June 20, 2017
Our Dear Friends and Family,
The Eastern half of the run has begun! It is GOOD to be back in Kansas City: connecting with friends and fantastic pro-life champions across the city, while also finding rest. Here are some of the exciting things we have been up to:
This week we saw the future: Abortion always feels to me like a horror of the past It feels as though nothing this bad could be happening now, in this lovely, clean world around me. This week, we met with the future we hope and strive for— we were thrilled to meet with Zoe’s House Adoption Agency. The director, Kelsey Bohlender, is so full of passion and love for the unborn. Her heart is to see the church rise up and adopt those that are unwanted. They do adoptions for about a quarter of the national average. Forever changing the lives of families across the nation for the better. Her amazing family has ten children: six of whom Kelsey and her husband adopted. Their agency exudes warmth and hope; we were so encouraged by meeting with them.
We were also encouraged to meet with Becky Jackman, while at Zoe’s House Adoption Agency: she is exuberant with passion for the Pro Life cause. We were honored to hear her William Wilberforce style vision for the cause. We greatly anticipate the good things God will do through she and her team.
The team was on KCTV 5 news with Natalie Davis! We admire the courage that it takes for a reporter to cover such a controversial topic with grace and excitement.
We met a director of the pro-life ministry at IHOP church to pray outside the Planned Parenthood on Foxhill. IHOP’s pro-life vision is fantastic. Their heart of humility before God and willingness to do and to go anywhere that God leads them is incredible.
Anna spoke at St. Peter’s Church to a youth group— what an amazing experience! The youth group was electric with the zeal that lives in places of sincere faith. Annie gave a fantastic speech. She really knocked it out of the park; her love for the unborn and sincerity of feeling for her audience always lends an eloquence to her delivery, but this was an exceptional night.
The team had the capital pleasure of meeting with our friends and chief councillors the Becks. We love them dearly— their candor and encouragement are indispensable to our decision making and direction. Meeting with them a year after our first collusion felt so momentous. To be casually munching muffins and sipping Crystal Light after so much has passed on the run felt odd, yet significant.
We have transitioned into our van for the second half. God really does know what He’s doing… What the team envisioned for transportation was not the plan, but the van that the Clarke Family lent us was exactly, exactly right— even down to the mechanical issues along the way, which came out as miraculous provision. The van provided a comfortable and safe place for us to sleep, it trudged mountains, and sheltered us against many storms. Now, we are blessed to be using a second van lent to us by the Strasburg Family. In their kindness, they custom built shelving, did extensive tune ups, and strove to make a home within their vehicle for us. James Strasburg drove the van all the way from Indiana and then spent hours and hours installing curtains, cleaning the van, and shopping for things to make it a place of comfort. The Strasburgs have been so kind and enthusiastic from the beginning: making our presentation materials, encouraging us, and visiting us in forsaken places.
In other news, at two different points along the way, the website for the Project got hacked. We’ve lost three laptops to technical issues— holding on them years of research and work. It has been very painful at times, but our brother Alex has been a faithful technical support through it all. We could literally not have had the technical capacity without his aesthetic intuition and guiding advice. Megan has been a trooper— she is always ready to do whatever the team needs— in this case, some of that has also meant learning code. We are happy to be back up and running. This week, she met with a member of Zoe’s House Adoption Agency, Christina Styles, who is going to help in any way she can to connect us across the nation with speaking engagements and places to say all the way to Washington DC.
We are currently anticipating the release of Andy Gwyn’s next video. He came out to visit the team in Las Vegas to film and is making another production. His commitment to excellence and brilliant attention to storytelling are an exceptional gift.
Ben has been working tirelessly on finances. We are grateful for his faithfulness in what is a mundane but crucial job. It is such an asset to have a team member that dives into any project with intensity and joy.
Annie has been hurting: her knee has shortened her mileage quite a bit, and she actually has the flu as I write this, but even in this we are so very grateful. God has shown us that this project is about His timing over and over. Our desire is to always be at the center of His will: to be speaking with whom we are meant to speak at exactly the moment God has designed.
Please be praying for health— for Annie and for the team. We are grateful for your encouragement and love. For me, one of the elements of this run has been a lesson in being part of a family, a body of Believers. Thank you for these lessons in community and kindness. Hospitality and hope. Your investments have been invaluable.
All our love,
Sarah-Marie Hoduski