...more shots...

I'm heading out the door for more immunizations...not looking forward to them, but they're better than getting Polio or Hepatitis or Meningitis!!!

I found this today...loved it enough to post it here....

"The ability of God is beyond our prayers, beyond our largest prayers! I have been thinking of some of the petitions that have entered into my supplication innumerable times. What have I asked for? I have asked for a cupful, and the ocean remains! I have asked for a sunbeam, and the sun abides! My best asking falls immeasurably short of my Father's giving: it is beyond that we can ask." --J. H. Jowett

Working, resting and celebrating...

The calendar says we have 5 1/2 weeks til our departure date! After months and months of planning and preparing, the end is in sight!

While we wait...

We're working. The adults and students are working hard to reach our goal of $54,000! This week we have more painters, mulchers and mowers out there! As a team we are somewhere around $44,000...which is quite staggering if you consider the time in which the amount has been raised! We were blessed with quite a bit in last Sunday's offering...even though the focus was on the Great Commission Fund. What an unexpected blessing!

"Put God in charge of your work, then what you've planned will take place."

Proverbs 16:3

While we work...

We're resting. Resting in the promise that He who began a good work will see it to completion. While the $10,000 still to be raised seems like a daunting task, we choose to believe the desires of our hearts will be accomplished. So while our bodies work, our spirits rest.

"Let be,and be still, and know (recognize and understand) that I am God.

I will be exalted among the nations! I will be exalted in the earth!"

Psalm 46:10

While we rest...

We celebrate. Between now and the 27th of June there is so much celebrating to be done! There are 12 seniors among our youth group who are ending their high school careers and graduating in the next few weeks! Many of those seniors will be traveling to Gabon with us, so in many ways, the month of June will be one big, long month of celebration! We celebrate the lives of these kids we've come to love almost like our own! We've been blessed to walk along side many of them all the way through their middle school and high school years. I may be biased, but I would say we have some of the best kids Lancaster County has to offer! In my own celebrating there will be a few tears, too...graduating not only these great young people, but one of my own, too!

It is a bittersweet time for us all...but celebrate we will!

"Look at what's happened! This is our God! We waited for him and he showed up and saved us!This God, the one we waited for! Let's celebrate, sing the joys of his salvation.

God's hand rests on this mountain!"

Isaiah 25:9

The countdown...

We're about 6 1/2 weeks from our departure date and there is a great amount of excitement among the team members. There is still so much to do...so much money still to be raised...so many details to be taken care of.

Fundraising is one of the hardest things about a big trip like this one. Raising $3,ooo a person is overwhelming at times. But, I'm impressed by the work that's being done by the students and adults. This week alone there were several people selling flowers, several painting and several doing yardwork. Our last meeting really rallied us and made us take a good look at the reality of how far we still have to go to reach our goal. The kids have taken up the challenge and are working harder than ever to meet their $3,ooo goal. I believe the trip will mean all the more to them because of the sweat they've put in to making it happen.

We're preparing in other ways, too. We've recently received a list of items we are to take with us to Gabon, we're waiting on our Visa's, and working on some personal goals, too. This week we are to write out our testimonies and be prepared to share them with the group. This seems to be a harder task than any of us anticipated! I can see the kids are nervous and a little anxious about completing them...

but I believe each one of them has something worth sharing and will connect with at least one person in Gabon who needed to hear it.

A prayer request for this week:

I've been told that by the end of this week we are to send a large sum of money ahead of us to Gabon for some of the preparations for our coming. It is an overwhelming figure since our airfare tickets are also to be purchased in the next few days. God knows how impossible it looks from my vantage point...but He also knows that He's got it all under control and will work it out according to His plan.

And so, we work, we wait and we trust...all in His time.

A weekend well spent...

It's taken me all week to update...not sure why, but here's just a glimpse of some of the great times we had last weekend at the retreat...from my point of view...

Two very beautiful mornings on the dock preparing for the day ahead....

Sunshine, water, beach, birds singing, and my favorite book....

heavenly....

Friendships were formed and strengthened...

Male bonding...

Times of sweet worship...

Sillyness and laughter among friends...

An afternoon of wild and crazy basketball!

The longest game of dodgeball EVER!

Girl's photoshoot!

One last retreat group shot with the SENIORS!

Instructions: "Last picture, just be yourself!"

Another great time together.

Great speaker...great music....great memories...

I think the theme of the weekend that the students took home with them is "being real" before God. Not just SAYING we believe, but ACTING like we believe. Not just following the rules because we're supposed to...but because we WANT to. We talked about the way we spend our time...the things that take our attention from God....
My prayer is that this weekend was the beginning of a NEW BEGINNING for some of the students who are struggling to understand what they believe in. The word the Lord set on my heart for the students during my quiet time was TRANSFORMATION.

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." IICorinthians 3:18

Today's the day!!!

We wait all year for this day....we anticipate it...dream over it...plan for it...and finally, it's here!!! NO, it's not our Gabon departure date...it's RETREAT WEEKEND!!!!! While only a few of us will have the privilege to fly to Gabon together, the whole gang has the opportunity to spend the weekend at the District Retreat in North Bay, MD. And, what an unbelievable weekend it always is!!! We've been so blessed with great speakers and worship bands in the past..and we expect nothing but the same this weekend!

And the weather....can we talk about the weather?? While we've had other weekends at North Bay with sunny days, I don't think we've ever seen a forecast quite like this one! Over 80 degrees and sunny...you've got to be kidding me! Heavenly....

I know the subject of our talks this weekend is Romans 12...which happens to be some of my favorite verses. Some of our kids have claimed vs 1&2 as their life verses. There's a feeling of excitement among the students (AND LEADERS!) in anticipation of what the Lord has to teach us in these next few days.

I've already requested that we have extra tissues on hand for Holly and I as we enjoy this last retreat with our Seniors...and mourn their passing! We are both continually surprised every Spring that we can possibly love someone else's kids so much and cry over them just thinking about their graduating and leaving us! This year is even more bittersweet for me as I send forth my own firstborn. But...we will not even go there in this post.

For these next 2 1/2 days we will focus only on these precious teenagers who have stolen a piece of our hearts forever...we'll laugh with them, play with them, and walk alongside them on yet another journey in their walk of faith. And we'll be blessed with yet another year of retreating away from our everyday lives with them.

(NorthBay Adventure dock....where you'll find me early tomorrow am!)

Ahhh...retreat...sweet retreat!

Cultivate these things...

I spent some time alone at Panera this morning. It seems to be the place I can focus best--go figure--a cup of coffee, a bagel and my Bible and I'm all ears!

I'm finishing up a great book on Paul's Journey of Faith (by Beth Moore--my favorite!) and I thought so much of all of you, my teamates, as I read. These words were written for Timothy..Paul's words of encouragement to him. But, they are for us, too. For those who struggle...those who wait...those who trust...and those who wonder what God's up to. We may be in an unknown place in this world, but our lives teach. And, because of that, we have a responsibility to "keep at it"...to live lives of offering and worship.

"Get the word out. Teach all these things. And don't let anyone put you down because you're young. Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity. Stay at your post reading Scripture, giving counsel, teaching. And that special gift of ministry you were given when the leaders of the church laid hands on you and prayed—

keep that dusted off and in use.
Cultivate these things. Immerse yourself in them. The people will all see you mature right before their eyes! Keep a firm grasp on both your character and your teaching. Don't be diverted. Just keep at it. Both you and those who hear you will experience salvation."

I Timothy 4:11-16

(The Message)

"...one of God's priority goals is to raise up and encourage passionate, persevering servants who are completely abandoned to His will..."

we are living proof that He exists...

We're well past our half-way mark!!!

Just wanted to give an update on our team funds. As of this week, we are at $31,000!!! Our total goal is $54,000 before June. We're excited to have 3 people completely paid for! Our accounts are growing each day, and we're trusting the Lord who called us will faithfully supply what is needed in His time....which is NEVER too late!

A few weeks ago each of us was challenged to find a verse or passage of scripture we wanted the rest of the team to be praying for us...they've been put together as a set of prayer cards so that we all have each team member's verse. I was so blessed as I typed out each student's vs...recognizing something in each one that spoke to a need or heart's desire. We're getting to know each other's needs, praying for one another AND

learning 18 of the coolest verses of scripture!

Together we've chosen a team verse:

"Therefore...I beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace..."

Epesians 4:1-3