Fw: JOIN MY JOURNEY TO INDIA ... From my niece Patti

JOIN MY JOURNEY TO INDIA

Dear Family and Friends:
I have some exciting news!! I am going to Kolkata, India, with my church!!
I will walk the streets that Mother Teresa walked and hold the nameless
babies in her orphanage. I will be working alongside my team and the
International Justice Mission (IJM) staff in India to lay critical ground
work for the aftercare facility that Discovery Church and IJM will build in
Kolkata! I would love for you to join me in this journey. You don't
physically have to go, but you can partner with me in prayer and financial
support! Here is some information about my trip, and the organization my
church is partnering with in this project, that I hope will open your eyes
to the world we live in and beckon you to want to be a part of it. I would
love for you to be on MY TEAM!!

Gary Haugen is the founder of IJM, International Justice Mission. IJM is a
collection of Christian Lawyers, criminal investigators, social workers and
advocates. They rescue victims of violence, sexual exploitation, slavery
and oppression around the world. Daily they face death threats in attempts
to rescue young girls in Cambodia and other parts of the world being put on
open sale to be raped and abused; 5-10 year old girls in brothels are forced
to provide sex to strangers. IJM is continually told by everyone nothing can
be done. They face police corruption, inadequate aftercare capacities for
victims and a hopeless corrupt court system, but they set girls free,
provide high quality aftercare, shut down operations and train authorities
how to do the work themselves!! They are an advocate for those that would
otherwise be forgotten!!
When I first heard Gary speak I was inspired!! His mission is both
dangerous and inspiring and I wanted to be a part of it!! I was so inspired
I wanted to go work for him, but as it turns out, every position required a
college degree, which I don't have. I was extremely disappointed, but God
had another plan. He opened a door for me to work part time for a ministry
called Love UnVeiled that is based right here in Orlando and has a similar
yet different mission that is complimentary to IJM. And then you know what
happened? Discovery Church announced a trip to Calcutta India with guess
who? IJM! Discovery Church is joining forces with IJM to build an
aftercare facility in Calcutta!! How cool is that!!
When I heard the news of this I remembered the story Gary from IJM told
about his childhood. When he was a little boy his dad took him to Mt.
Rainier. He was scared and didn't want to climb the mountain. He wanted to
stay in the visitor center, so his Dad let him. His dad took his brothers
up the mountain while he spent the day in the visitor center alone. It was
exciting at first, but after a while looking at the same old exhibits got
boring. When his dad came to get him, he and his brothers' faces were red
from the cold and their eyes clear with delight. They were wet from the
snow, famished, dehydrated and nursing scrapes from the rocks and ice, but
on the long drive home they had something else. They had stories and an
unforgettable day with their dad on a great mountain!!
When I found out about it there was no doubt in my mind I wanted to be a
part of it. I believe in what IJM is doing and I did not want to stay in
the visitor's center, I wanted to be part of the adventure. I wanted to
go!! I felt like God was urging me on saying "this is your opportunity for
a great adventure with Me". I may not be able to work for IJM, but God had
certainly made a way for me to get close! So, I applied, I was accepted and
I leave August 8th for two weeks!!
I am so excited to be a part of the first team that will go and to get to
work alongside IJM staff!! I get to be a part of helping others and to help
make a difference in a very dark world!! My team and I will help lay
critical groundwork for the Kolkata Project, as well as host a spiritual
retreat for the IJM staff in Kolkata!! We will also visit and work in
Mother Teresa's orphanage!
Proverbs 31:8-9 says "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly. Defend
the rights of the poor and needy."
I hope you have caught my enthusiasm for this great work!! Would you join
me in speaking up for these unheard voices of children taken against their
will and made to do these grotesque things? Would you consider joining my
team in one or all of the following ways?
1. I need prayer warriors that will commit to pray for me every day that I
am gone. Mother Teresa said she couldn't imagine doing her work for more
than 30 minutes without prayer. I can't imagine going on this trip without
praying continually!! The conditions will be grueling and we will be there
during monsoon season. I am going to use my gifts, passions, training and
strengths beyond safety into the sphere where I actually need God. Please,
I need all of you to pray!! Please let me know if you will pray for me, for
my team and for the work that needs to be done by responding to this email.
2. I need financial supporters who will send me. My total need is $3000.00.
$1300.00 of this is due tomorrow, June 24th! In order to meet this goal as
quickly as pos­sible, one-time investments of $50, $100, $200, $300 or more
are needed. All investments are tax deductible when made through Discovery
Church. You can give online at
http://www.discoverychurch.org/public/pag206.aspx. Scroll down to find the
Global Experience India section. You will see my name on the list and a
place at the top of the list for you to "click HERE", then follow the
prompts. Thank YOU!
3. Last but not least, there are 25 people on IJM's staff in India and we're
coordinating 25 prayer partners here to pray specifically for a staff member
there for 30 days prior to the trip. As a prayer partner for this project,
you would be assigned an IJM Kolkata staff member to pray for daily by name,
journal your prayers and medita­tions daily for them and basically write
whatever God put's on your heart for them. That journal will then be
collected from you on August 2nd and lovingly deliv­ered by hand by our team
to the staff there as part of the staff retreat that we will be hosting.
It's a 30 day commitment - daily prayer for an IJM staff member and daily
journaling. Let me know if this sounds like something you'd really love to
do to be a blessing to the staff there. We'll be scheduling journal
deliveries for this weekend. This isn't something that I'm looking for
"everyone" to do but if you are really energized by this kind of thing it
would be a great way to partner in this project. There are only a few slots
left so let me know by Thursday morning if you're inter­ested.
Thank you so much for prayerfully considering sending me and joining me on
this great adventure. It will be an opportunity of a lifetime to work
alongside IJM and to be a part of providing aftercare for those that have
been rescued and would otherwise be forgotten. I may be exhausted from the
heat and jet lag, traumatized by the conditions people around the world live
in, but I will have stories and an unforgettable adventure with my Heavenly
Father on a great mountain!!
I love you all!!
Patti
PS. During our team meeting on Father's Day we were told that the IJM Staff
in India rescued 25 boys at a train station. They were between the ages of
5 and 10 and the per­son trafficking them was posing as a priest!! Today
they are free! Pray that they will be reunited with their own families or
placed in homes that will love them and train them up in the Lord!!