Keep the support coming...

A HUGE THANK YOU to all our amazingly generous supporters.  We know that money is a very finite resource and you have likely way too many ways that it is being pulled... so THANK YOU for deciding to contribute what you can to help people who are in even greater need than you and I.

We are making forward progress towards our goal... but are still in need of your support.  It costs $4300 per person (so for Bryan and I it'll be $8600)... about $2200/each is the cost of the plane tickets to Kenya and then $1800/each goes to HEART, the wonderful non-profit organization that we'll be serving with while in Kenya.  The remaining $300 goes towards our food/travel expenses throughout our 2 week journey.  Our deadline is Monday June 16th and as of May 29th, we have raised just under $4,000.

You can still contribute...
- mail a check (made out to BAYSIDE CHURCH) to BAYSIDE - ATTN: Global Outreach  PO BOX 2336, Granite Bay, CA 95746.  DO NOT INCLUDE OUR NAMES ON THE CHECK.  Instead, include a note (even a post-it will work) that says something about KENYA - Bryan & Rebecca Ragle!!!  This way you will get a receipt of your tax deductible donation.
OR
- donate online (you can pay using PayPal) http://bit.ly/short-term-support  Select KENYA - July and then Bryan & Rebecca Ragle from the drop-down list... then type the dollar amount directly next to it.
OR
- place a Cutco, AdvoCare or MaryKay order through Bryan or Becca... contact us through e-mail... bryan.ragle@gmail.com or rebecca.ragle@gmail.com.  THANK YOU and please contact us THIS WEEK!


I had a request to share a little about what we'll be doing on this two week mission trip of ours... so here's a little update for all our readers....

Our team of 10 (3 men and 7 women) will be partnering with H.E.A.R.T. (Health Education Africa Resource Team... www.africaheart.com).  We'll spend some time outside Nairobi at the HEART Lodge, in Kibera (the largest urban slum in all of Africa), and Kisii.  Some amazing pictures and a better description of what our trip will be like can be seen at our Team Leader's blog from last year...http://adisciplelife.wordpress.com/2013/07/02/kenya-2013-in-the-mud/

Basically, we will be building houses and working with HEART's WEEP ministry.  Read below...

Women’s Equality Empowerment Project  (WEEP)

Keeping mothers alive, healthy, and self-sustaining so they can raise their children

As an orphan prevention initiative, WEEP empowers women with HIV/AIDS. Our projects saves the lives of mothers suffering from advanced stages of AIDS, sparing their children from becoming orphans. Operating in impoverished areas, WEEP identifies HIV positive mothers who have been widowed or abandoned. WEEP commits to providing medical care, nutrition, vitamins, shelter, and access to ARV drugs. We also assure that their children have the resources to attend school. Once physically stable, the mothers are taught a trade at a WEEP center, where they come self-sufficient and break out of poverty.

In a country where unemployment is estimated to be close to 70%, a job allows the WEEP women to provide for their families in a way that would be impossible without this project. Beyond the devastatingly high unemployment level, the lack of information and the stigma associated with AIDS make it nearly impossible for an HIV positive woman to secure employment, support her children, or access ARV drugs. WEEP’s objective is to keep mothers alive, healthy, and employed, and protect her vulnerable children from becoming orphans.

Again, thank you for your support.  Big or small... we want to say THANK YOU and GOD BLESS!