Sunday, July 12, 2009
3 days...
It's only three days until we leave! I am getting pretty excited and nervous, because it's the first time I have ever left America or Canada. Gretchen has traveled more than I so she is just excited, not really nervous. Our "itinerary" we posted on here keeps changing slightly but the basics are still the same. We just bought ferry tickets, and booked a stay in Malaga, Spain at the end of our trip in a hostel (the highest reviewed hostel on hostel.com for the area). Watch for updates, and if you do twitter you can follow me at twitter.com/fingerredux. If we can we will try and put pictures online while in Morocco. We have already had a hilarious time navigating a Spanish ferry site for our tickets, so we look forward to it being really hilarious when we are actually in Spain...
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Trip details as of today, June 17th
Hello all,
Thank you so much to you who have supported us - both with your prayers and your financial gifts. There are many of you who are wondering what the status is of our trip, or what we're even going to be doing there. We hope that this posting will help answer those questions for you all.
We found fabulous tickets on kayak.com. We were able to get two round-trip tickets for approximately $1500!!!! We are leaving Portland at 6:30am on July 15th, and will proceed to have a four hour lay-over in NYC (yay!). From there we will fly into Malaga, Spain, where we will have gone back in time and arrived at 9:40am - that same day. We are still deciding if we will stay in Spain one day or go straight to the ferry. We would do this by taking the metro train from the airport to the ferry station where will board a ferry that will take us across the Mediterranean Sea to Melilla, Spain, a small piece of land owned by Spain within Morocco. From there we are traveling into Morocco, most likely via our friend Nathan (who also took our wedding photos, by the way).
We are working with an organization called Friends of the Rif (F.O.R.), started by the parents of the husband of the couple we have been communicating with. This organization was created for the purpose of rebuilding homes for the Moroccans who lost their homes in the earthquake of 2004, which also killed thousands of people. You can visit their website at www.friendsofthe rif.org. We were told that the website has not been updated very recently. Here are the details for the remainder of our trip:
Summary of what we’ll be doing:
Mainly helping with the volunteers teams that come each summer for two week trips.
Gretchen: laundry, grocery shopping, and other tasks around the house.
Andrew: helping Joey in various ways, driving a truck with supplies, etc.
Best way to prepare: Be flexible and ready for whatever
Where we’ll be staying:
In a town called Izmmouren outside of a larger town called Al Hociema. Located on Northern Coast between Nador and Tetuan. Actual work is in villages outside of Izmmouren, but living space is in Izmmouren.
Sharing an apartment with other volunteers in the guest house (washing machine, but no dryer) J at the cost of 150 durhams a day (currently, it is 8.11 durhams to the U.S. dollar). This comes out to around $18.50/day. This amount is still be clarified, as we are unsure if this is per person or per couple.
Average Day:
Wake up and have breakfast and devotions with the other volunteers.
Doing anything that is needed as specified above…. All day.
Bible study/lesson with Moroccans that are also helping build the homes.
Have dinner back with the team, then have the night somewhat free.
Key: flexibility
Essentially, we are doing exactly what we originally set out to do: helping and encouraging the missionaries who are already there; doing whatever it is that needs to be done. We want to serve, and that is what we plan on doing. :)
We will be returning on Wednesday, August 5th, in a similar fashion to how we arrived: Izmmouren to Melilla to Malaga to NYC to Portland.
Please stay in prayer for us as we figure out some final itinerary details i.e. cost of the ferry, etc. and begin mentally preparing for this trip. We are thrilled to discover what the Lord has to teach us through the joys and challenges we know we will encounter these three weeks. Thank you for your love and support.
Monday, April 20, 2009
Support Letter for Morocco 2009
Dear Family and Friends,
We are inviting you to partner with us in fulfilling what we believe to be a calling to Morocco this summer. We are planning on leaving July 29th and returning August 19th. Over a series of events we have become passionate about reaching out to the Muslim world and the missionaries within this world that is so very different from our own.
It began with a conversation with a friend. He gave us insight into what is happening in the global community of Muslims, namely in Morocco. He recounted to us personal experiences of reaching out to the rejected souls of deformed, disabled and mentally impaired children and their mothers. It is a belief held by Islam that if a child is born with such an abnormality, it is punishment either for the sins of the parents or the future sins of that child – they become outcasts. As he spoke he told us of countless opportunities to bring hope and the love of Christ to people who were raised to believe they are unlovable and without hope.
Needless to say, we were intrigued. We really began to see God’s guidance when we met two missionaries from Morocco during Multnomah Missions Week. These two women invited us to lunch and shared with us their stories of Morocco, where they had been sent through Operation Mobilization (OM). When we asked what the needs are in Morocco, we were at first surprised and somewhat disappointed at the response. They said, “Prayer and encouragement for the missionaries.” The desire to be on the frontlines of the mission field was soon replaced with a desire to serve missionaries in a conversation with a friend who said that the most memorable day she had as a missionary in Brazil was the day a group of people came to specifically bring rest, prayer and encouragement to them; the missionaries who were already on the frontlines.
Although our desire to help and love the hurting and needy has not changed, our focus has. Over the weeks we have received confirmation time and time again through seemingly random conversations and coincidences that this is the direction we are supposed to take this summer. We have been in contact with someone working for OM in Morocco who has been giving us advice on planning our trip. We have decided not to go through a specific organization, but instead to go on a self-directed trip throughout the country of Morocco, with the help of OM missionaries who are already there.
There are three goals we have for this trip. First, we are looking at this as a chance to gain exposure and vision for how God can use us in this country. Secondly, we will have the opportunity to minister to the missionaries who are currently there via childcare, cooking meals, or just planning days of rest and prayer with them. Finally, this trip will give us an opportunity to pray for the country and experience first hand the effect of prayer on a country that desperately needs it.
There are several ways that you can partner with us on this journey, because we know that it will take more than just the two of us. We need your support – financially, through prayer, and through encouragement, however you choose to give it. Financially, we need $3,600 for round trip tickets for the two of us. We are unsure of the cost for the rest of the trip due to the variety of places we will be staying. As far as prayer goes, please be praying for wisdom, for safety, for guidance through the details, and for the people we will be ministering to and with. Please let us know if you can support us in any of these three ways.
We love you and appreciate your prayers.
With love in Christ,
Andrew and Gretchen King
andrewgking86@hotmail.com
gretch626@yahoo.com
2707 SE 16th Avenue Apt. #7
Portland, OR 97202
We are inviting you to partner with us in fulfilling what we believe to be a calling to Morocco this summer. We are planning on leaving July 29th and returning August 19th. Over a series of events we have become passionate about reaching out to the Muslim world and the missionaries within this world that is so very different from our own.
It began with a conversation with a friend. He gave us insight into what is happening in the global community of Muslims, namely in Morocco. He recounted to us personal experiences of reaching out to the rejected souls of deformed, disabled and mentally impaired children and their mothers. It is a belief held by Islam that if a child is born with such an abnormality, it is punishment either for the sins of the parents or the future sins of that child – they become outcasts. As he spoke he told us of countless opportunities to bring hope and the love of Christ to people who were raised to believe they are unlovable and without hope.
Needless to say, we were intrigued. We really began to see God’s guidance when we met two missionaries from Morocco during Multnomah Missions Week. These two women invited us to lunch and shared with us their stories of Morocco, where they had been sent through Operation Mobilization (OM). When we asked what the needs are in Morocco, we were at first surprised and somewhat disappointed at the response. They said, “Prayer and encouragement for the missionaries.” The desire to be on the frontlines of the mission field was soon replaced with a desire to serve missionaries in a conversation with a friend who said that the most memorable day she had as a missionary in Brazil was the day a group of people came to specifically bring rest, prayer and encouragement to them; the missionaries who were already on the frontlines.
Although our desire to help and love the hurting and needy has not changed, our focus has. Over the weeks we have received confirmation time and time again through seemingly random conversations and coincidences that this is the direction we are supposed to take this summer. We have been in contact with someone working for OM in Morocco who has been giving us advice on planning our trip. We have decided not to go through a specific organization, but instead to go on a self-directed trip throughout the country of Morocco, with the help of OM missionaries who are already there.
There are three goals we have for this trip. First, we are looking at this as a chance to gain exposure and vision for how God can use us in this country. Secondly, we will have the opportunity to minister to the missionaries who are currently there via childcare, cooking meals, or just planning days of rest and prayer with them. Finally, this trip will give us an opportunity to pray for the country and experience first hand the effect of prayer on a country that desperately needs it.
There are several ways that you can partner with us on this journey, because we know that it will take more than just the two of us. We need your support – financially, through prayer, and through encouragement, however you choose to give it. Financially, we need $3,600 for round trip tickets for the two of us. We are unsure of the cost for the rest of the trip due to the variety of places we will be staying. As far as prayer goes, please be praying for wisdom, for safety, for guidance through the details, and for the people we will be ministering to and with. Please let us know if you can support us in any of these three ways.
We love you and appreciate your prayers.
With love in Christ,
Andrew and Gretchen King
andrewgking86@hotmail.com
gretch626@yahoo.com
2707 SE 16th Avenue Apt. #7
Portland, OR 97202
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Prayer
Please be in prayer for Gretchen and I as we took a leap of faith to do a trip the way we thought God wanted us to do... Missions Week at Multnomah University gave us hundreds of missions trips we could sign up for and apply for with probably 20-30 organizations. But in many coversations between the organizations, some friends, and complete strangers we felt that God was calling us to not go through the organization's planned missions trips but to plan our own trip with the help of some people within the organizations. We have contact with some people from Operation Mobilization who are helping us plan our trip and helping us in Morocco when we get there. Please pray for us as we plan our trip and pray that our vision for our trip will be just as useful as any missions trip could be!
Andrew (and Gretchen)
Andrew (and Gretchen)
Hello!
Hello all-
Gretchen and I are planning a 3 week trip to Morocco starting July 29th and lasting for three weeks. This blog will have our support letter and updates before and during the trip. We will keep you updated on the details!
Andrew King
Gretchen and I are planning a 3 week trip to Morocco starting July 29th and lasting for three weeks. This blog will have our support letter and updates before and during the trip. We will keep you updated on the details!
Andrew King
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