Prayer Send-Off: Thursday, June 4th

On Thursday my Africa mission team and I met at Wooddale Community Church for a prayer send-off. This was a time for our friends and family to come together to pray for our preparation, our time in Africa, and our safety home, among many other things.

Tom Correll, Wooddale's Outreach Pastor, began the evening by introducing the importance of mission work. Rose and Steve, our team leaders, then explained a bit about our trip: where we'll be staying, what we'll be doing, etc. Afterwards, each team member (there are 11 of us) talked a little bit about the trip (ie. why we are going, what we expect, prayer requests, etc.).

I was the last person to speak. At this point I had so many thoughts going on in my mind. I looked into the audience and saw an entourage of my supporters. I reflected back at the past few weeks and was so overwhelmed by all of the friends, family and co-workers that have stood by my side. Words can't even express what that means to me.

Soooo... needless to say, I got a little choked up during my speech. What a big baby I am! More than anything I realized how blessed I am to have so many wonderful people in my life. I believe that God is doing something huge with this mission. Something that is so much more than me. I am just a tool for Him to use and He is choosing many others to partner with me.

Thanks again to everyone for your support, encouragement and continuous love.