Service Trip to Ghana

April 3, 2013

On May 24th, I might be doing the craziest thing I have done in my life. I am going on a mission/service trip to Ghana. It isn’t crazy because I am going on the trip, in itself, more the circumstances that allowed me to go. This trip has been announced through the church for a few months now. About a month ago, there was an update about the trip at church and I offhandedly mentioned to Rebekah that someday I would love to go on a trip like that.

Fast forward to Palm Sunday and the drive home from church, when after another update about the trip, Rebekah said “you know, you should go on that trip”. This caught me entirely off guard, but after a few seconds I asked “are you sure?” She reassured me that I should at least see what it would take to make it happen. At this point, we thought the trip was going to be in July. I started looking at what it would take to go, with the four big things being

When working with the organizer to see if I could make this happen, I found out the date to leave is May 24th. He said that I could make it still, but I would have to hustle up. So, one expedited passport request later and lots of logistics planning, I bought my tickets to go this last Sunday.

What I Will Be Doing In Ghana

I have to admit that I am using the term mission trip and service trip interchangeably when talking with folks about the trip. This is rather unintentional, just seems to depend on who I am talking to. The goal of the trip is to help do volunteer work, specifically we will be spending some time at a school helping paint a couple of their rooms, as well as helping out at a clinic and an orphanage. We will be spending a little time seeing the capitol as well, to help get a better big picture of what the country is like.

How You Can Help

As I mentioned in the bullets of what it would take to go, the last one is money. It is an expensive flight to get to Ghana and each of us is bringing a suitcase of medical supplies. I am going to be providing money for some of the expense, as well as taking donations from the church. This will get me about half of the way there. Because of this, I have been looking to fund raise the rest of the money.

This is a little uncomfortable for me to do, it isn’t in my nature to ask for help like this. At the same time, I have not felt so strong a call to do something in a very long time, so while it takes me out of my comfort zone, it also feels like entirely the right thing to do.

If you want to help out, you can do so by going to

http://www.gofundme.com/2f55n0

and donating some money. Any little bit helps out, with it going to additional medical supplies and helping offset some of the flight cost. Even if you are unable to help financially, I would love to hear from you through Facebook or Twitter. I don’t know how much I will be able to update while I am there, but when I get back, I will be posting photos and notes from the trip. This is unlike anything I have done before in so many ways and has me more excited than I have been in a long time. I appreciate any help you can give and am excited to share what I can from my trip with you.