Mission Work and a Plea

An exciting opportunity has opened up for me to explore missionary work. My church is partnering up with World Hope International to send a team down to Gulfport, MS to aid with Katrina relief for a few days. And, there's a chance for me to go.

This mission trip is very important to me. I don't feel I can afford to contribute monetarily to relief efforts. But, I have an able body and I have vacation days I need to use up. Some people aren't so lucky. Money, I don't have, but time and ability I got in spades. So, my intention is to donate that.

Here the problem. I have to come up with $100 by Oct 12th to pay for the trip. The money goes towards transportation, lodging and other fees associated with the mission trip. In addition to that, I would need spending money for daily living. A decent amount more would be needed for supplies like rubber gloves and face masks (don't want to get a mold infection in my lungs, you know). Seriously, you can't go without these necessary supplies.

There's no way I can afford the $100 in less than two weeks. I can probably handle the extra money beyond that. The trip isn't until the end of the month and that gives me time to eBay (and save, of course) for extra money. But, the $100 is where I'd need help. And, I'm asking you for some help.

What I'd really like to do is set up some paypal thing here, but I don't think my Bloggers terms of service will allow me to do so. Is there any one who can help me setup a link or something so I can accept paypal donations? I haven't the first clue how to do that or if I can. All donations would go directly into this missions trip.

I wouldn't expect perfect strangers (or good friends) to just write me a check for $20. I think that's asking and expecting alot. But, you know, in a week, this website gets over 100 visits (and I'm amazed at THAT number). And, if I could set up a paypal donation link here and if every hit gave a single $1 bill, well, that would go a long way to covering all the expenses of this mission trip. Heck, maybe even for your troubles, I'll send you a homemade candle. Feel free to contact me if you can help me out in anyway, shape or form. I make good candles, too.

My faith is such that if God is really calling me to serve Him on this trip, then He will make it happen. If not, well, there's still plenty of ways I can serve Him locally.