7.5 days and counting!

Eight days from today – one week from tomorrow – 180 hours – 10,800 minutes – 648,000 seconds – we are on our way! On our way to a foreign country, to growing closer together as a team, to meeting some great missionaries, to forming friendships with youth from across the world, to helping out wherever it is needed, and to having an AWESOME experience! Life is still continuing on as normal although occasionally we look at each other and say something like, “We leave in just over a week; can you believe it?” The other person generally replies with something to the effect of, “Time has flown by so fast! I can’t believe it is almost here!”

Time really has flown. Last week one team member found an email that another team member had sent before Christmas. “11 weeks to go!” (yes – we have been in countdown mode for a long time.) The last nine weeks have flown and it feels like we only blinked our eyes. But we are definitely more equipped and prepared than we were two months ago. The Lord has yet again worked in His mysterious way to raise up a team that complements each other’s skills and abilities. This past Sunday we had a team work day. Pastor Lyall (aka “Chef Lyall”) provided lunch for the team (an assortment of options – all delicious!) and we got to work. Objective for the day: complete journals and organize thoughts. (yes, we did pause to take a few pictures.) Proofreading, coping, printing, laminating, binding, sorting, and other tasks – all at the same time!

Journals: Each youth we will be working with will be given a journal with information to use during the conference. It has been a joy for us to put these journals together; we know that these journals will be part of the memory from the week – something to use to look back on what we studies, what we did, who we met, and other details. (These journals are standard for teams that go from our church – each journal is personalized to the team.) To find out what is actually in them… well, you will just have to wait and see!

Prayer Requests:
Attitudes – that we will continue to remember that all this is for the glory of One who is so worthy of it. We want to make Him the primary focus of the entire trip and not get caught up in details and ourselves.
Ginny Smith – having back problems and isn’t able to sit for long periods of time. (this doesn’t work well with our plane rides.)
Health – the flu is running rampant here and has hit a portion of our team in various stages. Pray for recovery for those who are and have been sick and that no one else will catch it.
Final Preparations – we have one more meeting as a team and several tasks still to accomplish. Pray for calm as we finalize details together and for each individual as he or she packs and prepares to travel.

Below are some pictures of the team this past weekend while they prepared the journals.

Teresa is making copies of the journal for everyone.
Kim is laminating the journal covers and organizing the pages.
Kevin is helping the team by blocking the doorway until all journals are finished.