Here is the list of countries we will be in from July 2012-June 2013 in the correct order...
Bulgaria
This southern-central European country is the 16th largest in Europe. Its geography is varied with mountain ranges, plains and a coastline along the Black Sea. Its economy is growing, but among all the European Union members it ranks lowest in terms of income. Organized crime is an issue as is human trafficking. Bulgaria is mainly a source of trafficking in persons yet also, to a lesser extent, a transit point and destination of trafficking. Here, about half the population claims to be orthodox and over 10% are Muslim. You can bring light and hope to this nation caught between "developed" and "developing."
Romania
The northern regions of Romania are home to the gypsy community. Though strangers in their homeland and forgotten by society, the gypsies are a strong and vibrant people who embrace the light of Christ in an inspirational way. Here, you will teach English, lead sports camps, live life with the gypsies, and more. It will be an exciting time of learning about a people group you may not have known even existed.
Rwanda
Many who hear "Rwanda" immediately think, "genocide" - it was 16 years ago when 800,000 people were killed over the course of about three months. According to the U.S. State Department, Rwanda (once colonized by France) has the highest population density in sub-Saharan Africa; and like much of sub-Saharan Africa, this nation also is fighting hard against HIV/AIDS. This nation played a part of the genesis of this human rights organization and inspired this song; as you help bring healing to a country still recovering from this deep wound, God may birth a dream or vision in you...
Uganda
Once a kingdom and British protectorate, for most of the later half of the 20th century, Uganda was under military rule, first under Idi Amin, the subject of the film The Last King of Scotland. Much of northern Uganda was also troubled by the Lord's Resistance Army, which heavily recruited child soldiers. Referred to as the Pearl of Africa, Uganda is diverse in topography and wildlife. You may find yourself in the north partnering with ministries that are bringing still-needed healing and reconciliation or in the south working with churches to evangelize and disciple the next generation of Kingdom workers.
Kenya
Who hasn't heard of Kenya in their lifetime? The Kenyan people are colorful, musical, artistic and hungry for the love of Christ. The Maasai bush, the Nairobi metropolis, and the Kibera slums comprise a country diverse yet unified in history. As a new era dawns in Kenya, so does the gospel of truth and faith. By meeting felt needs in the bush and the city, participants help bear lasting fruit with current ministry partnerships (ministries like evangelism, orphan care, and community development), and build foundations of future partnerships.
Thailand
According to the CIA, the kingdom of Thailand, known as Siam until 1939, is the only country in the region not colonized by Europe. Their 2000 census showed that 94.6% of the population is Buddhist, 4.6% are Muslim, and 0.7% are Christian. Approximately 600,000 people live with HIV/AIDS in Thailand. With nearly two million people estimated to be forced into prostitution, it has become one of the most popular places for sex tourism. Change lives in the city-where you, like Jesus, might befriend prostitutes-or in the countryside-where you may serve youth, care for orphans, and encourage a remnant of believers.
Malaysia
Enter a world entrenched in Islam. A people within the thriving metropolis of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysians still live in ignorance of the Good News of Jesus Christ. As you delve into this culture of works-based religion, strong self-discipline, and uncanny faith, you will have the unique opportunity to deliver hope and point the people to their Redeemer.
Cambodia
Cambodia houses one of the Seven Wonders of the World, Angkor Wat, a Hindu temple and monastery built during the Khmer empire in the 12th century. It later became a Buddhist complex a century later, and today, just over 96% of Cambodia is Buddhist. Almost 30 years ago, 1.5 million Cambodians died at the hands of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge regime. Today, Cambodia is a source, transit point, and destination of human trafficking. Unfortunately, the government is struggling to stop it. The people of Cambodia are thirsty for the hope you can bring.
Nicaragua
This location is always a World Race favorite. It's a country full of wonderfully warm and caring people, and participants always leave having had a powerful experience. However, hopelessness, addictions, destitution, and poverty still plague the many lives of Nicaragua. There are orphans who have grown up without knowing the love of a parent and families who get by each day by scrounging scraps from the city dump where they have made their homes. In Nicaragua, you'll have the opportunity to bring God's love through slum ministry, door-to-door outreach, outreach to children, and more.
Honduras
"Hondo" comes from the Spanish word for depth and there's lots of depth to Honduras. It's home to the Aztec and Mayan civilizations, whose ruins are still stand. Honduras is mostly mountainous and the weather's as tropical as it gets. What really runs deep in Honduras are its needs. Honduras is the third poorest in the region, after Haiti and Nicaragua. Like her neighbors, Honduras has had her of share political/military troubles, e.g., the six-month constitutional crisis in 2009. There's a need to reach out to the youth, not just to keep them out of trouble (e.g., gangs) but for them to know their worth and that they're loved.
Guatemala
A country rich in history and natural resources – fertile soil from the volcanoes help yield excellent coffee – Guatemala is the perfect place to initiate your World Race experience. Outside of its aesthetic appeal, Guatemala needs God’s touch. Gripped by poverty and bound to a spirit of religion, the people of Guatemala hunger for the kingdom of God to pervade their lives. You’ll have the opportunity to usher in the kingdom to this land and to these people in the form of relationships through incarnational ministry (read: living just as they do), reaching out to the people in the fringes of society, hard work, and maybe even a miracle or two.
Please pray that God will use us and our teammates to bring The Gospel, healing, justice, and His love to these nations!
The Duffneys
Its may 1st. Which means exactly two months until our feet will be on foreign soil! Chelsey and I have had so much fun (and even some stress) getting things lined up to leave on July 1st. I can honestly say that I did have my doubts about how all of the preparations would work out such as renting our house, telling our works, buying travel insurance, trying to pack for a year in one bag each, getting lots of shots, etc. The list goes on and on but I won’t bore you with all the details. :-) But I can tell you that up to this point, God is paving the way for this to happen. Plain and simple. Watching all these things unfold in front of us has been a great strengthening in my heart, to see that He really does want us on The World Race! And you might be thinking that it's because of our hard work and efforts that we are now nearly ready to leave, but I know that in reality it's in spite of our weaknesses. I have been reminded over and over that my plans and efforts WILL NOT be enough. I'm leaning on Jesus to lead and trying to follow. Really that’s all we can do. That's what we are called to do.
On the fundraising front, God is using others to bless us and we are getting closer to our final goal of $31,000. Right now because of so many generous people who God is using, we have $21,500 in our account!!! WOW! That’s over 2/3 of our total support we need to raise. So many of you have been so gracious and have been lead by God to give and we are humbled by it. In the last few weeks we held a fundraiser at Applebee’s and had a garage sale at Chelsey's parent’s house. They both went great! About 140 people showed up at Applebee’s to have breakfast with us and support the trip, while many more who were unable to attend still gave. Then others donated items of theirs to our garage sale. Between the two events we raised about $4200! Amazing right. I know that God is not done yet, but seeing how He is providing gives me hope that we will soon be fully supported!
So with only 3 weeks until we are at training camp and 2 months until we leave, I (Luke) thought it would be nice to get away on a kayaking trip with my best bud Matt. We have done long weekend trips together before and we both were very excited for this one. We chose a river that is full of rapids and excitement. The bad news is that we never made it to the rapids. I'll spare you all of the details, but we ended up dragging our kayaks across about 4-5 miles of swamp, weeds, mud, and then the thickest forest I have ever been in. I have never worked so hard in my life! And I mean it. For a little while I thought we might be eaten by a bear or just starve in the middle of an unknown forest.
The reason I’m bringing all of this up is because of some verses in the bible that have been my "life verses" for many years. Here they are...
Luke 9:23 and 24
Then Jesus said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it."
These verses have been very impactful for me for a long time. The idea that if I really want to "live" I need to give up the things I want and come follow Jesus. And the part that has stuck out to me lately is the taking up of a cross. In the last few weeks God has been opening my eyes to what that might look like. Why would someone pick up a cross? Well, why did Jesus pick up a cross? The only reason was to walk to His death! He didn’t carry it for fun or to get in a quick workout. He drug that beastly chunk of wood to a hill where He died for all of us.
Something that I experienced while dragging my kayak over large fallen trees and through thick brush was pain! Lots of pain! I hated it. But on the drive home from that weekend I began to think again about this cross that Jesus said we need to pick up and follow Him with. What is He asking of us. Well, probably some pain and discomfort. It's never been said that following Him will be painless. And ultimately I believe that we are dragging our massive chunk of wood to our own death! It's scary I know, but again, for what other reason would we carry such a thing?! There really isn't any. And I know am beginning to see that He calls us to follow in his foots steps. Am I willing to die for this thing called Christianity? Am I willing to trudge through the woods and swamps of this life with all of the pain it might bring? In the end am I truly willing to risk it all???
I’m letting the last part of these verses wash over me...“but whoever loses their life for me will save it." I want these 30, 40, 70, or 100 years I’m given to really mean something.I’m willing to lose what I might think of as life so that God can save it and use it to impact eternity. Join me!
Chelsey and I are very proud to announce our upcoming fundraiser. It will be a pancake breakfast hosted by Applebee's restaurant in Stillwater, MN. Check out the flyer we created to find out more info about it. We would love to see everyone there. Enjoy some great breakfast and come support what God is doing with our trip!
We are selling tickets ahead of time so feel free to contact us if you would like tickets! You can call me at 715-529-4214 or email us at laduffney@yahoo.com
We need to raise $31,000 to go on the World Race. So far, we have just over $12,000, Praise God! All the procedes from this breakfast will help us toward reaching our goal! Thank you for your support.
Hey everyone. Chelsey and I made a video to share with all of you. It will give you a little more info and better look into what our year might look like. Please take a look and enjoy!
In Him and for Him
Luke
What does that mean? Who are "the least of these"?
I'll let Matthew 25:34-39 explain...
"Then the King will say to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.
"Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go visit you?
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me"
These verses compel me to love others in a new way that I've never thought before. When was the last time I passed someone on the road with a cardboard sign and wrote them off as a lazy alcoholic just begging for bar money? Have I ever taken a moment to think of these verses in Matthew that command us to love others as if they were Christ himself?
This has been heavy on my heart these days...this idea that by feeding, clothing, caring for, and visiting the poor, sick, and broken hearted, I am also serving Christ in the most real way possible. I can show people just a glimpse of Christ's love for them by serving them and giving of my whole self to them.
Since when have I given my whole heart to serving someone else? My whole controlling, comfort-seeking, selfish self is always focused on self in the end. Sometimes I think that I will be unequipped to be effective on the World Race. I find myself thinking that I might just be too uncomfortable to do what God might be asking of me. If I might fail, I better not even try. My own thinking gets in the way of what God might be trying to do through me.
I pray that I will love others above myself in the next year, to shake off the selfishness that tugs at me when things get hard. I pray that I would lose more of myself and gain more of Christ.
We are Luke and Chelsey Duffney :)Let's start out with some backgroundinfo:
Luke was born in Minnesota and later moved to Wisconsin with his family during elementary school. He attended the University of Wisconsin River Falls and graduated with a degree in Speech Communications, then attended the Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences to become an Xray Tech. He currently works at Gillette Children's in St. Paul. He loves kayaking, playing tennis, and live music concerts. He gave his life to Christ when he was 7 years old in a small church. Since then there have been many ups and downs but he's still following His Savior!
Chelsey was born in Wisconsin and lived in the same house her whole life until marrying her best friend in 2008. She went to Northwestern College in St. Paul and then graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in Spanish. She works for Northern Dental Partners at the front desk and enjoys using her Spanish with patients. She is a Packers fan (you can imagine the rivalry between the two of us!) and loves playing tennis and running (a new hobby). She gave her life to Christ one night while praying with her dad in bed, at the age of 6. Since then her faith has grown stronger and same with her heart for ministry!
The two of us met on a mission trip to Mexico in 2002 and got married in 2008! We are so grateful that the Lord brought us together! He is so faithful! We have found such a great friendship in our relationship. Our first 3 and 1/2 years of marriage have rocked!! We have a Brittany Spaniel named Bentley who keeps us continually moving! It's going to be really tough to leave our little guy for a year...
Now let's get to the business of this upcoming year called The World Race!
We both found out about this great ministry opportunity Sept 2010 when a friend got accepted to do The World Race this current year. The moment we opened the website and watched their promo video, something stirred deep inside our hearts. It was like finding a piece that had been missing from the puzzle. From that moment until we actually applied to join this ministry, we spent about one year praying and dreaming of what God might do in us and through us if we did finally apply. If we are being totally honest, it hasn't been a simple decision. Even though we both knew that this was the kind of thing God could bless us with, we really wanted to make sure He has truly given us the green light to proceed. We fought with ourselves wondering if it seemed exciting to us only because of the adventurous nature of this trip. We wanted to make sure that we were pursuing this trip for God's glory and nothing else. After much prayer, many late night talks, and the council of others we trust, we came to realize that it really was without a doubt where God wanted us to be. We desire to see people come to know Jesus, be healed in His name, and for us to be the hands and feet of God to "the least of these" no matter where they live or what language they speak.
There's no doubt that we are just a couple of normal people trying to live for what truly matters. Not perfect by any means, but just trying to take the constant focus off of ourselves and have a more eternal perspective. 2 Corinthians 4:18 "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."
We can't wait to continue to share what is on our hearts with you all in the upcoming months, and then as we travel to 11 countries with The World Race! Thanks tons for getting to know a short version of our stories. Prayers are always welcome! :-)
If you are looking to support us financially, just click on "Support Me" under our photo and the site will walk you through it.
