June 2008 Prayer Letter

June 7, 2008
Dear Friends and Family-

Greetings from Pasadena! Thank you all for your many prayers and notes of encouragement over the last few weeks. I am amazed to find I have been in California for almost four weeks, as it seems like just a few (long) days. I have really been able to see God’s hand at work in my life through this transitional time.


Work has been the biggest challenge and biggest joy of the last few weeks. I have around twenty kids on my regular case load, plus a few ‘borrowed’ kids. Some of my kids are pretty challenging clinically, while for others the biggest challenge is building rapport with their families. I feel like a total greenhorn, but every day is one more day of experiences as a ‘real’ physical therapist, and I love my kids. You can be praying for me that I would be able to care well for these children and their families even in my inexperience. Please also pray for me to have wisdom in my time management and be able to build community with my co-workers.

I have also enjoyed the opportunity to begin to integrate into community with Servant Partners and other ministries. Though my internship doesn’t start till the fall, I am helping out some of the current interns with a service project this summer. We are working with a local church to create a Saturday morning Bible club in the neighborhood called ‘Kingdom Kids’. Please be praying for all the details of this to work out in God’s timing, as our start date, June 21st, is rapidly approaching!


One final excitement in my life is that I finally bought myself a new car this week. God really blessed me in allowing me to get a great price on a car with low mileage that met all my specs. Of course, my big prayer now is that both the car and the driver would be safe and reliable for the next several years. So far driving in Pasadena hasn’t been too bad, but it is more challenging than Friendswood. The biggest challenge is a ridiculous lack of left turn signals in this city!

One last area of continued prayer need for me is in my support needs. My first fundraising deadline is only a week away, June 15th, and I still have a ways to go before reaching my first goal amount of $1500. I am sure God is going to provide this money in his own time, but I wanted to include instructions on ways to support me for those of you who are planning on donating soon. There are three ways you can give your gifts, and all gifts are tax-deductible:
Writing a check: Please have checks made out to “Servant Partners” and put “Intern: Bethany DeGray” on the memo line. This will ensure that the monies that received will be put into my account.
Via Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT): Go to the SP Website (http://www.servantpartners.org/) and click on “Donate.” Instructions for setting up an EFT is on that page.
Via PayPal: Similar to EFT, but this is for a one time credit/debit card transfer only. Go to http://www.servantpartners.org/ and click on “Donate.” Just follow the instructions. You will be able to designate who the money is going to go to on the SECOND page.

My total fundraising goal is $4,000, which will cover travel costs to the Philippines and costs for educational materials and retreats during the two years of the internship. Though I am of course eager to see how God is going to meet this financial need, my primary concern continues to be my prayer needs. At this point I think my needs fall in three umbrella areas, work, ministry and driving. I am creating ‘sub’ prayer list specifically for my driving needs, so that I can just drop a line on the topic as the need arises. If you would like to be on that list, please email me and I will add you.
Thank you all so much for bearing with a long letter. I hope your summers are starting well and you are also seeing God’s hand at work in your lives. I love and miss you all.
In His Hands-
Bethany Joy DeGray

p.s. The pictures are from top to bottom: 1) My ‘baby’ room at work, 2) My roommates Beth, Stephanie, Erin and Preethi, 3) My new car, and 4) The view out my front door.