So I Need Your Help ...

So I haven't updated in a while, but I figure there's no better time than now to ask for your help.

Let's start with the good news: I'm fully funded to travel to Kenya. On March 28th, I got the call. All my money was in the bank and I was living the carefree life--I was going to Kenya. I even got a surprise, anonymous $500 check to go towards my supplies! I got fully immunized (that yellow fever shot ... OUCH!), I applied for my passport and was set to go. I was so excited and finally I could spend more time focusing on school and my other commitments.

But I guess God likes to keep things interesting. 5 days after I received my funding call, I got some bad news. The team I'm traveling with needed my passport number and expiration date on April 15th ... that's 3 days from today. I applied for my passport on April 1st. For those of you who do not know how the process works, let me break it down for you:
I applied for my passport on April 1st, somehow unaware of the date my team needed all of my information by. Yes, normally you can expedite the application process, but with my mom being out of the country, I did not have enough money to cover the expense, so I had to go with regular processing. Regular processing take about 4-6 weeks, not guaranteed. On my calendar, that all sounded great ... I'd have the passport before I left, for sure. But now that I have a passport information due date,  this processing time isn't exactly working out in my time frame.
I called the passport office on Wednesday (April 10) and they said my application could be expedited, no problem. In order to do this though I had to have my mom standing by me to verify her credit card number. While attempting to find time to call the passport agency with my mom, my window of opportunity ran out.
I called the passport office again today asking if they could give me my passport number and expiration date in order to purchase my tickets. They said they could not give that information to me because they would not be able to release that information until I had the passport in my hand. I asked again about the process of expediting it and its ETA and was surprised to hear that my application could no longer be expedited because it was "too far along in processing." Though this makes no sense to me, I had a very long explanation that ended up with the same answer: it wasn't going to happen.

So, here I am: nervous, a little teary, but mostly scared. Scared that I won't be able to purchase a plane ticket on time. Scared that I'm an inconvenience to my team members. Scared I'm an nuisance to my summer staff. Scared that my passport won't come in time. Scared that I won't be able to go to Kenya. Scared that maybe God doesn't want me to go. But mostly, I'm scared that all of the time and effort and money my family and friends have donated and invested in me won't actually go to me. It's the most frightening fear of them all. If God doesn't want me to go to Kenya. Okay, I know he'll provide me with something else. But if all of this energy and money graciously given to me is wasted, I've failed.

So that's where I'm at. Thankfully, I know that my God is not just the god of money, like He already proved to be, but He is the god of passports and passport agencies and shipping and TIME. And for all the times He has been faithful in this process, I have a hard time believing He won't be faithful again. And for that, my heart is overwhelmed by His love for His children.

So, there's nothing I can do. There's nothing you can do (unless you have a connection with someone in D.C.s passport agency, then by all means CALL ME). All we can do is wait.

In the meantime, I'm here to ask you all another favor. You have already been so gracious in investing your money and time into me and my trip ... I couldn't be more thankful, but here I am suck again in a situation where I need my community, my family.
So please be praying for me and my passport. 
I can't do this one on my own. Thank God for being sovereign and all powerful and the most high King. Thank Him for being faithful and always keeping His promises. Pray that processing doesn't take as long as they expect. Pray that my passport somehow gets to me in enough time to buy a ticket and know that I'm going to Africa. Pray that I will make it to Kenya and remember this as a simple bump in the road where God showed his almighty power. Ultimately, pray that God's will is done in this process and that He covers me in peace, understanding and love, no matter the outcome.

I love you all, with all my heart. I pray that God covers all of us with faith, patience, understanding and love as we walk through this process together. I'm so thankful that I have a community I can reach out to during this time. I promise to keep you updated with any news. As always, I will never be able to thank every single one of you enough for everything you have done in supporting me in this process, but you all have my heart.

Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, "Lord! Save us! We're going to drown!"

He replied "you of little faith, why are you so afraid?" 

Then He got up and rebuked the wind and the waves, and it was completely calm.

Matthew 8:24-26

In Him,

Catherine