To preface this post… I humbly request you read to the end. And? This is the longest post I’ve ever written.

“You made a difference.”

I think these are words that everyone would like to hear at some point in their life. We’d all like to know that our actions, our lives, have impacted the world. Maybe not even The world, but at least Someone’s world. I know that the majority of us struggle to find a practical way to accomplish such a task. Read on to learn more about my story, and how to make your own making-a-difference story happen…

I recently returned from a week long stay in Roatan, Honduras. Roatan is an island north of mainland South America in the Caribbean.

I visited the island with 16 other members of my local church on a mission trip with Alternative Missions and Dwellings to build a home for a deserving family.

The majority of the local population on Roatan lives in very unfortunate conditions. They deal with overcrowding, limited public resources, little to no waste removal protocols, infrequent medical care and systemic poverty on a daily basis. Their homes are constructed out of whatever they can find; old wood, cardboard, etc. and are generally in ill repair and very unsafe.

During our 7 day stay, we completely built one home and assisted in the building of three others. People in our group worked at a medical clinic, tutored children and loved on anyone and everyone we could find.

My specific task while in Honduras was to photograph real life; the people, the buildings, the landscape; anything and everything that could tell a story and spur emotion.

I completely fell in love with the children I met.  Their images, among others, will be used to bring awareness to the situation in Honduras. People there need better homes to improve health and free up income for education and hopefully end the cycle of poverty, family by family. Quality images, not just snapshots, will inspire others to give to this cause or even visit the island themselves and help.  Good images will also encourage others to choose to build for a family.

My pictures will help build homes.

I was able to use my trade to change Someone’s world. I made a difference in the lives of others. In a week.

And we are going to do it again in 2012. This time? TWO HOMES, TWO FAMILIES.

So… the real question… WHY am I posting about this again? The honest answer? We need money.

BY SUNDAY.

So far, Jeff and I have raised just shy of $1000 dollars. We need $4000. I have to write a check on Sunday afternoon for at least $1500 for our plane tickets can be purchased. Then, we need the last $1500 within about 4 weeks. Ready for more honesty?

We don’t have $3000 in our family’s budget to just write the check we need to. The trip costs $4000 but that doesn’t take into account all the other expenses our family will incur (childcare for our boys the week we are gone, both parents losing a weeks pay [no paid vacation for us!], and any other travel expenses that come up).

I did not mail out our Christmas cards this year (just follow me here…).

I did order them and they are currently staring me in the face from a bookshelf proclaiming “MERRY CHRISTMAS” right across the top. I tried to brainstorm some sort of creative and not totally cruddy looking way to morph them into a Happy New Year kind of card, but at the rate, I’m going… I should just start adding hearts and cupids for Valentine’s Day. However. Inside each of these cards I was supposed to mail was to be a Mission Letter asking all our friends and family for money for our trip (a lesson in humility to be sure). Since those cards most likely won’t be going out (and since I only ordered 50), I’m going to share that letter here and hope more than 50 of my almost 1400 Facebook friends read it instead.

The letter:

Happy Holidays!

We never write you letters. Today is different. We wanted to write and tell you about a mission trip we will be going on in March of 2012 to the island of Roatan, which is part of Honduras.

 

Maybe you are thinking, “Jeff & Brea are going on a mission trip?” That’s a completely fair thought. We aren’t necessarily the first couple people think of when it comes to building homes for the poor in a third world country far, far away. Plus, we are busy. Work is really intense right now, the kids are keeping us on our toes and this is not a good time to go on a mission trip. But we’re not sure if there is ever a “good time” to go on a mission trip. And we could probably come up with a list of reasons why we shouldn’t go, but keep coming back to the one reason we should – God loves people.

 

We’ve been trying to live that in the life we currently have. Yes, it’s easy to pray for far off places and far off people, but loving who you live and work with is a challenge. We’ve been trying to see our life as a mission field, not just this trip. And it’s been amazing to see the way God has used this new approach to everything from the way we tip at restaurants to the way we treat people in traffic. But now, it’s time to take the things we’ve learned to a new longitude and latitude. Again!

 

It may come as a surprise, but we actually went on a trip last year that is very similar to the trip we will be taking in 2012. Last March, we spent a week on the island of Roatan with a group from our church. We built a home for a deserving family, tutored children, helped at a medical clinic and shared the good news of the Gospel. Seeing the skills God gave us at work and used for His glory was amazing. The trip was a life changer for both of us.

 

We feel called to return to the island in 2012. We are going to Roatan for one week in March. Going wasn’t a hard decision. When it comes down to it, Jesus laid out a pretty simple religion for us, didn’t He? Love God, love others, and love ourselves. Nope, deciding to go was easy. Paying for it however, is a real challenge.

 

To be honest with you, we just don’t have $4000 lying around the house. So we decided to send letters to people we don’t usually write and ask for something we don’t usually ask for, money. We’d love if you could financially support us on this mission trip. A little, a lot, any would be great. And if you want to know more about the trip, please let us know and we will give you a call.

 

One other thing, if you could pray about the trip, that would be great. As much as God loves mission trips, other people don’t. There will be a whole host of obstacles that pop up and entangle themselves around our ankles as we prepare to go love the people of Roatan. And knowing that you are praying would mean a lot to us.

 

Thanks for reading this rambling letter. We really appreciate your time and prayers.Warmest Wishes.

Sincerely, Jeff & Brea Bursch

Need more info/proof that our trip is legit? I will now inundate you with links and media!

I wrote a “How-to” article on Missions and volunteer work (which I partially copied for the beginning of this post) over on
The Brand Camp blog that was read by God only knows how many people. I shared a semi embarrasing video where I reflected on the Roatan 2011 trip and shared my video diary. Recently, I posted another embarrasing video asking people to come to our Comedy for Missions fundraiser.

So… could you donate some money to us so we can go change the lives of 2 families? Any amount would be amazing!

I’ve made it as easy as possible with this handy dandy DONATE button. If you’d prefer to send a check, just let me know ( breabursch [at] gmail [dot] com ) and I will get you the deets.

 I will leave you with the recently remixed version of my video diary from last year that includes photos of the two families we will be building for in March. And? If you made it this far into this post…. thank you.