I've Missed You All And Bag-O-Africa Stuff Giveaway!!!

I apologize for the long absence. I moved on Saturday February 26th and do not have internet at the new house yet. I am currently sitting at Starbucks using their internet and listening to some Brandon Heath. I'm catching up on all I have missed the last week or so. Frankly, I haven't really missed that much! lol It's amazing how much time the internet really eats up! A lot of my week was spent unpacking, but I was able to spend a lot of time with God, in the Word, praying, and concentrating on my upcoming trip to Ethiopia. It has been a great week. I was able to refocus on so many things without the distraction of the internet. Of course I was going a little stir crazy without the internet at one point! All my fund raising for my trip is online so I felt very disconnected from it all. I have this totally awesome giveaway (at least I think so! ;)) that I have been anxious to start, but without access to the internet have been unable to do so. I'm not sure when I will have internet up and running at home, but I will be starting this giveaway today.

This week away from the internet and all its distractions has allowed me to refocus on why I am going to Ethiopia this summer. The Lord has placed a calling on my life that involves Ethiopia. This is the place I was created to be a part of. Part of my service here on earth is meant to be in Ethiopia. God has created each and every one of us for specific purposes. One of those purposes for myself is in Ethiopia. In Matthew 28 Jesus commands us to "Go and make disciples of all nations." There are too many people who have turned this command into a calling. This is a command. This is not something that some people are called to do and some aren't. This is what we are all commanded to do. Now, I believe, we all have our own role in this. I do not believe we all are supposed to go to every single nation ourselves. That would be very exhausting. But God has chosen those He will equip to go to specific nations.

I am not going to sit here and say I am equipped to go to Peru or Russia, or China, or Iraq, etc. That is not something God has placed in my heart or instructed me to do. He has placed in my heart and instructed me to go to Ethiopia. And that feeling gets stronger every day. And everyday that gets closer to the day I leave on this my third trip that feeling gets stronger and stronger.

As I type this all out the following saying keeps resounding in my head "God doesn't call the qualified. He qualifies the called." I keep thinking about how true this is for me. I do not feel in any way qualified to do His work in Ethiopia. I remember before my first trip thinking "Are you sure, God? Do you really want to send me? Isn't there someone more qualified than me?" And He kept saying "I'm sending you." And I'm not saying this to say I have no idea what I am doing and I shouldn't be going on this trip. But it is like anything else in life. God gives you the ability to handle any situation that arises. You are at an orphanage for children who are HIV+ and a child walks up to you. They are obviously not well. Before you go, you do not know this situation is going to happen, but in that moment God will give you the ability to know how to comfort that child. And that child wanted what any child wants when they are not feeling well. He wanted to be held. At that point the language barrier did not matter. Love was the only language that mattered. As I held him, I showed him the love of Christ and gave him comfort in his time of need. I never in my greatest imagination could foresee that situation, but God gave me the words to use or in this case the lack of words to use. He qualifies the called. He equips those He sends.

My latest fundraiser is going to be a Bag-O-Africa Stuff Giveaway. I honestly couldn't think of a better name for it, so that is that best you all are going to get. lol I think this is a great giveaway! I wish I could keep this stuff for myself, but I would rather go to Ethiopia!! Here is how this is going to run. This giveaway starts today and will go until Sunday March 27th. You have 3 weeks to enter! You will enter the same way you entered for the gift card. Donate through the Mocha Club donation system either on their website or through check. All donations through MC are tax deductible. You can make a donation online by clicking on the I Need Africa button on the right. It will bring up a new page (Mocha Club website) that is for the One Month Ethiopia trip (make sure it is the correct page). Make sure you put in my name in the team member slot: Sarah Connelly. Instructions for giving by check are immediately below the I Need Africa button.

Each entry is a $20 donation to my trip. That means if you donate $20 to my trip you get one entry, if you donate $40 you get 2 entries, and so on. I will get financial updates from Mocha Club with your name and donation amount and will correspond your entry accordingly. This giveaway is worth over $120!!!! That is an awesome deal!!! Everything in this giveaway benefits either a family adopting from Ethiopia or an organization working in Africa. I will give more information (if I have it) on each picture.

Overview (all the stuff!):


T-Shirt! This shirt benefits my wonderful friends Erica and Dave Shubin on the adoption of their daughter from Ethiopia. You can check out their blog here.


Necklace! This necklace benefits the work my friend Christie Cotney is doing in the Bugabo village in Uganda. Check out her blog to see the amazing work God is doing in this village. They just got clean water....you really want to check this out!!


Wooden Africa Art. I didn't know what to call this! lol I bought this on Etsy. I don't remember the store name right now, but will post it when I find it. I remember it did benefit a family adopting from Ethiopia (that was my criteria when buying on Etsy).


Africa Window Cling. This one is hard to see. I have this on my car. I love it! This is actually the same people I bought mine from over a year ago. Again, I can't find the store name right now but will post when I find it.


I Love Ethiopia bag! This is from Etsy as well. This also benefits a family adopting from Ethiopia. I will post the store name when I find it. I really like this one!


Three Avocados Coffee!!! This is a wonderful coffee company. The coffee is so good and the company itself is great. They are non-profit and all the net proceeds go directly towards clean water in Uganda. Check out their website here.


The Hole In Our Gospel by Rich Stearns! This book is by the president of World Vision USA. I do a lot of volunteer work with World Vision and am a Child Ambassador with them (if you are interested in child sponsorship contact me! :)). I am actually a little embarrassed to say, I haven't read this yet! It is on my list though!! I got this copy free for getting x amount of children sponsored. Since I already have the book, I thought I would put it in to the giveaway.


I will also put in one Love Ethiopia bracelet!!


I think that is an amazing giveaway!! What about you?!?! All that for just a $20 donation entry?!?!?!?! That is pretty awesome!! Also as a reminder you can purchase the Love Ethiopia bracelets for $5/each. Just make a $5 donation to my trip and then send me an email to madeforethiopia@gmail.com with your shipping address with how many you ordered. (If you are local you do not need to give me your address, just let me know how many you ordered). I will verify this with the financial update and send you the bracelets. The $5 donation for the bracelets and the $20 donation for the giveaway are different. If you donate $20 for an entry into the giveaway, that does NOT mean you get 4 bracelets. You have to purchase them separately and then notify me of the purchase. You do NOT have have notify me of the entry just the purchase of the bracelets. I also have 10 Love Africa magnets I am selling for a $6/each. To purchase bracelets or magnets just make a donation as you normally would and then email me with what your ordered, how many, and your address. This is the best way I could come up with how to do this with everyone getting their tax deduction. I know it makes things a little confusing especially with the giveaway now, but I'll keep it all straight.

Thank you for all your donations! Hopefully I will have internet up and running again soon. If  you have emailed me already in regards to ordering bracelets or magnets, I apologize for not getting back to you. Things have been crazy with the move and then not having internet have made things difficult. I hope to be back on track soon. Thank you for bearing with me!