Retreat - brief update The retreat last weekend was awesome. It basically consisted of 4 different things:

• Worship
  
• Teaching
  
• Prayer/Sharing
  
• Fellowship

Worship was awesome. Bobby and Michael forgot to bring any mic stands, so Nathan was our human mic stand. :-) But because of this, he actually sang in a few songs as well, which was cool. Bobby and Michael played guitar (or Michael played bass on his guitar a few times), Scott led some songs, Bobby and Michael led the others, and I did percussion.  We probably played a couple of hours on Friday night. It was pretty cool. During some of the sharing times (what I got out of today, this weekend, etc.) a few people talked about how they learned new things about worship. It is always so cool to worship at these kind of things... where everyone is focused on it, small intimate group, small setting. It was very cool from a spiritual side.

Also, it was cool to see that we can do worship in such a small setting. I think it says something about how far the team has come. Not only do we do well in the church setting, with the big sound board, all the speakers, lights, entire team, etc. - but we also do well with just a few people, a small sound box, and a couple of mics. In my opinion, that just goes to show that it is about the worship and heart, and not about the setting or technical things. It was great training for Costa Rica!

Well I'll post more later about the other three points, but I'm going up to The Ark today, and have to get ready!
posted by James at 6:11 AM

Letters
I finally got my support letters sent out. Yeah, I said I'd do it last week, but things are ALWAYS so busy. Anyway, shortened them again, so they are only one page. More than asking people for finances to support me on this, they are really asking for prayer support, contacting people I haven't contacted for quite some time, and giving people an oppurtunity to sow financially... if that is what they are felt led to do. Regardless of the response, it was good to get done and to write some notes!
posted by James at 6:03 AM

Update
A few updates. Haven't posted much here lately... mostly because there so much of what happens at this stage isn't all that visible. Mostly just raising the funds, making sure the youth are making their payments (so they don't have a large chunk due at the end), etc.

We are going on a prayer retreat tonight, which will last through tomorrow. This should be an awesome time. It will bring us closer together, help cover the trip in prayer, and real God's direction and vision for this trip!

I still haven't sent out my own support letter (other than the one via email) and have just been paying for the trip myself. After reading a few support letters I received this morning (and couldn't give to as much as I'd like, because I'm paying for my own trip!), I was convicted that if I had sent out my own letters when I was supposed to, that I would have more funds to help others. Not asking other people to support me was selfish and has affected my ability to help support others! So, I brought my letters up-to-date, will print them out today, and get them sent when I get back from the retreat! Not to mention that if I don't ask people for prayer support, I'm not going to get much!

It was also convicting seeing Jaime (who gets a certain amount of procrastination from her father :-S) work on her update letters last night.

Anyway... that was pretty much all about me. In general things are moving along. I've been exchanging some email with Jonathan, and we might be changing the direction of the involvement of the youth worship team on this trip. I'm trying to get clarification on that. Regardless, I know that this is going to be an awesome trip, and will be an awesome oppurtunity for me to do foreign missions, help from a leadership prespective, and get to work along side these youth

Continue to pray for the trip and that all aspects of it will come together. Most of the youth are rasing their funds, but a few are having some problems. Pray that they'd do what is needed to raise their support and so that God can meet them in their need!

Thanks!
posted by James at 5:37 AM