To the surprise of most, I did not pull any April Fool's pranks today. I really didn't. And even more shocking, no one pulled any on me. That's OK with me, I really don't need April 1st to pull a prank... just ask Diane Adams or Tara Shay. Sometimes I do my best work in Honduras. Time will tell what this year's trip might bring... we do have a LOT of new people going this year! However, April 1st means other things to us. Specifically, it begins the final count down for all supplies that will be shipped down to Honduras. 30 days and counting, give or take, until everything needs to be sorted, counted, boxed, labeled, and inventoried. I will be emailing specific instructions to team leaders next week concerning all of this. The better organized we are on this end will help make the job of unloading and unpacking on the other end. 24 of us will be in Honduras a couple days ahead of the main team getting things ready. Our specific job will be to organize the boxes according to content into several different groupings: Men's clothes; women's clothes; children's clothes; infant clothes; shoes; toys and stuffed animals; school supplies; medical supplies; hygiene supplies; tools; medicines; Bible and VBS supplies; etc. Once the main team arrives we will sort the supplies even further according to male/female clothes and by sizes; male / female / children's shoes and by sizes; sort the 50+ different medicines and break the bulk items into prescription sized pill bottles; sort the school supplies; sort the VBS supplies; sort and package the hygiene items; etc. It is a lot of work but the better organized we are the more efficient we are when it comes time to give the supplies away to those who need it. We will do the same thing with bulk foods. We will order huge amounts of beans; rice; sugar; flour; spaghetti noodles; tomato sauce; shortening; bullion cubes; coffee; etc. and will break the items down into family sized portions and assemble food bags. We will also buy fresh food such as carrots; cucumbers; onions; potatoes; cabbage; oranges; etc. and will make family sized portions to be given away. Depending on how much money we raise for the work fund, we might be able to distribute food bags to over 1,000 families this trip (or about 5,000 people) which could amount to over 100,000 meals (3 meals a day for 1 week). . I have talked to Gayle Davidson and Tim Hines this past week concerning the containers. Plans have changed slightly and most definitely to our favor. All supplies being collected in Florida will still be sent to Melbourne, Florida, where Gayle will make room for them on her container that is being loaded and shipped out the 1st week of May. Any supplies that are being collected elsewhere will be sending their boxes to New Orleans. Tim has a container that is going out the 2nd weekend of May. Both containers will arrive in Honduras before we get there. I will be driving a truck down to New Orleans the 1st weekend in May so if you can get your stuff to me I will be glad to take it along with the things we have collected here. Jenny Lovell continues to do a great job raising money for our work fund. She has had donations for dedication houses, money to buy Bibles, funds to help buy medicines, and donations to help with the cost of shipping our supplies down. Remember, the more money we have in the work fund the more houses we can build, food distributions to give away, Bibles to give away, and special projects like banquets for Jesus we can do. With a team as large as ours, our only real limit is how much we have to fund projects. We are capable of doing multiple tasks every day during our entire trip to Honduras. On the Costa Rica trip, things are well on their way to being organized and ready to roll. 36 of the 42 team members have now bought their airline tickets. Hotel rooms have been reserved (3 different locations). Buses have been reserved. Daniel Chaves has organized work projects for us... we literally start work 3 hours after we arrive in Buenos Aires! Door knocking teams will be going out every day that we are there; 5 nights for the gospel meeting; 4 days of VBS; 3 days of training classes for men, women, and children; service projects; painting projects; visitation; benevolence projects; and fellowship. Joe Roberts, from Eustis, Florida, has already written his lessons on church growth. Keffee Morrow has already written her lessons for the ladies bible class. Carla Richardson is working on the children's Bible lessons. Kim Fussell has written the VBS lessons and we will be using them in Costa Rica; Nicaragua, and Honduras. Puppet skits are being planned for both trips. Drama skits are being written for both teams. Minor Perez has been working like a mad man calling and emailing Costa Rica making plans and reservations. translators have been recruited and secured and ready to go. Margaret has been updating spread sheets like crazy. I guess what I am trying to say is a LOT OF STUFF HAS BEEN DONE ALREADY! This is, by far, the most organized we have been by April 1st. My biggest task now is writing the journal and getting it printed and finishing the t-shirt design and getting them screened. Thanks to all that have been working so hard to get things ready for this trip. Many of you are collecting supplies for the trips. Others have been raising money for the work fund. Keep up the good work. Keep finding ways to keep people focused on the trip and to get more and more people involved in the trip. It is awesome to hear about the things groups are doing! This weekend Kittanning church of Christ in Pennsylvania is having a putt-putt tournament. What makes this special is the fact that there is not a putt-putt course within 45 miles of Kittanning... they are building their own at the church building! 18 one of kind holes are being built and designed by members at the congregation. Unique? Sure! Sound like fund? Absolutely! They are also doing a murder mystery dinner before the trip. Western Hills church of Christ in Nashville is gearing up for a huge yard sale, spaghetti luncheon and auction, and a baby back rib sale. The Florida Keys group is bagging food at a local grocery store and selling pizza at a community event. Let me know what other groups are doing! I would love to share your stories!!! I keep watching the count down calendars for Honduras and Costa Rica. I keep scratching off things on my "to do" list. I keep tossing change into the jar (spending money for the trip... it is amazing how much money we collect every year by just saving change!). Stay tuned, more information, stories, and thoughts for the day are coming. Las primeras cinco personas que leen esto y me entran en contacto con recibran una bottella de agua libre de la TORCH. Hope to hear from you soon! TR
Sunday, April 3
It's all in the details
To the surprise of most, I did not pull any April Fool's pranks today. I really didn't. And even more shocking, no one pulled any on me. That's OK with me, I really don't need April 1st to pull a prank... just ask Diane Adams or Tara Shay. Sometimes I do my best work in Honduras. Time will tell what this year's trip might bring... we do have a LOT of new people going this year! However, April 1st means other things to us. Specifically, it begins the final count down for all supplies that will be shipped down to Honduras. 30 days and counting, give or take, until everything needs to be sorted, counted, boxed, labeled, and inventoried. I will be emailing specific instructions to team leaders next week concerning all of this. The better organized we are on this end will help make the job of unloading and unpacking on the other end. 24 of us will be in Honduras a couple days ahead of the main team getting things ready. Our specific job will be to organize the boxes according to content into several different groupings: Men's clothes; women's clothes; children's clothes; infant clothes; shoes; toys and stuffed animals; school supplies; medical supplies; hygiene supplies; tools; medicines; Bible and VBS supplies; etc. Once the main team arrives we will sort the supplies even further according to male/female clothes and by sizes; male / female / children's shoes and by sizes; sort the 50+ different medicines and break the bulk items into prescription sized pill bottles; sort the school supplies; sort the VBS supplies; sort and package the hygiene items; etc. It is a lot of work but the better organized we are the more efficient we are when it comes time to give the supplies away to those who need it. We will do the same thing with bulk foods. We will order huge amounts of beans; rice; sugar; flour; spaghetti noodles; tomato sauce; shortening; bullion cubes; coffee; etc. and will break the items down into family sized portions and assemble food bags. We will also buy fresh food such as carrots; cucumbers; onions; potatoes; cabbage; oranges; etc. and will make family sized portions to be given away. Depending on how much money we raise for the work fund, we might be able to distribute food bags to over 1,000 families this trip (or about 5,000 people) which could amount to over 100,000 meals (3 meals a day for 1 week). . I have talked to Gayle Davidson and Tim Hines this past week concerning the containers. Plans have changed slightly and most definitely to our favor. All supplies being collected in Florida will still be sent to Melbourne, Florida, where Gayle will make room for them on her container that is being loaded and shipped out the 1st week of May. Any supplies that are being collected elsewhere will be sending their boxes to New Orleans. Tim has a container that is going out the 2nd weekend of May. Both containers will arrive in Honduras before we get there. I will be driving a truck down to New Orleans the 1st weekend in May so if you can get your stuff to me I will be glad to take it along with the things we have collected here. Jenny Lovell continues to do a great job raising money for our work fund. She has had donations for dedication houses, money to buy Bibles, funds to help buy medicines, and donations to help with the cost of shipping our supplies down. Remember, the more money we have in the work fund the more houses we can build, food distributions to give away, Bibles to give away, and special projects like banquets for Jesus we can do. With a team as large as ours, our only real limit is how much we have to fund projects. We are capable of doing multiple tasks every day during our entire trip to Honduras. On the Costa Rica trip, things are well on their way to being organized and ready to roll. 36 of the 42 team members have now bought their airline tickets. Hotel rooms have been reserved (3 different locations). Buses have been reserved. Daniel Chaves has organized work projects for us... we literally start work 3 hours after we arrive in Buenos Aires! Door knocking teams will be going out every day that we are there; 5 nights for the gospel meeting; 4 days of VBS; 3 days of training classes for men, women, and children; service projects; painting projects; visitation; benevolence projects; and fellowship. Joe Roberts, from Eustis, Florida, has already written his lessons on church growth. Keffee Morrow has already written her lessons for the ladies bible class. Carla Richardson is working on the children's Bible lessons. Kim Fussell has written the VBS lessons and we will be using them in Costa Rica; Nicaragua, and Honduras. Puppet skits are being planned for both trips. Drama skits are being written for both teams. Minor Perez has been working like a mad man calling and emailing Costa Rica making plans and reservations. translators have been recruited and secured and ready to go. Margaret has been updating spread sheets like crazy. I guess what I am trying to say is a LOT OF STUFF HAS BEEN DONE ALREADY! This is, by far, the most organized we have been by April 1st. My biggest task now is writing the journal and getting it printed and finishing the t-shirt design and getting them screened. Thanks to all that have been working so hard to get things ready for this trip. Many of you are collecting supplies for the trips. Others have been raising money for the work fund. Keep up the good work. Keep finding ways to keep people focused on the trip and to get more and more people involved in the trip. It is awesome to hear about the things groups are doing! This weekend Kittanning church of Christ in Pennsylvania is having a putt-putt tournament. What makes this special is the fact that there is not a putt-putt course within 45 miles of Kittanning... they are building their own at the church building! 18 one of kind holes are being built and designed by members at the congregation. Unique? Sure! Sound like fund? Absolutely! They are also doing a murder mystery dinner before the trip. Western Hills church of Christ in Nashville is gearing up for a huge yard sale, spaghetti luncheon and auction, and a baby back rib sale. The Florida Keys group is bagging food at a local grocery store and selling pizza at a community event. Let me know what other groups are doing! I would love to share your stories!!! I keep watching the count down calendars for Honduras and Costa Rica. I keep scratching off things on my "to do" list. I keep tossing change into the jar (spending money for the trip... it is amazing how much money we collect every year by just saving change!). Stay tuned, more information, stories, and thoughts for the day are coming. Las primeras cinco personas que leen esto y me entran en contacto con recibran una bottella de agua libre de la TORCH. Hope to hear from you soon! TR
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All 5 of the free Torch water bottles have been claimed. Thanks for those who figured out the Spanish message and responding to it!
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