We're leaving soon!

July seemed far away, once upon a time!

July 27. We can now count the days until we leave instead of counting weeks!

Our team of 15 has been busy seeing to the final details (travel shots, gathering paperwork, planning how to pack) and making a final fund-raising push!

We had a good turnout for our Chick-fil-a rally night and spirit week. We're still waiting on final numbers, but we had fun connecting with people (some we knew and some we didn't!) and telling them about our trip.

Our fundraising got another huge boost recently from an anonymous donor who put us within $2,000 of our overall goal. With less than 20 days until we leave, we think it's possible to reach it!

We're still raising money through our puzzle pieces fundraiser. You can click the link to see how we're doing! Pieces are $5 each and we're hoping to have at least 200 sponsored by the time we leave! As of this writing, we have 148 pieces sponsored.
gofund.me/puzzlepieces4kenya

As everything starts coming together, we're getting a clearer picture of how we'll be spending our time. Much of the first week will be devoted to a painting project in one of the dorms, as well as getting acclimated to our surroundings. Touring the Rift Valley Academy campus will take us most of one day. And we have plans to visit the homes of our missionaries' Kenya friends, as well as possible attend a goat roast.

We will be responsible for several parts of the worship service at the Internally Displaced People camp on the Sunday we are there. Serving porridge to the children, leading a song or two, presenting a children's message and the main message. (It's possible that Phil could be participating in the main message! We'll keep you posted!)

We'll finish up the painting work in the second week and do some sight-seeing before we head back to the States. Phil and I have been preparing ourselves by watching episodes of Anthony Bourdain shows set in Congo and Tanzania, as well as studying Google maps and letting our kids check out books from the library about Kenya.

Still, I'm certain nothing can prepare us 100 percent for this trip.

Stay tuned! We'll have much more to share in the weeks to come!

Lisa and Phil

Forward

Prayer Points

That we will have all the funds we need for the trip, whether we meet our fundraising goal or not. (Expenses we will have in Kenya include food and transportation.)
Packing. We will need to make room for supplies we're taking to our missionary couple, and some of the supplies we need for the painting project. We need to travel light.
Final details for the team. (Transportation to the airport. Ease in passing through customs and boarding flights.)
Travel mercies and good health. Rest and recovery for our bodies.
Trust in God's plans. Grace for what we will see and experience. Openness to new things and new ideas.
Lisa's mom (who will be caring for the kids most of the time we're away) will be recovering from gall bladder surgery. Pray for speedy recovery!