Ready, Set...

After months and months of planning, training, prepping, team-building, praying, learning, supply-gathering, and more planning... it's hard to believe we're actually leaving for Haiti on Wednesday! But we're really excited about it!

I want to etend a huge thanks to all of you who have already been praying for us through the process and who have supported us financially. Our whole team was fully funded months in advance, which is a huge blessing, and we received enough extra to be able to cover the meals for all 150 Haitian students who will be attending our Equip conference while we're there. It's great to be able to bless them in that way--and it's because of how you blessed us!

While in Haiti, we're going to be helping Open Door Church host Equip, a conference that trains students to care for their friends and share Christ with those who don't know him, in a really fun, interactive environment. Everyone on our team (students and adults) is going to be doing part of the training, and they've all put a lot of creativity and some of their own personality into the planning. It's been fun to watch! The conference will be a mix of large-group time and training in smaller groups of about 50. Please pray for each of us as we do the trianing and for all of the students who will be involved.

We'll also be able to help paint the orphanage that Open Door has been working on for the last year or so, as well as putting together bunk beds for them so that they're ready to invite children in very soon. We're excited about that as well!

We're also really looking forward to getting to know the people there and learning from them and their faith. I know they have some awesome stories!

Please pray for our whole team:

• for protection and health while we travel and serve in a foreign country
• for relationships to be deepened among our team members and built with those we serve alongside in Haiti
• for each team member to leave knowing God in a deeper way because of what we experience
• for each of us to leave with a greater understanding of another culture and a greater heart for missions
• for strength and energy to work hard in the heat and to do all that we need to do with great attitudes.

As a team, we've been studying 1 Thessalonians 5:9-24. We would love if you read that along with us and prayed those words for us!

Our basic schedule is below:

• Wednesday, Aug 3: Meet at church at 4:45am; fly to Orlando, drive to Ft. Pierce
• Thursday, Aug 4: Fly to Haiti (breakfast in Bahamas), lunch, ministry briefing, prep for Equip,
• Friday, Aug 5: Equip student conference all day, large group concert of prayer in evening
• Saturday, Aug 6: Equip student conference, evangelism in the village, outreach movie night in evening
• Sunday, Aug 7: church, hike to mountain prayer chapel, worship
• Monday, Aug 8: paint orphanage/make bunk beds, team meeting
• Tuesday, Aug 9: load up, tourist market, airport, fly to Ft Pierce, drive to Orlando hotel, relax/debrief
• Wednesday, Aug 10: debrief, fly home

I've been reading Acts lately and have noticed how much empahsis Luke puts on how the Holy Spirit filled the church and worked through them to do the work He called them to do. We really don't want any of this ministry to be done in our own power; we want it to be God's Spirit working through us. And that is absolutely connected to the amount of prayer going into our trip. So your role is invaluable, and we're so appreciative! Thank you!