Killing Two Birds with One Stone
Nine days after I get back from Canada, I'm leaving town AGAIN! My second "business trip" serves a twofold purpose:
Chris and I are flying from El Paso to Milwaukee on April 27, in order to be at St. John's Lutheran Church in West Bend, WI, for a mission fair and fundraiser/dinner on Sunday, May 1. Maybe you remember that the prize from the LCMS World Mission photo contest that I won back in October was a mission fair and a Skype session with a missionary. It probably wouldn't do us a lot of good to host a mission fair at San Pablo, so we identified St. John's as a much more fruitful location. They are a large congregation that only started sending teams to YLM 2 years ago, but those few that have been here have loved it so the potential is there for a thriving long-term relationship. West Bend is also fairly centrally located in relation to several other YLM-loving churches, including those in the Chicagoland area. It turns out that they have a mission fair every year on the Sunday after Easter, so my prize winnings will bolster something that already has an infrastructure in place; LCMS will send brochures, table decorations, etc. and arrange a Skype session with one of the missionaries that St. John's supports--my thought is that the conversation can take place on a projector screen. Talk of us flying up there for the event has been swirling since last fall when I won the contest and offered the fair to St. John's, but only turned serious a week or so ago when they agreed to cover the cost of our tickets! The evening of the fair there are also plans to host a YLM specific fundraiser/dinner (the fair will feature all the missions and missionaries that St. John's supports, both local and worldwide).
SO...last week when the St. Paul, Mt. Prospect, IL, group was here, an idea popped into my head while I was in the shower. Some of them were talking about driving to West Bend for the dinner, and the next step* with LBT involves two days of interviews at their HQ in Aurora, IL. I put two and two together, we took advantage of Southwest's no change fees, and now we're riding back to Chi-town with people from Mt. Prospect and then flying back to El Paso from there on May 4! My days will be spent interviewing, taking a 175 question Bible test, and consulting with a psychologist, and Chris is tagging along to be a tourist in Chicago since he's never been there. Evenings will probably be spent together, seeing as many servant event friends as possible. LBT said they would cover my lodging and meals while in town, but I don't think I'm going to need any of that with all our contacts. I feel like some kind of celebrity or something!
Until next time, blessings!
*My application has been "reviewed favorably." The next steps are the trip to HQ outlined above, getting a physical, and writing my Statement of Doctrinal Belief--my views, in my own words (aka quoted Bible passages are encouraged but don't count toward the word total), on like 10 theological topics. It will be enlightening but a challenge for sure. I haven't looked at it much to be honest.
Chris and I are flying from El Paso to Milwaukee on April 27, in order to be at St. John's Lutheran Church in West Bend, WI, for a mission fair and fundraiser/dinner on Sunday, May 1. Maybe you remember that the prize from the LCMS World Mission photo contest that I won back in October was a mission fair and a Skype session with a missionary. It probably wouldn't do us a lot of good to host a mission fair at San Pablo, so we identified St. John's as a much more fruitful location. They are a large congregation that only started sending teams to YLM 2 years ago, but those few that have been here have loved it so the potential is there for a thriving long-term relationship. West Bend is also fairly centrally located in relation to several other YLM-loving churches, including those in the Chicagoland area. It turns out that they have a mission fair every year on the Sunday after Easter, so my prize winnings will bolster something that already has an infrastructure in place; LCMS will send brochures, table decorations, etc. and arrange a Skype session with one of the missionaries that St. John's supports--my thought is that the conversation can take place on a projector screen. Talk of us flying up there for the event has been swirling since last fall when I won the contest and offered the fair to St. John's, but only turned serious a week or so ago when they agreed to cover the cost of our tickets! The evening of the fair there are also plans to host a YLM specific fundraiser/dinner (the fair will feature all the missions and missionaries that St. John's supports, both local and worldwide).
SO...last week when the St. Paul, Mt. Prospect, IL, group was here, an idea popped into my head while I was in the shower. Some of them were talking about driving to West Bend for the dinner, and the next step* with LBT involves two days of interviews at their HQ in Aurora, IL. I put two and two together, we took advantage of Southwest's no change fees, and now we're riding back to Chi-town with people from Mt. Prospect and then flying back to El Paso from there on May 4! My days will be spent interviewing, taking a 175 question Bible test, and consulting with a psychologist, and Chris is tagging along to be a tourist in Chicago since he's never been there. Evenings will probably be spent together, seeing as many servant event friends as possible. LBT said they would cover my lodging and meals while in town, but I don't think I'm going to need any of that with all our contacts. I feel like some kind of celebrity or something!
Until next time, blessings!
*My application has been "reviewed favorably." The next steps are the trip to HQ outlined above, getting a physical, and writing my Statement of Doctrinal Belief--my views, in my own words (aka quoted Bible passages are encouraged but don't count toward the word total), on like 10 theological topics. It will be enlightening but a challenge for sure. I haven't looked at it much to be honest.
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