Fundraising needed

Sisters Brittany and Sarah Phipps plan to embark on a mission trip to Serbia this holiday season with Operation Christmas Child to hand out shoeboxes to children.

To make the trip possible, the girls must raise $3,600.

Brittany, currently a sophomore at N.C. State University, attends Providence Baptist Church in Raleigh, which is sponsoring the trip. Sarah is currently a sophomore at Polk County High School and attends Coopers Gap Baptist Church.

“I have grown up all my life surrounded by Coopers Gap’s (Baptist Church) encouragement to make shoeboxes so that they can be sent and delivered,” Brittany said. “Now, I will be able to personally see the impact these shoeboxes have on those children who don’t have the same things we have. I’m so excited to witness the children’s excitement.”

The sisters are not new to mission trips as they volunteered in China in the summer of 2011. While there, they helped host a basketball camp as a way to share the news of Christ to the people of Xi’an, China. The girls say throughout the trip they developed close relationships to the six Chinese translators and 10 Chinese coaches, as well as more than 150 Chinese basketball students.

The Phipps also traveled to Helena, Ark. this past summer to conduct backyard Bible schools with Richmond First Baptist Church in Virginia. Brittany taught swimming lessons during the week and Sarah worked with preschool children.