Coming to an end...

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

So how can you save $10, $20, even $100 a month? I know your time is precious so let me fill you in with what ever way is best for you...

The Short of It:
Due to a lack of funds I am coming off of the field and going home. If you are a monthly supporter this means that your last payment made is your last payment. If you send in checks you can stop and if you are a direct depositor you will need to call or email to get that canceled. You can call your email:

Sheryl Root: 954-975-7777 x127 or sherylroot@bookofhope.net

The Long of It:
Yes, the time has come for me to say goodbye to my missionary friends and the life that I have been living for the past 16 months. I am coming home 8 months sooner than I first signed up for but through prayer and the advice of my leaders we think it best to bow out gracefully and just come home. I came back to Florida in September knowing that my support had not increased as much as it needed to. I sat down with our "Money Guy" and we decided that we would look at the numbers and I would stay with Book of Hope as long as the money would allow me to. We were looking at either December or May. It turns out that with what I did have coming in monthly and what I had saved in my cash fund I would be able to stay until December and I would have a plane ticket home. We have checked and I have enough money in my account to cover my expenses in December so there is no need for you all to support me that last month of December.

In July when things financially first started going south I cried and cried because this is where the Lord had called me and I just couldn't understand what was happening. It wasn't until September that I got some answers. I was reading about the fear and lack of trust in the Lord that the Israelites had regarding the daily provisions of manna. The Lord spoke to the Israelites: "Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days." Exodus 16:29 The Lord spoke to my heart: If the Lord planned it He will provide the resources. He also spoke to my heart Psalm 127:1a "Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain..." Was I laboring in vain trying to raise more support?

I believe it is in the Lord's will for me to come home and spend time with my family before I get married and move to Mexico. I believe it is the Lord's will for me to come home and work on building a strong foundation for our marriage. Missions and I are not through and neither is support raising. Kyle and I are planning on spending 2010 in Mexico serving with a college ministry there. We will begin support raising some time in the spring so please be in prayer about whether you will be able to team with us. If you would like more information about that please let me know!!

Thank you for supporting me this past year. I hope and pray that it was a blessing to you all as it was a blessing to me! I also hope that you enjoyed the blogs, the pictures, and the stories...I enjoyed bringing the "field" to you!




A young boy in Peru reading his book :)





Part of my room in Cusco, Peru.





We don't sign the books to keep the value of them all about Jesus and not about the crazy Americans who gave the books to them. The way the kids get around this is by having us sign their notebooks :) And that is what I am doing here.


Me doing the "Heart Drama". We shared with the youth that drugs, sex, alcohol, pretty much anything that isn't Jesus doesn't fill your heart. That is a job only our Lord can do!

It Never Gets Easier...

It is only Jesus that can bring people together for just a week and make me cry when I leave. After 14 months, 10 countries and 8 teams it hasn't gotten any easier to say good-bye. This past week (in 5 days!!!) We were able to reach roughly 15,724 kids with the Book of Hope (God's Word) in 24 presentations. That is sooo many kids and with an estimated 5 people who read each book that is possibly 78,620 lives reached!!! Now lets just keep praying that these lives would be transformed by the books and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

One day I had the privilege of standing in front of 2 different groups of 700 ladies (it was an all girls school) and tell them my story. I told them how I wanted to feel special, feel loved, feel important. I told them how I tried to fill my empty heart with different things, mostly guys. When this didn't seem to be working I started to question my purpose here on earth and if it was even worth living anymore. I felt lonely, lost, and really sad. Then just at the right moment a now friend stopped to tell me about the goodness of our God and that I did have a purpose for my life. I told them how trusting in Jesus has changed my life drastically and that there is this same hope for them. Some of the girls were crying by the time I was finished and all I could do was praise Jesus for pulling me out of the deep dark pit and thank Him for His goodness that He offers new hope for anyone who is willing to accept it. I am not the only one that He can and will save.

Thank you for your support and your prayers...you have reached many people with the message of Jesus and your prayers have been heard!

The all girls school I was talking about. This is roughly the view we had from the stage...there were so many of them! It was amazing being able to speak into their lives and tell them how important and special they are!


This is my friend, Skippy (Jonathan) and myself on the bus we rode around in all week. Jonathon is probably the coolest 18 year old I know with a huge heart for missions and he is a great servant!!




We got to do an extra school not on the schedule in between our scheduled schools. We stopped in and talked to preschoolers about Jesus :) There were about 170 of them and they were soooo adorable!!!!

I'm off again!

Funny, the last thing you heard from me was that I was back from Mexico and now after 3 weeks in the office I am off to Peru! Tomorrow a shuttle will pick me up at 12:45 in the afternoon to take me the 45 minutes to the Miami airport. I will be flying out at 5pm, landing in Lima, Peru at 9:35pm where I will be meeting up with my team of 14 adults. We will stay the night at a hotel and the following day take another plane to Cuzco, Peru. The whole week we have schools scheduled. We will be going into as many schools as they have for us to visit doing dramas, sharing our story of how Jesus has changed our lives and then we will be handing out the Book of Hope to each of the students. This is my favorite part of my job and I look forward to book distribution more than anything! The team I am leading is seasoned when it comes to Book of Hope trips, I believe this makes #10 for them!

Even still please be in prayer for us while we are gone. Continue to pray for safe travels and good health. The last day I am in Peru (Nov. 8) I will be alone while the team stays on for a few more days as a vacation. I will be flying throughout the night and landing back in Miami at 5:15am. Pray that the students will be in a place in their lives that they are willing and excited about making Jesus their Lord and Savior. Please pray against anything Satan will try to bring against us: poor attitudes, failing unity within the team, and selfishness.

After these travels the next time I get on a plane it will be bringing me back home to Ohio...to my family...to my friends...to Kyle :)

I hope you get to spend good quality time with Jesus this week and I will see you again on the flip side! Adios

Back from Mexico!

Yes, I'm back already! I guess it seems so much shorter compared to my 3 or 4 months away but when your days begin at 8:30am for breakfast and end at 9:30pm after dinner a week of ministry can feel really long. My team of 10 women and myself went to Monterrey, Mexico to minister to children in orphanages, children in hospitals and woman at different churches. We handed out many copies of the Book of Hope and lots of the Salvation bracelets (Which is a piece of leather with 5 different colored beads on it. Each color bead represents a different part of the salvation story. They are very helpful!) I was able to connect quite quickly and easily with the women on my team especially after having the flu with one of them and having 2 of the other ladies taking care of us. I am feeling better now but I am still a little tired. I will be sending out a newsletter with more pictures and details, until then enjoy these:




One of the views from my hotel window. Aren't the mountains amazing!?!?!





Just SOME of the goodies we were able to hand out to the kiddies while we were there :)





We did some face painting at the orphanages....but I guess from this picture you can't tell :) The kids loved it so much we started painting their arms too!




Me and "Peanut" which we named the little girl that I carried around with me all day at one of the orphanages. She was tiny and sooooo adorable!

Gone Again!!

Hello Folks!

It has been 2 1/2 weeks since I have been home and 2 1/2 months since I have been out of the country soooooooooooo I'm leavin'!!! I start my trek at 4:45am tomorrow heading to the airport and I land at 11:45am in Monterrey, Mexico. I will be there leading a team of 10 women who will be conducting woman conferences, teaching women how to: cook, sew, and garden, along with visiting new moms with their babies and children at near by hospitals. We will be handing out Books of Hope to the children in the hospitals.

Please pray for:

-Open hearts of the women we will be ministering to! If they are Christians that they would be encouraged by us and if they aren't that they would hear the message of Jesus and give their hearts and their lives to Him.
-That the children receiving the Books and their families would read them and that their lives would be transformed by God's Word.
-Safe travels for myself-I am traveling alone to and from Mexico, and for the team traveling from Texas.
-Health!! If you have even been on a mission trip you know how easily and frequently team members became ill. Pray for God's protection and that satan wouldn't have an inch on us!
-Effectiveness: that our words would be filled and backed by the power of our Lord and that our time would be well spent.

Thank you for fighting for those who don't even know they need fought for. And thank you for taking time out of your busy schedules to pray and make a way for more people to see and experience God's power. I will be back October 12th landing at 10:48pm so shortly there following I will love to share with you some of the amazing stories of what the Lord has done.

Adios!

I'm "home" for now.

I have been in Florida for about 3 days now and I am settling in quite nicely. It cost too much to keep me at the old-hospital-turned-hotel called the Forum that I normally stay at so I am condo sitting for some other missionaries of Book of Hope who are throughout the world working. So far I am really enjoying it :) The last couple of days I have been working on my training schedule for Saturday (tomorrow). I am training a team that will be heading to Romania in October. Next week I will be working on some small projects around the office and preparing for my trip to Mexico (October 3-12).

I wasn't able to send out a newsletter after my last country since I was only in Florida for 12 hours before heading to Ohio. I also didn't update a lot online about it due to security issues with that particular country. So I thought I would throw some pictures up from there now for you to look at and enjoy :)

Kate, our team leader, is on the far left, me and then the other 2 ladies were our Nomads. They gave 3 weeks of their summer to come work with us. We are drinking juice after a church service.


This is a view of part of the city we were working in. All of the houses were really close together and for the most part a lot of people didn't have any kind of yard.




This sign hung in one of the small home churches and was hand painted by one of the elderly ladies in the church. It was beautiful!

Where to next?

My time home is quickly coming to an end :( Buuuuuuut that also means I am off on another grand adventure :) Here is what it is looking like for the Fall:

September 16---> Fly back to Florida
October 3-12---> Monterrey, Mexico handing out books in schools :)
October 17-19--> New Orleans working for Book of Hope
November 1-9---> Lima, Peru handing out books in schools :)
December 19----> Book of Hope Christmas Party
December 20----> Coming home for Christmas

The space in between trips will be filled with me working in the office in Florida, training teams that are heading out, and sharing in churches. This means that when I am in the country my phone is turned on and I am more easily reached.

Thank you, everyone, for your continued love and support. Thank you for giving monthly...I know that at times it is a huge sacrifice and at other times you don't even notice that the money was ever there or has gone....but thank you! Thank you for believing that the Good News of Jesus Christ is worth the $10 or the $20 or the $100 or more a month. Thank you for believing in me to be that messenger!

Prayer Suggestions:
-That loneliness would not get the best of me. I am under the assumption that I will be spending a lot of time on my own since most of the people that I work with will be in other countries.
-Safety throughout all of my travels.
-That God would use me to encourage the hearts of the teams coming through that I will be training. Which ultimately means that God's Word and truth would be preached throughout the nations!

Please let me know how I can be praying for you as well!! I have a lot of quality time planned for me and Jesus so I would love to talk to Him about whatever you might be needing at the moment :)