Letter/ChipIn

Here's the support letter I sent out a couple weeks ago...

Dear Friends and Family,
I’m writing this letter to inform you all up an upcoming adventure that will soon be taking place in my life. On July 1st, I will be flying overseas until December 21st. I’m heading off to participate in a YWAM (Youth With a Mission) school. It will be held in Herrnhut, Germany, and will have a specific focus on “justice missions” (human trafficking, slavery, poverty, etc.) The first few months are called the lecture phase, during which my team will be attending classes that are focused on missions as well as different spiritual subjects. We will also be doing outreaches in the surrounding area. The second half of the school is called the outreach phase, which is basically an extended missions trip. During those couple of months we will be traveling to a third world country in either Africa or Asia, where will be staying on a local YWAM base. Our focus will be helping and loving these people that may have never seen God’s love in action. We will be going along with the “justice” theme, reaching out to those in situations that, by most anyone’s standard, are not “just”.
Missions have been heavily on my heart for the last few years, and after traveling to Chin@ in August of 2009 on an orphans focused missions trip, I knew that was not going to be my last experience with missions. At the same time, as much as I desire to help those who are less fortunate, the thought of leaving all things familiar to me, especially my friends and family, for a whole 174 days (yes, I counted) terrifies me. However, I know that God does not lead people somewhere that He will not walk beside them.
So, while I am writing this letter to inform, I am also writing to ask for support. I fully believe this will be a fulfilling experience, and it is something I am so looking forward to, but I’m also preparing for this to be physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausting. So please, when you think of it, pray for me. Before my trip, during my trip, after I’ve returned - whenever. Also, I am not writing this letter to ask for money, but the cost is becoming a stressing point. It is going to be $7,500-$8,500. Currently I am taking a couple college courses online and working 2 jobs, and although I am saving money, I’m starting to realize it might not be enough. However, my letter is not to make you feel some sort of obligation to give. My main requests are your prayers and support, but if you feel like you want to give financially, that would be a huge blessing. (check below for payment information)
Thank you so much, in advance, for caring and for supporting me,
Karmen

A friend told me about this site - ChipIn.com and it is really neat! It lets you create a page explaining what you are raising money for, then it creates a 'widget' (the thing below) which you can post on facebook, blogs, etc. The ChipIn widget shows how much has been raised and how much further there is to go. It takes the money using PayPal, which is really simple, quick, and a very secure way to transfer money over the internet. It'll transfer money to my account using my email karmen.lawrence@gmail.com, which will then go into my bank account. I put the money needed as $1,000, which obviously isn't the full amount, just a random amount I put in to set it up. Like I said in the support letter, it's going to cost $7,500-$8,500, but I fully intend on working and saving all I can in the next 4 months I am here. However, even with working and saving, it is still looking like I will need to come up with a few thousand on top of all I will make. I might do a cost breakdown post later on, but for now this'll do!