Goodbye Harrisonburg

Top 10 things we'll miss about Harrisonburg:

1. Living within walking distance from most of our friends
   
2. Gladdeus/Dfunk
3. Large Group
   
4. Houses with names
   
5. Covenant Presbyterian Church
6. JMU campus in the Spring
7. Seeing the Blue Ridge Mountains while you drive around town
   
8. Fall
   
9. Dave's Taverna
10. Being less than 5 minutes from 3 different parks

Top 10 things we won't miss about Harrisonburg:

1. Office jobs
2. The dog food smell
3. Parking tickets
4. No beach
5. Temperatures below 20 degrees
6. Walking uphill
7. Driving from one side of town to the other
8. The 6am train
9. Moving twice a year
   
10. being a "Townie"

It's hard to believe but, 5 years later, it is time for us to leave this town. We have lots of great memories here and we're certainly sad to go. We'll be in Poquoson for a couple weeks and then it's Guatemala for training on July 6th. Here's an update on our finances. You'll notice our total needs have changed. We were responsible for raising $4000 to start the microfinance site and $200/month to maintain it. A US organization donated all the money to bankroll the entire project. ...God answered that prayer!

	Total Need	Total Raised	%	Remaining Need
Pre-Field Budget	$25,000	$18,000	72%	$7,000
Monthly Budget	$2,500	$2197	88%	$301

The Timeline...

Sunday, July 6, 2008
American Airlines # 1569

Washington Dulles Intl (IAD) to Miami International (MIA)
Departure (IAD): July 6, 6:00 AM EDT (morning)
Arrival (MIA): July 6, 8:35 AM EDT (morning)
Class: Economy

Miami International (MIA) to Guatemala City La Aurora (GUA)
Departure (MIA): July 6, 12:45 PM EDT (afternoon)
Arrival (GUA): July 6, 1:25 PM CST (afternoon)

Our Timeline (some dates subject to change):

• May-July 6: Raise the final 20% of our budget
• July 6-Aug 31: Language School in Antigua, Guatemala
• Sep 1-Sep 15: Spend time with friends/family in VA
• Sep 16-Oct 4: International Missionary Training in Colorado Springs, CO
• Oct 4-Oct 15: Final Preparations and saying goodbye to the USA
• Oct 16(ish): DR
  

It's hard to believe that it's almost here...but it is! WE leave for Guatemala in 8 weeks! We're both nervous and excited for what is before us. Our finance update is below. Our goal is to reach 100% of our monthly support by July. This would mean that by October the addition of all the monthly support we receive from May-September will complete our pre-feild budget and we'll be ready for the mission field.

	Total Need	Total Raised	%	Remaining Need
Pre-Field Budget	$28,000	$16,500	59%	$17,000
Monthly Budget	$2,700	$2049	76%	$826

It's all coming together

Raising support has certainly been a challenge in many ways but God has strengthened us both through it. We've made substantial progress this month and we are now beginning to make specific plans about departure dates. They're still not certain, but I will update as soon as I know more.

I'm attaching 5 pictures we received from Daisy who is currently leading the Social Work Site (Caroline will be co-leading with her when we arrive in the DR). She's been leading the site for less than a year but is doing very well.

Finally, for the next several months I will be including a table that updates our finances at the end of each post.

	Total Need	Total Raised	%	Remaining Need
Pre-Field Budget	$28,000	$11,000	39%	$17,000
Monthly Budget	$2,700	$1,874	69%	$826

Daisy and a group of high school students leading
a bible study for the women of the community.


-a volleyball game involving the women at the
social work ministry


Daisy and several students praying with a woman
from the community.


Daisy conducting the final session of a series of
baking classes for the women.


Daisy teaching a young girl how to do embroidery.

Our Weekend Getaway

2 slices of bread, 8 slices of cheese, and 8 lbs of deli meat…All in one sandwich. It’s called “The Super Duper Colossal Sandwich” and it’s available at Chick and Ruth’s Deli in Annapolis for the low price of $39.99. Why am I telling you about this deli sandwich? Well, it was one of the highlights from a weekend getaway trip Caroline and I took in February.

We had both been working full-time and fundraising in the evenings since October. It was time for a retreat. We kicked it off Saturday morning in Annapolis with a US Naval Academy tour by my good friend Andrew, and enjoyed some Maryland Crab Cakes midway through. I already shared our dinner choice, although I should note that we didn’t actually order “The Super Duper Colossal Sandwich”, it feeds over 6 people. After dinner we enjoyed some homemade ice cream, and we learned that Annapolis was the first place ice cream was served as a dessert in the US. I’m glad it caught on. Sunday we headed for Baltimore’s Inner Harbor and the Maryland Aquarium. I’m not sure what we enjoyed more: seeing sharks swim by inches from our face, or seeing the little kids freak out every time this happened. That evening we enjoyed dinner and a movie before heading back home on Monday. It was fun to see 2 new places for the first time and even better to have a break.

By the way, I posted some pictures from this trip on our last post.