Globe trotting Wellers to go on mission trips

Regular readers of Frankly Speaking will recall that Mrs. Frankly and I went on a mission trip to Haiti last spring with the good folks from Butler Church of Christ. It was a moving experience as the surgical team we were with brought health to scores of Haitians and as the rest of the team painted and furnished an infant orphanage at Northwest Haiti Christian Mission. (Two of the little girls we worked with are pictured above.)

In 2008 Mrs. Frankly and Frankly-ette (Abigail) will be headed back to NWHCM. They will be there over Easter, and will once again be assisting in the clinic and surgery center. Son number one, Caleb, and I will be headed to Mexico over the summer. We'll be working near the Belize border to assist a group of Christians that lost their church building during last year's hurricane season. With a grant from International Disaster Emergency Services, Christ's Mission in the Yucatan is building a permanent block building that will serve, not only as a church, but also as a hurricane shelter for the community. We'll be helping with the construction.

This will be Caleb's first mission experience outside the United States, and it will be the first time Abby has seen poverty on this scale.

I am excited about their trips because I believe they will help to form them, spiritually. 70% of all missionaries began their careers as short-term missionaries. (My sister and brother-in-law are two who did so.) Caleb has already expressed interest in becoming a minister, and Abby wants to work with children. This will be a great opportunity for them to see if God might be leading them to become missionaries.

All told, the Wellers will be spending about $5000 for these four trips. Tracy and Abby will spend about $1300 each while my and Caleb's trip will run closer to $1200. I've never used Frankly Speaking to solicit anything from my readers, but I thought I would make a special request of the 100 + readers who drop by each week: would you be willing to help sponsor our trip(s)?

There are a couple ways you can help. First, Abby and Caleb both need passports. These will cost about $90 each. Second, you can help pick up the cost of our airfare with a donation of any size.

If you are willing to pay for the kids' passports, just send a check made out to either Abby or Caleb with "Passport" in the memo line. Unfortunately, these are not tax deductible gifts.

If you'd like to help with our airfare, just drop a check in the mail made out to South Lansing Christian Church. Put "Weller mission trips" in the memo line. We'll make sure you get a receipt from the church so you can claim the gift on your taxes. You can mail either gift to:

Frank Weller
South Lansing Christian Church
6300 Aurelius Rd.
Lansing, MI 48911

Keep checking back this spring for pictures from Haiti and, later on, from Mexico. Caleb and Abby (and Tracy and I) are working and saving for this trip, but as you can imagine it is a lot of money to come up with. That's why your partnership in this effort means a lot to me. Thanks, friends!