RISK IT | newsletter

January, 2023

NORWAY, HERE WE COME!

Here are the latest updates

1. Plane Tickets have been purchased

   The total cost for the ticket and travel insurance was $5,177.12 THANK YOU! Your donations helped this to happen. We cannot express enough are gratitude for how God has been providing. Thank y’all for listening to the Holy Spirit!

2. We’re getting some fire from California

   Gabe felt God nudging him to go and see Elijah & Yleana Bañaga, friends of ours, in Brawley, California who work both as pastors of a local church and missionaries. Gabe and I have immense respect and love for them. In God’s nudging Gabe felt that we needed to go there to receive something from them to take to Norway. They were happy to recieve us and not only that but they invited us to speak about missions at their church! Please pray for us. We expect to go to Brawley February 10-14. We are believing for God to move powerfully while we’re there and we’d love for you to come into agreement with that!

    

3. We are on Social Media

   We have an instagram page where we will give the most frequent updates and random fun things leading up to our departure! Then when in Norway we will be posting our day-in-the-life content! follow us on instagram @thesotomissions
   We also have a Facebook group if you would like to chat with us day to day.

Fundraising – You have helped raise $5,635.96 so far!

We want to just take a moment here to say thank you! Without your obedience and your cheerful giving we would not be able to go on this journey! Once again, thank you.

Total remaining needed for DTS – is $17,464.04

• The first invoice

  Our very first invoice for YWAM Grimerud is USD $8,336.63 (82.500,00 Norwegian Kroner) and is due right before we get to Norway on March 26th. We are asking for you to prayerfully consider giving towards this. Side note: Gabe felt like when praying over this that there might be individuals that are friend of friends that would give towards this. So if a name comes to mind when you’re reading this feel free to reach out to us! ❤️

• Tax Deductions

  We have collaborated with a funding organization called the Christian Ministry Alliance. This means that when you donate to our mission you will receive a tax deductible charitable donation receipt at the end of each year. We hope this is going be beneficial to you in your agreement to help us spread the gospel of the man Christ Jesus in Europe, the UK, and beyond!

• Our Needs!

  1. We need some wool y’all!

     We will arrive in spring and to translate in Texan, that means the average weather will be like a really bad winter in Texas! The kids will be attending school while we’re at YWAM Grimerud. Norway requires students to have specific clothing to ensure they stay warm during their outside play and education times. Specifically, 100% merino wool.

     Merino wool is pretty pricy so if anyone has second hand items they can part with we would be happy to take them off your hands! Big shout out to the Storbakken family, who introduced us to YWAM Norway, for giving us some of their leftover wool clothing from their time on the Grimerud base.

  2. We don’t want wet feet y’all

     We need some water proof boots! Spring in Norway is rainy and freezing at the same time, which means the ground will be slippery in the morning and then wet by the late afternoon! Duck Boots are perfect for this type of weather.

     We hope to find most of these things at the thrift store, but if you have things you’d like to donate or have questions about sizing, please reach out to us at thesotomissions@gmail.com or our instagram @thesotomissions

  3. Wishlist

     Here is an amazon wish list of clothing items we will need. If y’all would like support us in a practical way, this is a great option!

     Click the link ➡️ Wishlist

     We are from Texas so this weather is new to us. Thank you in advance for any tips and advice about cold climates!

  PRAYER

  We would still love to go to Scotland to visit the YWAM Paisley base but this would add a significant cost to our already large amount that we need to raise. Since it is not an outright need, we have not included it below. We would still love to visit the place we plan to call home before we move there.

  Since we will already be on that side of the world it would be ideal if we could make a stop in Scotland on our way home from Norway. We have stayed in contact with the staff at the Paisley, Scotland YWAM base and they have carved out time and space for us to meet them in case we can get the plane tickets.

  FINAL THOUGHTS

  It’s crazy how much support comes when you just say yes to the Lord. The Lord has given us one little step at a time with this whole journey to us finally deciding to go to the missions field with our family. I wish he would give us the whole road map from beginning to end. But that wouldn’t take much daily abiding in his presence to sustain us every day.

  What is that little thing the Lord is telling you? Does it feel daunting? Does it feel impossible? Do you imagine what your life would look like if you got brave and did that little thing? Maybe it would feel like a little piece of you would die and then came back as a freer soul. The unknown is terrifying and freeing. The only way you can find out is to blindly Risk It.

  Be risky people! Risk your life on obeying that little thing. Taste and see that the Lord might actually be good.

  The Sotos