A Labor of Love

How Many Bags? Twenty-seven (27) !?

Well, that's the number of checked bags British Airways has allowed our team of 9, who leave in just 7 days, to take with us to Nairobi as an official "missionary team". As a result of so many wonderfully generous folks, our team managed to raise nearly $19,000 in a very short period of time and purchase our airline tickets in May, just in time to qualify us for missionary fares - which were lower than their published fares. An added benefit of traveling with  "missionary status" is that each member of our team was alloted 3 checked bags. Simple math: 9 X 3 = 27 bags to fill. Oh, man! Did we fill them!

15 bags were packed on Sunday afternoon with the mountain of donations recieved: bottles and bottles of children's gummy vitamins, mounds of diapers of all sizes, heeps of baby wipes and pull-ups, crib sheets, bags of new stuffed animals, warm clothes, althetic shoes and flip-flops, 18 twin-sheet sets, bath towels sets, office supplies, craft paints and materials and a few school supplies.

Our living room was transformed into a miniture Fed-Ex sorting area and assembly line! After the donations were sorted, Marri, Jessica, and (Big) Ryan began filling duffle bag after duffle bag to the rim! (Teen) Ryan R. and Johnny labeled and numbered each bag with brightly colored duck-tape written in black sharpe. Next, Josh (and Michael and Ginny Mitchell, our trip leader mentors) would weigh each bag on the hand-held scales to ensure no bag was over 50 lbs. If the weight was too low more items were creatively shoved into all remaining crevices. Final step was to record what each bag contained. This would be helpful in case a specific bag went missing. If that were to happen we would know exactly what items were lost.  Charelle electronically documented the bag description and its contents. After a few hours, we had miraculously packed and labeled everything. What a team effort! Our dear friend, Dr. Harvey Castro popped over and was able to review our "medicine bag" and give us a few pointers on what meds were missing and what we needed more of.

We are not done!! We left some room for the sizable donations that were promised by several folks. A sweet group of Frisco women have an extraordinary amount of  supplies for us and will deliver them tomorrow, Wednesday. New fleece blankets have been lovingly made by citizens of Flower Mound with special bible verses sown into them for the new children who have arrived at Naomi's Village since last June. They will be delivered to us on Wednesday, as well. More items requested by NV are being supplied by several Lantana families and we expect them sometime today.

Your overwhelming generosity has flooded our home in an effort to meet the felt needs of the orphans at Naomi's Village! Our team is so grateful for your support. Thank you!! You have encouraged our hearts and built up our faith by being so open-handed with your gifts. As we travel across the ocean and continents, please know we will gladly and joyfully bear the load of each duffle bag and suit case in your honor. We consider it a labor of love!