Departing today!

Good news first: 
Marc got back from Amsterdam yesterday, then a few hours later hopped on a plane to Brazil. He and Jason are there now and are preparing for our arrival tomorrow morning.

Also, our equipment is packed, and we got everything into 26 suitcases. Thank you to the friends and family who lent us their suitcases! We're very thankful that everything fit, and aside from the 5 over-sized boxes we planned for, everything else should get on the plane without any issues.

Things to pray for:
We leave from PAC today at 4:30pm and our flight from JFK departs at 9:55pm. Please pray for easy travel to the airport and a safe flight to Brazil. We also need the Brazilian customs officials to be kind to us; pray that God orchestrates an easy and duty-free entrance into the country with our equipment.

I think we all have mixed feelings of excitement, anxiety, tiredness, and readiness right now. Please pray that we'll be open to whatever God has for us and that we'll serve with humility and sincerity and love.

One of our goals is of course to complete the renovation project while we're there. But overall, we have been challenged to "pick up our towels" and serve at all times, whether the task is big or small, hard or easy.

Jesus picked up his towel to wash the feet of his own disciples. Then he endured punishment, torture, death, and hell to demonstrate his relentless love for us. Pray that we'd imitate that kind of service and love to each other and to everyone we meet in Brazil.

Thanks everyone. The next update will be from Brazil!