Growing up, I did not go to church often, so I didn't know the story of the God of the Bible at a young age. As I grew into a teenager, I began to wonder who I was. I also moved to a new city right before high school, which really shook my world, because everything I knew growing up and all of my friends were no longer with me. Because I also did not like my new place where I lived at first, this naturally lead me to wonder what the purpose of life is, if God existed, and if He was good.

In my senior year of high school, I started playing in a band whose members were also in a church band, and I started going to youth group with them. At youth group God changed my life forever. Here I first heard the good news of Jesus Christ and the God of the Bible. I learned that God loves me and created me to be in relationship with Him and experience His perfect, infinite love. To be loved by God, to love Him back, and to love others. I learned that God wants the best life for me, He is never trying to rob me of life. I also learned that because of my sin, my falling short of Gods good law, my evils acts against Him, I was separated from Him because He cannot take part in evil. Not only this, but because He is good and holy, He cannot allow evil to exist forever, and that he had wrath for me because of my sin. Also, because He is a just God, there are no good deeds or good works that I can do to make up for my offenses, because offenses must be punished; just like if somebody murdered somebody, they would have to go to jail no matter how many good things they have done in their life. Therefore, there is nothing I can do to save myself from God's wrath. And the wages of our sin is death, that we must die and be eternally separated from God.

But thanks be to God, who sent His Son Jesus to be the Savior of the world. God is so good, he doesn't take pleasure in the death of the wicked, in the death of His enemies. He sent His Son Jesus to the world. God became a man in Jesus Christ, He added humanity to His divinity. And He came and lived the perfect life we should have lived, even though he didn't have to. So Jesus did not deserve death. And yet, he went and died on the cross, not dying His death, but dying our death. Jesus died on the cross to pay for our sins, he took God's wrath towards sinful humanity for us on the cross so we wouldn't have to. He died for His enemies, to make them His friends! Then He died, and on the third day He rose from the dead, forever defeating sin, Satan, and death, and being declared in power to be the Son of God that He is and always was. All we have to do to accept Jesus payment for our sins on our behalf, be reconciled back to God, and have eternal life forever is believe in the name of His Son Jesus; God gives salvation, reconciliation back to Him as a free gift, you cannot earn it, and it is accepted through faith.

I fell in love with this God, Jesus Christ. When I accepted His grace, He changed my life forever. I no longer had to seek for life in things that cannot ultimately satisfy my soul. I always tried to find meaning and identity in success, relationships, what other people thought of me, entertainment and pleasure, and nothing satisfied. But now Jesus has shown me that He is the one I was created for, and only His perfect, infinite love can satisfy my soul.

Because God loves me this way, I am compelled to share this good news with others! Recently, God opened the door for me to travel to Assela, Ethiopia with my church Watermark Community Church and e3 Partners Ministry on a short-term mission trip in July, 2015. Here, we will be joining the Ethiopian Christians and e3 Christians that live in Ethiopia to be their sidekicks in building relationships and sharing this good news with people who have never heard the name of Jesus! In the U.S., not everyone has heard the good news, but there are churches in most cities and most people at least know Jesus' name. But in Assela, Ethiopia, there are many people who have never even heard His name and never had the opportunity to receive Gods grace and love. I am so excited to have this opportunity, so Christ's grace and love that he offers can be spread to more people. My favorite part of this trip is any Ethiopian that we share with, if they believe in Jesus, will have the Ethiopian Christians and churches that live there to continually love them and disciple them once we leave. And even if they do not believe, they will have built relationships with the Ethiopians there to still be loved on.

However, us traveling to Ethiopia cannot be accomplished by ourselves; we need a team of prayer warriors and supporters. The first and most important support we need is prayer. Prayers for our travels, for supplies, our team, our Ethiopian translators and disciple makers, and most importantly, prayer that God would open the hearts of those we will share the good news with. Would you be interested in joining us in prayer for this trip?

Also, the cost per person for this trip is $3,950, much of which is due March 1st; this includes transportation, lodging, food, translators, and supplies. Therefore, I also need help financially to be able to go on this trip. I have made it my goal to raise 50% or $1,975 of the total trip cost. Also, any funds raised above and beyond the trip cost will be directed toward the local disciple makers training. Would you also prayerfully consider supporting me financially with a one-time gift?

If you would like to join me financially, there are two tax-deductable ways you can do so. You may visit my personal fundraising page at https://purecharity.com/michael-koltun-ivs-fundraiser-for-assela-ethiopia in order to give online (at the bottom of this page). Or, if you would like to give by sending a check, please find detailed instructions on how to do so at this link https://purecharity.com/fundraisers/9421/mail/0.00 .

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this letter, and please let me know if you have any more questions. I would love to meet with you in person or at least talk with you on the phone about this trip. You can also find out more about the mission of e3 Partners at www.e3partners.org.

Thanks again for your time and praying about being a part of our team.

Sincerely,

Michael Koltun IV