This is the eleventh hour. It is the calm before the storm. It is the pacing to and fro in the green room. It is what ever other cliché you want to throw at this build up of effort, feelings, and emotions. The excitement is high tonight. We are all gathered for the packing party and Craig and Wendy Finney are so gracious as to open there home to us for this event. They actually have named there living room “ The Guatemala room” fore this is the 5th or 6th year that the packing party has been at there house in this room.

Upon first arriving at the Finney’s you see the mountain of suite cases in the garage and soon discover the mountain of supplies inside that have to go into those suite cases. This does not seem like it is a party, it looks more like work to me. This attitude change quickly as everyone showed up and the smiles and laughter started filling the house. A gathering in the kitchen for prayer over our pizza dinner and the task at hand and we are off. Tara, Paula, Tracy, and Wendy had us all organized to flow through stations for getting ready. I would not say we kept it as organized as they wanted it, but it went pretty fast and the bags got filled.

“flexibility” This is a word that anyone having done a mission or two, knows is synonymous with mission work. “ You have to be flexible”. Tonight is no different. There are changes that are being made at every turn and our team seems to be very “flexible” to accept them as they come.
There was a concern and I really believe this is a prayer request. Keith Havenstrite ( our Doc ) has been hearing from medical supply organizations that teams have been having there medical supplies seized at customs coming into Guatemala. We ask you to pray for our team and that this does not come to be true for us. The team within our team that organized the packing party has made it so that all our eggs are not in one basket. The med's, under’s, crafts, tools, and other supplies have all been divided up and distributed among all the bags. We also felt that wearing our mission team shirts would put too much attention on us. So we are opting for just regular everyday wear for our trip. This I believe is also a prayer request. Please pray that we do not start thinking that God is not in control and pray that we are reminded that he has made everything to happen for the good of the kingdom. No matter how it appears to us at first.

There is also something going on just below the surface. There are anxieties, fears, worries, concerns, a constant battle against unbelief. I think this is true for all of us going. We tend to want to put on our confident face in times like this. There is a lot of unknown factors on this mission trip and people are worried under there smiles. "Battling unbelief” is something that every Christian goes through. The battle is against unbelief in God’s promises and falling into the common attitude of the world.

I am asking that you all pray for us and this mission. I have some specific prayer request below.
Please pray:
1) for our families, that they stay safe while we are gone. That God will send his angels to watch over them and keep them close.
2) that we will keep our thoughts and actions in his will.
3) for us to leave all of our personal baggage at home.
4) that we realize that God is strong in our weaknesses.
5) that we make it through the airports and securities and customs with out any hang ups.
6) for these people that there hearts are made ready and our hearts are made ready for what God is going to do in there lives and ours.
7) that we are kept safe from harm.
8) that we realize that God wants our willingness of heart to do what he asks, not our thoughts on whether or not we think we can do it. He will take care of that. We just need to be willing to go.

The night tapered down to a final weigh in of all the bags, a team picture, and a beautiful prayer given by Greg Reed that set our thoughts and hearts back on God and this wonderful privilege he has given us.

Please stay tuned as this blog expands to included my teammates fore this is not about me and it is not happening to just me. We are a team. One that I feel honored to be a part of.