Saturday, March 7, 2009
Safe Arrival
The team left church at 4 a.m and has now arrived safely at the Oasis! Flights were all on time and relatively smooth, all our luggage arrived in tact. We are settling in, playing a little bit of "football" (soccer) with the girls, eating dinner and then getting to bed......it's been a long day.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Testimony from Greg Stoesz
“Be still, and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10
My journey started one Sunday sitting at Church when I saw a note that people were needed to go to Guatemala. I have never been on an international mission trip and a lot of feelings and thoughts were bouncing around in my head. I wanted to go, should I go? Was God calling me to go? Was my own desire to go getting in the way of what God wanted? Could I afford to go? How in the world would I raise that kind of money to go? In a very short period of time God would answer all of my questions and calm all of my fears.
This was all new territory for me - I felt God’s gentle nudging but was allowing my own fears to get in the way. This was a big undertaking and the weight of this decision I took with great care and responsibility. After meeting with Tim Bodkin and signing up to go I felt great relief and a sense of doing what God had planned for me. This is where God really showed me that he was pleased. I started making a mental list of whom I would send support letters to, and I also told a few people that I was going. The following Saturday in my men's Bible study a friend of mine handed me a check to start the fund raising. To be honest, I didn’t have this person on the mental list and was blown away by this donation. In one minute, God had completely removed the biggest hurdle that I thought I had. I was 1/3rd of the way to my goal and I hadn’t sent out a single support letter, praise God! Here I sat, in complete awe and humility. Over the next 2 months he has continued to amaze me and provide for this trip. I can’t wait to see what he has planned once we set foot in Guatemala.
Please keep praying for our team, we have a lot of traveling to do before we can get down to the hard work.
Greg Stoesz
My journey started one Sunday sitting at Church when I saw a note that people were needed to go to Guatemala. I have never been on an international mission trip and a lot of feelings and thoughts were bouncing around in my head. I wanted to go, should I go? Was God calling me to go? Was my own desire to go getting in the way of what God wanted? Could I afford to go? How in the world would I raise that kind of money to go? In a very short period of time God would answer all of my questions and calm all of my fears.
This was all new territory for me - I felt God’s gentle nudging but was allowing my own fears to get in the way. This was a big undertaking and the weight of this decision I took with great care and responsibility. After meeting with Tim Bodkin and signing up to go I felt great relief and a sense of doing what God had planned for me. This is where God really showed me that he was pleased. I started making a mental list of whom I would send support letters to, and I also told a few people that I was going. The following Saturday in my men's Bible study a friend of mine handed me a check to start the fund raising. To be honest, I didn’t have this person on the mental list and was blown away by this donation. In one minute, God had completely removed the biggest hurdle that I thought I had. I was 1/3rd of the way to my goal and I hadn’t sent out a single support letter, praise God! Here I sat, in complete awe and humility. Over the next 2 months he has continued to amaze me and provide for this trip. I can’t wait to see what he has planned once we set foot in Guatemala.
Please keep praying for our team, we have a lot of traveling to do before we can get down to the hard work.
Greg Stoesz
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