RockTheDesert

No Lost Luggage

Always amazed when we arrive with all our luggage in Africa! Part of the fun of arrival is when we cram most of our stuff into a car then start adding people into the car and then finish cramming the rest of the stuff in. The car this time was a cute little Rav4. We stacked & shoved & loaded in all 350 pounds of baggage. Then when we were just about all in, the car key was nowhere to be found. Searched everywhere, the ground, under the car, unpacked most of the bags...Dan sat in the car patiently, somewhat unable to move or breathe then finally he un-wedged himself from the stuff and came out to join the search...surprise -- he had been sitting on the key the whole time!

PRAISE GOD: Protection, provision, mercy all in abundance during 2 days of travel!!

I Lost My Passport...Now What?

 I lost my passport...Very frustrating. After my last trip to Africa I contacted all the airlines I traveled on. Contacted all the airports I traveled through. Left lots of voicemail messages and sent lots of emails. Seldom talked to a human being. Mostly got shuffled through the non-helpful hotlines set up by airlines and airports to give you false hope that you might actually find what you're looking for.

Since I travel a lot these days, mostly internationally, it's pretty important that I have a current passport on hand at all times. On February 18 I went to the County Clerk's office in Phoenix. Filled out a form reporting my lost passport. Filled out another form applying for a replacement passport. Paid expedited fees for a quick turn-around time, was assured by a staff member that I'd be looking at 7-10 days max, maybe sooner, before I'd have my passport.

On Monday, March 2, I started to actually worry that my passport wouldn't arrive before my trip to Africa which departs on March 8. Yes. March 8. On March 3, I called the passport agency # listed on my receipt. Was assured that my passport was in process and should arrive soon. Not so comforting. I sent an email to the agency explaining my dilemma. Got an automated response back. Not so helpful. Called again 3 different times today, spoke to 3 different people with 3 totally different answers, ranging from, "we can't find you in the system at all" to "your passport should be sent out by 3:30pm" to "whoever told you it was going out at 3:30 was delusional because I can see right here on the screen that it's not even done processing." The last person I spoke with was most helpful - she connected me right to the Los Angeles passport facility where I proceeded to make a 10am appointment on Friday for an emergency passport. Yes, I'm that desperate. Same helpful person (supposedly) sent an urgent email to the San Francisco passport facility which for some reason has my passport chained to a desk in an incomplete state of being.

Now what? I'm almost to the making bargains with God stage, but not quite. I am definitely praying about it. And worrying about it. And praying some more about it. And frustrated. And praying. And mad at myself for not calling last week. And praying. I'd appreciate any prayers you'd pray too. Thank you.

Orange Roses in La Jolla

Dan and I were invited to spend the Memorial Day weekend in La Jolla, California with a group of friends. Unfortunately, Dan was sick all week and ended up with a prescription for meds that made him extremely drowsy. We decided that I shouldn't miss the opportunity for fun. On Friday at about 11am,  I went to Southwest.com, made a reservation, headed to the airport, and flew into San Diego. I paid an extra $15 and got an "A" boarding pass. My good friend, Kelly, picked me up at the airport. We went to Ralph's and picked up a massive quantity of food for an extravagant pasta dinner then headed to La Jolla to join the rest of our group. I assembled an antipasto platter and bruschetta with shrimp and basil. Kelly put together a fantastic salad and incredible pasta (organic) with to-die-for marinara complete with chicken, shrimp and sausage. So good. Nothing like eating a big luxurious dinner at 8:45pm then letting it settle while sitting in the living room overlooking the Pacific Ocean, kicking back, talking, laughing, carrying on. It was great. Bedtime at 1am. Up at 8:30. Coffee in the living room, again, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. 11:30am we decided we were hungry. We headed down the hill to find some food. We landed at Cody's. Fabulous BLTs, chicken tostadas, fish tacos, chilaquiles, salads...so full, then we started a 5 hour walk through all of La Jolla (I do believe we covered every inch).
We walked and talked and walked and talked some more. The weather was fantastic; sunny with perfect breezes just when you needed them.
We eventually ended up at a house being remodeled by the same friends who hosted our weekend. They are empty-nesters and needed a project to keep busy. They bought a fixer-upper for a great price, tore it mostly down to the ground, and are re-building it to be a 2400 sq ft gem with a great ocean view. I loved the house, the neighborhood, the view, but I mostly loved the orange roses growing in their front yard.
I only wish that this rose smelled like orange.

Heavy Suitcases

Dan left on Wednesday for Rwanda and Burundi. He's joining several other  e3 partners staff in conducting LDCs - Leadership Development Conferences - for upcoming church-planting trips this summer. Click HERE for prayer calendar for this trip. Click HERE for latest Team Berryman update!

This pic is of the stuff that didn't fit in his alloted 2 suitcases. He had to add a third bag in order to haul all the extra materials with him for the LDCs. 20 e-cubes, 400 laminated bookmarks, 100's of pens, nearly 7,000 pages of printed materials, proclaimers, mega-voices...he called me from Atlanta - his luggage weighed so much that they charged him an extra $150 - at least he'll be leaving most of that stuff in Africa!!

On a more frugal note, text messages are only .35 cents. Here's some of the cryptic text messages I've received so far.

• I have arrived in rwanda. I was met by mike & sidney. Brussels air is the best. Bags were wet from heavy rains in atlanta.
• Happy anniversary! 21.75 years, can you believe it?
• We are in ruhengeri at the guest house. LDC tomorrow. Then back to Kigali. I'm leaning how to make campaign successful.
• Halfway done with 1st ldc. Over 211 professions of faith with pastors practicing with ecube. Pastor Japhet is here.
• In Africa, the LORD is risen

NYC Saturday

Lots of rain today. We had a photo shoot outside of Carnegie Hall with our Voices group. Had lunch at the Europa Cafe across from Carnegie. NYC is so cool. I can't wait to come back for more of Broadway.  Most of our group headed out to see Spamalot tonight. I don't want to ruin the perfect memory I still have of Legally Blonde so I'm planning on blogging, reading, journaling, wandering around the Grand Central Market and figuring out a public transportation route to the Brooklyn Tabernacle - we've got a little group interested in experiencing the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir live tomorrow - then we have dress rehearsal at 5:30pm, dinner, then the big performance begins at 8:30pm. We've got tickets for a harbor cruise aboard The Spirit of New Jersey directly after the show. Monday we head back to AZ. Not sure when I'll blog again - I'm paying $10 per day for internet service - I'm really surprised it's not included in the highly inflated price of our room!

#1 Group photo inside Carnegie while waiting for part of our group to arrive.

#2 Group photo inside Carnegie - still waiting for the rest of the group to arrive - decided to be silly.

#3 Historic Landmark sign on wall outside Carnegie Hall

#4 Poster outside Carnegie announcing our concert

#5 Lunch at the cafe - Clay & Claudia

#6 Lunch at the cafe - Daphne, Satyam, Brooke

#7 The Russian Tea Room - I've read about this place for years. I'm still not sure what it is - we were walking pretty quickly (late for rehearsal), it was raining and slippery and we were pretty much running, trying to hail a cab, and we couldn't stop to peek inside.

Friday in NYC

First off, we met Dr. David Thye. He's one of the conductors at Carnegie Hall. We had an intense 3-1/2 hour rehearsal with him. We actually sounded pretty decent by the time he was done with us. Here's a few friends from Voices - that's the studio that I'm here with.

I had great Chinese food for lunch at a restaurant on e. 45th street. Then we all headed to the Empire State Building. We walked. And walked. This is definitely a walking town. Tons of people are on the street all the time. We went to the observatory on the 80th floor. Since it was overcast, the visibility was only 5 miles and it was a pretty grey 5 miles. The wind was icy cold - brutal, really. I'm surprised I didn't drop the camera - my hands were frozen and numb. I tried to take pictures from the north, south, east and west. In the third picture you can kind of see the Statue of Liberty in the distance on a tiny little island  Tonight I decided to splurge on a ticket to "Legally Blonde" at The Palace Theater on Broadway. It was an amazing, wonderful, invigorating, feel-good show based on the movie and book by the same name. I had a center seat, 14 rows back from the orchestra pit. I got a last minute deal - $67. When we left the theater it was raining. Icy cold rain drenched us all the way back to the hotel. It actually felt good. Fresh and wet and sloshy and drippy and rainy. Tomorrow I'm going to head to Central Park, possibly the Twin Towers, the Soup Nazi for lunch, a four hour rehearsal, and a photo shoot in front of Carnegie Hall.

 

I'm in NYC

It's really hard to take good pictures while travelling in a bus. Tried to capture our journey from Newark (I'm not sure why we landed in New Jersey instead of New York). Our bus ride was uneventful except for our ride through a tunnel, possibly the Holland Tunnel - I took a picture that I thought would be really cool. Dark tunnel, red lights on the ceiling, tail lights of vehicles all around. The picture turned out sort of OK, but our bus driver got really mad at me. He said it's illegal to take pictures inside tunnels in New York because of terrorism. Evidently there are security cameras throughout the tunnels and if someone caught me taking a picture of the tunnel they would pull over the bus and confiscate my camera. I debated for 2 seconds then deleted the picture. It wasn't my best picture anyway. Here's my other 2 best shots.

We're staying at the Grand Hyatt in Manhattan. It's a beautiful, 4 star hotel. We're going with 4 to a room. I'm in a room with Claudia, Daphne and Maryanne. Here's one of the beds we will share - did I mention 2 full-grown adult women will be sharing these beds?

One final picture - our hotel is literally right above Grand Central Station. We wandered downstairs and checked out the market and bought some fruit for breakfast tomorrow. I loved the hustle and bustle of rush hour. Tons of people rushing past us to catch the train or subway.

Testing, Testing, 123

Blogging live from London's Heathrow Airport. Testing out our technology capabilities. Cell phone is working. Camera is working. Internet is working. I do believe I'll be able to blog regularly while in Burundi. My goal is daily. I'll really try!

Sitting here chatting with Mike Talley, Steve, Liz, and Carol, just part of our North American team going to Burundi. We had a lot of delays getting here. We were supposed to leave Phx at 3pm. We left after 4. Landed in Chicago. Rushed over to our London flight. It was pushed back 2 hours. Our plane would have been 1/2 full, however, 2 other London flights were cancelled earlier in the day so we ended up taking on all those passengers and we had to wait for the catering company to stock the plane with more food. We then sat on the runway waiting to leave along with all the other delayed planes (due to weather). Then there was a medical emergency and EMT's were called in to assist a passenger. We left after 2 hours on the runway. So, now we're in London, waiting to board Kenya Airways, heading to Nairobi. We'll then transfer to one final plane to fly into Bujumbura. We are all very excited about what God will do this week in Burundi. We can't wait to work together, worship together, share stories together, laugh together, and celebrate God's incredible outpouring of grace together!!

BTW, Starbucks in London doesn't have Iced Tea Lemonade. They don't even have any fruit flavored syrups. In fact, I don't even think they have iced tea. Only hot tea. And hot chocolate. I went with the latter. Made me thirstier. Oh well. I'll go buy an $8 bottle of water now!

The Prodigal Returns Home

I went to California ("home") on Monday. Drove there by myself. I made it there in about 6 hours. It's really easy to get there: I-10 west to Beaumont Avenue which takes you on a winding road thru Hemet, Winchester and Temecula which finally lands you on the I-15 south which goes for 30 min. then you split off at the 78 west toward the coast. My parents live in Vista. They have the perfect little house with an ocean "glimpse" which means if you stand in the middle of their street on an impossibly clear day and squint to the west, you can sometimes glimpse the tiniest blue triangle of ocean.

Crissy (sister), Me, Sandi (sister).

Allison (cousin), Me, Donni

Crissy, Me, Sandi, Lilly (mom)

Finally Home

We made it home...finally. Africa is a really, really long way from home. And it seems to take twice as long to get home. Our luggage did not make it home with us. Which is a much better scenario than not having our luggage make it to Africa with us - which happened to one of our team members. His luggage arrived in Rwanda on the day we were heading back to the USA. I got a knock on my door at 1:45am this morning - 4 suitcases needed to be signed for. I can sleep better now, knowing that our dirty laundry has arrived!

We are grateful for the prayers of friends and family. It was an amazing trip. We all had life-changing moments personally too. That was cool.

Kibuye, Rwanda has got to be one of the most beautiful places in the world...it's right on Lake Kivu which is an enormous, blue green body of water. We kept our window open at night and could hear the waves lapping the shore gently. None of the photos I took can truly depict its beauty. Hopefully others on the trip were able to capture the sights and scenery...as soon as those photos are available, I'll start building a new photo album for the trip. For now, I'll just post a few photos and start telling stories tomorrow when I can think coherently!

8:25 AM Departure

Our flight leaves at 8:25 am.

We are packed. We are more ready to go than ever before. We've maxed out the weight in our suitcases. Tons of printed materials will go with us and stay in Rwanda. We've got nearly 20 pounds of peanut butter for our team lunches. That won't be coming back with us. We borrowed a laptop from a friend. I'll be able to keep a journal, but I'll have to wait to publish it 'til we get back. So I won't be "Rocking The Desert" again until September 17.

It's getting late. I'm off to bed for 4 hours.

Carnegie Hall

I've got this cool friend. His name is Satyam. He owns a music and arts studio called Voices. About 9 months ago he invited me to perform at Carnegie Hall with himself and a group of singers from his studio. I said yes!!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday was the first rehearsal for our performance. We are performing "Requiem" by John Rutter. We will be part of a huge group of singers - about 300 total. We'll perform at Carnegie Hall on March 9. "Requiem" is a pretty solemn piece of music. Beautiful and melodic and haunting. But definitely not upbeat. Oh, and it's not all in English. It has some Latin sprinkled throughout. Should be interesting.

In our spare time, in between rehearsals, we plan to hit Broadway, off-Broadway and probably off-off-Broadway to try to see as many shows as possible in 3 days. I have a friend who sang with a group there once before and she said they managed to cram in 5 shows. That has to be a record! I hope we can get cheap tickets. I've heard the shows can be outrageously expensive.

I might have to take a slight detour over to Brooklyn to check out The Brooklyn Tabernacle. It is housed in a newly restored theatre - formerly The Loews Metropolitan Theatre. My friend, Brenda, visited there on her visit to NYC. She was there for Thursday night prayer meeting. She said it was totally packed out with people praying. That would be amazing! 

Rwanda in 5

It's Friday. Normally a busier day than most because of all the weekend prep that goes on. Setting the stage. Designing Easy Worship presentation. Music copied and put on music stands. Worship order finalized and printed. All these tasks are familiar and necessary like dots on i's and crosses on t's. But today, this Friday, I've added a new layer of tasks to be completed. I'm determined to not have a terrible Tuesday the day before we leave. So I'm trying to cross huge chunks of items off my to-do list, starting today. I've got guest musicians scheduled to come in on the Sundays I'm gone so I'm finalizing details with them. I'm burning CDs for the worship team and band. I'm putting together packets of music for both weeks. I'm also building the Easy Worship shows for both weeks. I'm buying batteries and Lay's potato chips (long story). I'm re-confirming availability of band and singers. I'm even putting together a contingency plan in case of catastrophic projector failure. I've got lyric sheets ready to pass out to the congregation and lyrics & music for singers and band. Just in case! 

In just 5 short days, we will board a plane and head to Washington D.C. where we will meet the other members of our North American team of Missionaries to Rwanda. We will then travel to Ethiopia and spend one night before the final leg of our journey which takes us to Kigali, the capitol of Rwanda. After we go through customs, we will be greeted by a welcoming committee of e3 trainers and Rwandan nationals. It's a custom they have of coming to the airport to greet us. Then we'll pile our luggage and supplies and ourselves into 12 passenger Toyota vans which will carry us to the Kibuye region. We will check into a guest house. Get settled. Then get started on the work which we've been called to do.

This is a picture of Kibuye and Lake Kivu. I found it on Joshua and Alyssa's photo blog. Click HERE to go to Joshua and Alyssa's photo blog (BrooksAfrica.blogspot.com). They were in Kibuye in May so you can get an idea of this incredible place where we will be sharing the Gospel. Be sure to check out the ONLINE VIDEO of the entire team ministering in Kibuye. It's very inspiring and hopefully will give you a glimpse of why we are so passionate about Rwanda.

Packing, packing, packing

Today was a packing day. Dan spent 60% of the day packing and re-packing for Africa. He is a very thorough packer. He packs all food items in large ziploc bags. He packs sets of clothes in extra large ziploc bags. We are taking a lot of printed materials - discipleship lessons, tracts, etc. We are taking a lot of Evangecubes. We've got MegaVoices in Kinyarwanda (language in Rwanda). We've got Proclaimers in Kinyarwanda. Since Dan is staying and going on a campaign to Sudan after Rwanda, he is taking packs of tuna and canned fruit and granola bars. We're taking gifts for translators. Gifts for people Dan will be staying with. Toiletries to give to translators. Hand sanitizer. Malaria meds. We've got pens and notebooks. Umbrellas. Mosquito repellent and sunblock. We're taking an extra load of stuff for the team - 6 large jars of peanut butter. 6 large jars of jelly. 5lb jar of honey. 500 sandwich baggies. Dan usually loads a bag as full as possible. Then he stands on the scale with it. He deducts his weight from the total to find the weight of the bag. Packing is a lot of work. But it's also a lot of fun. It's exciting to plan and dream and pray for the trip and for the people we will meet and for the churches that will be planted and for the team members who will receive an immeasurable blessing from the trip and the translators who will be loyal, inseparable friends/ministry partners before the end of the first day.

This is Dan with Jean-Marie, his Ministry Partner in Rwanda in March '07. We are hoping he'll be a part of the September e3 campaign. We've kept in contact via email. I'm excited about seeing him. He was just a part of the August campaign in Rwanda. He is a great translator and a student of the Word and a wonderful co-laborer in God's work!

World of Coca Cola

Michael loves Coca Cola. He loves to drink it. Loves to collect trivia and memorabilia. Painted his bedroom Coca Cola red. Dan and I visited the Coca Cola museum a couple of years ago when we were in Atlanta. It was very cool. Well, I just found out today that they have built a brand new World of Coca Cola in Atlanta down the street from the old one. It sounds like it is bigger and better than the old one. They've added a 4-D ride along with a lot more Coke artifacts. They still have the tasting room where you can sample Coca Cola products from around the world. It has one of the stickiest floors you'll ever walk on, but it's kinda fun to go from fountain to fountain and sip the different sodas.

While in Kenya, we took photos of various Coca Cola signs, thinking we'd print them and frame them for Michael. 1st photo = village of Ruai, Sarah (translator) and John (national). 2nd photo = The Great Rift Valley viewpoint. The GRV was absolutely beautiful. Very green and serene. 3rd photo = A cool mural Dan found while traveling through the Eldoret region of Kenya. 4th photo - we shopped at a mall in Nairobi that had a Coca Cola room - glass walls with stained glass Coke bottles, red furniture, and a TV which played non-stop Coca Cola commercials.

Perspective

It is so good to be home. We arrived at 10pm on June 9. Took an AirBus from Chicago O'Hare to Phoenix. First thing I noticed was the extravagant amount of legroom. I mean, really, our legs were stretched fully out in front of us. This, of course, was in contrast to our crowded international flights. Also, the plane was icy-cold. This, of course, was in contrast to our warm, stuffy, jam-packed international flights. Then we walked into Terminal 2. The grungiest/oldest terminal at Sky Harbor. And it was beautiful, almost luxurious. Clean carpet. Wide-open hallways. Cold A/C. We had quite a welcoming committee - the husbands & kids who came to pick up moms & siblings. They were a wonderful sight to see!

We got our baggage fairly quickly. Then Michael noticed a suitcase that looked a lot like Joshua & Alyssa's suitcase. Then another one. Then 2 more.  Their flight had arrived probably 3 hours earlier than ours but evidently their bags didn't arrive with them. So, we loaded up their bags along with ours and headed toward home. It's pretty nice to live 10 minutes from airport!

I fired up the computer and started scrolling through 120 emails. Not too bad for 10 days away. Steven & Michael both took showers immediately. Steven came out of the bathroom. Huge grin on his face. Now, this is the same child who, before we left, commented that our home reminded him of a home in a third world country. And I must say, there are some similarities since it was built in the 50's and has had very few updates until we moved in a few months ago. Anyways. Steven announced to me that he could probably live in that bathroom, peeling wallpaper and all. It was so clean and HUGE. I have a feeling he and Michael will sleep pretty soundly in their own beds tonight.

Our Africa team will lead the entire worship service tomorrow. We'll sing songs in Swahili. And we'll share testimonies & stories & the Gospel. It will be a great day!! Randy collected photos from everyone so I'll be adding those to the photo album sometime this week. Also, I've asked everyone on the team to participate in writing their stories on this blog, so stay tuned for that!

OK, I'm off to do laundry & then to bed. Praise God! Amen! Praise God again! Amen!

Kenya - I Need More Time

Now that we're hours away (about 36) from leaving for Kenya, the panic is starting to set in. I remember this feeling from our last trip. I've got a lot to do to get ready for church on Sunday - rehearsal tomorrow night - charts for the band, worship orders, easy worship schedule, etc. The normal stuff that has to be done by Tuesday night instead of Saturday night!! So, hopefully sometime between 10pm tonight & 10pm tomorrow night, all will come together as it needs to. I know God is in control. And I'm being stretched to the max in all my organizational (or lack of) skills.

We spent the day running errands. Looking for power converters, passport holders, malaria medicine, toiletries, gifts for translators, a new stove, shirts for Steven, Clorox wipes, etc.

So now, the laundry is almost done, the boys are just waiting for clean undershirts & socks to pack. Dan is packed. My stuff is all gathered in a pile, ready to go in the suitcase among all the others stuff we're taking like gifts & Proclaimers & packs of tuna & mixed nuts & zone bars & whatever else we've hunted and gathered today.

I'm looking forward to seeing London during our 12-hour layover on our way to Kenya. And I'm really looking forward to seeing lives transformed by the power of Jesus Christ. Michael & Steven have no idea how much this will impact their lives forever. I'm praying that God will use them to show others His grace and gift of salvation. And I'm praying that they will be bold to share their faith. And I'm praying for their physical protection. And for their spiritual protection. And for God to renew their faith and make it very real to them. That they would live their lives differently once we get back home. That they would have a personal glimpse of eternity and that it would give them new eyes to see this life we live and help them prioritize their lives with God always, at any cost, at the center.

Kenya 2007 - Let The Packing Begin

I've been informed that there's at least one Kenya Team member who is 99% packed. WOW! That's amazing. We have been talking about packing for a long time. We've dragged all our suitcases into the living room. And we stare at them. And we discuss various packing configurations. And then we turn off the light and walk away. But today, Sunday, May 27, 2007, is Packing Day. We will be up 'til midnight most likely. Packing, and re-packing, and packing some more. But the deed will be done. We might have to make a couple of late-night WalMart runs tonight - it's a family tradition after all.

Dan is staying for nearly 1 month. He has some unique packing challenges. Not sure if he'll be able to wash clothes at any time. I don't remember seeing any laundromats while I was there. The hotel might possibly have laundry service. But I've heard that can be pretty iffy. So, we'll see what he ends up with in his suitases. 

Michael has been working on his 10-day devotional guide. He is very diligent to complete it before going to bed each night. I'm proud of him for being so conscientious. He told me he has a short sermon ready to go, too. It's on John 3:16. I think he'll do great!

Today at the close of the church service, Randy asked the entire Kenya Team to come to the front of the church. All 22 of us stood shoulder to shoulder. Then he asked the entire church to come forward and lay hands on us and pray over us. It was a wonderful time of prayer and commissioning. When Steve Russell prayed, he lifted up his wife & 2 daughters and gave them to God to be used by Him. That's when a lot of people started sniffling and I felt my eyes well up with tears. It was a great moment. I feel such peace about this trip. I can't even begin to imagine what God will do in us and through us during our Epic journey. I know that Fellowship North, as tiny as we are, has some pretty amazing, faithful servants who are giving freely of their time, talent, resources, & prayer in order to see the kindgdom of God advance and multiply.

I will be posting to this blogsite as often as possible while we're in Kenya. So, check back often. Hopefully, I'll be able to upload photos...I think that's a challenge in other countries, so no promises on that one.

I've added a new photo album - photos of our Epic Team from Fellowship North. I've also added a new Typelist - title is Kenya. Check out the documents posted here. In particular, download the prayer calendar and pray with & for us daily...we'd really appreciate it!!

Team Berryman is Wired!

Check out this new magazine cover - we are wired and ready for our trip!! If you'd like to create your own magazine cover, click here! Steven's passport arrived on Saturday. Now all we need to do is get yellow fever shots for the boys. Such fun. I think I'll have Dan take them in. Last time Michael had a shot, now that was a terrible day. I wouldn't be surprised if the doctor retired after that day. I'm pretty sure his entire staff needed counseling. Our FNC Kenya team met on Sunday after church. We will meet weekly until we leave. We practiced sharing the Gospel using an evangecube. We had documents notarized by Debbie Lawson (thanks Debbie!). We prayed together. The trip is fast becoming a reality and it is really exciting to see so many teens "wired" and ready to go!

Seashells

On Saturday morning, we took a quick drive from Jacksonville to St. Augustine. I believe St. Augustine is recognized as the oldest city in America. We found a place to park fairly close to the beach. Walked through super-soft, deep sand. Headed toward the water. As we walked, I realized that the sand was composed of 25% sand and 75% ground up seashells. I'm talking about billions and billions of seashells, pulverized and ground into coarse particles resembling sand. The closer we got to the water, the larger the pieces of shells. Right along the water's edge, I was walking (sinking into) on mostly shells. They were ankle-deep.The day was mild and sunny with a wonderful cool breeze. The water felt freezing at first then just coldish-cool. People/families were actually in the water. In Florida, you can purchase a permit which allows you to drive your four-wheel drive vehicle along the beach. That would be an interesting experience. Dan has vowed to drive his truck across country with Michael & Steven so they can drive on the beach together. I wish we had time to go to the beach at night while we were in Florida. There's something about the sound and smell of the ocean at night that makes me supremely happy. I mean, really, there's nothing better than the sound of the waves and the salty smell of the breeze. When Dan and I were dating, we spent a lot of time walking along the beach, talking and dreaming about the future. The best feeling in the world is to walk barefoot along the shore, wearing a hooded sweatshirt, slurping on a hawaiian shaved ice. Oh, and if you're sharing the shaved ice with someone else, it's terribly romantic.

The South

We're in the south. The evidence? A Cracker Barrel every couple of freeway exits. Sonny's BBQ right across the street from our hotel. Shoney's right next door to our hotel. Last night we ate at Sonny's. I don't think we ever ate inside Sonny's when we lived in Florida...we always drove through and picked up yummy bbq meals. And I've got to say, I still recommend that method. The inside of Sonny's is not very impressive. Mildew comes to mind. Crumbs on the floor. Sticky tables. Interesting locals. Actually, our server was extremely helpful and competent. And the food really was good. Smokey St. Louis style ribs. Pulled pork. BBQ pork. BBQ Chicken. Potato salad. Cole slaw. Garlic Bread. BBQ beans. Green beans. Fried corn nuggets. Giant cups of icy cold sweet iced tea. 5 kinds of sauce. Banana pudding for dessert.

About halfway thru dinner, a party of 4 guys came in and sat at the booth across from us. These guys were about 18 or 19 years old. Good ol' buddies. Tattoos on everyone's arms. Couple of muscle shirts. Typical group of friends, goofing off, a little bit of mild profanity, flirting with the waitress. They ordered the family platter. $42 for 1 of everything on the menu (at least that's what it looked like). At first sight of all the food, a few more mild profanities. Then they started digging into the platter, piling up their plates. Then one of the guys held up his hand and reminded everyone that they needed to pray for their food first. I was trying not stare, but I probably was pretty much eavesdropping & staring by this point. So, the first guy prayed. Then the second guy prayed. Then the third guy prayed. Then the last guy prayed. Halfway during the prayer circle, the waitress came up to their table. She stood politely and waited until they were finished praying. Then they said their final amens. The waitress re-filled their drinks. The joking around and mild profanity resumed.

Ahh, yes...The South

More Travel

Tomorrow morning Dan and I will board a plane and head off to Jacksonville. We are attending a conference called Body Builders. Contrary to what you might think, this is not a fitness seminar nor weight lifting competition. It is actually a 2-day boot camp focusing on how to raise ministry support (financial & otherwise) using a Biblical model. Dan has been working on his pre-conference homework for nearly 1 month. The homework takes about 24 hours to complete.

We are entering a brand new world - one that we never dreamed we'd be a part of - asking others to support us in full-time ministry. We are hopeful that we will be able to raise necessary support in 3-6 months. In the meantime, we will simplify our lives and look for ways to streamline our budget.

More prayer is required than ever before.

Packing for Rwanda

We're starting to pack tonight. We've got tons of stuff to pack, not including clothes, towels, shoes and toiletries. I'm talking about candy -- loads of it. We're taking it to share with kids that me might meet. And I have a feeling our teammates will share in the bounty as well. Ever try a triple chocolate Twix Bar? We've got some. How about a cherry Kit Kat? Not so great but the kids will love them. Actually, Ventana Academy had a huge donation of Valentine's Day candy from Albertson's and Mrs. Shoulders, the principal, was kind enough to share. We've also got about 30 pounds of various materials needed in the church planting process. Evangecubes, Proclaimers, Discipleship materials. Dan is taking his digital camera (where's my Kodak?) and a digital printer so that he can make instant prints for the people...they love having their picture taken. Some people have never even been in possession of a photograph of themselves (or anything/anyone).

I dropped off my prescription for Malaria medicine tonight. Also picked up some Liquid Silver which I've heard is a great natural antidote to Malaria. CVS Pharmacy didn't have any Typhoid medicine on hand (big surprise) but they're ordering it and it should be in by Wednesday. It's so sad to think of these countries that still have diseases that are practically non-existent in the USA. 

I'm finally starting to get excited about the trip. Probably due, in part, to the fact that I've got the music selected/printed for the next 2 Sundays along with a practice CD, backup lyric sheets for the audience (in case the projector bulb burns out), and rehearsals scheduled back to back tomorrow night. Still need to schedule the tech team, but that will happen tomorrow.  FNC has awesome volunteers who help make the worship service wonderful.

Few items for prayer: (1) I'm trying to memorize the script that goes with the Evangecube - that I would begin to grasp and deeply personalize the message of salvation and that I'd be useful in sharing God's story and my story in a life-changing way (2) Quick & full healing for Steven's broken arm (3) Wisdom and discernment for God's direction/re-direction in our lives (4) Hot water in our hotel (please)