Perspective continued...

Financial Perspective:

Isn't it going to cost an incredible amount of money to take your whole family to Zambia?  Yes, you are correct in asking that question.  We will need to come up with $3500 per person.  If you did your math right, there are 6 people in our family and we will need to have $21,000.  How are we going to pay for this?  Well, it is probably my biggest hang up of committing to this mission trip.  We do not have the money.  It is really quite humbling to ask people to support this trip, but it is what we think God is asking us to do.  I will admit that I am excited to see what God is going to decide about this part of the trip.  An associate pastor at our church said something very wise at our initial meeting about the Zambia trip.  He was talking about being chosen to be on the team and all of the questions that we may have about it.  And then he said, "Don't worry about anything.  If God wants you to go on this mission trip, at this time, he will get you there."  Isn't that amazing?  God already knows if we are going to be in Zambia in August or not.  So this is really an opportunity for our family to trust God.  I hope he changes our perspective about money and that we will continue to grow in our faith as we realize we have more than enough if we know Jesus as our Savior.  Money, no matter how much or little we have, means nothing in eternity. 

We understand that this is an incredible amount of money to raise.  We are not taking it lightly.  We want to be wise stewards of the money God has given us.  We are literally saving our pennies.  Every time we enter a receipt into our budget we round up to the nearest dollar and put the pennies in our "Zambia jar".  Our first born son has been leading us in making hard choices.  Several times now, instead of buying that soda, sucker or bottled water that he wants, he'll decide not to buy it and instead puts his money in our Zambia jar... isn't that incredible?  Already his perspective is changing and I love it!  The rest of us are following his example and it is amazing how the pennies are adding up.

to be continued...
~Erin