Last May preparing to go to the Joni & Friends Family Retreat for adults in June, I went to the JAF website, www.joniandfriends.org, to make my final payment, a new link labeled "Total Access Teams" caught my attention. The site indicated that after distributing over 45,000 wheelchairs through Wheels For The World, JAF had realized that the chair recipients were still dependent upon others due to lack of accessibility in their communities. So they wanted to start sending out teams ahead of the wheelchair distributions to work on improving the accessibility. Since I have an Associates Degree in Architectural Engineering Technology and had worked for 16 years as the State of NH's first "Accessibility Specialist", I was very interested. I had planned to retire very soon and wanted to do something like this in my retirement, but for The Lord. I have also always wanted to travel, but have no one in my life to travel with, so this sounded like the perfect answer to both desires. It would provide me with worthwhile goals for the rest of my life, a way to serve my God with what He has taught me throughout my life, and give me an opportunity to travel with other people who also Love Him. I contacted Joni & Friends and received a response from John Wern, who encouraged me to look further into an upcoming Total Access Team to Brazil and let him know when I become available. I notified him in August that I had retired and wanted to go to Brazil.
I started notifying many Christian friends of my desire to serve in this way and everyone was positive and encouraging. Since I had just retired, I have funds available that could pay for the entire trip, but that would take a big chunk out of my retirement nest egg and make it difficult to go on future trips. Supporting missionaries over the years has always given me a feeling of being involved in the mission. So, after obtaining acceptance to go with the team, I started fund-raising to help pay for it and give an opportunity to others to get involved with sending me on this trip.
At this point, 4 days before departure for Brazil, total donations have been lower than I hoped, but I'm been encouraged by the amounts provided by each donor. I'm grateful for all my wonderful friends who have contributed to this venture. I covet the prayers of all who will pray that our team of 16 will not only have a safe and healthy trip, but more importantly, will pray that we achieve all that The Lord wants us to get done for Him. Our goal is to make the Christian campground where we'll be staying for 9 days as accessible as possible so that it can be used for future Family Retreats, which have not yet been held in Brazil. We will also be doing a minimal wheelchair distribution as a demonstration for a pastor's conference for over 300 pastors from Brazil. On Sunday we'll be going to churches to give testimonies and share about the JAF ministry. We'll have one day to do some sight-seeing and shopping before boarding the plane to return to the USA.
We depart from Houston, TX on 10/18, and return there on 10/28. I'll be staying on in Texas for an additional week so I can spend some time visiting my cousin Philip, a childhood friend and my brother, Pete and his wife, Mary Sue. I'll try to post during the week if I can use someone's computer and get online. Please pray!
