Worshipping with our brothers and sisters in Christ in Bantu. Praise God!!

Safely on the ground in Addis Ababa. Buying outlr visas now then loading luggage and heading to the hotel. 11 PM over here.

Small delay in Frankfurt. Hope to be in the air within the hour heading to Addis Ababa.

Just checking in from Frankfurt. Lunch/breakfast at McDonalds! $15 for a 20 piece meal!

On the plane!!!

This post comes to you from aboard Lufthansa flight 439 from DFW to Frankfurt Germany. We were able to talk to the boys and Trey through skype. and now just giving a little update. God has already answered many prayers! Kristy is doing great and I wasnt as nervous as I thought I would be. The group has already had a snack and dinner and it's almost time to take a little siesta before landing in Frankfurt at 925am local time(2:25am central time). More to come when we get to Germany!

Getting ready

Met at ten this morning at Buckner. After weigh-ins, we spent a little time praying and getting to know each other. Almost lunch time and then to the airport. Will post more from the airport. Flight is at 4. Love y'all!!!

May 18, 2011 Update

Thank to all of you who have helped us so far in our effort to raise the money for the trip. Kristy and I are both so happy to be over our halfway mark!! It is a blessing to receive the support that we have received so far. Just logging in to the Buckner site and seeing the names of those who have donated has brought me to near tears a few times. We are so blessed to be loved by such great people. Thank you!

Since the last update, we have had two garage sales with the VBS team. In all it raised $2100!! We are still waiting to find out how much of that will go towards the trip, but we are excited for whatever it turns out to be. Also, we have had a few generous donations over the past few weeks that have really bumped our totals. So as of right now, we are about $2500 short for the trip, plus quite a bit for yellow fever shots and malaria medication. We trust the Lord will provide! He hasn't brought us this far to let us not reach our goal. So please visit our online pages at Buckner if you would like to donate or you can email.

https://donate.bucknerfoundation.org/kristygrubbs
https://donate.bucknerfoundation.org/claygrubbs

Please continue to pray for our team as we begin accumulating our supplies for the trip. Last Sunday, May 15, we met with our head nurse for the trip, Viola Palmer, and went through the supply list. Everyone volunteered to take different items, so you may be hearing from some of the team about donating specific things.

Again, we thank you all for the prayers and support. We love yall!

Clay and Kristy

Buckner in Ethiopia

Our Mission Destination

Bantu, Ethiopia Fast Facts:
(provided by http://www.buckner.org/locations/africa-ethiopia.shtml)

Ethiopia is located in the northeast of Sub-Saharan Africa near the Indian Sea. It’s the oldest independent country in Africa and one of the oldest countries in the world – at least 2,000 years old. Ethiopia is diverse with more than 56 tribes and 10 languages spoken.

The Problem
• About 78% of the country’s population lives on less than $2 a day; 31% lives on less than $1 a day

• About 4.8 million children are orphans; 2 million children have been orphaned due to AIDS and the rest due to poverty and disease.

• About 72% of school aged children have no access to education.

• More than 60% of primary school children do not have the chance to continue to grade 5.

• 55% of Ethiopian children under age 5 are stunted due to malnutrition.

360° View of Our Destination:

http://blog.itsyourmission.com/2009/06/bantu-building-next-generation-in.html

Scroll down and watch the first video. (No trees=No allergies for me!!)

Websites About the School that will serve as our "Hospital/Clinic"

June 4, 2008
Dallas Church’s Donation Completes Educational Center in Ethiopia

December 10, 2008
Ethiopia School Builds Better Citizens

Feb. 10, 2009
Buckner, Bright Hope and Ethiopian President Celebrate School Inauguration

May 9, 2009
Community Transformation Centers: A New Model for Hope Worldwide

Other Interesting Links Related to Bantu, Ethiopia:
http://www.buckner.org/locations/africa-ethiopia.shtml
http://www.buckner.org/enews/index.php/2008/09/the-feet-of-our-maker/
http://www.buckner.org/enews/index.php/2008/12/a-family-is-born-through-international-adoption/
http://blog.itsyourmission.com/2009/06/bantu-building-next-generation-in.html
http://andypittman.blogspot.com/2007/06/sunday-june-3-2007.html

Monday, April 25 Update

Hello to all!

Last Wednesday, we had a meeting with the mission team and our trip coordinator Chris Cato came to visit. We discussed the glitches that are taking place within their financial/administration systems that is causing a problem. As some of you may have noticed, our goal is rising on the Buckner page, but this is being done due to most donations being doubled in their system. No money has been withdrawn twice, it is just showing up twice on our accounts. So our new goal will probably be twice the old one, 7240 apiece. I will try to keep that updated as best as I can, but I will also be blogging weekly updates to let you know how we are doing. So while we are on the topic. Of the 7240 combined, Kristy and I have raised 2035. We have to be up to 3620 by Friday the 29th. If you are interested and can help please go to http://donate.bucknerfoundation.org/claygrubbs or http://donate.bucknerfoundation.org/kristygrubbs to donate.

Another great way to help out is through a great friend of ours, Chelsea Owens. She has been so kind to donate the proceeds from her Scentsy sales to help for our trip. We are so thankful that she and my sister Codi came up with this idea. Her website is at https://chelseaowens.scentsy.us/Buy/SetupPrompt. If you go there, just click on "Join Party" by Clay and Kristy's name and shop away!

On May 7, we will have another fundraiser in the form of a garage sale at the church. The church and leadership team are excited to help us out. We will have the garage sale inside the gymnasium for a controlled atmosphere garage sale! We will have larger items and signage placed outside to attract business. We are teaming up with the Mega Sports Camp directors to raise funds for our trips and the summer camp. So please make plans to come by and attend if you can.

Again, we are so appreciative of all the blessings we have received over the last few months as we have planned and readied ourselves for this trip. We are so grateful to have the family and friends that we have that are helping us through this. But most of all we want to praise God for this opportunity. He is so good!

Thank You ALL!!!

Love,
Clay and Kristy

The First Email!!!

Dear Family and Friends,,

As you may know, Kristy and I will be traveling to Bantu, Ethiopia July 1-9 on a mission trip. We will be going for the purpose of giving medical care to the local villagers, and to spread the word and love of Christ. We ask that you be with us in prayer as we prepare for this trip. If able, we would appreciate your help in following this calling of God.

Let me begin by telling you about our calling to travel to Ethiopia. Last year, a team of fellow church members and members of other churches, traveled to Ethiopia for this same trip. When they returned, Kristy and I both felt their excitement, and we both had this feeling inside that we were being pulled to do more. About this same time, Kristy was reading David Platt’s Radical. After reading, her calling became more and more controlling, but only to the point that she knew she was being called to actually go on a mission somewhere. After reading Radical, she offered the book to me, but for some reason I was not ready to read it, and so it sat on the shelf. A few months later, my college roommate also suggested that I read the book. So I decided to pick it up. I don’t think I was quite ready for what I was about to read. It took me a few times of starting it, before I finally jumped into, and I haven’t looked back. The book changed my perspective on things. I realized that I needed to be going and doing more. I realized that I was not living the way that God intended for me to live. About this same time, Kristy finally had her many prayers answered, through an email from our pastor, Kevin Hall. He knew that Kristy had been discussing the mission field, so he forwarded an email with different dates of upcoming trips. This was in late December I think. This email mentioned the medical trip, which is right up Kristy’s alley with her being a nurse. She said that as soon as she got the email, she knew that that is where God was calling her. And with me just finishing up Radical, and on fire, and ready to go, and with a little pleading for my wonderful wife, I was on board! I thank God that we have this opportunity.

As I said earlier, this trip is a medical trip. We will be taking supplies of medicines, bandages, etc. to help tend to general medical problems in the community of Bantu. Many villagers will hear that we are in town and will walk for up to 2 days to get to where we are. We will have the opportunity to reach many families for Christ. Kristy will be working hands on, treating patients. I will be working to help organize the clinic, run supplies where needed, playing with children, and just witnessing to any who will listen. We will have 4+ days of being in the clinic, and another 4 of traveling, two going and two coming home.

In order for us to make this trip a reality, we will need some financial assistance. Kristy is planning on doing a garage sale fundraiser at the church in the near future. We spent the month of January fasting from eating at restaurants to prepare our mind and our financials for this trip. We have taken a closer look at our personal budget and have made sacrifices in order to save more. These steps are helping to offset the cost of upfront expenses, such as passports, shots, etc. I will also offer my services of computer work to anyone who receives this email. Any money made through this computer work will be going directly to our trip. Please contact me if you would like to set up an appointment. Finally, if you want to learn more about our trip, Buckner International (our mission partner) or how to help donate, please go to our webpages at Kristy (http://donate.bucknerfoundation.org/kristygrubbs) and Clay (http://donate.bucknerfoundation.org/claygrubbs). On the right side of the page you will see “Donate Now to Support My Mission Trip.” Click on this title to get to the page for donating online. If you would prefer to send a check or cash, please send to our home address, 205 Town Oaks Dr., Marshall, Tx 75672, so that we can print a receipt and send it on to Buckner. If you have others that you think should receive this but have not, feel free to forward this email to them.

TAX DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTIONS Donations made on behalf of a trip participant may be tax-deductible, or, as a volunteer who is paying your own way on a mission trip, a significant portion of your cost may also be tax-deductible. Please consult your personal tax advisor with respect to tax deductions. Buckner Foundation will issue receipts for charitable contributions by mail or e-mail; for questions regarding tax deductible contribution receipts, contact Buckner Foundation at 214-758-8050.

Visit Clay's site at: Click here to visit Clay's Web page

Visit Kristy's site at: Click here to visit Kristy's Web page

Thanks!

Thank you so much for your love, prayers, and any assistance you offer,

Clay and Kristy Grubbs