Our first meeting - how exciting!

So we had our first team meeting for the trip on Tuesday, April 20th. It was absolutely fantastic and we are even more charged to go to Nicaragua. When we arrived, we actually saw some people that we knew - awesome! The meeting was very informational, but mostly just basic information. The leader did make a great point that really affected our view on this trip. He said that there are three groups of people involved in a mission trip, 1. those that are prayerfully and financially sending those that are going on the trip, 2. those that are going on the trip, and 3. those that are receiving the people going on the trip. These three groups of people are equally and all 100% involved in the mission trip. That is actually the reason why we started this blog. It is our hope that through this blog, those that are in the sending group, will be engaged in the trip and will be able to participate just as well. So, if you'd like, please follow this blog and let us know your thoughts! I guess that was the thing that impacted us the most on Tuesday, but I know that God has a lot more in store...

About the trip

So, here is a little information about the mission trip. Eagle Brook Church has partnered with ORPHANetwork to provide financial support and volunteers for an orphanage in Managua. The trip will last for one week from June 14th to June 21st. We will be spending most of our time at the orphanage, but will travel outside the city to one of the poorest places in Nicaragua – literally a village built on a garbage dump. The time will be spent helping with various projects in the orphanage, feeding the children in the attached feeding center and spending time with the kids in the afternoon and evenings. This is a link to ORPHANetwork’s home page where you can view their mission and values and see some stories about children http://www.orphanetwork.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=32126. Here is another link to Eagle Brook’s website and the information they have about the trip http://www.eaglebrookchurch.com/pages/page.asp?page_id=96375. I think this link below is the most helpful and gives the best insider’s look at what we will be doing. You have to scroll through the message until you get to about 26 minutes (it may take some time to buffer). There is a video in the message that shows Bob Merritt (our senior pastor) in Nicaragua on the very same trip that we will be making http://www.eaglebrookchurch.com/pages/page.asp?page_id=38656 (click on Show Details under The 6:8 Challenge, then click Watch Now next to Change of Action 2.20.10).

The Beginning

We are writing to share some interesting and amazing experiences we have had in the last couple months. These experiences are shaping our current situation as well as our future and we can see God’s hand shaping the whole thing. We will try to make this a quick read, but there is a lot of information to share!

To start at the very beginning, Jenn has always desired to go on a mission trip to Africa. When the opportunity came to attend a mission trip seminar at Eagle Brook Church, we jumped on board to learn about all the possibilities. They had trips to Mozambique, Louisiana, Reynosa, Ukraine, Norway, Haiti, Brazil, Ethiopia and Nicaragua planned for the coming year. After the informational meeting ended, we met outside the room and discussed the possible destinations. We both strongly felt as though we should go to Nicaragua. We took it as a sign that we both felt called there more than we felt called to Africa.

After the meeting, we filled out our applications to see if we would be selected for the trip. We prayed together and agreed that if God wanted us to go on this trip, He would make a way for us to get selected. More than a month later, March 26^th, we received an email from Eagle Brook Church saying that we had been accepted to join the missionary team to serve in the orphanage in Nicaragua! We were so excited and completely amazed that we were given the opportunity to serve those in another country. We later found out that over 150 people applied to go on the mission trip, but only 50 were selected. We took this as another sign that we were supposed to go on this trip.

So, here is a little information about the mission trip. Eagle Brook Church has partnered with ORPHANetwork to provide financial support and volunteers for an orphanage in Managua. The trip will last for one week from June 14^th to June 21^st. We will be spending most of our time at the orphanage, but will travel outside the city to one of the poorest places in Nicaragua – literally a village built on one of the biggest garbage dumps in the world. The time will be spent helping with various projects in the orphanage, feeding the children in the attached feeding center and spending time with the kids in the afternoon and evenings. Before we leave on the trip, we will have five training sessions with the other members of the team starting April 20^th. There is so much more to tell about the trip and the preparations, but we are trying to keep this short. There will also be so much more to share with you after we return from our trip!

Ok, so back to our story. When we first applied for the trip, we knew it was going to cost between $3,000 and $3,600 for us to make the journey to Nicaragua. We had set aside the right amount of money to pay the church for all the expenses. However, on April 2^nd, we completed our taxes for 2009 and found out that we needed to pay in $3,500! All the money that we had set aside for our trip needed to be handed over to Uncle Sam. As incredibly terrible as we felt, we came to the realization (with help from the people around us) that this was part of God’s plan and just another confirmation that we were supposed to go on this trip. I was putting my trust in the money that we had set aside rather than trusting that God will provide what we needed. Our current situation has opened my eyes to how little I trusted God with our finances. I know now that through this time, I will begin to see how amazing God is when I let Him take control of our finances.

So, we are asking you to join us in supporting this mission. First and foremost, we need your prayers for provision, protection, and blessings for the group we are going with and for our hosts. Secondly, we would appreciate any financial support you are able to give ONLY if you feel that God is leading you to do so. Please do not feel under any obligation to give! We know that God will provide and we ask that you pray before deciding to donate or not to donate.

The last few weeks have been exciting, upsetting and motivating. We look forward to hearing from you and any insights or thoughts that you would be willing to share with us! So that is our story for now but please stay tuned for more!