Expect Great things, God always delivers!

Countdown Chain:

1 Day Left!: Are you ready to be a Dorcus?

Also: I got some pink hair today!  a few of us did actually! :)

Blast off tomorrow!!!!  I CANT believe it!

Sometimes my feet smell like pepperoni! Yummy!

Countdown Chain:

2 Days Left: Sometimes that mountain you've been climbing is just a grain of sand. Remember a mustard seed of faith can move mountains.


Packed?  Nahhhhhh....what would I do tomorrow?!

Pickled peppers are pipping poopies

Countdown Chain:


3 days left!: Are you ready for your lives to be changed? Prepare emotionally, spiritually and physically.

Worm:"Surely you think its funny?"

Toad:"No its not funny and don't call me Shirley!"

Countdown Chain:

4 Days Left!: Is your heart and attitude prepared?

Lord if you won't make me skinny...

...please make my friends fat! Hehehehe!

Countdown Chain:

5 Days Left!: Pray for the Holy Spirit to give us peace.

At your Service

MOOOOOOOVING!  The students did a great job pitching in and helping this family out - literally!

More fun to come! :)

(the world is blown to bits)

What if butterflies went from butterfly form to caterpillar form instead of the other way around?!

Countdown Chain:

6 Days Left!: Dwell on the fact that God is good today.

Rocks are hard. Just sayin'

Countdown Chain:

7 Days Left!: Pray for our luggage, and the people who handle them.


Great day serving with our team yesterday, pictures coming soon!

I have a secret to share: I did not come from monkies!!!!!

Countdown Chain:

8 Days Left!: Pray for God's hand of protection for the team during our long journey.

See you at church! :)

10...9...

Countdown Chain:

10 Days Left!: Pray that we will have Holy Spirit power to dethrone Satan's control on the Brazilian's lives.

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck......corn?? (Gotcha ya!)

9 Days Left!: Pray that we can encourage and refresh the Cook family.

Remember, never tie your shoes when the cheese is hot on a cloudy day

I see said the blind man to his deaf wife

Countdown Chain:
11 Days Left: Pray that the team will know how to best serve the Cook Family.

I wish worms were smelly. (and cool)

Countdown Chain:
12 Days Left: Pray in Jesus name against the things Satan will do to hinder us.


AND exciting news! I got a new camera! :)

Never take any wooden nickels

Countdown Chain:
13 Days Left!: Everytime you eat, pray for the health and safety of our team.

Giraffes should come in plaid!

 Last night the students made a two week countdown chain.  Everyday they wrote a prayer and a random (hence the title of this post).  I'll try to keep up with their chain on here.

I started packing today, here's how far I am: (thanks for your help Puff)

Someone commented to me last night that they were so glad I'm going on this trip.  I am too.  I really am.  I think it's going to be quite an experience for everyone, and I'm so glad to be a part of it.

Countdown Chain:

14 Days Left til Brazil: pray for the hearts of the kids we're going to serve the first week.

PS: is it the 4th of July in Brazil too? :)

10 days...

OF WORK!!!!!!  

This is gunna be GREAT!

Lake Ann is this coming week for our students - Lord reign down! Reign in their hearts!

4 Weeks!

Crunch time!!  I'm doing things like:

Looking for dresses for Brazil - YAY!

AND 

constantly looking at my ad calendar at work...and taking a DEEP breath!

I'm also thinking about how God's going to use our efforts, and how lives will be changed.  :)

Spaghetti is all in the family!

See, I'm good on my word...photos!

Happy Customers...

Joe getting a lesson in alfredo...

Jake with a handful of utensils...

Jo and some hot pasta...

Megan and Stace...always camera ready!

Sam and Jo displaying brotherly love...

The man behind the operation...

Lydia, and her servants heart! :)

6 weeks until lift off! :)

$1200

Let me just start by saying: My God is SO good.  He's given me everything I need and walks beside me day by day.  He picks me up when I'm down and truly leads me beside still waters. 

Yep, Becca Willis' garage sale made that much moneda!  YAY!  See? My God is sooooo good!

Pictures of Spaghetti Dinner to come!  The teens did so great prepping, serving and cleaning up, I was very proud of them!  Again - He's SO good to us.

I think the COUNT DOWN is at 7 weeks!!  So good So good So good! Yeah!

Ready...Set...Organize!

The week has come.  The week of THE garage sale.  Bless Becca Willis' heart - she has taken the junk from the entire church and is working on organizing it, and then plans to SELL it on Friday and Saturday at her garage sale.  All proceeds going to the Brazil Trip.  

What a woman! 

Tonight we sorted clothes, boys, girls, kids, mens and womens.  I wish I had pictures.  Here are some old ones of me sorting - it was a bit like this actually.

Mostly I just wanted to post some pictures!  

I have to say I'm enjoying our students all the time more and more.  What a blessing to be in position to contribute to their lives at such a special time.  

Lord grant me wisdom and obedience!

Hoot! Dinosaurs not Owls

Tonight was another typical Wednesday of Youth Ministry, except the students played Dino Ball!  Basically each kid plays the part of a different Dinosaur and they can only do certain things as they attempt to work together as a team to score goals.  So the T Rexes had to keep their arms tucked in like T Rexes do, Stegasauruses could only kick the ball when they tried to score, etc...it was funny and the kids really seemed to get into it, and I thought they were a hoot to watch!!  Hoot! now I'm my grandma! :) 

On a more serious note, as a group we have less than $4,000 to raise!  Praise The Lord!  What an answer to prayer! :)  It's been amazing to see how God has opened doors and paved the way for this trip in many different ways, including financially.

I continue to develop relationships and get to know our students on a more personal level, which is huge for me; I feel more prepared for the trip.  I've enjoyed being able to laugh with them, (and at aka Dino Ball) as they experience youth ministry.  I'm reminded of what a truly unique time of life it is and how fulfilling the time spent with the other students can really be; it's neat to be a fly on the wall of it all. :)

Pray for: More open doors with our students.  Calm hearts and clear minds.  Full weeks of camp!  Continued financial blessing.  Health.  And overall continued blessing on the trip.

Trusted

Do you know that feeling when you know something, and then it happens?

The other day I was feeling....frazzled shall we say, and I knew I needed to hand things over to God to work things out.  So I asked a few friends to simply pray for wisdom for me.  The prayers of righteous women were definitely heard!  Over the course of the next few days I had clarity on the subject, and have felt oh so calm about it.  AND not only did God answer our prayers, he also brought it to my mind, so I was able to see his answers, be encouraged, and thank him too!

How Great is our God! :)

Spread Out Your Tents

The other night at Bible study, Trish our teaching leader, pointed out that in the book of Isaiah Israel is told to spread out their tents or act in faith and plan for God to bless them with numerous descendants.  Then she challenged us to think about where God might be calling us to spread out our tents or take steps of faith to prepare for what he has in store for us.  

I immediately thought about going to Brazil!  In so many ways it was a step of faith to commit to this trip, and leave some of life's other details in the hands of God to work out.  So far I havent regretted it (duh!), and I cant wait to see what else is in store!  

Spread out your tent -yo!

:)

So here's the story -

Or at least some stats on Brazil:

It's the largest country in South America and the world's 5th largest.

It has a population of over 190 million.

The people speak Portuguese because it was originally a colony of Portugal.

Brazil's GDP is the world's 8th largest economy, with the 7th largest purchasing power; and it's growing at the fastest rate anywhere!

Brazil boasts the world's largest Roman Catholic population, however there's been a decline in the last 10 years in favor of Protestantism.

More info coming soon!  Stay tuned!

Happy Weekend!

Let me Just say...

I'm so enjoying our students and it's been great to see a renewed energy in them that I think is due in large part to the trip.  With all the preparation of those going on the trip and those sending, they seem to be pulling together.  

What a great blessing!  

Glory to God!

Late Breaking News

We have a late joiner!  

Meet Grace! 

I'm so glad she'll be making the trip with us.  With her addition we've got 10 students, 4 adults, 2 missionaries, and 1 great adventure!

We had a Brazil meeting today during our FLOCK hour.  Our attention was turned to Philippians 2.1-11 where we looked at what makes us 'great' in the kingdom of Heaven?  Humility.

My prayer this week is to humble myself before the Lord, draw close, and listen for his still small voice.

Also be in prayer for Megan.  She's on another trip to Guatemala serving in an orphanage.  Another great opportunity to experience God's hand working in and around her.

20 weeks

In Prego world that would mean half way until baby time.  In Brazil world, it means 20 WEEKS UNTIL WE LEAVE!!!!!!!!!  And really, it was 20 weeks from Monday...so let's call it an even 19.5! :)

The Countdown is ON!

Meet the Homies

Meet our team - 

 Jo and Stacy

 Jo and Megan

Kayla, Stacy, Jo and Megan

Chelsea and Leah

Levi

Susan and Jessica

Sam 

Levi and Aneeka

Becca and Adam

Me and Marybeth

Planning meeting was canceled last night - snow day, but more to come soon!

Drum Roll Please....

Today was the BIG day! I submitted for my time off!!!!  Yep all 88 hours of vaction! 

YAY! I'm going to BRAZIL! :)

Happy PINK Day everyone!

My story

Prep time for the trip took place during the FLOCK hour at church this last week.  I sat with several of the High School girls, it was so fun! I love spending time and getting to know them.  Not only did they reassure me that I'm not old, we discussed t shirt ideas and more importantly worked on writing 'Our stories.'   This was an exercise Pastor Adam had everyone work on; it's a good thing to keep your testimony of God's grace fresh in your mind.

Keep praying for our team and also pray for the other teens who are sending them.  We want this to be an impactful trip for everyone involved in youth ministry, not just the ones who are able to go.

Snowmageddon!

Doing some prep work for Brazil tonight.  It's weird to think that a snowtastrophe freeing up some time in February is helping me make progress toward getting to sunny Brazil in July - do you think they ever have snow there?  Judging by the proximity of the equator...I'm guessing no! :)


View Larger Map

Start at the Beginning

Let's go to Brazil!  God's been working on my heart to get me to this point, and I cant wait to see where he plans to go with it! Follow along as I prep for this trip.

Last Sunday we met with the prospective team.  We covered generals; immunizations, prayer letters, dates, times, funds, etc.  We have a good group of students and we all got super cute folders - bonus! 

Ladies and Gentlemen: Start your prayer engines!  This week I want to especially be mindful of our students as they begin walking down the road toward this trip.  Ease fears, focus minds, and soften hearts.

Let the countdown to July 18 begin!