God showed up

The night was a success! We had our dinner last night at the winery. All in all it went very smoothly. Erin and I sold around thirty tickets and with family and friends telling us they would love to come our estimated count was about fifty to sixty guests. The doors opened at 6:30 and I was real nervous. The tables were barely covered with the clean white clothes we were given and had a map with some flags atop as the centerpiece . The raffle tables were completely covered with prizes and very well decorated thanks to Erin’s friend, Jeanette. The band, which ended up surprising me very much when they began, was set and jamming. These guys are real good. LIke totally legit!! Thank you Sight Unseen, you guys rock. Familiar faces began to walk in the door and the night was off and running. By 7:15 the attendance was only 25 and I knew we had to begin eating soon. I couldn’t wait any longer. These were the people that were meant to be here and not one more. Bring on the pork! I said a quick prayer and everyone chowed down. There was so much food we insisted people should get seconds and even thirds. It was soooooo good. I had three sandwiches. Feeling more relaxed and stuffed, it was time for the speaking part. The pastor of the church we attend agreed to speak first. He hit many great points on the need of missionaries and had some real great statistics that really blew my mind. 267,000 kids die everyday from curable diesases. WOW! Next I showed a video made by a girl that is currently on the World Race. Thanks Katie Rowland. When I say “I showed it” of course I mean this very talented kid from my church worked his magic and put it up on the wall. The video was on many beautiful children of the world and it literally brought tears to my eyes the first time I watched it. Next was my big moment: I spoke for a few minutes basically telling Erin and my story and talking more about the trip itself. I mainly just wanted to show our audience our hearts and let them know they are a part of this trip now. I said my thank you’s to all that helped but of course it could never have been enough. We were so blessed by this night. All the great help and how it all just fell together. After my little time in the limelight it was time to give away the great prizes. We handed out dessert and coffee and the numbers began to flow out of my mouth. With cheering and laughter all the recipients were very pleased. And in turn, so was I! The night ended with another session by the band. We cleaned up and it was all over. My only prayer is that we were good representatives of God, and we got the word out about the trip. 
Thank you all for your help. I know we could never have been close to doing anything like this without you. You are all in our prayers and please, please continue to follow us as we embark on this wonderful journey the Lord has put before us.