When I was eleven years old, I had the privilege of experiencing my first out of country mission trip to Las Aguas, Haiti. This was, without a doubt, the most influential week of my life. Though I was simply a scared seventh grader, God showed me just how much He could use me. The connections, friendships, and memories made on that trip are ones that I treasure and will never forget. I was honored to be able to travel to Haiti again a year later, when I was twelve years old. I entered this second trip with expectations of what I could do to help the people of Haiti, but God once again blew my mind and showed me His matchless power. He used the people of Haiti, both children and adults, to show me what it looks like to praise God in all things. As I watched people with white skin who knew not a single word of Haitian Creole sit and laugh with a person with black skin who knew not a word of English, I truly understood for the first time what Jesus meant when He commanded us to love others. From that moment on, I held a special place in my heart for not just the people of Haiti, but mission work in general. As I have grown older and am now about to turn eighteen, I can truthfully say that the passion has only grown stronger. Over the past couple of months especially, I have felt God place a certain urgency on my heart to go out and love people, not just in my school or city, but all around the world. I began searching for different mission organizations and stumbled upon an organization called Experience Mission. In researching this mission organization, I felt a strong sense of confidence that this was where the Lord was leading me. One other thing you should know is that my “dream” mission trip has always been Africa, ever since I can remember. I never knew why, I didn't know much about Africa and quite honestly, I still don't, but for some reason I knew that one day I absolutely had to go to Africa on a mission trip. Now, as I was looking through the different trips Experience Mission offers, one of the first ones that I came across was to Namibia, Africa. I was immediately drawn to this trip and through much prayer, I decided to apply. I went through an interview process and Experience Mission was in contact with a few references. Recently, I was informed that I have been accepted to this Namibia, Africa mission trip for the summer of 2024. My departure date will be May 20, 2024 and I will return June 20, 2024. The total cost of the mission trip is $6,200 and I am fully confident that God will make a way for me to raise this money, since I know that He has called me and will qualify me. I am reaching out to you to ask you to prayerfully consider helping me reach my goal of the total cost of the trip. As I will also be starting college this upcoming fall, I believe the enemy will try to use these amazing new opportunities God has given me to cause me to worry and doubt, but I know my God and I know He is faithful. The God we worship is the provider, and I have full faith in Him. As you prayerfully consider helping me find my trip, I would please ask that you also pray for me in this new chapter of my life. Pray that God uses me in ways that I will not be able to believe, and that His name will be the one that receives the praise. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this letter and reflect upon the things said in it. I greatly appreciate it and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Blessings,
Hannah Everett