The following is a report I gave on our team for our church annual meeting.
Brazil 2010
Ron Jaeger
About a year ago Roger, ( our pastor), told Kris and I that he thought we should consider leading a mission team to Brazil to assist Al and Nadine Pierschbacher, missionaries with Brazil Gospel Fellowship. This took us very much by surprise, but after prayer and consideration we decided it was God’s idea. Having been working with the youth, we were thinking of a youth team, but Roger opened it up to anyone interested. God brought together a team of 10 adults and 6 teens.
Then started the planning.
1. WHEN: we thought around spring break 2010 would give us enough time to prepare and raise the funds.
2. HOW LONG: at first we were thinking about a week to ten days but Al encouraged us to consider 10 to 14 days. The actual length and dates were not settled until about November when we started looking closer at plane schedules. We will leave around 8:15 AM March 17 and get home about 7:30PM on April 2.
3. COST: after much thought and prayer we took a wild guess and estimated between 1500 and 2000 dollars per person plus 2 to 3 thousand to buy materials. The actual cost still isn’t nailed down but looks like will be close to $1600.
4. FUND RAISING: we planned several types of fund raisers. Yard sales came first and surprisingly, were very profitable. Burgers and such at Hells Canyon Days. We had a booth at the Fair where we had a silent auction and sold raffle tickets for a Trip to Hawaii and for a carved lamp. We also had a bake sale at the Fair and a big surprise seller was the frozen chocolate covered bananas. Some of the team participated in a craft show in Wieser. We picked about 3 tons of apples and made and sold +- 250 gallons of cider. The old reliable Pizza day has once again proven to be the biggest money maker. While we have tried to raise as much as we can to cover the costs, each team member is ultimately responsible for their funds and so many members have done various other things also.
5. TRAINING: at first we knew we should do some training but were not sure just what. In the fall Roger started taking us through a study in Nehemiah and about working as a team. Working together on the fund raisers (especially Pizza) has also been a great time learning about each other and how we work together. This has been very special for me.
6. WHAT WILL WE DO: only God knows for sure. Until recently we just knew we would be doing some work (probably painting) on the building and some outreach in the nearby town of Pacoti. In the last 2 weeks that has started to fill out some. Lee Else has been working with Al to plan and schedule our time primarily on the building projects. It looks like we will have about 250+ gallons of paint to put on, some hardwood flooring to lay, trim moldings, and suspended ceilings to hang. Then if we have time mix and pour some concrete. Kris and Donna are working on some Portuguese puppet scripts, Julia is looking at balloon tying and some of the kids are thinking of sports to interact with the youth there. We will also be participating in church services on the 2 Sundays we will be there.
7. PAPERWORK: there are 2 major areas of paper work involved. First, keeping track of the money. Karen has spent many hours doing this for us and we really appreciate it. Second is the Travel documents and such, which has fallen to me. After much research and time on the computer and telephone, I purchased tickets about 3 weeks ago. Since then, I have been working the Visas (boy if that isn’t a racket) and will probably send off the applications tomorrow. Then it will be time to look at insurance. I hope that is all of it. Oh, I almost forgot about the Passports which the team members did on their own.
From the beginning Roger has stressed that this as much for the benefit of the team members as for helping Al and Nadine. This has shown to be true as we have been preparing. There have been many blessings and life changes already and I think God is just getting started. I hope all you who don’t get to go (at least this time) are experiencing those blessings too. (Even if it’s just a Pizza).
We want to thank all of you, in this church and the other churches involved, the schools the communities, friends, relatives, and everyone else who have supported and will continue to support us in prayer and financially and all the other ways we have seen and will see.
Especially continue to pray (and buy pizza) as we get closer to the time for departure we are seeing and expect opposition from Satan. I would ask you to get on the prayer lists of the members (another challenge from Roger) and to pray for us as whole team.
Thank you from,
Ron, Kris, Scott, Josiah, Luke, Julia, Linda, Lee, Donna, Kaycee, Devan, Carinna, Crystel, Morgan, Peggy, And Elliott
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