Hello there,
I haven’t properly given a long-form update here in a couple of months. I do have some updates though. I am just going to write a “stream of consciousness” type of entry here. Enjoy the lack of organization.
Well, I am officially fully funded as of the end of April! I am honestly still floored by the Lord’s provision in all of this. Not only in finance but in the team that He has built for me in this fundraising season. I just want to genuinely thank everyone who has decided to partner with me in this. This team is full of blood-related family and spiritual family, old friends and new friends, and just the most shockingly strong believers I have had the privilege to break bread with. I love you all and am so grateful for you taking a step to be with me in this.
Being fully funded means that I have done some finalizing in my financial budgeting and just some logistics in the past few weeks. I will be moving to our World Headquarters located in Cocoa Beach Florida at the beginning of June. I am blessed to be based in Florida, so I won’t be completely unable to see my people. Expect me to pop back into town to say hey and grab a meal still.
I have been so blessed by my friends and family who have either offered to help or have given me an instant yes when I have asked for help. One of my friends is going to adopt my beloved cat and give him a wonderful home. I adopted my cat (his name is Bats) when I was 20 years old and living on my own. He has been with me through a lot of big things that occurred in my life, good and bad. He has been my little pillow to cry on, my constant playmate, conversationalist, and most consistent roommate as I have moved upwards of seven times with him now. I know it may sound dramatic to some, but I am going to miss that cat so extremely much.
This past week I was able to go up to Georgia and visit my grandmother and aunt. It was such a lovely time of rest honestly. We stayed up late telling stories and laughing for 4 days straight. It was so nostalgic to walk around a place I grew up visiting. The trees. The hills. The mountains. The smells of the flowers. Makes me miss Georgia and the proper south quite a bit more than I realized. It will always be a special place for me.
Something else exciting that has happened is that I have, with help, ordered and received all my camera gear. Between asking friends for gear advice and seeking budgeting help, it is all completed. It takes a city to build a camera kit sometimes, I think. Building out this kit has been so fun though and I feel so absurdly spoiled by the Lord for it. It just grows my excitement for what the Lord is calling me to. I still can’t believe I get to do ministry, take photos, and make films for the Lord. Wild.
This September I will be going to Zambia to start filming an extremely exciting project we are working on as a team. I will give more details on what the project is about at a different time, I promise. Currently, we are working on all of the pre-production required to film everything. Our team is less than ten people sprinkled all around the world. As you can imagine, communication within four different time zones has been a funny thing to work around. All worth it in the end and it tends to bring a lot of comedic humor to the process, which I always welcome. Win-win if you ask me.
Anyways, I think that’s just about it on this update. I will give a more detailed update as I move and get settled into my office with the others on my team. I hope you all are doing well. If you have any prayer requests, feel free to reach out to me personally or comment on them below. I want to know what is going on in your lives and walk with you through it to the best of my ability. Pen-pals can be the best type of friend at times.
With love,
V