Packing school supplies

Tonight participants packed the two hundred drawstring backpacks with the school supplies that were donated. We have to purchase a few items to finish the final 19 bags but all suitcases have been packed and are ready to go!

Thanks to all who donated the products and to all the dental offices that donated the tooth brushes and tooth paste. We had enough to do the 200 for the students as well as some that will be handed to the villagers as we are visiting their huts.

What a blessing!!

Carrabba's and Victory Lutheran fundraiser dinner

The fundraiser dinner went well. Thanks to all who came to enjoy the wonderful dinner of Ceasar Salad, chicken marsalla and pasta. It was delicious.

The silent auction items all sold to the highest bidders. All items were donated by Starbucks, Kenra Hair Products and Katie Finnie, Gold Canyon Candle consultant. Katie also made the beautiful center pieces. Thank you, Katie!!

We will do a follow-up dinner when we return where you will hear first hand of the life changing experiences from the participants.

Getting ready for the dinner

On Monday, September 19th from 5:00 to 6:30 pm our team, along with Carrabbas Restaurant, will be serving a delicious meal of Ceasar salad, Marsalla chicken and a pasta al fredo dish. There is a suggested cost of $15.00 for adults and $8.00 for children 10 and under.

There will be several silent action items and the crosses made by our youth will also be available. All proceeds will be applied to the cost of VBS materials and particapant costs.

We would like to thank the dentist offices that have donated tooth paste and toothbrushes:
B Well Dentist Office, Mesa
Dr. Ron Thompson, East Valley Dental Office, Mesa
Dr. James Smallwood, Neffsville, PA
Superstition Dental Office, Gold Canyon

The Pizza Factory Corporate Office who donated 200 frisbees and Sunland Village East tennis club who has donated 200 tennis balls for the children.

A thank you also goes to the many people who have brought in school supplies so that the children in the elementary school will each receive a drawstring backpack with the following items: a spiral or composition notebook, pencils, ink pens, colored pencils, crayons, pencil sharpener, scissors and glue stick.

The health kits will be filled with the tooth brushes and tooth paste donated by the dental offices along with a bar of soap and wash clothe.

Please pray for the teams safe travel, their health while in Africa and especially the children of Top Village who will reap the benefits of learning to know Jesus more fully through the Bible lessons on prayer that our team will be teaching.

Bible Study

Today we had our first group Bible study. We saw a short video about a 14 year old girl who is head of her household. Her mother has died and her 2 brothers, 1 sister and she live with her Grandmother (who has a mental capacity of a young child) in a small mud hut built by their mother before she died. Unfortunately, this is the norm for where we will be traveling to. Their births were not reported to the African government so the children were not allowed to attend school. Helping Hands (HH) has intervened and have helped with several items to make their life better! There is a caregiver that comes daily to look after the grandmother, the children have been logged into the government records and the younger children are able to attend school and the 14 year old is attending a vocational school. There was little food and all were malnourished. HH has made sure they are receiving vitamin enriched food and all are gaining strength.

All of us are proud to be able to go on this mission trip to do all we can do to bring Christ, love, joy and hope to villagers of Top.

Please continue to pray for the participants and our mission trip.

Crosses

The youth participants of the team are making lovely cross necklaces at a suggested donation of $10.00 each. The money raised goes towards their costs of the trip which is approximately $3000.00 each. They have sold over two dozen crosses already! You may see the crosses between services on Sundays and you may chose the color of wire to be placed on the cross. I will try and get a picture on the blog so you can see for yourselves what a great job these girls have done to create these beautiful crosses!

School supplies update

We collected another 44 pounds of items today! That puts us up to 395.5 pounds collected so far! We are real close to getting the items needed for each student. Our goal is to give each student a packet that contains the following items: a spiral or composition notebook, pencils, eraser, folder, box of crayons, box of colored pencils, ink pens, glue stick, scissors and pencil sharpener. Each child will also receive a health kit containing a wash cloth, bar of soap, tooth paste and tooth brush.

Thank you all for your prayers and donations!

Getting ready!

Victory Lutheran is sending twelve (12) participants to Africa for a mission trip through the organization of "Helping Hands in Africa" (they are changing their name soon to "Orchard: Africa" - more about that later).

Our group has been collecting school supplies and toiletries to give to the 200 students in the elementary school in Mafikeng. Our goal is to bring 500 pounds of supplies. We are at approximately 375 right now. Thank you all who have contributed!

We have offered a breakfast fundraiser where we raised almost $700.00! We will be offering another fundraising opportunity on Monday, September 19th. Participants will be serving a delicious dinner which will be catered by Carrabbas restaurant at the church (5946 E. University - Mesa) beginning at 5:00 PM. There is a sign-up sheet in the church narthex. You may also RSVP through this post if you will be attending.

Watch this post for further announcements from other partcipants!