My heart has always been called to missions, particularly missions over seas. I have prayerfully been waiting for God’s perfect timing to send me. At this moment in my life, I am a wife to the man I have shared a covenant with for 6 ½ years, Mark – my best friend, and a Mommy to my perfect gift, Ethan Mark, who just turned one. I am in love with these boys and I am blessed. In Matthew 10:8, Jesus says “…freely you have received, freely give.” I am at a stage now where my primary mission, raising a child in the name of Jesus, can survive without me for 9 days. I am free to give… until the next “blessing” comes along! As an aspiring disciple of Jesus (Matt. 16:24-27) I am positive that I will be doing the will of my father by going to Ethiopia as in John 20:21 Jesus says, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” I also admit that selfishly I crave exposure to the needs of the world as I cannot see it in my everyday life. In this way I suppose that I am also fulfilling something that I personally need in order to store my treasures in heaven and to be eternally minded (Matt. 6:19-24).
Pam Jimison
I have been passionate about serving my Lord for years and one thing I love is sharing His love with others. I am married to my best friend, Lee, and have 2 awesome children - Lauren at Azusa Pacific and Brett at Folsom Lake College. My desire to work with missions started years ago with a trip to Casas Por Cristo in Mexico. I realized that so many in the world really have never heard about Jesus. It blew me away to see others living in such poor conditions, yet they were so open and loving. My heart cried out to go, give and help. Since then I have been back to Mexico 7 times, as well as work in New York, Mississippi (Katrina Relief), Mozambique 2 times, and Brazil. Recently I have been praying about how to help the poor and the hungry. Reading the Hole in the Gospel has also opened my heart to new possibilities. I love the work that World Vision does and have 2 sponsor children. I am SO excited to visit the Abaya Community and see how WV will be helping this community.
Pastor Brad Franklin
I'm the lead pastor of Lakeside Church. I've been on several mission excursions over the years to places like the Philippines, Brazil, Mozambique and others. I'm looking forward to our trip to Ethiopia so we can see the work that World Vision is doing there and how Lakeside might be involved. My motivation is to be a part of carrying out Jesus' commands to care for the poor, the needy and the sick in Matthew 25. We can't fix the whole world, but we can help this one village.
Scott Hanson
God has pressed upon my heart over the years the importance of me giving of my resources to missions focused projects. We support missionaries all around the world and sponsor some children through World Vision as well. While we have given some to helping with physical issues, this has been less than 20% of our giving budget.
Over the past couple of years I have been feeling a sense of unease about the small percentage of our giving that is focused on dealing with the human suffering of people. I’ve read several books regarding these topics, such as The Bottom Billion, Half the Sky, The Shackled Continent and, most recently, A Hole in the Gospel.
My heart has been moved to do something with the “least of these” and I’ve made a few adjustments to my life. I joined the local board of the Salvation Army and chair the Social Services Committee so that I can get a better picture of what’s happening with the poor in my Jerusalem. We’ve increased our giving to organizations that are focused on the injustices of the downtrodden. And now I’m heading to Ethiopia to get a first-hand look at what impact World Vision is having on that part of the world.
As a follower of Christ, I’m commanded to love God and love my neighbor (Matthew 22:37-39). How can I say that I am loving God if I ignore his people? Christ told us he loved the whole world (John 3:16), not just those in my circle. If I’m truly going to love Him, I must love those that he loves.
Much of Jesus’ ministry on the earth was dealing with physical issues. He healed the sick, restored sight, raised the dead. Yes, he preached the good news, but he dealt with the physical needs as he went. As His follower, I am called to do the same.
I’m excited to go to Ethiopia for a variety of reasons: I’m looking forward to seeing the beauty of the country, to meeting interesting people, to witnessing the plight of the people. As one who evaluates investments on a regular basis, I’m also planning on evaluating the effectiveness of World Vision’s Area Development Program.
The primary reason for my excitement is to see what God does to my heart as a result of this trip. I’m hoping that God will break my heart for the things that breaks his.
Tari Brinitzer
I have been a follower of Christ my whole life. My interest in missions has grown over the last several years through my work with World Vision and a deeper exploration of my faith. Over the last several years God has made it clear to me that as a Christian, I am called to serve Him by serving others, particularly the disenfranchised. I found myself drawn to the cause of widows and orphans and as I explored this further, I discovered the devastating effects the HIV/AIDS pandemic has had on the continent of Africa. It became startlingly clear that this part of the world has the highest rate of widows and orphans, largely due as result of this disease. Through my work with Lakeside and World Vision, my focus narrowed further to Ethiopia and the community of Abaya. Ethiopia has the 6th largest number of people in the world living with HIV/AIDS and there are approximately 575,000 children who have been orphaned as a result. I am excited to be going on this trip and to meet the people of Abaya. I am honored to be a part of this process to help identify how Lakeside might partner with World Vision to bring this community to a point of self-sufficiency and I look forward to discovering how God wants to use me in this process. He is full of surprises so I can't wait!
