OSC--Guanajuato 2010

Wow.  We had our final team meeting last night.  Almost the entire team was present (only 2 were missing!).  We talked a lot about travel details. 

WE WILL MEET @ NCF TO LOAD AND PRAY FROM 6-7pm FRIDAY NIGHT.  PLEASE JOIN US FROM 6:30-7pm to PRAY!

The youth have their final packing lists, their team t-shirts, and team water bottles.  All of the supplies for the trip are separated and ready to be put into suitcases.  Drivers to take us down to the airport (at 1am, yikes!) are set.  Tickets and passports are ready.  Team devotional guides are completed.  Just about everything is set!  (of course, I still have to worry about packing myself…that is a task!  It is hard enough to pack when you only have to worry about yourself, but when you are trying to pack AND anticipate what the kids will forget and therefore pack an extra one of this or have 2 of that just in case…it gets crazy!)

The last part of our team meeting focused on team-building.  We spent some time engaging in an exercise that demonstrated just how much each person can impact and influence the rest of the team.  All they had to do was lower a broomstick to the ground using the back of one finger.  The team was divided up into two groups and each group got 3 chances to accomplish the task.  If the broomstick fell, they had to start over.  If any one’sfinger lost contact with the broomstick, they had to start over.  No only could they not lower the broomstick successfully, they actually RAISED the broomstick!  Needless to say the youth were all flabbergastted.

• (the secret is that everyone is exerting a small amount of upward force to keep his/her finger in contact with the stick.  When some one feels his/her finger start to lose contact with the stick, he/she will increase that pressure—raise his/her finger slightly—to keep it in contact with the stick.  This slight increase in upward force causes the stick to “lighten”, or at least seem like so to the other teammates.  They, in turn, increase their pressure to keep in contact with the stick….you can see the cycle.  Trying to lower the stick actually results in raising it!) 

It was a great chance to talk as a team about how much we will be influencing and impacting our teammates while in Mexico.

I am EXTREMELY excited about this trip and you can tell that the youth are as well.  They are chomping at the bit and ready to go!  It is hard to believe that in just 48 hours we will be boarding a plane in houston to catch the last leg of our flight to Mexico!  WOO HOO!

Prayer Requests:

• Pray for the final details to fall into place.  There are so many little things to finish up before we go.
• Pray for the financial support of the team.  Praise God that He has provided money to this point!
• Pray for traveling mercies and protection as we will be leaving to head down in just over 36 hours!
• Pray for our families.  Even though we are excited about the trip, it is still hard to leave loved ones behind, even for a week.  Pray that our families would be safe and not miss us too much ;)