Hello!

I haven’t written a blog in forever, but that’s because there has been so much going on, I didn’t know what to write about!

I’m currently 84% funded and have $2,956.10 left to raise woohoo! If my current monthly donations stay the same, I will be fully funded by May. My technical deadline is February 13th, but AIM gives grace in this area, and will allow me to continue to fundraise after this date. Once I’m funded, the automatic donations do not stop, and will not go to me but to AIM. I will let my donors know when to stop donating.

I went home in December for my sister‘s wedding, which was also around Christmas time. It was so good to see my family and be able to spend Christmas with them. My sister and I both ended up sick and in the ER right before her wedding, but we were feeling much better by time the winning started. On the 31st I flew back to Vietnam and upon arrival learned that my visa was only good for one use! Because of that I had to fly to Thailand with my leader Gracie for a couple days so that I could reapply for a new visa. it was a very stressful experience, being by myself in a foreign country being told I had to leave and then having to stay the night by myself in the airport. But once Gracie was with Mimis and we got to Thailand, we had lots of fun. We finally got back to Vietnam 5 days later, and then after three days we moved to a different location in Ho Chi Minh to meet up with the rest of the squad for a two day debrief. We were supposed to fly out on Monday, but once we boarded the plane, they told us they were having some mechanical issues and we ended up sitting on the plane for two hours on the ground. They even gave us our in-flight meal while we were still on the tarmac. Then we got off the plane and waited around for a couple hours before they told us our flight was canceled and sent us to a hotel but we didn’t get there till 1 AM! At 6 AM that morning we got up to go back to the airport and finally flew to the Philippines.

We’ve been in the Philippines for about five days now, and it has been truly amazing. We’re working with the ministry called kids international ministries. Three of the six teams are staying in one location. Including mine. I’m very grateful to be able to see other people on the squad on almost a daily basis. But my team is staying a couple minutes down the road in a girls orphanage. This is where my team is working daily, and they wanted us to be able to do life with them by living there. Me and two other girls on my team are working in the boys orphanage, so every morning we walk to the boys home and stay there until 8:30 PM. We’re with the kids from the morning until they go to bed. It’s very sweet to be able to do life with them. The boys are crazy but it’s been so awesome.

Compared to the other teams, our days are much longer, but that is what makes it so rewarding. It’s so sweet to live life with these boys who have no one to take care of them, and be able to love them and show them who Jesus is.

God bless,

Shelby