Oops & Excitement All Wrapped into One!

"Consider it pure joy my brothers whenever you face trials of many  kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything" - James 1:2-4

     Can you tell how busy our team has been? We haven't even  had a chance to update since the end of July! Here's a fast forward version to catch you up...
     The months of August and September have been filled with fund raising, vaccines (ouch!), getting to know one another better, and spiritual, emotional, and mental preparation to go. We have been able to raise the majority of our funds and receive our shots from Ann Marie. Unfortunately, the months of August and September also presented a lot of challenges for many of our team members. We have had to face the loss of many teammates due to circumstances with family. Although we wish with all our hearts that they could join us in Togo, we know it was God's plan for them to stay and care for their family members that needed them. Because of these losses, we have decided to take one larger team rather than 2 small teams. In making this decision, it became clear that this was in the best interest for everyone. There were some very real logistical issues that weren't quite worked out (like how to pack all of the medications needed for the 2nd trip in less than 24 hours time!). We also feel this will be easier on the Togo missionaries, two trips back to back would have been exhausting on their resources. God's plans always work out to be the best for everyone.
    We are now entering the month of October and we are in the home stretch! We leave on October 28th with 18 team members, including 4 providers. This size team and that number of providers is going to allow us to serve so many people in so many different ways! We have the majority of our supplies and are working on inventory and packing to make sure we have everything. We are all so excited to go and share the word of God with the people of Togo. These next 4 weeks are going to fly by as we try to ensure that we are all ready to go and serve Him.