This Fallen World

I am completely sadden by the fact that some things I read or hear in the news do not surprise me. Read the two articles below that I grabbed from Curtis and Danielle Rogers blog site. They are missionaries in Haiti.

Rape looms large over Haiti slums

Amnesty wants Haitian girls protected

The fact that this happens in a country within 500 miles of the US and most people probably have no clue about it is sickening. I can't help but think about how enraged Americans get about Child abuse/molestation, and here is a story of a 16 year old girl who had to spend two years in jail because she, in self-defense, killed a man who was about to rape her for the second time. The first time occurring when she was only 12. How would people react if this happened in their city, or in their neighborhood, or in their family? I believe that the outcry would be far greater than what is occurring for this young girl.

Donald Miller and the Ride:Well Team!

For some of you who may not know who Donald Miller is, he is the author of some books that I really enjoyed like To Own A Dragon, Searching For God Knows What, and Blue Like Jazz. So there is a link below for something cool that Donald Miller is supporting, which will take you to his blog. Thus the reason me babbling on about him. So check it out.

http://www.donaldmillerwords.com/index.php

We're Back

We arrived back safely Sat. morning. It was a long trip back, but we had finally made it. The time we spent there seemed like it flew by and ultimately, it would have been nice for us to spend atleast a month there, but time did not allow us to. We are extremely thankful for all of the support in prayers and financially giving from everyone. It would not have been possible for us to go without the support of friends, family, and I am sure complete strangers as well. I have a ton of photos to go through and I am hoping to get some updated online so everyone can enjoy some of the experience with us. There were some expected and unexpected ups and downs while on the trip, as well as some very interesting stories. Overall the trip went well and it was a great experience for us. I am sure that I will be updating you all more on our trip in the near future. Thanks again.

God's Blessing

I just wanted to put a quick note in here to thank everyone for their supprt and to continue to keep us in your prayers. We are almost there as far as our fund raising goes. This journey has been a huge blessing, and the amount of support that we have received from a great number of people is amazing.

This whole week, the weather here in Cincinnati has been kind of amazing. Unusually not rainy for Spring, and I have been really feeling the overwhelming amount of God's blessing.

So hopefully your week is going great as well!

Leap of Faith

Dear Friends and Family,
Alex and I decided to take a leap of faith. Our dear friend Christy, who is going to africa with us, has not raised all of her money yet for the plane ticket. We lent her money so we could all three purchase our plane tickets together (as you can imagine, a two day flight could get pretty lonely all by yourself). She still needs to raise $870. We have so much faith that this can be done because we know in our hearts that she is meant to be there. We are wanting you all to know this because we figure the more people that know about her, the more people can pray for her, and the more supporters there could be for her. She has a blog spot as well! If you are interested in learning more about her, her name is Christy Mingey. We are really hoping to get this money raised within the next couple of weeks. If you know anyone who may be willing to help, please let us know! We want to thank everyone for your support as we were able to raise the support for our plane tickets!!! We still need to raise the costs for living and the visa and exit fee which should leave us around 920 dollars yet to raise!!! All things are possible through him!

Brian Shaffer....Missing...

I wanted to mention this story because it has been on my heart over the past week and a half and i wanted to let you all know about this story so you can pray for this family. A young man who was in his second year medical school suddenly vanished into thin air one night while hanging out with some friends. Today marks the two year anniversary that he has been missing. There has been no evidence collected in regards to his disappearance. You can find more information about this story at www.findbrianshaffer.com My heart aches for this family, especially on this day. Can you imagine two years with out a single question answered! Please keep this family in your prayers! Thank you...

UPDATES....

Hello, Friends and Family. I have a few updates for everyone whom may be interested. The first thing is that we are close to our goal, yet we are not quite there yet! We have raised $3, 565.00. This is a huge blessing. We are hoping to raise the rest of the funds by the end of the week so we can go and purchase our tickets. We may have mentioned before, our dear friend Christy is traveling with us and she has raised 750.00 of her 2000.00. So please keep her in your prayers so we are all able to get our tickets by the end of the week! You all have been so helpful in the past and we pray for your continual support. Secondly, if any of you are curious how you can donate and are able to get a tax deduction for your donation, we do have an account set up for that now! This account is through children every where. Here is the information on it.
*Make the checks payable to Alliance for Children Everywhere.
*In the memo section of the check you should put Alex Stebing so ACE knows which account to put the money in.
*The checks can be mailed to:
ACE
PO Box 12250
Tucson, AZ 85732

Thank you for your prayer and support once again!

A Big Thank You

This past weekend I travelled to Garrett, IN, where I grew up and lived for pretty much my entire life excluding my time in college. The weekend was spent visiting friends and family and getting an oppertunity to speak to my home church about Lindsay and I's trip. It was set up very nicely by the church and I am extremely appreciative for that. They had printed off copies of our support letter and had them in the church bulletin. I was able to speak during the offering time too, which I feel like went very well. There were quite a few people who were very interested in our trip and how things have been going for Lindsay and I. So I was extremely encouraged by my time there this weekend. God blesses us everyday in different ways and this trip was a huge blessing. I am yet to know any sort of amount that we will receive from the church, but the receptiveness was encouraging enough.

This Weekend

I will be travelling to my home town of Garrett, IN this weekend to speak at my home church. This is a great oppertunity for Lindsay and I to raise support as my church has always been extremely supportive. It has been a great blessing. I ask that you prayer for the message, and the hearts of those who will hear it.

An Update

We have begun this crazy process of fund raising and following God in every way possible. We have started sending out support letters and are in desperate need of more funds. We were blessed with an opportunity to speak at Lindsays fathers' church in Harrodsburg, KY. The church received the message well and we were able to answer questions and get our story to that church. We are planning to go to Alex's home church in Garrett, IN on Sunday, March 30th to speak about the trip and answer more questions that may arise.

If you are thinking of supporting us or have anymore questions we would be more than willing to send a support letter to you, if you just leave us your address. If you would like to email it to us instead of leaving it here, you can send that to alexstebing_12@hotmail.com.

Also we continue to ask for your prayers as none of this would be possible without the direction and care of God.

Support

As is the case whenever someone does this type of work, Lindsay and I will need to raise support for our upcoming trip to Zambia, Africa, as well as any full time work we will do in the future. Below are some details discussing the support we are asking for.

Our Plea:

With God calling us only two months before we are to actually to set sail, we need a lot of support and a lot of supporters. We realize that we cannot provided for this trip on our own. We feel like God is testing us to see if he will depend on Him and His Church to provide. We are trying our bests to trust in God! We ask that you pray for us and our journey. We also ask if you are able, to support us financially. If you are interested in being a supporter for when we do travel to do mission work full time please let us know.

Trip Costs:

AirFare: $2000.00 per person
Cost of Living: $55 a day for 12 days (this includes, food, travel, and rooming).
Extra Expenses: $300 a person. We expect unexpected things to pop up. After all it is Africa! Any of this that we don’t use will be donated to the orphanage.
Lump sum of: $5,260 to raise
* $4000 has to be raised by March 31, 2008 so we can purchase the plane tickets.

Contact:

You can call or email us any time with any questions. Cell phone: (260)226-0276. Email addresses: alexstebing_12@hotmail.com, liliangel333@aol.com.

God's Timing

God has a funny way of doing things. His timing is impeccable and completely daunting at the same. My faith is about to be completely tested in a lot of ways that I am not sure I am ready for. God has put on my heart and my wife's heart an oppertunity to go overseas to Zambia, Africa for a couple of weeks of work with AIDS orphans. The reason the timing of this is so daunting and exhilerating at the same time is because the oppertunity that has been presented is much much sooner than we expected. We are planning on leaving on May 9th. Now your first reaction, as well as my own, is that this date is too soon and it does not provide enough time to actually plan the trip or fund raise.

This is where God, for me especially, will stretch the boundaries that embody this situation. I am the type of person that likes to rely on myself to get most things done. This situation really does not allow me to do so. I can frantically plan all I want for this trip to happen, but in all reality, it is in God's hands. He put this on our hearts, he provided the oppertunity, he will provide adequate funds for this to happen. I am learning about myself and my God everyday.

This trip will also be one of great importance to Lindsay and I's future. The work that we will be doing and get to experience in Zambia will be exactly what we plan on doing full time in the future. I am extremely excited and scared all at the same time.

I would ask that anyone who actually reads this meager blog to pray for this entire situation. Pray for God's plans that Lindsay and I cannot see yet. Thank you.