By: Julie Williams
Two years ago, Small World launched the first of a new kind of mission trip for us. Bringing partners just like you to China to meet and minister to adoptable orphans in person, we called it the Face to Face Journey. It proved to be a beautiful experience for everyone involved and was one of our most successful projects ever. Parents representing seven families traveled to meet seven children. They were all seriously interested in adoption, but this experience would test their commitment to the reality of adopting. All seven children found their forever families on that trip, and 7 other children were adopted soon after as a direct result of the testimony of those families. Like the good Samaritan, once these mothers and fathers saw the condition of the children, they were moved with compassion and took action.
We are excited to announce that our next Face to Face Journey is scheduled for 2019 and will serve the orphans of Monrovia, Liberia. Monrovia is the capital city of Liberia and is very welcoming to Americans. It is beautiful, but the country of Liberia has suffered much in recent years due to epidemics of Ebola. Though the epidemics are resolved, they left a wake of loss and heartache that is not quickly healed. Many children were orphaned by these diseases and remain without a family. Small World is one of only 4 agencies approved by the Liberian government to perform adoptions, and our Christian partners are stepping up to fill the need for families. But we are only beginning to make a difference with much work left to be done. We want to make the condition of orphaned children in Liberia known. Hence, Monrovia was the natural choice for our next Face to Face Journey. If you are interested in adopting from Liberia, consider joining our team on the Face to Face Journey to Liberia. You’ll be doing things like helping with the daily care of small children in the orphanage, shopping for supplies and distributing them to the kids, organizing fun activities for them, and sharing the gospel of Christ with children. At Small World, we feel a sense of urgent responsibility to do what we can to meet the needs of the people of Liberia. If you share in that sense, please partner with us on this mission in one of these ways:
- Become a team member – travel to Liberia with us to minister to the children face to face
- Become a sponsor – make a donation to cover some of the expenses of the trip
- Become a prayer partner – commit to pray for our Face to Face mission team and the people we will serve
- Become an advocate – help us raise awareness and recruit adoptive families by sharing information and updates on Small World kids
We can accommodate up to 6 team members at a time. We will arrange multiple Face to Face Journeys if needed. The cost for one team member’s trip is estimated at $3,000. And of course, we need as many sponsors, prayer partners, and advocates as we can get. We encourage families, small groups, and churches to rally behind team members in those roles. We trust that God is already working in the hearts of each of our partners; we just don’t know who you are yet. So email us at jimbo@smallworldadoption.com and let us know how you can participate in the Face to Face Journey to Liberia. We are eagerly anticipating another successful mission and more testimonies like this one from one of our 2016 team members: “By being on this trip, I had an amazing opportunity. I could ask Wren if he wanted to be part of my family. . . . Almost nobody who adopts internationally gets to meet their future child before they’re matched. Being able to ask Wren “face to face” if he wanted to be part of our family, and to watch him get that huge smile and nod, ‘yes,’ – it’s something I’ll never forget. What an honor! It was as special to me as watching my two biological children being born. For me, that’s when Wren became my son.”