Send Me. Support Them.

"Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it."  Matthew 16: 24-25

I've spent decades using life as an excuse to not be a completely sold out follower of Jesus.  I've spent years being attached to things and to people.  I've lived my life to please others, doing what they expected and what they thought was best.  I have been riding a spiritual roller coaster.  My relationship with the Lord has ebbed and flowed depending on my circumstances, my relationships, and my emotions.  Over the last six months or so, a desire for missions has resurfaced.  So, I started my search for a mission trip that would fit neatly into my life, my career, my schedule, my plan.  None of the trips I researched seemed to jump out at me.  They all fell during summer break and required only three or four weeks.  I could go, and then come home and feel spiritually refreshed before beginning a new school year.  I was searching for convenience, forgetting that Jesus calls for sacrifice.  Jesus' command mentioned above in Matthew begs for more than just a few weeks of my time in the summer. 

After much prayer, research, and consideration I applied and was accepted to serve alongside approximately 50 other believers on a mission trip called The World Race.

This mission is organized through a Christian organization called Adventures in Missions.  Adventures in Missions is an interdenominational mission organization that focuses on discipleship.  Established in 1989, they have sent more than 100,000 people into the mission field.  The World Race will take me through Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica where I'll have opportunities for outreach to children, as well as serving the hungry.  The Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, and Nepal will bring opportunities to partner with already established organizations fighting human trafficking and sex tourism.  This experience will also take me through India, where I will be immersed in a culture rich with language, religion, and politics.  We will partner with organizations that reach out to those deemed "untouchable" because of religious persecution, forced prostitution, and poverty.  The last leg of the journey is through Africa.  With stops in Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda, I will have the opportunity to develop communities, foster relationships with orphans, and continue to help build evangelism ministries that are already in the making.  Throughout the trip, we will live modestly; sleeping in tents, bathing in buckets, and longing for the sweet sound of a flushing toilet.  This trip is not about convenience.  It is about sacrifice.

The resounding question I continue to get after telling people about the mission is, "Why?” This is the most honest and uncensored response I can give…I have no idea what unconditional love is.  I have no idea how God loves us.  I have no idea how people love people that make stupid mistakes.  I have no idea how people love people through major conflict.  I think that is why I'm not nervous or anxious about leaving...because my desire to learn to love is so great that nothing seems more terrifying than living the rest of my life without knowing what that feels like.  I'm not going to find someone to love, but to gain a better understanding of what God's love looks and feels like.  I'm ready for my purpose to be serving the Lord...not making money, paying bills, finding a companion, starting a family, fixing a house, etc.  I'm ready to have no agenda but His.  I'm ready for Jesus to mess up my plans, to allow me to hurt, to change my perspective, and to show me everything that needs a big tweak in my heart.  I'm ready to be His and for nothing to be more important to me than Him being mine.  This mission requires me to lose my life, take up my cross, and follow Him.  It requires that I leave behind my family and friends, my job, my material things, my comfort, and my safety.  It requires that I trust that He has greater things in store for me. 

I hope that you will follow me throughout this amazing journey.  Please visit and subscribe to my World Race blog at http://ashleyminkel.theworldrace.org.  Your comments, encouragement, and love are welcomed and needed.  Please keep me, my team, and those we will have the chance to impact on the race in your prayers. 

This next phase of my life also requires me to swallow my pride and ask for help, something that has never been easy for me.  I need to raise $15,500 for travel, food, and housing for the entire year.  If you would like to partner with me financially, you can make a tax deductible donation by sending a check, made payable to Adventures In Missions, to Adventures In Missions, P.O. Box 534470, Atlanta, GA 30353-4470 with "Ashley Costley Minkel" clearly written in the memo line.  Also, please include the enclosed AIM Support Card with all the necessary information so that they may send you a receipt for your donation.  If you would prefer to make your donation online, you may do so by visiting my blog site at http://ashleyminkel.theworldrace.org. Click the “Support Me” link in the upper left side of the page and complete your donation as instructed.  Please be aware that there is a processing fee associated with online donations.

I am extremely grateful for this opportunity and I thank you in advance for your prayers and financial support.  May God bless you for sending me and supporting them, the least of these.  “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” Matthew 25:40

With humble appreciation,

Ashley Minkel