Dear_____

Dear Family and Friends,

            To start off I just wanted to personally thank you for generously donating to me with an open heart towards Mission Year. I am sending this letter to you because I have received your financial support towards Mission Year and wanted to be honest in what has been going on in my life. As of late, I have been seeking abundant counsel from many people including Senior Pastor Rick Hopkins, and Suzy Wasmuth from Plymouth Congregational Church and many other strong faithful Christians to help me decipher if Mission Year is actually my calling from God or if it is a plan of my own. After being a counselor and Bible teacher at Camp Forest Springs last summer I wanted to continue to serve God in any way that I could in order to help spread God’s love and outreach to the brokenhearted. From this point I began to research many non-profit organizations to find my ideal perfect match of a ministry to join. This is when I became introduced to Mission Year and I felt it was a great opportunity to get away and serve God.

Since making that decision God has been opening up new opportunities and intervening with the plans that I have made for after graduating college this May. I sincerely wanted to inform you about the recent concrete decision I have made through prayer and being mentored about not attending Mission Year 2013-2014 any longer. I have been seeking great counsel and wisdom to help me process where I am at in my life with my personal plans to go to Mission Year. God is showing me He has plans for me, and he is making it clear that they are not my plans and withdrawing from Mission Year was the necessary next step to take.

Needless to say, it is been an emotional rollercoaster trying to sort out my decision to join Mission Year. I am thankful for the supportiveness that I have received thus far from my supportive family, friends, and church family. This month I will become an official member of Plymouth Congregational Church in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. This means the world to me that I will become a member here because this is the church that I have spread my roots at since I was first participated in their middle school youth group. Going along with this new membership affiliation I feel led by God to stay put and be content where I am at.

 Through the writing of this letter, I have tried to express my sincerity and hope you understand my decision. The decision has not come lightly, through the power of prayer and seeking counsel, I have come to the conclusion that God is intervening with my Chicago Mission Year plans, and I will be staying in Oshkosh. I have received abundant peace about my decision and I pray that you will too. I know that you personally donated to my name through Mission Year and I am happy for your willingness and open heart to support me. Unfortunately, no one will be able to get their money reimbursed from Mission Year. This means that whatever financial donation you gave towards me I will never receive and it will still be kept with Mission Year to continue to support their nonprofit ministry to Love God + Love People. With this being said, although I will never see the money I feel led to express that if you would like me to personally pay you back the money you donated to me, I will try my hardest, God willing, to over the course of time pay you back as God provides me with financial stability to give it back to you. If you so desire me to do this please contact me at 920-420-5232 or ambermrstik@gmail.com otherwise I am so grateful for your understanding. Please feel free to contact me with any questions in regards to my withdrawal from Mission Year.

In Christ,

Amber Mrstik