July 2025 Missions Update: Highlights, Prayer Needs, and Our Anticipated Return

Missions Update

As we approach the middle to end of summer, we look forward to a lot of different things. Trenton continues to attend classes at Living Faith Bible Institute and is hoping to gain his ordination sometime next year. He received another wonderful report on his store from a superior at GPS Hospitality. And he continues to teach the teens at our church every Sunday morning from the book of John.

Meanwhile, I’ve been busy planning mission trips, helping to get the finishing touches done on the devotional booklet we’ll be using for the Soccer World Cup next year, as well as preparing for our Uganda team meeting and fundraiser in August. My work at the Department of Natural Resources has also kept me busy and I am now more tan than I ever thought I would be in my life.

We are excited to announce that we finally have plans to return to Australia!

If all goes according to plan, we will be returning for a short trip the beginning of 2027. Our hope is to have paid off the majority of our debt by then so that we can get back on the road to raising support for our move there. However, this is completely in the Lord’s hands. While we are eager to get back to the Land Down Under (the homesickness has been the hardest part of this process for me…) we are taking the steps as the Lord provides and trying not to rush things.

Please pray that the Lord would continue to guide us as we prepare to go back.

An Urgent Prayer Request

In a previous newsletter I shared a praise regarding a new medication I’ve been able to take to offset the effects of my autoimmune disease. It is the only treatment out of six others that has worked, and it has been such a blessing to finally have the freedom to live without always having to worry about what I’m going to eat.

Unfortunately, we are having trouble getting the medication through our new insurance. I was able to get three months under a relief program for patients with EOE, but as of now, cannot get any more covered. The medication is $6000 a month, so affording it without insurance isn’t an option. Please pray that my doctor’s can figure out what to do before I’m due to order more at the end of August.

Writing Update

With the road to release now a month underway, writing events are in full swing and I could not be happier with the progress! I was blessed to have a book signing this month with Charlin’s Book Nook in Frankenmuth, Michigan where I brought double the books from last month’s signing and ended up selling out AGAIN!

The cover reveal for book two of the Shadow Series, War of the Rising Phoenix, dropped today and you can check it out below!

Meanwhile, editing is still in the works. We are finishing up the last few chapters of the first pass through this week. I am in the process of working through a few developmental edits. Then, we will start on the second and final pass through. I plan to have a release date to announce by the end of October!

If you are interested in a more in depth synopsis of what I’ve been working on, I post updates regularly on Facebook, instagram, and TikTok all under Author Hanna M. Shields. That’s where you can get the most up to date information!

Upcoming Dates to Remember

1. August 23 - Uganda Mission Fundraiser

2. September 6 - Cadillac Book Festival

3. December 1-6 - Operation Christmas Child Mission Trip

4. May 2026 (Dates tbd) - Uganda Mission Trip

5. June 2026 (Dates tbd) - Fifa World Cup SEE ministry

These are just a few of the bigger dates we have coming up. We have smaller one’s along the way, so please keep us in prayer regarding all of that.

And remember! Our mission trips are open for anyone to attend! If you are interested in any of the trips on this list, reach out and let me know. I would love to get you connected. We would love to serve with you!