Well guys, in 4 more days we will be on our way to AFRICA!!!! I cant believe it!! Words cant describe how excited I am to leave!!  God has just been moving in AMAZING ways still.  He has provided even MoRe clothes!  One of my co-workers gave a huge trash bag full of clothes for me to take and then a couple I babysit for donated a bag with boys jeans, hats and some sandals!  And on top of all of that my boss said he would give me shirts to take with us.  Come to find out it was HUGE box full of kids shirts, adult polo shirts and bags!!  My heart is over flowing with joy and excitement from everything God has been doing for this trip!  I can see His hand at work in every aspect of this trip!  

-Maria*

the box fulll of stuff

The bags (left) polos and kid shirts (right)

So ExCiTeD!!!

Today we headed out to Southern Pines to Kathy's house for our official last meeting before our trip to Africa!!  In four weeks we will be leaving!! I cant believe it!  It was such a great day. We all met at Kathy's house (the whole group, minus a few) and we all got to meet and hang out together before the trip.  We also go to talk about where we are as far as donations and answering any questions that people had.  Then after we took care of business we all ate hamburgers, chicken and hot dogs (which were delicious!) lol It was soo nice to have the group all together as well as our family and friends.  God is just continuing to amaze me in the ways He is blessing our group for the trip.  Today at church the message was exactly what i needed to hear and I am more ready to go now then I ever was and I'm soo excited to get there already.  I know God is going to use me and the group to do some amazing things there.  I want to say thank you to everyone who has donated to me, my mom, dad or brother to help us to go on this trip.  It has meant the world to us and we could not have done it with out you!  We are not fully funded yet, buuuut we know that God wants us to go on this trip, so He will provide us with the funds to go.  I appreciate all the people who are praying for me and for this trip.  You guys mean the world to me, and I just thought I would take the time to thank you guys and to give you and update of what has been going on.  I know I am kinda rambling and a lil scattered with my thoughts, but I'm just so excited to go! lol 


-Maria*

Prayers

I am asking you all to continue to pray for us and the team as we prepare for the trip.
I am a little over whelmed right now at the thought that we leave in six weeks! I am
so busy at work and church and I have not taken the time I need to really spend time
seeking the Lord about His will for the VBS lesson we will do. Please pray that I
will rest in knowing that,  if I ask, He will give, if I seek, He will be known to
me and if I knock, He will open the door.

Also please pray that we will be able to go into more schools. Originally we were
scheduled to visit eight schools. Now we are scheduled to visit six schools.  If we
can reach the children, then we can reach the parents. We are praying God will
open doors for us to visit more schools.

Thank you for your faithful prayers.

I'm Almost There!!

 So last week we had our 3rd meeting.  Everything went good.  Everyone is still very excited and ready to go!  We found out that we should have our last $1,000 by May 1st.  I'll admit I was a little worried that I wouldn't have it in time.  But I have been learning to never doubt God and trust His planning and timing for this trip.  So I did some math and as of today I have my $2,000 for the trip!!! God is so GrEaT!  Now I only have $800 more to go for the trip :)  I'm soo anxious and ready to get over there, and it's funny because they say you will be changed by going over there on this trip, but I find myself being changed before this trip.  It's definitely been a huge tranformation mentally and spiritually.  It's been a great adventure already. Thank you to everyone who has keep me, my family and our team in your prayers.  We couldn't do it without you guys :)

-Maria*

We Are Halfway There

I am so excited to tell you we are halfway funded. It is so amazing to see the generosity of people during hard times. God is glorified in this! We have been called and God will provide. I am asking prayers as Gary and I are in charge of VBS planning. I want to do what He wants not what I think we should do.
Pray that I stay in the Word and in prayer as I prepare.

The Package Finally Came!!!!

So last week I wrote that Boden (a clothing company) was sending me a carton of clothes for the trip.  I didnt know what to expect so I had been anxiously waiting to see what they were sending.  They had sent me the information to track the package and Friday I looked on the information and saw that the box weight said 60 pounds!!! lol  Sooo the package finally came yesterday and I could NOT wait to get home and see what was inside. The clothes are absolutely adorable and the kids are gonna looks SOOO cute in them!!  God is just working out some amazing things for this trip.

 Boden had filled the box all the way up to the top with;

-16 pairs of pants

-42 pairs of shoes

-8 boy shirts

-2 pairs of pajamas

-4 sweaters

-3 jackets

-1 bathing suit

-10 pairs of girls tights

the big box the clothes came in

These shoes are TOO CuTe!!!!

Cute little rain coat and pair of rain boots!

Cute little girls dress

Isnt this just adorable?!!

Little boys camo pants

Some of the tights

Some of the boys clothes

Some of the girls clothes

-Maria*

God is AlWaYs on time!!

Well as some of you know at our last meeting for the trip everyone was suppose to have their first thousand for the trip.  I was still waiting for my income tax money to come.  So it was thurseday (the day of the meeting), and still no check.  I won't lie, that night I was a little down about not raising enough money.  So that night I prayed and prayed and talked to God and did my devotions and everyone I did was saying how God provided for His people and how to be patience.  So I finally changed my mind set and just said ok God, and I just gave every aspect of this trip in His hands and today I checked my bank account and now ya girl has her first thousand for the trip.  So God is sooo on time!! :)  I got some other good news for this week!! Last week I had emailed some kid clothing companies and asked if they did donations and explained to them about the trip and stuff.  I got a reply from this clothing line called Boden, and they are sending me a carton of clothes for our trip!!  God is doind big things you guys!!!  I dont know if I wrote about this or not but as of last monday I am now a member at my new amazing church Newhope!!  I am just so happy that my spirit is over flowing with joy and its amazingto see God at work!! I hope you guys are having a great and blessed day!!!

-Maria*

Latest update

Letting you know Maria got her passport in the mail last week! We had a yard sale on Sat to try to raise money for the trip and we didn't do so well, only made $59. I am not upset because I know God will supply our needs. It's not about what we can do but how He will supply. God is growing my faith in new ways this trip. A friend from our church gave me a book to read last week called The Power in Prayer by Charles Spurgeon. It was so timely and what an awesome little book. You should find it and read it! Things like that are ways God speaks to us. He will grow our faith when we follow Him.
We should have an update about our funds by tomorrow. We need to bring $1,000 each to the meeting this Thursday.
Please pray for us as we get together this week to make plans for the trip. We want the plans to be what God wants us to do.
Please keep our team in your prayers.

Debbie

Letters..letters....n MoRe letters!!

Sooooo for the past two hours I have been writing, folding and gluing these letters to send out to everyone!!! It is taking me FoReEeEeVeR and Im still not done!!!! :/ Buuut the good news is that Im more then half way done with!! YaaY!!!! I will be so glad to finally get them sent off in the mail! lol Mom and me went out to Old Navy tonight and I got some more clothes for the trip so im excited about that! Im done writing for now, my hand hurts from writing so much. lol

-Maria*

Our 2nd meeting

Well tonight we had our second meeting.  We met at Caribou with some people from our group and Damon (the one in charge of Build the Village)  He told us all about what our trip was going to be like and what changes have been made since last year and  whats going on there now, so it was cool to see everything and hear what was going on over there.  The more meetings we go to the more anxious and excited I am to get there! I cant wait to go!!! :)  God is doing some great things and I cant wait to see what He has in store for us and the people in Choimim!


-Maria*  


P.S. 
    Here is a link to the Build the Village site. Check it out!
                     http://www.buildthevillage.org/

So far

So far, Maria's passport is being processed. We have a Mission Meeting this Thursday night. Maria needs to get ALL her shots. Gary is in charge of the construction work that needs to be done. That is all the information I have to share right now.

-Debbie