The Countdown Begins

I can't believe that it is less than two weeks and we will be on our way to East Africa. WOW! We are leaving on the 10th instead of the 9th. And we will be home sooner than we thought, 3 days sooner. I guess that means John will not be gone from work quite as long as he expected. That could really help with our monthly bills.

John is at the drill site working on the local well he has been practicing with. We have been blessed with some great helpers. Thanks so much for coming out and getting dirty to help with this ministry. The kids went with him so I am at home with a little time to myself. There is much I need and want to do while I have the time. You might think it would be all about me but it isn't. I need to clean and organize many rooms. Plus do mountains of laundry so we can start packing for camp and our trip.

As I sit here thinking about how quickly time is passing and all that must be done before we leave I have made a couple of lists to share. One is a list of things that have fallen into place in the past couple of weeks. The other is the list of things that need your prayers from this point on.

God has really done so much in the past couple of weeks, I am just in awe. In the next two weeks many things need to happen to finish up our preparations.

• Our passports have gotten here.
• We have gotten our shots through our doctor and been covered by insurance.
• We have a donor match for up to $5,000 given towards our trip expenses.  
• We have had people give items for our garage sale to help raise money. UPDATE on that: We raised almost $400 with the garage sale and taking some of what we didn't sell to resale shops. Thanks so much!
• A HUGE praise is that John has been given a leave of absence from work. He will have a job when he returns.
• Plane Tickets are ordered.

Below are some areas that still need your prayers.

• Our trip is coming up soon. We have gotten the funds for most of the flight and room and board expenses. We NEED $2,000 more (at least) sent to Equip Disciples.
• We have some trip expenses that will not go through E.D. that we are trying to get funds for. We have to go get the Yellow Fever shot after all, that is a $400 expense. Our Malaria meds are about $400, too. We will need money for food and such in the airports and when we have long layovers. (This does not include any extras we might like to buy while we are in East Africa. We have not even thought about money for that.) We are selling other items in our home and trying to get the money that way. 
• Outside of trip expenses we have two cars that need repairs. John's car needs the ignition switch replaced and the car I bought for Sami and I to use needs some repairs so she will have a car while we are gone for three weeks. John is going to try to work on that car this weekend. We will have to find a time to put his car in the shop to change that out.
• Pray that we will be able to make it on half a months pay in July due to John's leave of absence in June.
• Pray for our daughter that she will not have any major issues with the house or car while we are gone. And that work would go smoothly for her. 
• Pray for our son in MO that he will continue to do well at both of his jobs.  He is sick right now so he needs healing prayers. We will not be able to talk to him for three weeks so that will be hard.
• Pray for a safe and fun time at children's camp next weekend. The kids and I are going while John stays here working on the well stuff for the trip.
• Pray for safe travel of all of E.D. team members.
• Pray for easy flight changes and least amount of hassles on the long trip
• Pray that God will put a hedge of protection around each of us because as we seek to do His will Satan will attack any way he can
• Pray that we will have a successful well, and/or wells while we are there
• Pray that the conference will go well and they will learn much to take back to their churches

I know that is a LOT to pray about for just one family but I know I have some faithful friends and family out there that are mighty prayer warriors and I can count on you to lift these things up! We love you all so much!

~Terri