Countdown: 18 days to go

It's Christmas day, and in the quiet following the festivities, we find ourselves once again counting down the days until we leave for South Africa. Only 18 days to go! The days have been filled with many last-minute activities.

We had another team meeting with Ian--this one to guide us in spiritual preparation for our trip.  Ian had many great insights and ideas to help our team.

We wrapped up our Aurora giving tree at co-op, and were blessed by a great outpouring of support in the form of school supplies and other items--so many items that there was concern about being able to pack everything in one extra suitcase. Since each extra bag costs $80, we needed to fit everything in one bag, and it needed to weigh in under 50 pounds. God took care of it, as He always does--every last pencil, crayon, and glue stick fit into one suitcase, and when we stepped on the scale with bated breath to check the weight, it came in at 47 pounds! Perfect!

We purchased short-term missions trip journals to guide our devotional times for the seven days preceding our trip, during our trip, and seven days after returning. We plan to start each day in Africa with a time of prayer and debrief together in the evenings.

Many other logistical details have occupied us of late, including working out arrangements for making local and long-distance calls, getting trip insurance, determining how we'll pay for things in-country, even how we'll do laundry. Not to mention curriculum planning for the classroom!

Finally, I am tickled to report that we've reached and exceeded our trip budget! God has been so faithful! We'll be able to use additional funds to purchase something for the school, if the need presents itself when we are there.

Fund-raising Update

I am so pleased to report that we currently have $12,456 in our Aurora fund, which is about $200 shy of the budgeted amount. Woooohoooo! Any funds that come in above and beyond our budget will be available to bless the school or a future team going to Aurora. If God shows us a need when we're there at the school, we can use the extra funds to fill that need. He has been so faithful!

Oh, by the way, 29 days until departure!!! :)

Learning cultural sensitivity

Last night our team (minus Kyle, who was not feeling well) met with our missions Pastor, Ian Campbell. We each filled out a questionnaire to help us create our own personality profile. These profiles were used to examine how we, as a product of our culture, might view certain things differently than those we'll interface with in Africa. For instance, we Americans are very time-oriented, but Africans are more event-oriented--for them, life happens without a lot of concern about how much time things take. Understanding this difference in cultural attitudes will help us keep from getting frustrated or from accidentally offending someone. It was a very interesting exercise!

A gift for Aurora from the American Heritage Girls

The American Heritage Girls recently completed a service project for the children of Aurora. They compiled 200 sewing kits, which include a selection of fabric squares, thread, and needles in a zip lock baggie. We're going to teach the children to mend and sew!

Team Verse Has Been Chosen!

We had a great team meeting the other night and while going through some prep materials from Aurora, we came across some Scripture that seemed perfect for claiming as our team verses!  It is:

Psalm 67: 1-2

May God be gracious to us and bless us
   and make his face shine on us
 so that your ways may be known on earth,
   your salvation among all nations.

This is our prayer-- that God would bless our efforts and go before us in this endeavor, so that God and His salvation would be known among the nations. Amen! 

Now to see if we can get this put on our team T-shirts.....!!  

Posted by April