Uganda Trip - Will You Pray?

I'm doing my laundry today. It means the time is coming closer to my having to put it all in a bag and jump in a 20 hour plane ride, after a 12 hour car ride. Why do I always go so far?

Seriously though, I am very excited about going to Uganda and feel like this is specifically in the plan of the Lord for my life. Not only am I looking forward to invest in the life of the people there, but I am looking forward to having the time to just journal my thoughts, put my life into perspective and renew my passion for the calling of God on my life.

I'll be honest with you, short term mission trips are never about what we can offer to where we go, but they are mostly about what we can get out of it. Sure, we serve and help in some way, but if we really wanted to support missions we should give the long term missionaries the funds they need to do their ministry instead of spending the money on ourselves going to where they are for two weeks. So, I'm not lying about this. I know this trip is about me, mostly.

I think I need to be there to hear what God wants to tell me. Does that sound crazy? Probably to some of you, but to me it sounds just about right. You kind of need to know what is going on inside of my head to understand. But, good look with that one. 

So anyway, the purpose of this post is to ask you to pray for me. I need people who will be supporting me in prayer as I go through these next few weeks. As I seek to know God's will, as I work alongside people who give everything they have to serve the Lord, as I learn from Joy and work with the students.

I need you to pray:

• for safety and protection as I travel to and from the country on August 9th to the 11th and the 25th to the 27th.
• for my health to support the travel, the changes in environment and the stress that's associated with it. 
• for God to renew my passion and vision for his work
• for wisdom and guidance of the people I will be working with as they plan the next few weeks of training for these students (Joy Johnston, and the leaders of the Assemblies Of God of Uganda)
• for the students who will be going through the training and those coming to learn how to be church planter trainers.

It would be great, if you plan on taking some time to pray for me every day that you would either email me (rebeccapaavola@gmail.com) or leave a comment here. Then I can send you specific requests during the trip if ever I can. 

I leave you with a video of a song that's been on my heart lately. This might not be so, but I pray that it might be.

Uganda Mission Trip

Dear friends,

A week ago I was presented with the opportunity to spend two weeks in Uganda with missionary Joy Johnston. If you know me at all, you know that when there is possibility of an adventure, it’s difficult for me to say no; especially when this adventure involves building the church of God in the world.

I wanted to take a moment to inform you about this new adventure and ask you to partner with me as I continue to do the work God has called me to, from Gaspé to Uganda.

During this trip, I will be working alongside missionary Joy Johnston, who focuses on training pastors to build churches in unreached regions of Africa. I just did an interview about what the main focus of our trip will be for our district website. You can listen to it here: http://www.dqpaoc.org/spip.php?article2251.

Pastor Rebecca Paavola direct from Camp Escuminac from dq_paoc on Vimeo.

One of the main problems in Africa is the lack of education offered to people who take on positions of authority. When power is abused it can create terrible situations, and this is even worse when it is done in the name of God. One of my prayers is that we would not only try to change daily situations, but that we would try to change the circumstances behind the difficult situations in order to see long term change. Offering leadership training is one of the ways we can accomplish this.

Joining Joy in her upcoming trip, will be a way for me to learn how I might be involved one day in this long term change and help build pastors who will be transforming the lives of people with the power of the Gospel of Christ everywhere around the world. Not only overseas, but also all around us. Abuse of power, especially within the church, has been one of the main causes of dissention towards the church in places like Quebec today.

In partnering with the Pentecostal Assemblies of God in Uganda, we are equipping Ugandan pastors to be better equipped to reach their continent and see them be raised up as leaders who are reflective of Christ within their own context. This will be done by building churches who are cross-culturally relevant, built on a solid Biblical foundation, and reflective of the servants heart of God through involvement in their communities.

To help me in this endeavour, you can pray for God’s guidance, protection and providence as I travel to Uganda from August 10^th to 25^th. You can also make donations which will be used solely for the expenses of the trip; which amount to about $3,000. Donations can be made to me personally by mailing a cheque to 25 MGR Ross, Gaspé QC, G4X 1L7. Any donations received after the trip will be used to reimburse expenses related to the trip.

To receive a charitable donation receipt for income tax purposes, please make cheques payable to «Pentecostal Christian Assembly» and add a note saying it is for «Pastor’s Mission Trip». A receipt will be sent to you at the end of the year.

I thank you for joining me in this work and I pray God’s blessings will come upon you for it!

Sincerely,

For more information, contact me at rebeccapaavola@gmail.com