They Did It!

They went.

They came back.

They'll never be the same.

You can track their day-t0-day escapades here on the official blog.

Check back here later for more personal reflections.

Thanks for your support!

Monday School

This is a shout out to my mom’s small group! 

This group of beautiful, colorful people come to my home every Monday night and it is always a blast. I don’t sit in on their meetings but I feel God before and afterwards. It is a blessing to get to see that big group every week!

Monday School (the name of their small group) has been a huge supporter of the Macedonia team. They’ve bought flowers, doughnuts, and have donated, they have lent their ears when we ramble about our trip and get genuinely excited with us. They are such a blessing to me and my sisters! Thanks again Monday School!!

-Syd

Shannon's Part

Mission trips have been a passion of mine for a while. My plan when I was younger was that I would grow up, become a missionary, move to Brazil and do soccer ministry, and then marry a Brazilian boy… my plans have changed a little since then. However, my desire to do mission work, especially overseas –where there are people who not only need the love of God but also basic necessities - has stayed. When I first got the call about Macedonia, I was immediately hooked. These people, especially the women, truly need us. Women in Macedonia are not treated well. They need to know that they are not worthless, that there is someone who will love them unconditionally and thinks that they are worth more than anything in the world. I want to be able to shower love on these Roma women and the Roma children that should be able to grow up knowing there is something more.

Sarah's Part

Sydni is not the only Brawley girl that God is calling to Macedonia; I recently saw the movie Slumdog Millionaire, a movie that takes place in the slums of India. Throughout the movie homeless and malnourished children walk the streets begging for money. You see them running up to cars, pressing their fingers to their lips trying to show you that if you give them money it will be so they can eat. One of the first things that our leaders told us about their initial trip to Macedonia is that the children there were doing the same thing. Watching that movie gave me a vision of what was really happening not only in India, but also in Macedonia. God had placed a passion on my heart to go and serve these people when my sisters first started talking about the trip but it was not until I saw that movie that God had placed a true burden on me. I could be one that brings light to lives of the children in Macedonia. I could share Jesus Christ with them.

Sydni's Part

I believe everyone has a holy discontent - a personal struggle with an object, a person or an idea, something that God has put on your heart. Your discontent becomes your discomfort until it becomes your disbelief at the never-ending goodness of God. This is what happened to me. This is my holy discontent.

Last summer I had the amazing privilege of going to two Fuge summer camps. One was a work camp and the other was a personal camp. It was on these trips that I was introduced to the Roma, a people group in Eastern Europe that are disenfranchised and discriminated against. I came back from the first camp with a fire for Jesus you can only get after being on a mission trip surrounded by Him, but also with a passion. I came back with a passion for a people group I never knew existed before that week. I had a fire, a passion, a holy discontent; and I wanted to go. It has taken a lot for me to give myself up completely to God; to believe that if He wants me to be there he will get me there, regardless of the questions. Questions like how, when, and what. How would I get to these people? How would I pay for it? When would I go?When would I be old enough? And what?! What was God doing? Was He really calling me to go across an ocean to work with people I had never even heard of before that summer? Was I going to let Him work through me and in me? My answer: Yes.

My convictions got stronger and stronger. I had to go. I had to reach the Roma somehow. I didn’t know how I would get there, if I would be going alone or with another church. My home church didn’t have any plans to go to Poland, the only place I knew the Roma lived, so I went off in search of finding another team, another church or group going to Poland so I could go with them. There were a few groups but nothing really seemed to be working out. I was starting to lose hope. That was when Jackie Heberle, a youth leader at my home church, was asked by World Changers International and Fuge to head up a mission project in Skopje, Macedonia:  to work with the Roma. I have never felt God speak to me more than the day I found out that PCC, my home church, was going on their first youth international trip. It was as if He was saying to me, “You trusted me, so I did my part - now do yours.”

Welcome!

Welcome to our blog!  Stay tuned for updates and information about our upcoming trip to Macedonia!