Support letter

I sent the following letter to my friends and family today and wanted to post it here as well, for the record. :) If you received it already, just delete it. Sorry for the double mailing.

Karyn

Most of you are aware that Bonnie and I are seriously considering going to Japan for one to three years as English teachers/missionaries. If you’ve been reading my blog, you know a lot of details, but for those who haven’t, I have decided that we will move forward with plans to go to Japan until God closes the doors. The next step is gauging what type of support we might have since we can’t do this alone. Please look over the areas below and let me know if you feel you can support us and in what way. I do not want to put any pressure on anyone, but believe that God will move people to give out of the resources He has provided. Maybe this is His way of making sure we don’t go to Japan and try to do it all ourselves. Also, going to Japan will have more meaning for me if you share it with us – by praying, by communicating, by giving your time and even financially. Bonnie and I may be the ones going to Japan and touching the Japanese people physically, but you can be involved in God’s work in Japan, too, through us. Won’t you join us?

Come and join the reapers
All the kingdom seekers
Laying down your life to
Find it once again
Come and join the harvest
Help to light the darkness
For the Lord is calling
Faithful men
- Twila Paris


If you want to be a part of the harvest in Japan, please talk to the Lord about it and if He leads you to get involved in a specific way, would you let me know so I can make
plans to move forward? If I don’t hear from people, I will take it as a closed door. Please don’t do anything unless you believe God is leading you to do it. I know He can provide all we need, but I want it to be His way, not in my way. Just so you know, I will be endorsed by my church – either officially “sent” as a missionary or more informally “blessed” as a tentmaker. That will be determined when Raj meets with some guys in my church next week. Any money you give will be tax deductible and will be channeled either through my church or Agape English Language Institute (Raj’s school). Expenditures will be approved by someone from one of those organizations so there will be accountability.

I don’t want to offend anyone or “bug” anyone so if I don’t hear from you, I will remove you from my mailing list so make sure you respond to that question. I would like a response as soon as you can make it since my time is short (Raj wants us to leave in June!) so keep that in mind. Thanks for standing with us the past few years as I pursue my dream of missions in Asia. I hope this is “it” but if not, I will keep pursuing it!

To find out more about what we are doing visit these links:

My blog
http://www.kayceelife.blogspot.com/

The English School in Japan
http://www.aeliusa.com/Japan/index.htm


Agape English Language Institute
http://www.aeliusa.com/

Power Point presentation
I prepared a quick powerpoint presentation on the need for missions in Japan. If you would like to see it, let me know and I’ll e-mail it to you.


Will you look over the areas below and prayerfully consider what, if anything, God may be leading you to do to be a part of missions in Japan? Please hit reply and let me know what God is putting on your heart. I am thrilled to have people like you as my partners in this ministry! If you can give me an indication of your level of commitment, that would be great as well!

MORAL SUPPORT

If you want to remain on my mailing list, please hit reply and let me know.

PRAYER SUPPORT
Will you pray for us regularly? I will continue my blog and will make sure it gets sent to you when it’s updated. If you are on the yahoogroups distribution list for the blog, let me know so I won’t send it to you twice.

HELPING HANDS
Can you send us care packages from the United States (videos, music, food, English books, etc.) a few times per year?
I also need help from people in Rock Hill with
packing
taking stuff to Goodwill and consignment shops
finding boxes
taking stuff to the post office
using your contacts to help find a buyer/renter for my condo and my car


FINANCIAL SUPPORT

One Time Gift
This would help with expenses in getting to Japan (shipping personal items, storage space in the U.S., packing and moving expenses.)I don’t know our total need at this time, but I’ve been unemployed or underemployed for a long time and have no savings at all (in fact, my church has been giving us money every month since December!). Agape pays for our plane tickets to Japan, which is good. But we need a return ticket before Japan will let us into the country. Also, I won’t be able to get a salary until my working visa comes in. The school will pay our room and board while we are volunteers, but there will be some other expenses for those first few months. If we somehow get more money than we need, it can be applied to our monthly support (see below) or spent on materials for the school. I would think that if we received even several thousand dollars, it could be used.

Monthly Support for One Year
The biggest need right now is monthly support for about a year. Currently the school is expanding and that is why they are adding another teacher. But the salary is based on the needs of a single person, not a mom. J I will need money to provide Bonnie adequate childcare while I’m working and to supplement the difference between a single and two people (health insurance, food, visas, transportation expenses in Japan like train tickets, etc.) As students are added, the school will be able to raise my salary until it is adequate for our needs. It’s impossible to know the future, but the plan is that I will only need this support for a year. In any case, that is all you need to commit to at this time. After a year, we will re-evaluate our needs and if we stay in Japan, we will solicit long-term support through traditional methods. It is critical that I know about how much monthly support will come in so if you are comfortable, I really need to know about how much you plan to give. I don’t know the total need yet, but we are thinking it will be about $500 per month (most missionaries in Japan need $6,000 per month or more so our needs are modest). This means that even if you can give $10 or $20, it will go a long way.

Please remember that this is all speculative at this point. I am simply trying to gauge if there is enough support to move forward. Thanks for reading this far and for your love and support for us, not only in this venture, but in our lives. We love you very much. Please pray for us.

Karyn and Bonnie