The calendar turned over to the new year and we are now on the countdown to our mission trip at the end of April (23-30).
We have finished a lot of our fundraising and appreciate all who bought our gingerbread churches, chocolate bark, the note cards and paintings. Watch for our fondant Easter eggs in March which are also a favourite with so many. With this fundraising and your purchases, we are able to raise money for our project fee ($2500US) that covers our work project when we get there and also covers the cost of our three sponsored children through St Luke's - Jorge, Nelsin and Rony and as always, we thank you for your incredible support. There are many plans to undertake now. Lots of detail go into the planning of what to take with us, the activities, snacks and programs we prepare for the children, and how to pack - we are careful with our personal packing so that we have room to take as many things as needed for the school and the children.
We also know that as well as packing our suitcases with crafts and DEET and sunscreen, that we need to prepare mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Regardless of how may trips we have taken to Honduras, there will always be new challenges. There will be differing cultural standards to conform to, climate, food and poverty to deal with. But God clothes us with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience... and over all these virtues, we will have love which binds them all together in perfect unity. No worries about suitcase weight limits there!
It was fun to have a full team meeting and from the group picture, you can see that we were able to have Matt and Andrea join us from San Fransisco and Lynne from Ottawa through Skype. We also had Margo Mingay, from El Hogar Projects (Canada) come to talk with us about some of the changes that are being made in how the teams need to prepare for their trips. Margo has served as Co-Executive Director of El Hogar Projects with her husband from 1998-2000. She has never stopped being involved with El Hogar and with her dedication and many years given to this organization, she was able to answer all our questions as the Service Team Coordinator for the U.S. and Canada .
Jane and Andrea are our new team members this year and the others bring numerous years of experience to Honduras at El Hogar. As always we are blessed with the leadership of Ros and Rick.
A better closeup of Lynne (with her sponsored child José Ángel)
As always we appreciate all that you do for us. Your prayers and support and donations. This is all a community mission and you are all part of it.
Andrea, Carrie, Jane, Janice, Louise, Lynne, Matt, Michael, Ros, Rick and Terry (Team of 2016)
