Tour Preparation and Support

I hope you all have been doing well! Things have been great at Wingate so far. I’ve been doing well in classes and have met some amazing people. I definitely love it! As some of you know, through my past two mission trips to Kenya and hosting kids of the Daraja Children’s Choir, I have felt God’s calling on my life to pursue international missions. This past fall, as I was praying for God to show me what to do with my summer, I considered and felt compelled to apply for the Daraja 2010 Summer Internship. After many prayers, applications, and months later, I’m so excited to say that I will be a Daraja Intern this summer!

This Summer

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Daraja Children’s Choir, I will give you a little background. The choir is a group of 24 orphaned or vulnerable children from various communities in Kenya. These kids come to the US and travel to different cities to share their love for Christ and be a voice for the organization, the 410 Bridge. The mission of the 410 Bridge is to create a “bridge” between Kenya and the US. Their vision is to form partnerships to transform the nation of Kenya and ignite a passion for missions in the church.
I am so passionate about the 410 Bridge, the work that it does in the lives of the Americans and Kenyans, and the way God is glorified through this organization. The kids of the past two Daraja Children’s Choir’s have captured my heart, and I am so excited to spend the whole summer with the 2010 kids, growing in our love for Christ together while sharing this love and passion with the American people.
My summer will definitely be filled with Daraja! On May 19, I leave for Kenya for two weeks to meet the kids and prepare for summer tour. When we return to the US with the choir, we start touring the Southeast.

Support

There’s many ways in which you can be apart of this summer internship opportunity! The biggest and most important one is to become a part of my prayer team. One verse I’ve been resting in as I approach this summer is Philippians 4:6, which says “Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” I ask that you pray for these 24 choir kids, for their hearts to be prepared for the US and overflowing with God’s love. I also ask that you pray for our team of interns. Pray that God prepare our hearts for this summer and show us how to love these kids and help them grow in their faith, while also growing in our own. If you choose to be a part of my prayer team, you can pray for me as well. I have three kids that I will be teaching (Nelly, Hannah, and David). Pray that God uses me in their lives and opens my heart to him in ways I’ve never even imagined.
Another way you can be apart of this is to support me financially. This is an unpaid internship, and to be able to go, I have to raise $3500 by May 19. I know are times are tough right now, but I ask that you take time to pray and see if this is something God wants you to do. Through this, you are supporting a ministry that spreads God’s word to a lot of people. Also, I ask that you pray for this support. Pray that God provides the funds for me to carry out this calling he has put on my life. If you decide to support me, checks can be made to The 410 Bridge with my name and Daraja Children’s Choir Intern Support in the memo line. If you’d rather donate online, you can go to http://my410bridge.org/ragan.riddle and click donate underneath the picture.
Thank you all so much for being such a huge part of my life. I love all of you so much, and I really appreciate your continuous support of this calling God has placed on my life!