SNOWBALL SATURDAY

It's the moment I know you've been waiting for... Snowball Saturday is here!!
What is Snowball Saturday, you ask? WELL, Snowball Saturday is a national (dare I say INTERNATIONAL?) holiday of my own invention, but that doesn't make it any less real! This holiday will take place weekly on Saturday until a later day of my choosing.
I foresee myself doing a lot of writing in the near future, because I think it's important that you, my dear readers, stay informed on the what-ho of this relatively new journey, and it is my prayer that my story will be an encouragement to others. Seriously though, I've already learned that even addressing envelopes can be an act of worship and an opportunity to witness! (<<Colossians 3:17) That's where Snowball Saturday comes in.
As I mentioned in my previous post, my fervent hope is that Snowball Saturdays will be a time when my faithful readers (that's you) can respond to what you have read on this blog, on my "Destination: West Africa" page on Facebook, on Twitter, or somewhere else. But I don't want you to respond directly to me, although I would certainly enjoy hearing from you. Instead, I would love for you to respond by making a deliberate effort to share about this mission with another friend!
So without further ado, to get you started, here are a few ideas on how you could celebrate Snowball Saturday:

• Invite a friend to my Facebook group (linked above)
• Share the link to my blog (pitchfordbenin.blogspot.com) on your Facebook, Twitter, or other social medium of preference. Sometimes all a person needs is an invitation.
• Wish the person at the Starbucks drive through a "happy Snowball Saturday!"
• Give your mother a Snowball Saturday neck massage while you tell her about the mission of Wycliffe, and about your friend Kate who is fundraising to join them ;)
• Why not let the merriment roll over into a Snowball Sunday? That day starts with an S too! The greeting time during the service is a great opportunity to invite your friends and neighbors to pray for this mission or check out my blog.
• If you have read anything interesting or noteworthy on this blog, why not bring it up in conversation with a friend? If you haven't read anything interesting or noteworthy thus far on my blog, I am deeply sorry.

So you get the idea. This day will serve two main purposes: 1) You will be doing me a huge service in helping me to grow my foundational network of prayer and support, and 2) Sharing about the mission of Wycliffe could very well serve as an encouragement for a friend who is having questions about their own faith. Who knows? Oh yeah, God does. C:

Plus, who doesn't want an excuse to give their mother a neck massage?

In other news, I am pretty much done addressing envelopes (praise God!!), and hope to send out letters early next week. If you would like to receive a letter from me (complete with a prayer card for your fridge!) shoot me an email (kapitchford@gmail.com) with your mailing address.

Finally, in the next day or so, I hope to post information about how you can donate your Delta SkyMiles towards my airline ticket to Benin. It's pretty nifty, actually. Frequent flyers, stay tuned!

Letters to be sent soon!

Hi all,

This week I've been working to address envelopes with the goal of sending out support letters by the beginning of next week. As you can imagine, the excitement of this task has been nearly overwhelming, but I forge ahead. In all seriousness though, even this task which seemed menial at the outset has helped me focus my attention on the purpose of my letters. In pursuing missions, a lot of people report feeling awkward at the thought of asking people for money to support them. I'll admit to having these same thoughts initially. But as I addressed envelopes and thought of the people who would be receiving them, I knew I would not be sending a demand, but an invitation. What a blessing to be in a position to invite people to partner with me in this mission! It is humbling, for sure, because I definitely can't do this alone. It's a great reminder that going to Benin is about so much more than going on a cool trip. I've been told that I will learn a lot that I will come back a different person, but ultimately this is about working to spread God's glory to the ends of the earth. I am so excited to be a part of equipping the people of Benin to use the Word to its full potential as a tool to learn, teach, correct, and admonish (2 Tim. 3:16)

If you would like to receive a letter from me (which will include a cool little prayer card that you can put on your fridge!) but aren't sure that I have your address, please send me an email at kapitchford@gmail.com.

I am also thinking it would be good to start an email list. In addition to my social media posts, I would use this to alert readers when I write a new post on this blog, and send out important announcements. If you would like to be a part of this email list, shoot me an email to the address above :)

Otherwise, I am always open to responses, feedback, and suggestions on how this blog (or my other writings elsewhere) can serve to keep you better informed. I love answering your questions!

If your question was going to be about my lodgings in Benin, I am still awaiting that piece of info, but hope to find out soon.

Finally, as I am building up my prayer network, if you know anyone else who might be interested in supporting this mission and being part of my prayer team, pass the word along! I'm thinking of starting a tradition called "Snowball Saturdays". It will be a special day designated among the other (equally fantastic) days of the week to encourage my followers to share with their friends, whether it be about my calling to Benin, about the mission of Wycliffe, or just to share the love of God with a neighbor in a way they haven't done before! So here is your official invitation: this Saturday, I challenge everyone reading this to invite a friend to check out my blog or Facebook page and pray with/for me as I send out my support letters in the next week. Perhaps the contents of those envelopes will serve as a witness to God's love and his heart for the nations. You never know!

New prayer requests:

• Attentiveness and efficiency as I decide the official dates of my service with Wycliff
• That I would continue to discover God in new ways in my quiet times and devos

PS. The very next thing I am about to do is update my "Fundraising" page so that you can access all that information right here on the blog. Like, right now. Sorry for the wait!

FIRST.

So this is my first post! Thank you so much for visiting my blog. While writing has never been my main hobby, I have come to enjoy blogging, and it means a lot to me that you want to take the time to find out what God is doing in my life. I was eager to give you guys something to read because you have been waiting so patiently, but first I'll give a quick introduction to how I hope this blog will serve you.

If I have done this correctly, you should see links to pages where you can find more information on Benin, the country where I will be interning, as well as an explanation on why I chose to serve through Wycliffe in the first place. I will also use this blog to post prayer requests as they arise, as well as up-to-date information on my fundraising progress.

If you want, I will also be using Facebook and Twitter to post smaller and more frequent updates.