Packing and packing and packing.....

Hi Folks,

Less than two weeks to go before we head out. We have been madly packing and organizing the abundance of materials and supplies that we are taking with us to support the team and to leave behind for those we serve.

Here are some pics for you!















We are taking with us some basic tools, but mostly meds, office supplies, clothing, toiletry items; all of which are hard to get in the villages we will be in. The people we meet are always glad to receive these items.















We are packing three duffel bags each to take, and will leave at least one, and often two behind per team member. (That's Chris, one of God's great servant people who, even though she is not going with us, has put in hours and hours of sorting, packing, re-packing - folding, stuffing, taking it apart and trying it again....all to make sure it gets in! - Thanks Chris)















The line up! A picture of some of them, packed and ready to be inventoried for customs. Total number of bags - 45 and one guitar.
Included:

• 6 mortar trowels, 6 line levels, 6 tape measures,
  
• over 200 bars of soap, 200 mini bottles of shampoo,
  
• 125+ hand made teddy bears to give to children (From the ladies of St. Georges Oshawa),
  
• over 150 toothbrushes, and toothpaste,
• a selection of breakfast cereals and snacks for the team,
  
• over 150 T-shirts, many - many articles of childrens clothing and helpful household articles,
  
• boxes and boxes of over the counter meds,
• sports equipment, school supplies, teaching materials, etc......

On a side note (no pun intended...well, maybe a little intention) - a group of young musicians held a concert in the Silverworks on Friday evening the 16th. Normally when this happens, we ask for nothing from the bands, simply taking pleasure in providing a safe place for youth to gather, enjoy their music and hopefully make some contacts with kids we might never normally see. At the end of the event, without any prompting from us, but simply because they saw all the bags in the office area - and that prompted them to ask questions about what all that luggage is about - they gave us the entire proceeds for the night to "help in Africa." What a wonderful thing!!

We'll share a few pics from the commissioning service next week. The service is this Saturday at St. Paul's in Brighton, Ontario, at 2:00pm. Please take a moment if you are so inclined to pray for us at that time.

Till later

Daryl Stogryn - team leader

PS - someone reminded me recently to draw your attention to the donate now button in the right hand panel....consider it done!

PPS - Oh yeah! Did I mention that we had been packing?