Travel and retreats/gatherings

There's a lot going on this week for our team, so I think I'll break it down by day:

Monday, May 11:
-Please Pray for Allison Jurecki as she is flying back into Valencia, arriving around 2:30pm.
-Also pray for her and Justin as they take an overnight bus to Maracaibo. Pray for safety and a restful journey, especially for Jurecki, considering that she was a relatively short turn around time between arriving on the plane and leaving on the bus.
-Please pray that Allison Pepple, Sarah Brown, Oscar Zapata, and I can schedule appointments well as we have a short week. Pray also for discernment in what to cover in those meetings and that students would be punctual and eager to receive.

Tuesday, May 12:
-Please pray for Jurecki and Justin along with all the other city directors from around Venezuela as they meet together in Maracaibo. Pray for wisdom for them as they consider how to determine the criteria for selecting a new national director and the vision for how to continue forward with the current national director, Keith Onishi, leaving in July of next year (2010).
-Please pray again for Pepple, Sarah, Oscar, and I in scheduling and having appointments (discernment in content, punctuality, and excitement)


Wednesday, May 13:
-For energy for Justin, Jurecki, and the city leaders as they meet for another day.
-For Pepple, Sarah, Oscar, and I in scheduling and having our last appointments of the week (discernment in content, punctuality, and excitement)
-For safety and a restful trip as Pepple, Sarah, Oscar, and I take a nightbus to meet up with our leaders in Maracaibo for a team retreat.

Thursday, May 14:
-For rest and attentiveness to God's voice for Jurecki, Justin, Sarah, Pepple, and I as we spend a day with the Lord.
-For Oscar as he has a meeting to talk about Venezuelan fund-raising policy within Campus Crusade for Christ

Friday, May 15:
-For our team to be encouraged, to be refreshed, and to have fun as we spend a day together in a team adventure outside of Maracaibo.

Saturday, May 16:
-For Justin, Jurecki, Pepple, Sarah, and I as we debrief about the year and begin considering questions/preparations to return home. Pray for insight in what to share for the staff member that will be leading that time (probably Elisha or Sherri) and that we would be able to identify things necessary for personal closure for each of us. (Just for memory's sake, Pepple will leave May 28th, Sarah around June 15th, and the rest toward the end of July)
-For Oscar as he spends the day with his family after having been away for a month and a half.

Sunday, May 17:
-For our team as we visit Oscar's church in Maracaibo
-For safe and restful travel for Jurecki, Pepple, Sarah, Justin, and I as we take another night bus back to Valencia.

Monday, May 18:
-For energy, endurance, and readiness to learn for Oscar and all the other Venezuelan staff as they start a three week intensive training conference about fund-raising.
-For Jurecki, Pepple, Sarah, Justin, and I as we get back to ministry in Valencia, as we plan appointments for the week, and make plans for a parents' meeting to present who we are as a ministry and explain what is coming with summer project.

Travel safety and finishing well

Congreso came and went, hopefully I'll get a chance to post my update letter about it one of these days to fill in some blanks about what happened. As for now, I have two specific prayer requests:
1. My teammate Allison Jurecki's grandmother passed away unexpectedly yesterday morning. It's a pretty substantial blow to the family as she had lived with them for quite some time and was really an integral part of their lives. Allison is flying home tomorrow evening(Wednesday) and will arrive Thursday afternoon to be with her family until Sunday. Please pray for her safe travel, and for God's comfort for her and her family in their grief.
2. We're approaching the end of our STINT year. Allison Pepple is leaving at the end of May to go home and raise funds for a second year, Sarah Brown leaves in mid-june to do the same, and the rest of us leave toward the end of July. Please pray for wisdom for us especially in our discipleship relationships, that we would know what is important to focus on and pass on to the students before our time with them ends.

Bus

This is a slight modification to the last post:
Tomorrow (Friday, specifically at 9am) we're going to try to go talk to the director of the University to ask for a bus to transport students to Congreso. Please pray that we can get in to talk to her, that she would show us favor and give us a bus, and that we would have an opportunity to share the gospel with her.

Here it comes...

Please continue to pray for Congreso details as it is quickly approaching. We're working on videos, still don't have many details about the sound equipment, and are still awaiting confirmation on the band members.

Additionally, please pray for buses for Congreso. So far we have only hit roadblocks in trying to get one from the school, but we're pursuing the permission we're missing from higher up the chain of authority. Please pray for favor and that we would speak with wisdom and clarity. Also, please pray for all cities since they have also been having similar trouble securing a free bus from their respective universities.

Thank God for the retreat and the details he's worked out this far. The stage is going to be a whole lot easier than I imagined, and the dramas have come together too. Retreat went really well; hopefully I'll have a chance to write more about that in an update in the coming days.

Also, thank God for his financial provision. Through a quick call to my monthly supporters he has already raised enough money for us to send 17 students to Congreso 100% free. Additionally, a letter that Gustavo (one of the guys I'm discipling) wrote has so far seen the fruit of bringing in enough money for him to pay his own registration, the registration of another, and halfway toward a third person (and he still has yet to receive from a few potential donors that have said they're planning to help him!).

Details

This week is one of details. Thursday I'll be going to look at a stage for Congreso and going out to the site to make some measurements so that we have a better idea of what we're working with. We also have a retreat this weekend, so there are lots of transportation, food, content, and logistic details to work out. Please pray that Congreso details like the band, the stage, the emcees, the skits, etc continue to be worked out. Please pray for our retreat, that the details all come together, and that it would be a time for students to grow together in community and be "transformed" (the theme of the retreat).

You can also thank God for our safe travel. We got to the airport in Quito only to find out that the second leg of our journey was canceled. However, the airline lined things up and took responsibility, so we got home a mere 7 hours later than anticipated. That let us be back with enough time to prepare for the finance meeting the next day which went really well. As I worked on preparing a little talk about the biblical basis for raising funds for ministry, I came across Acts 18:1-5 and was excited to see how both "tent-making" and partnership methods of providing for needs during ministry appeared in the same passage. Overall, I definitely think the meeting went well.

Fund raising meeting & Travel

Please pray for a fund-raising meeting we are going to have Thursday. The goal is to help students learn about how they can raise funds for Congreso. My part to prepare is the biblical basis both for the "tent-making" or part time work approach to raising funds for ministry as well as the partnership approach of asking people to be a partner in the ministry by giving/providing for the financial needs. Please pray for students to come, that they would get a good idea of what Congreso is, what the biblical basis for support raising is, and practical advice/pointers/starting points on how to do it.

Also prayers about our visa renewal trip would be appreciated too. Thank God for the time of rest we've had (I'm actually writing in Quito, Ecuador now), and pray for safe travel tomorrow (Wednesday) morning and rest to recover from the traveling tomorrow afternoon.

Visa Renewal

Please pray for our visa renewal trip. We leave Saturday for Quito, Ecuador, but several details are still up in the air. I have yet to receive details from the agent issuing our tickets, and I've had similarly little success securing transportation to the airport in Caracas. Pray that those details would come together quickly and without stress, and that we would have a safe trip with lots of opportunities to seek God and reflect as a team and as individuals.