God is good! All the time!

After posting yesterday about the additional $25 per first piece of luggage we looked at the United Airlines website again and found that the information we were given yesterday was wrong. In fact, from the U.S. to Mexico the first piece of luggage is free, and $35 for each additional. So thank you, United Airlines, and thank you God! (I told you He was good!)

This is just an update, and NOT the official "7 days" post. I'll post another later tonight (-:

8 Days...

Today we're only 8 days away from our mission trip. Dave Swindell gave us our seat assignments for the four flights - Philly to Chicago, Chicago to Mexico City, Mexico City to Dulles, and Dulles to home. We also found out that our first piece of luggage will cost $25 additional, each way. That's an additional $50 each round-trip. The second bag, if there is one, is $35 each way. We expected that but we didn't know about the first bag. Thank you, United Airlines.

However, we remain undaunted. God continues to bless this mission trip and Satan continues to try and slow us down. Who do you think will emerge victorious? Romans 8:31 says "What then shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?" How true that is!

So for every one of these tiny stumbling blocks Satan throws up, God is there with a big broom to sweep them away. Our prayer now is that God will continue to bless us as we prepare, and that He will give us the courage to go forward in faith. Padre nuestro, va con nosotros y nos bendiga. En nombre de Jesús, Amen.

T-minus 9 Days and Counting!

¡Buenos dias! Our mission trip is rapidly approaching. It seems like only yesterday Jen first approached the congregation with the idea of a mission trip to La Palmilla, Mexico. In fact, we've been preparing for it for just about a year now. We have met together, learned some basic Spanish together, talked with our host-families via Skype, learned a little about where we're going and what we're doing. We've had fund-raisers - breakfasts and yard sales, dance marathons with the youth, and more breakfasts. We've had private anonymous donations and taken collections at our services. We've prayed for each other, we've been prayed for, and we continue to pray for our mission and the people of La Palmilla, while they've been praying for us and our mission. We've been blessed and commissioned by the people of our church and our pastor. We've been collecting items to pack and getting ready to go. Oh yes, and we've gotten our passports. We cannot forget those!

And now here it is, just nine days from our departure. I was asked early on to chronicle our journey, so this morning I started this blog so that you can follow our progress as we go. One of our hosts, Josue, owns an internet cafe in La Palmilla, so I will be able to post daily updates and pictures from Mexico.

As D-Day approaches, we ask that you continue to lift our team up in prayer. We are going into a place unlike any place any of us has been before. Some of us have been in far away places and extreme conditions but this is different. We are joining our brothers and sisters in Christ to help them build a building for the worship of God. We are carrying God's love to them - and we will receive God's love from them as well. It is our fervent prayer that God's abundant love and grace will bless our journey, bless the people of La Palmilla, and grow in the hearts and minds of all along the way.

¡Hasta luego!