Dominican Republic Video

Above is a video filmed (Tim) and edited (Cheez) by the Summit Student Ministries team. They are offering a trip to the Dominican Republic for high school students through Children of the Nations. This is the promo video they made for the trip. I hope you enjoy it, I think it's pretty sweet.

My Holy Discontent

My pastor talked recently about our "holy discontents," the injustices that personally stir something up inside of us.  These are things that we are individually passionate about and that often bring up pain and hurt that is close to us.  These holy discontents are different for all of us, but chances are you know exactly what yours are.  These are the things such as poverty, lack of education, sex slavery, disease, corrupt governments, injustices, and on and on.  There are thousands of things that may bring deep rooted emotion out of all of us.

As many of you know (or could probably guess), one of my holy discontents is people that have to live through tougher situations than I could ever imagine.  I know that I can never fully understand the pain that they have to live with, but I deeply feel for them and it absolutely breaks my heart.  As I think of the 11,000+ children that we help to care for on a regular basis, I think about all the pain that they have to deal with.  We work with children that were once children soldiers, sex slaves, have lost one or both of their parents at a very young age, had to deal with unimaginable hunger, were malnourished, live through extreme poverty, and so on.  I could share many of the stories of our children that seem as if they couldn't be real but for the sake of those that would rather not hear their stories, I'll spare you.  I wish I could personally hug every one of them, tell them I love them,  that they are beautiful, and that they matter more than they could imagine.

As I get to talk to many people about COTN and what we do, I can't help but to let my passion and holy discontent shine through.  Every time that I show a video about COTN or about Malawi, which I have seen many times, I can't help but to be moved all over again.  My eyes tear up every single time I watch the videos (notice how I said tear up, totally different from crying).  It brings back memories that I have of specific children and about my time overseas.  

I hope this has helped you to understand me and my heart just a little more.  This is a huge part of why I do what I do, I can't help but to want to do something about it.  I can honestly say that I would do anything that I could for our children.  This is what I want to pour my time, energy, and life into.  

"Nuestro hermano Andrew"

This is what the front of a letter I received last week said in bright green and pink letters.  It means "our brother Andrew" and was sent to me from two of our interns (Karuna and Rachel) from the Dominican Republic this past summer.  They also sent me delicious cookies and a brownie all the way from Washington state, it was awesome.  

This letter instantly encouraged me and I felt blessed to be able to do what I do.  My position is a little unordinary to where my work directly affects all of our children (over 11,000 children on a consistent basis), but also gives me the great privilege of being able to pour into college-aged students.  I love being able to help others experience what God is doing and help them process how God is using that experience to shape them and guide them towards what He has for their lives.  I can't wait to see how God uses all of our interns.

It always amazes me when God uses me.  He has allowed me to be involved in things I could never have imagined and in things that I couldn't have done without Him.  Here is an excerpt from the letter I received that was really encouraging to me: "Thanks for sharing with us-from your life and in such vulnerability and with truth and biblical insight-your devo (devotional) on Exodus still resonates." 

As I think back on this past summer, I realize that not only do I get to pour into our interns and children but that God uses them just as much to pour into me and to guide me.  Our interns truly become like family to me.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love what I do and feel so lucky to be able to do it.

We're all in this together.

I was recently challenged by a good friend of mine to write out my life goals.  I didn't realize just how good this was going to be for me, until I did it.  I not only ended up writing out my life goals (for now at least), but I also ended up writing out some influential things people have said to me, as well as some things that people have asked me to be a part of.  It was great to sit back and reflect on all of this.  If you have never done that, I would highly recommend it.

I took many things away from my writing and reflecting but what I want to talk about now is one of my favorite things about this world, we weren't meant to do it alone.  By reflecting on some of the influential things that people have said to me, I realized just how much God uses us all to encourage, teach, speak truth, and keep each other accountable.  I can't thank those people enough that have loved me enough to be there for me.  I don't know where I would be without them.  

God has recently been using people's words as well as his own (the Bible) to teach me about myself and the man He has called me to be.  I feel as if God is calling me to step it up in a lot of areas in my life and to be honest, I don't always think that I can.  I don't always think that I can do everything God is calling me to do, but here's the best part, I don't have to do it by myself.  Not only do I have other people to help me along the way, I have the God of the universe on my side!  It's such a relief to know that I don't have to do everything on my own.

I want to take a second to say thank you to all of you that have been a part of my life, it means so much to me and I value all the time I've had with each one of you.  I am also trying to make it a large part of my life to be there for others as much as I can (this is one of the first life goals I wrote down).  Please let me know if there is ever anything I can do for you, even if you just need someone to talk to.

I want to leave you all with a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. that I love.  "I may not yet be the man I should be or the man, with Christ's help, I someday will be--but thank God I'm not the man I used to be!" 

An amazing video for your viewing pleasure.

Here is a video that Jon Strong, a good friend of mine, made for Summit Church.  It is a video from a trip that he took to Malawi, Africa with Children of the Nations.  Jon is very talented and the video is definitely worth watching.  The video talks about his trip and shows how the trip changed him and his heart.  It is one of my favorite videos ever.

Malaria in Africa.

Below are some facts about malaria that I have recently been reading about in a book called "The End of Poverty" by Jeffrey D. Sachs.

I thought I would give you some facts about malaria and why it is so bad in Africa.  Malaria is a potentially fatal protozoan disease transmitted by a certain type of mosquito, the genus anopheles.  Malaria is completely treatable, yet still claims up to 3 million lives each year, mostly young children, about 90% of whom live in Africa.  Malaria causes an estimated 5 billion (yes, billion not million) clinical cases per year.  Almost everyone that lives in tropical Africa contracts malaria at least once a year.  Low cost treatments exist but often do not reach the poor.

Many people just attribute malaria in Africa as something that is their fault or something that they could easily just get rid of, in reality it is a lot more complicated.  They have found that there is a two-way correlation between poverty and malaria.  In other words, malaria somewhat helps to cause poverty and in areas with poverty, it is easier for malaria to thrive.  But there is a lot more to it and Africa has a lot of things stacked up against them when it comes to malaria.

First of all, there are 4 types of human malaria.  Malaria caused by the pathogen Plasmodium falciparum is by far the most lethal and is responsible for most malaria cases in Africa.  Malaria caused by P. vivax is widely distributed outside of Africa and is far less lethal.  

Second, malaria is transmitted when a female anopheles mosquito bites a human that is already infected with malaria.  Once the mosquito ingests the parasite, it takes two weeks till the mosquito can pass on the disease, which is also roughly the life span of the mosquito itself.  Within those two weeks, the parasite goes into the mosquito's gut, undergoes a life-cycle transformation, and makes its way to the mosquito's salivary glands.  You may be asking what does this have to do with anything.  Well in warmer weather, which Africa has plenty of, this process is sped up making it easier for mosquitos to pass malaria from human to human.

Finally, some mosquitos prefer to bite humans and some mosquitos prefer to bite cattle.  This is a huge factor in the spread of malaria, seeing how malaria must consist of two human bites about two weeks apart.  Africa unfortunately has mosquitos that prefer humans nearly 100% of the time.  India, on the other hand, has mosquitos that prefer to bite humans only about a third of the time.  This means that mathematically, it is nine times easier for malaria to spread in Africa than it is in India just due to the difference of mosquito species.

With all that being said, there is still much that can be done about malaria in Africa.  It is not a hopeless situation.  Household spraying, bed nets, and antimalarial medicines can all be used to make leaps and bounds in the right direction.  The problem lies in the fact that African citizens don't have the money that would be needed to make all that happen.  With the proper funding and supplies, we could drastically reduce the amount of deaths caused by malaria in Africa.

I hope this has been informative and interesting to you all.

What does it mean to be on support?

I realize that not everyone understands the term "on support."  Many of you may have questions such as am I just fundraising for the ministry, am I raising my own expenses, etc. 

What does it mean?  To be a missionary on support means that you raise your yearly salary and all ministry expenses.  This isn't done by car washes or selling candy bars.  It is done by forming a partnership with people who are interested in the ministry or just plain care about the person.  The partnership consists of financial giving.  It's typical to give a certain amount monthly.  One can also donate a one time gift.  I use the term partnership because it is important to me that those who have given, no matter how big or small, know that they are an important part of the work that is being done.  I can't do it without them.  I send out regular updates on what is happening and how your gift is benefiting thousands of people around the globe.

Where exactly does the money go?  Many people wonder if just a portion of their donation is actually going to the staff member of choice.  In some organizations, the ministry does take a percentage of it.  However, in COTN 100% of the money goes to who or what you choose.  So, when you decide to support a staff member, it goes directly into their account.  Once 75% of the amount needed that year is committed, and 3 months are actually in the account, the staff member is able to start full time.  Then they are paid by the organization just like a regular pay check out of their account.  The donated money, and much prayer, is what makes all of the life-changing things happen.

How can I give?  There are two main ways to give.  The first is online.  The direct link is http://www.cotni.org/opportunities/9 or you can go to www.COTNI.org, click on "Make a Donation," and then scroll down and click on "Support a Staff Member/Missionary."  You then fill out the amount, my name (Andrew Neal), and the frequency (how often you want to donate that amount), and then click "Add to Basket" and follow the instructions from there.  The other way is by check.  Make checks payable to Children of the Nations or COTN.  Mail it into the Florida office.  P.O. Box 948339 Maitland, FL 32794.  Include a note with who it is for or write the name of the staff member on the envelope.  If you choose to give monthly by check, you will get a receipt mailed to you with another envelope that you can use for the next month.  You also may send in a voided check with a note stating you wish for $XX to be taken out for donation each month.    

Will I be given a receipt?  Yes.  With any method used, a receipt will be mailed to you.  Since it is made out to COTN and COTN is a 501c3, meaning it is a tax-deductible non-profit organization.

I hope this helps you to understand support more, let me know if you still have any questions about it.