Dear Reader,
I leave tomorrow for my summer in Panama with the wonderful Mark and Miriam Upton. They are keeping me for eight weeks as I do my best to tag along with their missional lives. My flight leaves at 1:30 pm from Memphis, so my mother (Jam) and I will leave Jonesboro about 9:00 am as to insure plenty of time. Enough of the logistics though, I'm sure you will want to know the juicy details of my trip.
Well God has already taught me things pre-trip. I set a goal to raise $2500.00 for the trip and I have been able to exceed that goal. I had two car washes, a yard sale, a talent show, and sent out letters to family and friends requesting money, and money did I get! These past few days, everywhere I have gone I feel as though people have just showered me with fundage. I can't complain though, I will certainly find a place for it all. To return back to my point, God has taught me some valuable things already. One of those lessons is faith in him and his plan. I was feeling a bit apprehensive about this trip, I guess back in April. I was questioning my motives for this adventure and wondering if it was truly what God wanted me to spend my time on this summer. A few days later my friends at school in Edmond, OK held a car wash for me because I had to go on a field trip for a class. That car wash raised $500.00 for my funds. At that point God's plan was very clear. I had not raised anything pre-wash, and then, BAM, I had five hundred big fat bucks. The fundraising after that came quickly. When I reached $1000.00 I was excited, but it was the middle of May and I planned to leave the first of June, so I was feeling apprehensive about how I would come up with the rest of the money. However, I was talking on the phone about the fundraising with my good friend Hallie Stapp and we agreed to just give our worries over to God. That afternoon I got a call from my Dad and he told me I had $1000.00 in checks waiting on me. Yet another example of God's faithfulness to us! How undeserving I am, yet he has so richly blessed me and I have seen time and again his hand in this trip I will soon embark on.
So now I am packed and ready. Ready to spend the summer growing and learning with no expectations. I am ready to go where God leads me and feel beyond blessed by great friends and family that have rallied behind me in prayer, encouragement, and funds.
Something else that may surprise you, I packed all of my things in one suit case, a duffle bag, and a backpack.
I love you all,
Katelyn Jackson
P. S. I am trying to make the following verse somewhat of a motto for my trip.
"...a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people." Romans 2: 29
