(The Holy) Spirit, Suitcases, Sunglasses & Spaghetti!

Hello, everyone! 

First and foremost, thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you to those of you who have supported this trip through prayers, finances, e-mails/text messages/words/hugs of support and encouragement, donations of supplies, etc. for the Mission to Middleburg. Thank you to my family, church family and friends for all of your help in preparations over these past couple of weeks. I am still in awe from Sunday's service at Our Savior and the prayers, love and support that myself and my team are heading to South Africa with. Thank you Pastor Wangelin & Vicar Hauser for such a special service, and thank you John Horak for the invite to sing with the worship team. My grandmother's church also held a special prayer on Sunday during their service. Thank you for continuing to cover us in prayer as we go!

Today, I am writing to you from a kitchen counter in Palatine, Illinois, where I am staying with the most gracious host family, Bruce & Carol Rudi. Bruce is the principal at St. Peter Lutheran School in Arlington Heights and his wife, Carol, is a teacher there, too. They have generously opened their home to me for a few days while we are preparing for our trip and have been a huge blessing these past couple of days. Thank you, Rudi family! 

We haven't even left the U.S. yet and have already seen God at work in so many ways in our preparations. Keep reading to learn about a few of them and for a (quick...?) recap of the past few days here in Illinois!

 Monday: I got up early to drive to Arlington Heights, Illinois for our mission team meeting at St. Peter. So thankful for no dead-stop traffic near Chicago, even on a Monday morning! I heard the song "Great Are You Lord" multiple times on the radio on my drive there as I continued to flip radio stations. So many times, in fact, that I lost count after 6, I think? That song has a lyric that is repeated quite often throughout, "All the earth will shout Your praise". How fitting, as our mission theme verse for this trip is 1 Chronicles 16:23-24, "Sing to the Lord all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among the peoples." #godsighting

Once we all gathered at St. Peter (in one of the kindergarten classrooms - I felt right at home!!), we began to pack suitcases full of materials for the school and for our lessons for the coming weeks. We each took a suitcase home to use as one of our 2 checked bags allowed on the flight to Africa. Combined, we have a total of 400 pounds of suitcases filled with materials for the school, plus some that we are putting into our personal suitcases and carry-ons. Praise God! 

 After we had all the suitcases packed and weighed, we had a team meeting to go over our schedules, the itinerary and other odds and ends. We have a total of 8 people, 6 adults and 2 students. 

From left to right: Melissa, (me), Allison, Kristin, Matt, Corrine, Griffin & Bruce

The Rudi's had friends staying with them from Texas, Bob and Cheryl, who each happen to be Lutheran school teachers as well (one of them is from Michigan!) so we enjoyed a delicious spaghetti dinner, conversation and laughs over food and a game of Mexican Train. Went to bed feeling so, so, blessed (and full!).

Tuesday: A finish packing and preparing day. I was at Target

waiting for my turn to checkout and a lady behind me in line said, "You must be a teacher! Thank you so much for all you do." (I'm not sure if it was the puzzles or the pile of bulletin board borders stacked on the belt that gave it away?) I told her I was and I thanked her for her kind words. Her daughter said, "It's too early to be thinking about school!" I laughed and told her that I was actually preparing to leave for a trip to Africa tomorrow (today!) with these supplies for a school there. They then wished our team well and told us to have safe travels and a fulfilling trip. #godsighting

We are taking the staff at the school in Middelburg each a small gift, so we spent some time tonight after dinner putting together the bags and making them as packing-in-tight-spaces-in-our-luggage-friendly as possible. The ladies are each getting a necklace or a pair of earrings, and the men are getting sunglasses! Carol graciously helped cut ribbon to attach to the bags, and we got them all set to go. 

Now: Boarding passes are printed, bags are packed, now to try to sleep before the big day tomorrow!  We leave O'Hare around 1:55 p.m. to Atlanta, then will depart Atlanta around 8:00 pm for our direct flight to Johannesburg . (For those of you wondering, the flight is around 16 hours!) We will arrive in Middelburg around 6:00 p.m. local time (6 hours ahead of Eastern time.)

Prayer Requests: For our team as we prepare for a long day(s) of travel, for the pilots, flight attendants, and all other airline workers, for our driver that will take us to the guest house once we land in South Africa, and for the pastors, students, and staff of St. Peter Christian College in Middleburg as they are two days in to their third term after a month break.  Thank you all so much for your continued prayers for us.

Great are You, Lord! (If you want to take a listen to this great tune, go here or here for two of my favorite versions.)

Kylie