A Letter from Lindsey Atencio
Dear Friends and Family,
As so many of you know, in conjunction with Solar Light for Africa, I spent a little over two weeks in Uganda last summer installing solar panels in orphanages and boarding schools. The trip was amazing! The African people have so very little, but their joy is overwhelming. They have such gratitude for the little that they do have, I came away a changed person. I left thinking of what I was going to do for the Ugandan people, but returned knowing that it was they that ministered to me.
In March I received a highly regarded invitation to return to Uganda with SLA. This trip is by invitation only; you had to have been to Uganda at least once, been a significant contributing participant in the installation of solar panels, and actively involved with the Africans you came in contact with. Our "team mom" contacted me via email to let me know I had been invited. I had been saving my pennies hoping for the invitation and was able to make the initial deposit of $500 immediately. I received an email ten days ago stating that the next installment of $1700 (yikes) was due ASAP, in less than two weeks!
Through the grace of God, my mom, and my church family, I was able to raise $1751 at the dessert auction Sunday evening, April 18th! PRAISE BE TO GOD!
The total cost of the trip is $3750, with the majority of that going towards the purchase of a solar panel. In addition, I will fly out of Durango a week before we depart for Uganda, for a time of team building and training. I am anticipating some additional expenses, $500 plus or minus, for this phase of the mission trip. We depart for Washington, D.C. July 6th, and return July 21st, 2010.
With $2200 raised thus far, I am anticipating a need of $2100 remaining. The weekend of May 2nd, my mom has again volunteered to do another breakfast burrito fund raiser. I am also going to approach vestry and outreach and ask for additional financial support. I will also be sending this letter far and wide to friends, relatives, teachers, and mentors, (and anyone else I can think of!), requesting their support, both in prayer and financially.
I am greatly honored and humbled by the support I have received from my church family. What an amazing gift you are to me! I ask that you continue to support this important mission that God has called me into, especially with your prayers. I have found a passion for the African people, and want to make them my life's calling. The African people touched my heart and brought a new awareness of the extreme conditions that the majority of the world lives in. The path that I desire to follow was established in Africa, the passion I discovered in Uganda promises rewards I cannot begin to imagine, and I intend to follow wherever God sends me.
God is love, all the time.
All the time, God is love.
Love, Lindsey