“We have one launch down and one to go”- Allan Paull
Quick update from Launch: I arrived in Atlanta on Sunday January 5th after a short stop in Portland where I met up with a fellow team leader, Lydia. After a small ordeal of there being no reservation in my name at the hotel, it was a relief to ditch our packs, connect with other squad members, and spend time learning about our prospective leadership roles. The rest of the squad members arrived by 5:00 on January 6th which kick-started lots of excitement; squealing from the girls and fist pounds from the guys as we all got back together for the first time since training camp. “This is real. It’s actually happening.”
Parents and other family members were invited to spend some time at launch as well. While not all were able to come, many did and even took pictures for the parent facebook page to share with the others. It was really fun to see squad mates with their parents and siblings and get to meet, face to face, some of the ones here at home that will be praying for our squad. Please pray for our squad as 1 other member struggles to get here due to bad weather across the country. Others were delayed but have finally made it. The delay caused them to miss important training so please pray for them as they are feeling overwhelmed and are trying to catch up in an extra short time frame.
Our team budget has started allowing for some important “real-life” training for the finance coordinators. I have the amazing opportunity to work and serve alongside Ana who is my finance girl. While we’re gone, she and I will work together to provide accurate information on how and where our money is being spent along with working to stick to a budget provided to us by AIM.
Other exciting news is that we found out our ministry destination and host. Our first country will indeed be Puerto Rico and since there are only 3 ministry sites, teams will be working together with the hosts. Each month, team leaders will receive a ministry setup sheet with information regarding the next month’s ministry. In my team’s case, this month we will be working alongside 2 other teams which will be fun. We also found out we’re near the beach! J We will be working in the town of Arecibo and our host’s name is Danny. So far, the information that Danny provided to AIM is that we will be:
“working at a church that is being re-opened, doing evangelism in the community and praying for students, various community outreach programs through evangelism and prayer…possibly a kids program could be designed and ran by the group.”
This is of course subject to change. We do know we’ll be picked up directly from the airport and between the 9th and 31st will actually stay at 2 different locations. I’ve be talking about, praying for, thinking about, and writing about this trip since April so it’s exciting to be on the very cusp of this great adventure. Please continue to pray for our group as we start this amazing and humbling experience. That we’ll leave “American” time, expectations, and stereotypes behind to fully commit ourselves to the journey God wants to take each of us on this next year.
Thank you everyone again for all your support! Can’t wait to tell you more about Puerto Rico once we get settled.
