outreach.

 A lot of people have asked what I’m doing on outreach, and if I knew a solid answer to that I would certainly share.. but the lovely thing about outreach, is that it is so up in the air. And that’s okay. We are going to heavily rely on God’s leading, focusing on prayer and intercession. What I do know (in bullet form):

-        We are driving! (And still need vans, ehem, prayer request.)

-        We will be probably spending a lot of time in Moldova, Greece, Turkey.. and the surrounding countries.

-        We have a heart for human trafficking, and want to see justice done. We want to bring identity back to the women who have been sold into the sex slavery… to bring restoration.

-        We want to use our art… a lot. And have some BIG (literally) ideas of how to use it to help in these areas of injustice.

-         We also want to work with orphans and help however we can.

-         We are going out to be the hands and feet of God, and to bring His love and light wherever we go.

-         We leave the first week of December, and come home in the middle of February, approximately a total of ten weeks.

If there is one thing I’ve learned in DTS, it is that God provides. When He put it on my heart to come to Herrnhut in the first place, He provided a way to get here and all the money for the first 10 weeks. When I was on Faith Walk, He showed me that even when I had not a single cent to my name, or a place to sleep, He would provide three meals a day, and a safe place to rest at night. When an opportunity arose to go to Paris, He gave me all the money I needed within the hour.

I’ve seen miracles happen.

I’ve seen God come through in creative ways I could never think of.

And now that outreach is a mere two weeks away, I know God will provide all the money I need. In two weeks, my team of thirty-two will start the drive through Europe to get to the south east portion. While most teams are headed for warm climates, my team is headed for some extreme cold weather that a lot of us were not prepared for. Myself included.

Okay. Here is where the humbling part comes in.

We are in great need. Financial need as well as equipment/supplies.

I personally need:

-       About 1300 Euros

-       A serious winter coat

-       Tough winter boots

-       Sleeping bag for cold temperature (compact)

-       Sleeping mat (compact)

Like I said before, I know God will provide, but I don’t want to sit on my butt and just expect it. If you are in a position where you can help, I would greatly appreciate it. Or please keep me and my entire team in your prayers. Team wide, the need is great. If you are able to send any of the items in that you have laying around, that would be perfect. If you prefer to send a money donation, that is amazing as well. Every dollar helps, and is such a gift.

You can send items to:

Kelsey Callihan

JMEM/DTS

Untere Dorfstr. 56

Herrnhut, Germany

02747

If sending items, they will take about a week to a week and a half to get here, and would need to be sent out asap. Also, make sure to mark ‘gift’ on the shipping label, or it will be stopped at customs and I won’t receive it.

If you would like to make a money donation, you can hit the ‘donation’ button on my blog, and donate through paypal. Or we can work something else out, in which case, feel free to email me at k.calli@hotmail.com.

Thank you so much for all the love and support that has already come my way. I pray that you are blessed for blessing me. It means a great deal..

Love,

Kelsey

update in week ten.

Ohhh man.

I really felt that I should write a blog post today, but am just overwhelmed with what to say. Things are going fast here, I leave for outreach in three weeks.

Three weeks.

Three weeks.

Speaking of outreach, maybe I should talk about that.

I am on a team going to South East Europe. All my expectations of what outreach would look like had to be layed down, as I expected I’d be in the hot sun wearing long skirts and bandanas running around with the tribes in Africa. God however had other plans, which is cool, I just have no idea what to expect and that’s okay. I am fully trusting Him through this.

So, where in South East Europe? We honestly have no solid plans, just a lot of things God is putting on our hearts individually, but also as a team. A few countries that have been thrown around a lot are Moldova, Romania, Greece, and Turkey. Also people have mentioned Ukraine, Bulgaria, Albania. All we know for sure is, that we want to drive there. Woo! Yes, road tripping all through Europe. We want to be mobile, and have freedom to split up into small teams. I’m not really worried about where we’re headed specifically… I know God will lead us and tell us where to go. So yeah, I don’t know a lot specifically, we have a lot of ideas of what we want to do, who we want to love on, how we want to use our art but it will all come together when it’s supposed to. Yeah, it’ll be good.

I’m a little homesick lately.. just missing people. I love being in Herrnhut, it has very much become my home in these last few months. The town, the castle, the apartment, my roommates, my friends… it’s home, it’s family. And if someone handed me a plane ticket home right now, I’d rip it up because I know I want to be here more than anywhere else at this time. But I still miss my parents…my sisters…friends..  and I really miss Coleton. There are definetly days that Coleton is the only one I want to share with how I’m feeling, the only one I want to sit and process with, but I can’t… and I end up getting frustrated and wanting to just be alone. HA! There is no such thing as being alone here. And I’m thankful for that, because it pushes me to bring whatever I’m feeling to God, and let Him be the one I sit and process with. Who better to talk with than the One who is love? Sometimes He’ll bring just the right person along who genuinely cares how I’m doing, and will sit and talk with me. No matter what, I always end up feeling refreshed and ready to keep going.

I found myself in one of those times today. I walked into the bathroom and it smelled terrible… and for some reason it just sent me into this aching sense that I just wanted to be home in my own bathroom. One only shared by a few rather than a hundred. And I just found myself saying outloud ‘Father, I’m tired! I’m so tired… mentally, physically… tired.’ And I felt like God was just like, ‘Just trust me, I know how you feel right now, but think about what has happened so far in your time in Herrnhut and know that I have more for you and I will give you the strength to keep going whenever you are weak.’

God is just really cool… and I have hope that I will get out of this ‘tired’ slump I’m in today. But yeah, if I were to have any prayer requests, it would be for strength and perseverance. I want to keep the fire burning, I want to keep pushing through when it gets challenging… yeah. Just feeling today like I want to lay in my bed for a day and not follow a schedule or itinerary. Which I think is actually quite interesting that I feel like this for the first time THIS week, because this week is going to look quite different than all the others. Because…

I’M GOING TO PARIS!

Yes. Aahhhhh.

Not just any trip to Paris though, let me explain.

So the man that started this base in Herrnhut is Jan Schlegal. You should all google him, and his work, because it’s phenomenal. He’s german through and through, shoots large format, and loves Jesus. Good guy. And he got some of his work into Paris Photo, which is like… one of the top photo exhibitions to get into. I don’t even know all the details, but I know it’s a huge deal. Anyways, it was announced last week that we would be able to go see his exhibit in Paris, but we’d have to plan the entire trip on our own and complete a list of requirements beforehand. Okay, I thought, this is sweet but I don’t want to spend money people have given me for outreach on going to Paris. So I figured I’d just forget about it… but it was really tugging at me. This was a trip of a lifetime and I didn’t want to pass it up! Then… I won’t go into details in case they don’t want me to say anything publically.. well, let’s just say within the hour I was blessed with $700, more than enough to do the four day excursion in Paris! Long story short (there is quite a story to the whole thing, but, maybe one of those personal email sorts of deals), I really felt like God was saying to me “Surprise! Remember I’m God, I can do cool things like this. I love you!”

AHHHH! So yes, I leave this week and I’ll be back this weekend. I’m so excited!

Finally I get to use some of the French I learned from four years in highschool, and see things I’ve always wanted to see! But, the trip is really about going to Paris Photo, which is amazing… I can’t wait to be up close and personal to some of the worlds greatest current photography. I feel like this just can’t be real because this is what Jan said to the four of us going, “Okay, so you get into the city around 2:30pm? Let’s meet under the Eiffel Tower at 6pm. Sound good?”

Sound good? That’s an understatement.

Au revoir!

Oh, yes, I do have a prayer request… I need 800 euros in a matter of a few weeks for outreach, and I know that the money given to me to go to Paris is really supposed to go towards that (believe me… it’s very clear). But yeah, I only have a few hundred American dollars left in my account otherwise, and converted to euros that isn’t very much, so please join me in praying for outreach money, not just for me but my whole team! I’m confident God will provide, even if it is up until the last minute!