Suggested Packing List

We leave Grace Bible Church on Friday, January 20, stay in Chicago Friday night and fly out Saturday. Currently each passenger is allowed 1 checked bag less than 50 pounds, 1 carry-on and 1 personal item.

The fewer personal items you bring the better. You will need to haul your stuff around the airport and at the hotel :-} so pack as light as possible. Please do not bring any valuable items or sensitive electronics. Laundry is done at the guesthouse each day. As a team, we carry all our medications and supplies with us in our personal luggage.

At the guesthouse we will have access to a landline phone (with a United States number), a computer and Wi-Fi. The team leader will also have a MacBook. There is no reliable Wi-Fi outside the guesthouse.

Things to bring:

 Bible, mission manual, and journal.

 Cash for personal spending (souvenirs and food at the airports coming and going), recommend no more than $200. There is a safe at the guesthouse for money and other valuables, i.e. passports.

 Small flashlight (your smartphone may have this function, remember to bring your charger)

 Bug spray/Sunscreen 

 Personal Stethoscope for medical folks (they have some there, but the quality is questionable)

 Personal Toiletries 

Swimsuit (no bikinis or speedo’s)

 Work gloves (If applicable) 

 Ear plugs (for light-sleepers) 

 Small, battery-powered alarm clock (if you are using your smart phone for this, please remember to bring your charger) 

 Sandals/flip flops (for wear around the guesthouse or into town. NO open toe shoes allowed in the barrios)

 Tennis/work shoes 

 Nice, casual outfit for local church service 

 At least 1 pair of long pants, 1 long-sleeved shirt 

 Personal medications (preferably in their original containers)

 Spanish/English Dictionary if desired. Translators and a vocabulary list will be provided for the medical team.

Hand Sanitizer-pocket size

 Travel sized packs of tissues (outside the Guesthouse there is usually not any)

Donations: clothing, toiletries, shoes, etc., you plan to leave at the guesthouse, after the week is over, or donations for the villagers. Examples include school supplies, simple toys for children (nothing battery powered or inappropriate), small backpacks.

 We are looking to schedule another Mission Retreat. It will once again be at the Princeton House.

Possible dates are:

October 14-15 or

October 28-29

Please let me know which dates would work best for you.

Of course, mark your calendars for January 20-28, 2023. We are already on the Solid Rock calendar for those dates.

If anyone has a place on your heart to serve, here or overseas, shout it out. This body of believers is so strong let’s do more!!

The Good Fight

 

Corrie ten Boom is pictured above in Egloffstein, Germany.

What makes this photo incredible is that Corrie is a survivor of Ravensbrück concentration camp during World War II. She says:

Yes, God is good when He sends good weather. But was also good when He allowed my sister Betsie to starve to death before my eyes in the German concentration camp. (emphasis added).

I remember one occasion when I was very discouraged there. Everything around us was dark, and there was darkness in my heart. I remember telling Betsie that I thought God had forgotten us.

 "No, Corrie," said Betsie, "He has not forgotten us. Remember His Word: 'For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him...'  Psalm 103:11  (NKJV)

Here was a woman that has since traveled to more than 60 nations to share God's love, even Germany.

For as the sufferings of Christ abound I us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:5 (NKJV)

May we treasure these words from God as we prepare for our mission, both here at home and while we travel.

(Photo and quote from: Clippings from My Notebook, ten Boom, Corrie. Nashville, TN, Thomas Nelson, Inc. 1982) 

 

Team Meeting

 The next item on our agenda is to schedule a Team Meeting.

Please let me know which of the following dates will work best:

December 5

December 12

December 19

January 9

January 16

We will go over a brief orientation, distribute team shirts (hopefully) and divide up our medications so bring some spare suitcases. With our humanitarian airfare we will each be allowed to bring 3 checked bags. Since we cannot prepackage our meds this is indeed a blessing.

We need everyone to register on the Solid Rock International website:

https://www.solidrockinternational.org

Prayer Error?

 From “The Green Letters” by Miles Stanford,

“(A) common error is that of praying for forgiveness, instead of heeding the Word, confessing the sins, and receiving the assurance of forgiveness.”  (P131, emphasis added)

At first glance this may seem to be nit-picky. Is there really a difference between “forgiveness” and “confession”? Stanford goes on to elaborate that, as believers, we already have forgiveness. Christ said, “It is finished.”

We are not to abide (continue living) in our present condition (the way we feel) counting on help from God for our walk and service, but to realize our position (the fact of who we are) in order to become involved in the needs of this world.

Scripture urges us to agree with God and walk with Him, not pleading for something we already have.

Fleas

    Corrie ten Boom and her family were incarcerated by the Nazis in a concentration camp because they had helped Jews. In “The Hiding Place”, Corrie relates that the guards relocated some of the prisoners into a filthy barracks crawling with vermin. Corrie’s sister had the faith to say, “thank You for the fleas.” 

    It turned out that the Nazi guards would not enter the barracks because of the fleas so the prisoners were able to have Bible study there.

    How remarkable that her sister had the faith to say “thank You for the fleas” before she knew this.

    In the Green Letters Miles Stanford states, “Life is meant to bring a succession of discoveries (fleas?) of our need of Christ, and with every such discovery the way is open for a new inflow of the supply.” (Page 28.)

    I yearn to have the faith to say, “Lord, thank You for COVID-19” and wait to see the miracles that only He can do.