3 Mission Trip Winners Testimonies
I’m sooo excited to personally introduce you to the 3 crazy missions trip winners!! God gave away 3 trips and hand picked these amazing women to travel to Ethiopia with Visiting Orphans in February 2011 to love and serve and minister to orphans. I’m truly overwhelmed by God’s passions and miracles… He really does make the WILDEST dreams come true! I asked each of them to share their feelings about winning the trip.
#1 Bridget Bowen:
I would first like to thank Kari for starting this amazing miracle. Even one year ago, I did not know Ethiopia would be so important to me. I always knew I wanted to adopt but had not planned out any of the details. This summer my husband and I 
started to process for adoption from Ethiopia. I soon learned how much Ethiopia and I needed each other. I feel truly blessed to have been picked for this trip. I have read books and studied pictures in hopes of understanding more about Ethiopia. Now I have been given the chance to visit this wonderful country. I do not think there is a better way to truly understand the culture.
I am so excited for this trip because I know that Ethiopia is going to give me and my husband an amazing gift of a daughter. I feel with this trip I can in a small way give back just a little to Ethiopia. I will also be able to share with our daughter all that I have learned about her country. Hopefully one day she and I can go on a mission trip together.
I am of course nervous that I will not be able to be helpful. I hope my training as a teacher will help to be able to spread God’s message. I have known for five days about this amazing adventure and I am just starting to process the true impact this will have on my life.
#2 Randi Shetley:
I have wanted to go on this February trip to Ethiopia since May. I even felt like I needed to go, that God wanted me there. But, things just weren’t working out like I thought they should.
I went to Ethiopia and Uganda in July with Kari Gibson on my first Visiting Orphans mission trip. I had been to Ethiopia 7 years 
before for our first international adoption of two beautiful Ethiopian children. I left a piece of my heart in that country. I had wanted to return ever since. When I heard Kari was leading a trip with VO in July, I whined (and whined, and whined) both to God and my husband that I wanted to go, too!! Finally, my husband looked me square in the eye and said, “Then why don’t you go?”. It floored me! I never thought I could actually GO?! My fund-raising started that day, and 3 months later, I was in Ethiopia with my BFF, Kari. (photo- Kari & Randi 10/31/08)
Kari told me she was going to have the opportunity to lead another trip in February with her hubby, Roger. I really wanted to go, but over and over and over again, my fund-raising ideas kept falling apart. I was able to raise a large part of my money for the July trip with letters to friends and donations. I did not feel it was right to ask the same people for money again so soon. With 5 kids in sports and school, I did not have time for a big fund-raising effort. About 3 months ago, I had a conversation with God. I told Him that I really wanted to go on this trip, but if it was His plan for me to go, He would have to take care of the money. I was tapped out and there was no way I could make it happen. I made a tearful call to Kari and told her I would not be going with her. As soon as that call ended, I felt peace. I figured that God would open other doors for me, and I knew I would be going back to Africa…just not in February.
Isn’t God funny! When I found out that Amanda picked MY name in Kari’s crazy Mission Trip Project, I was stunned! Then I laughed. God had a plan the whole time. He wanted to make sure I knew this was HIS plan, not mine. That He would fulfill the longing in my heart to go back to this beloved country. That He had my back, and His Plans are always so much better than mine!! Randi’s Blog
#3 Lori Smith:
(excerpt from her blog)
As Alicia Jordan reached into the pile of 573 entries to draw the 3rd and final name, Kari stopped her to mix up the entire pile. I told Ali, “What a bummer if she had her hand on YOUR entry, huh?!” She replied, “Yeah…it could have been YOURS!” I quipped, “Well, at least I would never know.”
There was this strange slow motion feeling as Kari read my name…as she sorta stumbled over my hometown…and I saw the look on Carolyn’s sweet face. I heard none of the tape after that….because – YES – you really cannot help but scream & cry & shake & laugh all at the same time….you even put your hands out in front of you, then bury your face in your hands in disbelief. Yup – I was totally lookin’ like a nutty contestant on the Price Is Right! Glad Bob Barker and his camera crew were NOT there to witness it.
Someone listened to a dream God gave them and made this happen. Someone listened to God’s prompting and added a 3rd person. These people and their incredible acts of faith have blessed me and will impact my life in ways I am sure I cannot begin to imagine. I take this sacrificial blessing very seriously. I am humbled and determined to yield myself to be used by God in amazing ways!
Oh…by the way….I did cry my eyes out in the shower because:
I Simply Could NOT Fully Grasp That God Had Just Hand Picked….ME!
