To keep it short, sweet & to the point we figured we could share a few bullet points with you because let’s face it, who doesn’t like a good bullet point 😉
- We are 4 months in already to this deputation journey of raising up the monthly support we need, in order to move to Haiti.
- As missionaries, we will not get paid. It’s all about people coming around us that are in agreement/support of what we are doing down there and want to join our “team”. People who want to reach outside the walls of the church by being the hands that send us there. These people then (families/individuals, churches & businesses) support us financially on a monthly basis.
- We are 19% raised as of 2/26/18 and we need to be fully funded before we can move. We hear very often from the organization, how much we are needed down there and how big of a need there is so we are yearning to be there. We would like to make our thermometer start moving up faster so that we can get down there by this time next year. 🙂
- We currently have 13 amazing families supporting us on a monthly basis (You will never know how much that means to us, you bring us such encouragement). We have 2 businesses supporting us as well and we hope to have a few churches here soon too including our amazing home church at Community Bible.
- We’ve had 16 families, the t-shirt fundraiser and our home church donate to our one-time moving costs so far and while raising our monthly supporters up is our primary focus right now, we definitely need to raise our one-time moving costs up as well so we are VERY thankful for each of those gifts that have come in. We are almost out of the 40’s and into the 30k for how much left of our one-time that we still need. EXCITING!
- For fun it’s neat to see some numbers…if we had 10 churches and/or businesses come alongside us and support us $250 per month, 15 families/individuals donate $100 per month, 29 families/individuals donate $50 per month and 30 families/individuals donate $30 per month GUESS WHAT…we would be able to move down there!!! ❤ Would you like to be one of those? DONATE HERE
- Please consider starting your monthly support TODAY! Our organization can’t count our monthly support until it starts coming in so if you are wanting to support us while we are down there, please start NOW because that will actually help us to get down there, it builds up our one-time cost while we are here and there is a possibility we will go at 80% raised and in that case, the monthly support coming in now is what will help sustain us over there while we are still raising up the last 20% or so.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
We prayed and both had confirmation and peace on April stepping down from her leadership position with Usborne Books & More. This will allow April to focus more on connections, contacts & fundraising to help us raise our support up faster so we can get down to Haiti and will help April be able to focus more on learning Creole. We hear time and again from missionaries down there, how crucial and helpful it is to know Creole as much as possible before you move down. This will also allow her to start preparing our house for when we eventually put it up for sale as well. Please pray for us with this new transition and for April to be able to pick up Creole quickly.
The boys are asking more and more questions about Haiti. For being so young, they are trying to still understand when we are moving because we talk about it so much, so they assume it’s soon so we’ve been trying to help them understand it as best as their little hearts & minds can. They are getting more and more excited to see their new home & land. They both recently told me that they are excited to meet the other missionary kids down there. Zeke (1 year old) is handling it great (wink wink) and he especially LOVES Creole music and dances (danse – Creole) like crazy to it. Keep praying for them, for their hearts, bodies and minds to be prepared for the move and to handle it well.
Please continue to pray for more opportunities for us to share our journey. The more small groups, bible studies, sunday schools, churches, houses we can share at, the more people can hear what God is doing down in Haiti. We don’t know who God is going to use to send us so we just want to share our story with whoever will listen and let God do the rest. So please get in touch with us if you would like us to share with anyone/group/church you know. Thank you so much!
Thank you for reading this, thank you for praying for us, and thank you for coming alongside us on this journey. We are so thankful for each and everyone of you! We are so excited to see God working in our lives and yours. Everyday He continually amazes us with what He’s teaching us and how He’s growing us. We’ll leave you with a few pictures of our silly family!
Love,
The Starkeys
bridgetohispaniola.com 