A Long-Overdue Update

Posted on March 5, 2018 Updated on August 26, 2022

So… I’m sure some of you have started wondering if we still exist, are still going to Poland, and are still fundraising.  The answer to all of those questions is YES!  It has been a little crazy in the Porter family – mainly concerning some issues with Ben’s back.  Those issues aren’t resolved, but we don’t think they are going to keep us from serving in Poland again this summer.  So we’ve finally settled on dates (June 1 – July 1) and are watching airfare prices (which are not looking too great at the moment).

Here’s the 2018 service plan:

• We will serve in Poland June 1 – July 1
• We will travel to and encourage Christian churches in Poland, planted and/or supported by Polish Christian Ministries, as time and opportunity allow.
• We will do everything we can to help with upkeep and projects at Ostróda Camp, including yard work, cleaning, preparation of cabins, fixing stuff, tech help, prayer room, and encouraging and supporting our friends who do full-time ministry at the camp year-round.
• We will spend time growing relationships and serving the Holocaust Survivors who will travel from Israel.  Although some of these are Messianic Jews, many of them do not know Jesus Christ as the Messiah.  We will participate in worship and teaching sessions, plan and lead activities/crafts with them, and travel to different sites with them in partnership with a mission team from Georgia.
• We will serve during the Ukrainian Children’s Camp alongside a team from Rhode Island  – teaching, baptizing and disciplining children and teens.  This year’s camp will include refugee children from the war in Ukraine.  Our involvement will include crafts, teaching and getting to know the kids in small groups.
• We will plan and lead in a number of capacities during a week of Polish Youth Camp.  We don’t know much about the plans for this yet other than that there is no US church mission team, so we will likely have plenty to do!
• We will connect with friends met in the past who have suffered infant loss, as well as looking for other opportunities to minister through Embracing Grace.
• We will pray for unexpected opportunities to serve and minister – asking God to provide them, open our eyes to them, and give us what we need to act on them.

Will you please, as we are, cover all of these aspects of ministry in prayer before we even board a plane? 

We do still have a financial need to be able to do this.  Currently, we have saved, raised and received enough to cover a little more than our airfare.  But we need approximately another $3300 (as of the time of this posting and depending on the price we end up getting for airfare) to cover ground transportation, lodging and meals.  The money we would normally be spending on food, gas, etc. at home during the month of June, will certainly go towards this, as well as all other funds we can personally set aside, but we still won’t close that gap without the generous support of people like you.  We ask that you prayerfully consider being a “sender”.  Everyone knows I struggle so much with the asking.  But we can’t do this without you, and I know what a blessing it can be to play the Sender role in fulfilling the Great Commission.  In fact, we will pray for you to be blessed for your generosity!  See our financial support page for a current graph of our fundraising and for information about giving.

Also, this is the bare minimum cost of spending the month on the mission field.  There is so much more we’d like to do.  Our mission organization, PCM, is raising funds to cover costs for all of these camps, including scholarships to give as many kids as possible a life-changing experience at church camp.  So any funds we can raise beyond our initial need will go towards these important goals.  There will also be expenses for craft and activity supplies that are not included in our fundraising goal.

Ok.  So this has turned into a really long post.  Hugs to those of you who are still reading!  Watch for updates on fundraising events as soon as I figure those out!

Love & Gratitude

Ben, Rachel, Anna & Ethan