Monies

I have sent out fundraising letters and talked to a few important people and have raised roughly 3/4 of my fundraising goal! Hooray!

If you think you would like to support me and my fellow YAGMs financially, here are the rules:

1. Make the check payable to Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
2. Write "YAGM- Amanda Martin- GCS3079" in the memo line.
3.  Send it to:

           Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
           PO Box 71764
           Chicago, IL 60694-1764

I also have a GoFundMe account, however, it is not tax-deductible. If it would be easier for you to donate online and you aren't concerned about tax-deductions here is the link.

I am so thankful for all of the support I have felt so far. I really couldn't ask for better friends and family. I recently read a quote from Maya Angelou that says,

I am grateful to have been loved and to be loved now and to be able to love, because that liberates. Love liberates. It doesn’t bind. Love says, “I love you. I love you if you’re in China. I love you if you’re across town. I love you if you’re in Harlem. I love you. I would like to be near you. I’d like to have your arms around me. I’d like to hear your voice in my ear. But that’s not possible now, so I love you. Go.”

This is the love that I have felt from you all this summer. I am so incredibly thankful for your love that frees me to go where I have been called, and I hope that I can return the favor someday.

¡Vámonos!

Things got real today. In less than a month I will be leaving Seville for Chicago. Then one week later I will fly to Argentina to begin my year of service with Young Adults in Global Mission through the ELCA. Today I got my placement!

I will be living and working in La Plata, Argentina, which is just an hour south of Buenos Aires. It is a university city, and my first placement, San Timoteo Congregación, is a church who ministers to college students. I will be joining them in their young adult ministries and aiding in plans for a new homeless ministry. I will be living in a student residence connected to the church (sound familiar?). 

My second placement is a comedor which is a safe space where children in situations of poverty can study, play, snack, and be kids. It sounds like I will be doing work similar to what I did with La Casa de Panchita in Lima. 

Basically, this is all very exciting news and I am relieved that it somehow fits me so well. I'm looking forward to meeting my new friends and family! 

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus said to them, “no one who has left home or wife or brothers or sisters or parents or children for the sake of the kingdom of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.” Luke 18:29-30