By Nikki Raichart

In January of 2011, my husband Tad and I attended Mission ConneXion Northwest. We were excited to go and hear how God is working all over the globe. It’s not uncommon for us to go; I think this was our third or fourth time. Though this time, Tad was battling a sinus infection and was having a hard time focusing. That is, until right after lunch.

The first plenary speaker, Danial Oh, challenged us so much so that we were moved to attend a workshop on how to raise funds for full-time missions. “Why in the world would we do this?” we asked ourselves. We had no intention of support-raising in the near future; after all we have five children, including foster kids.

In the meantime, Tad and I perused the Exhibitor Hall. It’s a huge area, and we made two rounds without feeling led to any particular booth.

After lunch, I asked Tad if we could look just once more. “Why in the world we would walk around a third time?” I wondered. I had no idea, and why Tad said “yes,” I have no idea either!

But, we did. And that was just the beginning. I saw a booth called Africa Harvest of Hope and said, “Hey honey, how about this one? It says Africa in the title (we’ve had Africa on our hearts for a few years); how about you go ask them what they are about?”

So Tad asked the exhibitor, Patrick, “Tell me about your ministry.” As Patrick spoke, we fell in love with what they were doing in Tanzania! He told us that they were praying for a family that could live in Tanzania and help develop the 90 acres they were just given by the government, and to help oversee the orphanage where they had 30 children currently living.

We both looked at each other and knew that we fit that bill. It was like for the last three years, God had been preparing us to do exactly this! Orphans. Building. Developing. Sharing Jesus with people. This is what we are all about!

And so our connection at Missions ConneXion began!

Fast forward six months to June 2011, and Tad and I find ourselves flying across the world to Tanzania. It was a whirlwind of getting the right immunizations, updating passports, sending out support/prayer letters, flying to California to meet the founders of Africa Harvest of Hope, and figuring out the details of where our five children were going to stay while we were gone for two weeks!

We had an amazing time working in the rural town Korogwe. We ministered alongside a local pastor at the Africa Harvest of Hope orphanage, spent time visiting with widows in mud huts, and helped build the orphanage a chicken coop.
We honestly don’t know what the Lord has in store for us and where He will lead. But we do know that we are grateful to Mission ConneXion for being a catalyst in our journey.

We encourage you to look around, and take advantage of the exhibitors, as they have inspiring stories to share; and take lots of notes in the plenary sessions—because you never can tell, where God is preparing you to go.