Going to Passon :: Kampala

Dear Friends and Family,

As most of you know, during the last 5 years I have been fortunate enough to be able to use my time off in the summers and during holiday breaks to be part of short term mission trips. Though I originally thought that I wouldn’t be going anywhere this summer, I was wrong.

You see, for the past several years, I have been involved with Passion Conferences. The heartbeat of the conferences is found in Isaiah 26:8, “ Yes Lord, walking in the way of Your truth, we wait eagerly for You, for Your name and renown are the desire of our souls.” Passion exists to glorify God by uniting students in worship and prayer for spiritual awakening in the generation of 18-25 year olds. At a time in their lives when many students walk away from their faith, Passion seeks to ignite a passionate pursuit of Jesus Christ and a desire to spread His fame.

My first mission trip was with Passion. I went to help serve on the prayer team at One Day 03 in a field on a farm outside of Dallas, Texas. Despite a very scary night of storms, 20,000 students gathered to worship and pray for an awakening in their generation. In January of 2006, I was able to go to Passion06 in Nashville, TN. The following year, it was only natural that I found myself in Atlanta for Passion07. At the end of spring break last week, I spent time at the Gwinnett Arena here in Atlanta to help with the Atlanta Regional Event. I tell you all of this because I am committed to the vision and message of Passion. I have had the privilege of witnessing thousands of college students dedicate their lives to live for the fame of Christ.

Now, Passion is going to the nations. The following is from the Passion website but it expresses the purpose so much better than I ever could:

Passion is a movement made up of young people who have abandoned the idea of living simply for themselves and are daily giving everything so the world can see Jesus more clearly. Passion is about the glory of God, inspiring a wave of students to taste and see that He is good and to do something now to change the world in Jesus’ name. We’ve discovered that every major city in the world is a university town, most home to hundreds of thousands, and in some cases millions of students. So, Passion is off on a crazy journey to the cities of the world in 2008, uniting university students around the globe in a story so much bigger than our own.

I have been invited to join the Passion team as they travel to Kampala, Uganda. Despite my plans to stay in the States this summer, I believe that God has other plans. I am excited to see what God is going to do in Kampala, a city of 1.2 million on the north shore of Lake Victoria.

This world tour stop will take place May 30^th and 31^st. It will be an outdoor, 2 day event, reminiscent of OneDay03, with as many as 30,000 worshipers, led by Louie Giglio and various lead worshipers. I will be leaving for Uganda on May 24^th (the day after school gets out, YIKES!) and will join the rest of the American team to prepare for the event at the end of the week. Right now, it looks like my role will be to head up the Touch Team (information and making sure that students feel welcomed) or to head up the Prayer Team. I will be returning on June 2^nd or 3^rd.

As I am sure that you can imagine, this is going to be an expensive trip. The plane ticket alone is $2000. When you include other expenses, I need to raise between $4000 and $5000. And I need to raise it quickly since we leave in 8 weeks. (Another YIKES!)

Some of you are long time supporters of my mission trips and others are getting my support letter for the first time. In both cases, I hope that as you read this you are excited with me, and for me. Please hear me when I say that I hope you in no way feel obligated to financially support this trip. I fully trust that God will provide the financial means necessary for this trip. If after prayerful consideration, you don’t feel led to give, know that I completely understand. I will still covet your prayers and want to keep you informed about my travels.

However, if you would like to support me on this trip, you can do so by writing a check made out to Passion Conferences with my name and Kampala written on the memo line. You can mail the check directly to me (4840 Beckford Place, Powder Springs, GA 30127) or to the Passion office (PO Box 5 Alpharetta, GA 30077).

I also ask that you would pray for the students of Uganda and East Africa. Pray that they would fall in love with Jesus. Please pray for our team as we move forward with planning a conference on the other side of the world. And it’s never too early to start praying for the flights; right now, there is a possibility that I may be flying alone, which as you probably know isn’t my ideal way to travel.

I am sorry that you are getting this through email, but because of the quick turn around time needed, this is the fastest way. My goal this year is to do a better job of keeping you informed of the trip. Thank you for your patience as I grow in this.

Please let me know if I can answer questions and thanks for taking the time to read this letter.

Love,

Beth

For more information about Passion Conferences & the world tour check out www.268generation.com