Missions Awareness Banquet

On November 6, we held a banquet to inform our friends and family in the area of what God was leading us to do in Ecuador. It was a very lovely evening!

Plans leading up to the event went very smoothly. We could see God's hand at every turn as he provided for all the details. It was my first time organizing an event like that and with God's help, it went off very well. First Baptist Church of Temple Terrace offered the use of their facility which was beautiful. They set up and took down all the tables and chairs, so all we had to do was minor cleanup of the stuff we brought. They have a very nice facility that was very conducive to this type of event.

Friends of ours offered to cater the event for about cost. They are great cooks and did a good job. We had grilled chicken, salad, rice, beans, veggies and tres leches cake for desert. After dinner, we moved into a stage area for the presentation. Mitch York, a great friend of ours and missions supporter, was MC. Brian Behal, MAF recruiter was near us that week and was able to come and set up a display, answer questions about MAF and give a history of what MAF does and what the program in Ecuador is all about.

I spoke about our family, our path to this point and what we will be doing in Ecuador for the foreseeable future. There were so many details that I wanted to share, but it would have gotten very long winded! I kept it as brief and concise as possible with the hopes of getting to spend more time in the coming months discussing things in smaller group settings when possible.

My Aunt Pat, Mom and sister, Marianne helped out tremendously by making the center pieces. they made little dioramas of jungle airstrip scenery with airplanes and different details on them. They were great! All the kids who helped with the serving got to take one home if they wished. They also made these little miniature crates that served as donation boxes.

It was such a great night. We had 103 people in attendance and have received about $6500 in donations! We had put out a list of our estimated expenses to get through our next step in training, our trip to Ecuador and other incidentals like Visas and Passports. This amount slightly more than covers all those expenses! Praise God for his timely and precise provision!

We are so grateful to the support and encouragement that was shown to us that evening. It is a reminder that God indeed has us work together as a body and that it is not possible to do it on our own. It was symbolic of a wedding for us. We stood before witnesses to tell what God was doing in our lives and others took a part in that work. We now feel even more responsible to live our lives and handle ourselves in a manner that would be pleasing not only to God, but to those who are standing with us. We are simply members of a team that God has put together to carry out a facet of the work to further HIS kingdom, for HIS glory and HIS honor.