...off and running...

letters have gone out - fundraising is underway! and God is good!! which makes me hopeful!
i have been teaching Sunday School almost every week at North Shore Chapel since i have been back, and its great the things you can learn from teaching. i am constantly surprised at how engaged the children are in learning about God at such a young age (they are pre-school aged!) And also thrilled to be able to worship in such a different way. I sometimes think i miss the service i am used to attending, and find it hard to really connect with God without that. But Sunday School is amazing me week to week - because in teaching I am worshiping, and experiencing God in a way I never have before. And it is so liberating to throw your arms up, sing a little rhyming song, and go to God as a child! (I recommend everyone try it at least once!)
I have already started to receive some really generous donations, and the dream, and plan of Merger is manifesting itself! God is doing big things, and I am loving just watching it unfold! I have also in research on the web been able to find some really rad organizations that are doing great work all over the world. one of them is called SunOvens, you can check them out at www.sunovens.com, but they provide solar powered cooking ovens! It's a fantastic idea because there are large problems with the way we cook now. The cost of buying charcoal or gas for cooking, and the environmental strain of deforestation (due to the burning of trees for production of charcoal) and well as the pollutive (real word?) gases emitted through cooking are all reason enough to explore these solar ovens that can be used to bake, boil, and steam just like a regular cooking surface, or oven. I have been in contact with them, and the ovens are initially a little pricey -but in the long run i think it pays off! its a long term goal of mine to get one! there are also a lot of great stories about work being done already in Haiti with these ovens on their website.
I wanted just to blog a little bit about what we are doing down there, its a bulleted list for easier reading!
- I will be moving in June, and there will already be a Electrical team down in Merger waiting for me! they are laying the wiring for the generator and inverter we are still raising money for!
- the summer camp starts the 20th of June, there will be a small team down there for part of it running some fun programs.
- HOPEFULLY (still praying) a construction team will be down sometime in August to build desks!
- clinic and school open September 1st!
- somewhere in there I think my momma is coming to visit!
- and hopefully we will have a few more visiting teams, God has already provided great prospects, we just need to keep praying!

prayer notes...
thank you all so much for your support and prayer, i just would like to ask that you continue to pray for perseverance as everyone at IOG works to get the last planning and fundraising done - so that we can have a successful opening!

blessings,
nikki :)