Dear Family and Friends
This past month has gone by so quickly! I have continued preparation for our Dublin Mission coming up in a few weeks as well as working on a mission that we have planned for next February!
The biggest thing that took place in August was me making a quick trip to Georgia to be with my mum who has not been well lately.
Last April when I was in America to raise my support I spent just over a week up in Georgia with my parents doing Zoom calls with people who I hadn’t been able to see in the weeks before.
When I arrived, it was apparent that my mum’s memory was not good. My stepdad had noticed it for a while, but my visit confirmed it for him. After I left, she proceeded to have doctor’s appointments that confirmed early dementia but also possible heart problems. It was determined that she might need a stent and a pacemaker and that having these done could also improve some of the memory issues because of a lack of oxygen to the brain.
After many appointments they landed on a procedure date to explore whether she needed a stent. This date happened to be on her 78th birthday! My stepdad had been driving numerous hours for weeks to these appointments (sometimes a total of 6 hours a day!) so I knew he was exhausted and could do with some help, so I prayed and took a step of faith to fly in a few days before my mum’s birthday.
During the procedure they found my mum’s right coronary artery was 90% blocked! She came through the procedure well praise God! Before the procedure her heart rate was in the 30’s and 40’s, which is quite low. They already suspected she would need a pacemaker but wanted to see what improvement would take place after the stent. Her heart rate has increased into the 50’s and for the next few weeks she will wear a heart monitor to determine when she will get the pacemaker.
I was there for just over a week and arrived back in London on Friday. Thank you SO MUCH for all your prayers and generosity towards this trip! I have been overwhelmed by your love and care. Me being there brought so much relief to both of my parents and allowed me to help them so much – even with the smallest things.
I’m praying that the pacemaker will go in rather sooner than later so please continue praying for my mum. So far it hasn’t brought any change to her memory issues so please also pray for my parents as they consider next steps. Here’s a picture of me and my beautiful mum!
As I said, I’m back in London and hit the ground running! Last night there was a Dublin Mission Training session and tonight I am doing some training for a mission to Bournemouth in the south of England that is happening next month.
Thank you again for all your prayers and support! I have felt so loved!
Blessings,
Traci
Dear Family and Friends
I hope you are enjoying your Summer so far. We are having pretty good weather here in London, so this Florida girl is happy.
This month was the start of preparation for our mission to Dublin in September. We had our first online training, minus one team member to get to know each other and to also set the tone for the mission. This is a small team, but we will be joined by some of our Dublin church members to go onto different university campuses in the city. We are trusting that this team will have favour on every campus and connect with enough students to give a boost to the Dublin ENC ministry. Here is our mighty team!
You might be wondering what exactly is ENC? It stands for Every Nation Campus. The vision is to reach the whole world through the university campus. We meet students where they are on campus with the gospel, help them build strong biblical foundations, equip them to minister to others, and empower them to lead.
Every Nation Campus is reaching over 1,300 universities in over 80 countries around the world—each one connected to a local church. Part of my job is having the privilege of being on the leadership team that supports campus missionaries and churches across Europe to reach the universities in their cities. Another part of my job is leading and helping missions happen across Europe and in September I get to combine these two passions on the Dublin mission!
In my last newsletter I shared about our ENC Leaders Camp. Here is a recap video from that camp
Thank you as always for all of your prayers and financial support. I really couldn’t do what I do without you.
Please let me know if I can pray for anything!
Blessings
Traci
Dear Family and Friends
Happy Summer! I know this letter is coming to you late but if you remember in my last letter, I mentioned that this past month there would be lots of travelling and ministry in Europe!
On the 29th of May I flew to Marseille, France to help our Every Nation Church there with their Freedom Day. I don’t speak French, but I have loved helping them with this ministry day the past 2 years by serving in the background with catering and also praying with those who can speak English. They had 25 people go through the course this time and for a small church this is quite incredible! Below is a picture of the day:
After flying back to London and repacking my bags I then headed off to Rome, Italy to join a mission led by Grace Family Church in Florida. This church is actually my sending church from America and has partnered with me as a missionary since I was 19 years old! It was such a pleasure to be a part of their first mission in Europe!
This mission was also special because this year is called a Jubilee Year in Italy. For Catholics, this year is very significant because Rome opens Holy Doors in basilicas across the city that are only opened during a Jubilee Year. Catholics from all over Italy and the world are making a pilgrimage to walk through these doors and to do other rituals in the belief that their sins will be forgiven. Rome is expecting at least 35 million people to make this pilgrimage this year.
Our team partnered with Italy for Christ, One Hope and Forever Open to pass out guidebooks. These guidebooks were in Italian, Spanish, French and English telling people that God’s door is always open and ready to welcome you no matter who you are or where you are from. These books encouraged people on their spiritual journey, whether they
were just beginning their pilgrimage or have been on this path for years.
We even had the opportunity of going to serve at a halfway house for men and cleaning their building for them. One of Italy’s top reporters joined us and shared our story of what we were doing in different platforms of the news all across Italy.
This mission was truly an incredible experience and blessing for me because I got to spend an amazing week with people from Grace Family but also being a part of scattering 4000 seeds across Rome to the nations! We handed out 4000 guidebooks. Our host Hans is the result of someone scattering seed many years ago in Rome so his story stirred our faith every day. Even though we might not see immediate fruit from this trip, we know God is faithful and we know that some of those seeds have fallen on good soil!
After my return from Rome, I headed back to London with a few days to prepare for another trip to Marseille. This trip would include two full weeks of ministry. The first week was taking the Marseille staff through our Every Nation School of Ministry Campus Track. I was a part of this week because I was helping to teach some of the material but also, to see and learn from the current teacher that has been heading up the course so that I could be prepared to teach more of the course in the future if needed. The Marseille staff is a small team, but it was a great way to learn about the course and see how a team in another culture strategizes and works together on a plan to reach university students in their city! Here’s a pic of the team minus one person:
The course ended on Friday and 2 days later we headed up the mountain to start our annual ENC Leaders’ Camp! Campus missionaries, volunteer leaders and student leaders travelled from London, Oxford, Bournemouth (England) and Cardiff (Wales) and Edinburgh and Bathgate (Scotland), Paris and Marseille (France), Madrid (Spain), and Dublin (Ireland)!
We had such a wonderful week with first- and second-year students growing in leadership and learning how to not only be leaders themselves but how to develop leaders on their campuses. This is not only a week of intense teaching but also lots of fun building lasting relationships across Europe. As well as helping to put this week together, I also taught 3 sessions to our first years and 2 to our second years.
Thank you SO MUCH for allowing me to do what I do! You are reaching the nations with every prayer and your partnership!
I am back in London and in preparation mode again. Next week I will teach at our Follow Three Course and for the next few months I will be preparing to lead a mission team to Dublin, Ireland in September.
Please continue to pray for me – I need it! Please pray for my health, for energy and rest over the next month. I need to schedule some doctor’s appointments to check on a few things so please pray for favour and good reports!
Also, please continue to pray for my monthly support. I have not met my support goal yet and still need more monthly partners. If you know of anyone who would like to join our team, please let me know!
Blessings
Traci
PS – Below are more pictures on the Leaders’ Camp
