunday morning church. Living Word is the most active and generous church that I have ever been a part of. The impact that they have on the immediate community and communities all over the world is very significant. All of these things guided us towards our decision to join a Mission's trip.

We became members of LWCC in April of 2010. In August, we were sitting in a service that was dedicated to sharing the stories of a recent medical Mission's trip to Sendafa, Ethiopia. My wife and I felt as if every person who shared their story was speaking directly to us. Halfway through the presentation, Bianca and I looked at each other and both mouthed the words "We're going". Immediately, I felt a sense of calm wash over me, and I knew that God was in it, and He wanted us to go.

That same day, I filled out the applications for the trip, and within a week we were having a sit-down meeting with Andy, the Mission's Team Leader. He told us all about the trip scheduled for the last week of January. Our Church had adopted a village through a program call Project Adopt a Village, or PAAV. Andy said that we had been approved to join the group. I cannot express the excitement and anticipation we felt. The more we learned about all that our Church was doing to help those in Sendafa, the more excited we were to be a part of it all. You can read a full write up of all of the programs here.

Andy explained that we schedule three trips per year. A medical trip, a lady's trip, and a visitation trip. The January trip would be a visitation trip. We would divide the team members into groups of four or five people, each with an interpreter. We would visit people in the village of Sendafa who are inflicted with HIV/Aids. (Pastor calls Aids the modern-day Leprosy, and we all know that Jesus had a special place in His heart for those people) While we visit each home, we bring along fabric and vinyl (similar to a pool liner). We put the vinyl on the dirt floor and staple the fabric to the mud walls. From what I have heard, this is a major improvement in the quality of life for these people, and it costs us less than $20 per home. Our main purpose is to share the love and grace of God to each of these people that we visit. Our ultimate hope is that in showing God's love, we will be able to arrange a meeting with the One who has extended this same love and grace to us.

I will be providing more information in future days, and I hope you will all check back often. Bianca and I will both be keeping daily journals of our trip, which I will post here, as well as a few pictures of our trip. We leave in just 15 days on January 23rd, 2011.