New Year

HI all. Things continue to grow: The amount of money raised, my excitement for the trip, and my commitment to physical and material preparation for the trip!

I'm still waiting on the required reading list (coming out very soon). I will share that list on this blog when i receive it.

Itinerary. I will be adding a section to the blog that includes my itinerary for the trip. If you have visited these places, please comment providing me with insights, tips, hints, etc. I'm hoping to tap others' knowledge to squeeze the most learning out of my experience.

A few prayer requests:
-Continued funds to come in.
-Discipline to read the required reading.
-Good connections/information to determine what gear/belongings I may need to assemble before the trip.

Thank you all for your support and prayers!
Thanks.
-Fig

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Thanks for your prayers about that specific fundraising opportunity. Unfortunately, it looks as though it will not work out. There is still an opportunity there, especially for later down the road - the door is not closed, it just leads in a different direction that I had hoped.

I did my best not to sulk, but despite my efforts I still found myself a little off kilter this morning. I started to worry about more fundraising and other efforts to support my trip. While praying to God about this He gave me a quiet rebuke and a hand of confidence. He reminded me that  I have no need to sulk or worry, I have enough faith in Him to continue providing for me. In my scheduled reading I came to the following verses:

Habakkuk 3:17-19
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign LORD is my strngth;
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.

I look forward to God enabling me to go on the heights of the mountains where He walked.

This past Saturday I had a chance to meet with most of the members of the team that will be going. It should be a good group. Some of whom have had experience in Israel before, some of whom have been on this specific trip before. It was good to meet the team. I look forward to growing in knowledge and fellowship with them.

Thanks again for your continued prayers for fundraising, for preparations and for the trip itself.
-Fig

Matter of Thanks

We came home from our Thanksgiving celebrating and found letter in the mail that contained a check toward my Israel Trip! This was the maximum award for one of the grants I applied for through the CRCNA's Home Missions. The application was due November 1 and I hadn't heard from them one way or another. It was a very pleasant surprise to find a check and for the maximum amount!

Thanks for your prayers concerning this scholarship - please continue to pray that support will come in a variety of ways!

$750 straight from the CRCNA's Regular Account!

Updates:

It has been a few weeks since my last entry. The closer we get to the trip, the closer together I hope to blog. (The nice part is that gives me another 2 or 3 weeks before I have to blog again!). As much as I love talking and telling stories, blogging is still a mild struggle for me.


Updates:

-- Please be in ardent prayer for a particular possible funding situation. There is a scholarship-ish situation that, if all the details and specifics turn out, would provide for a large amount of the trip costs. Pray that conditions would be met and money would change hands...to me. It sounds a little vain, but this would take care of tons of fundraising.

-- I am also working on my support letter (I haven't finished it yet because I am waiting to hear back about a $750 scholarship for which I applied (different than the above mentioned opportunity)). I would like to include some successful fundraising results as part of my update in that support letter.

Thanks all!
-Fig

An appropriate day to start.

Today we celebrated Reformation Day.

About 500 years ago Martin Luther did some posting. I decided to do the same, but with a little twist. It seems that in his day church doors were public forums/bulletin boards. Blogs are the new church doors (Or at least the new bulletin-boards-at-super-markets-with-all-the-flyers-with-the-tear-off-phone-numbers-on-the-bottom).

In May 2011 I plan to fly overseas to visit and study Israel. The trip is a 300 level college course through Kuyper College, thankfully I'm basically auditing it. It will be taught by two of my former professors and one of my current uncles. This will not be a sight-seeing tour. This is an intensive study course. It has a wide content base. Kuyper students coming along may count it for either an Old Testament Credit or a New Testament Credit - that should give you an idea about how much material we will be covering.

I have made sections in the blog to keep you updated with general information, goals and expectations, fundraising and needs, course information and prayer requests. I hope you join me in preparing my mind, body, heart and wallet for this trip.

You can contact me at any time with questions or comments at my email: Fig@MessiahCRC.org

Thanks for reading.
-Fig

Tomorrow morning I get to go redeem some bowling!