21/03/30

There are times, actually most times, I put my family first and this evening was one of those. I opted to miss the Mission Team meeting so I could spend some needed time with my wife and kids. We didn't do anything special. My daughter is sick and over the last couple of nights we have gotten little sleep. My wife needed a break and so I spent the time with her. I will get an update later in the week.

What is interesting about tonight is that it solidifies my wife's role as an important part of this team. She may not be going to Guatemala but she is still a big player. I have to remember to keep this in mind as we continue on our journey.

14/03/10

Today was the day we were introduced in Hampton, unfortunately I couldn't make it as I had a prior commitment. I did manage to make the meeting tonight where we discussed the results of the bake sale and the upcoming salmon dinner. The dinner, for those who might be reading this and interested is April 10th starting at 6:00pm at the Apohaqui Community Center. There will be dinner and a silent auction. Tickets are available from team members, ACC, and Backstage Music starting March 22nd.

The sun was shining and due to the time change our meeting dragged on a bit long as people still felt full of energy. I was expressing my positive experiences through the week as I discussed the Mission Trip with various people and other members echoed my sentiment. I hope the good feelings continue.

13/03/10

Today we had a bake sale at the Gateway Mall in Sussex and I have to be honest at first I had some huge reservations about this fundraising idea. I wondered if we would be able to pull together enough baked goods to make any money. The people, and sorry guys, mainly the women really came through for us and baked an incredible amount of goods. So my next concern was, will we get enough people by our table to have a chance to sell all the goods. No problem, the mall was busy and many people from the church came by to purchase their needed fix to beat their sugar cravings.

Numerous people stopped and discussed our plans and genuinely took a keen interest in our goals. Many seemed impressed to hear of our long term plan to stay involved with VHII. I was surprised with my own ability to discuss the trip with people and have much I enjoyed the chance to meet people and discuss the Mission. It was great too, to get to know some of my Mission Team mates a bit more.

All tolled we raised about $685 and sold over three large table fulls of baked goods, and took 8 salmon orders. It was a great day and tomorrow we head to ACC Hampton to be introduced to the congregation there. Unfortunately I have a committment that will prevent me from attending but my prayers are with the team as they travel.

God Bless and great work today guys.

07/03/10

Today the team was, I guess you might say, officially introduced to the congregation at ACC Apohaqui. Next week we will be introduced in Hampton. I hope they don't mind but I am going to introduce them here too.
Wendy is a co-leader and the energetic force to keep us motivated.
Bill is the other co-leader who will pick us up when Wendy can't and likely keep us in good humor.
Ray is in his mind "King Ray" and we make him earn that title whenever we can.
Chris will likley be the leaned on for experience and his tech smart ways.
Jordan, though youthful, is a veteran at Mission travel.
Lauren is the organizer and a solid performer.
Bernadette will, so I've been told, keep the conversation going.
Amy will be there when needed and work behind the scenes when not.
Sara is destined to be the duct tape that will keep us all together.
Denise is the young star on the rise.
And I guess that leaves me...and I'm just there to experience what God has to offer and share it with everyone.

I look forward to working with this great group of people and cant' wait to meet those who will be part of the team in Guatemala.

28/02/10

This morning I went to church but didn't sit through the service as I had to help set up for the Mission Team's Souper Sunday Luncheon. I miss the service when I do this but I realize it is a worthwhile sacrifice. The luncheon went really well so that more than made me feel okay about missing the service. We were able to raise over $400 and sell some of our salmon. The team has fresh salmon portions and tails for $37/5lb bag and frozen portions for the same price and we are hoping that we can increase our sale of these over the next couple of weeks. To boost this a bit further we are going to host a salmon dinner on April 10th. So the team will be very busy over the next month organizing fundraisers and the trip logistics.

This evening we postponed our Mission meeting until 7:00pm so that we could all watch the Olympic Gold medal hockey game between the US and Canada. As luck would have it, it went into overtime, where Sydney Crosby scored the OT winner in a memorable game. Canada won 14 gold medals with great team unity and determination and one of the team leaders referred to this as a needed tool for our Mission team, of course this is after we eventually all got to the meeting. Once there it was a productive evening with some decisions being made on the upcoming fundraisers including the salmon dinner and our bake sale on March 20th at the Gateway Mall.

We shared some stories and some insight and the team is quickly learning how to communicate and work together. As I see this I become more and more excited about the trip and hopeful about the good things this team will accomplish.