How it all began

OAFA kids. Click to enlarage

This is a very summarized version of how I got here. I don't have enough time or space to write 6 months worth, but I'll try to get the main point across.

For about 6/12 months of 2008, I was experiencing hell on earth.

There were days where I would've given anything to be dead than experience the despair that was taking over my life.

I eventually thought about going somewhere far from Grand Rapids, to get away from it all. I thought about Africa, because so many people I knew had gone there on mission trips and absolutely loved it. I also thought about Thailand.

After just a couple days of thinking about it, I realized that I didn't want to go to serve, I was just trying to run away from my problems and I thought that leaving the country would make everything better, so I changed my mind and decided to stay here and just try to deal with what was going on.

October hit and the boiler room was doing a week of 24/7 prayer.
There are no words to describe the awesome transformation that God worked over my heart and entire life that week. He took away the turmoil which had been consuming me and also made me finally see how selfish I had been my entire life up until that point.

During that week, God also put the desire to serve in my heart as well.
Suddenly it was no longer about me, but about what I could do for others who didn't have as much, or who hadn't experienced the Love of God the way I had.

The next week, Thomas Mollhagen spoke at Crossroads Bible Church about his organization, Open Arms for Asia.

For some reason while he talked, I got a very vivid picture of me over there just loving on the kids in the children's home that he runs, and spreading the gospel to those over in India.
I got in contact with Darlene, who is on the OAFA board and is in charge of mission trips, and things have just taken off since then.

I plan to leave (Lord-willing) towards the end of April, and God answered my prayer for a travel partner, and actually my roommate, Dana, is going to be going with me for 3 weeks! So many children and even the caretakers over there are suffering from health problems so Dana's RN skills will definitely be a blessing over there!

A big thing I will be doing is taking over much of the administrative aspect, keeping reports for the organization and just keeping things in order and making sure everything is running smoothly as far as record-keeping. Of course on top of that, I will be there to just spend time with these kids and show them what love is. I look forward to lots of singing, games, hugs, and of course, telling them about the greatness of Jesus and how much He loves them. :)

I've been struggling mainly with how I'm going to afford to go there for a year, and what to do about other financial situations that I will be leaving behind.

Thankfully, I have a God who provides in more ways than I could ever imagine.

The day after I prayed for continued signs that this was what God wanted for my life, I had my very first donation from a very unexpected friend, and then a few weeks later, found out that OAFA was donating enough air miles to cover my entire plane ticket.

Since then, I've had support from Crossroads Bible Church, and many, many friends with donations of such generous amounts, all I could do was cry and be so joyful in disbelief.

Praise God for His continued faithfulness, even throughout the valleys that I've experienced during this preparation time.

This week I am meeting with the consistory at my mom's church (the one I grew up in) about support from them, and in a couple weeks will be putting on a bake sale and will be speaking in front of my mom's church congregation.

I applied for my passport last week, so once I get that, I will just need to get my visa, and immunizations and plane ticket. We will hopefully have a specific departure date by next week sometime, and then all the rest I think/hope/trust will just all come together.

There a couple people who left a few weeks ago for India on OAFA's first mission trip. Peter Mollhagen (Thomas' brother) and Breana Brendsel, a cornerstone student and fellow Crossroads attendee.

She is updating a blog frequently about her experience in India and with the kids at the children's home, so I would encourage you to follow that so you can get a glimpse of what my life is going to be like as of the end of April and also so you can just see how God is working down there..

Some of her experiences already in such a short time blow my mind, and it makes this whole thing a lot more real for me. I have never been so excited for anything, or felt so called to do anything in my life.

Her blog site is:

http://www.breanabrendsel.blogspot.com/

I guess all I can do now is ask for your continued support in prayer that all of the little details will pan out smoothly, as well as continued prayers for the 54 children and the caretakers down in India.

I will try to keep this blog up-to-date as changes come about.

Thank you, and Blessings to you all,

Jenna Burns