A Time for Packing - and Thanking

Packing one's personal bags, as I did tonight, marks the end of the preparation stage and the transition to our actual journey. It truly has taken several months of planning and preparation to get to where we are, and this is also a good time to remember those who have made it possible.

Doug and Maxx are interviewed by Pastor John during first service on March 25

Our team is, first of all, extremely grateful for the support of our fellow parishioners at Marine View Presbyterian. They have been made aware of this mission many times through pastoral announcements, church bulletins and displays of a model stove, printed materials and a space on the church web site. A couple of Sundays ago Doug Devries and Maxx Snyder at the first service, then Bill Baird and I at the second, were interviewed by Pastor Jon about where we are going, what we will be doing there and what it means to each of us personally.

Church members responded and have been more than generous with their support. I don't have the exact numbers (that's our treasurer Maxx's job) but the church is picking up the cost of about 100 stoves (at $200 each) plus subsidizing about half of our individual travel costs through its mission fund. In fact, Pastor Jon has shared that a significant portion of Marine View's overall budget - I think 20 percent or more - goes toward church mission work at home and abroad. As I may have mentioned on an earlier post, the entire offering collected from the three Easter services were split between the Guatemala mission and the upcoming Mazatlan mission being planned by the youth group. So a big thanks to Marine View for all of your support!

What has really touched me, personally, is the support we've received outside of the church. Each month the church hosts a concert called JAZZ Live that is open to the public. The performances are always top drawer, featuring some of the best jazz groups around, and attract a lot of non-church members. Jim Foster, who coordinates these concerts, agreed to let our team set up a mission booth during the December, January and February concerts and included word in his promotions. We sold something like 13 stoves in December - many to attending church members who had planned to sponsor stoves anyway. The sales were nowhere near that at the next two. However, at each of the performances we had people from outside the church who had just come to hear some good jazz learn about our mission and sponsor stoves too!  There were also many smaller cash donations thrown in the kitty. We collected nearly $350 each at the second and third concerts, which certainly made it worth our effort.

I was also touched by my own circle of family and friends who donated, as I am sure other team members were by their circles too. My parents, Marty and Ann Dirks, were especially generous, contributing several hundred dollars toward my share of the mission costs and then later spontaneously sponsoring a stove as well. Three of my brothers and their spouses purchased stoves, as did one of my wife Dee's sisters. A second cousin in Pittsburgh sent money. Two of my ardent Words with Friends opponents read my appeal and made generous donations. A widow from West Seattle whom I know primarily through our annual Canadian fishing trips made a contribution. My friend Roger Flygare, who is in the middle of a political campaign for state rep in Federal Way (that's a free plug, Roger), bought a stove. Good friends who live in Bellevue bought one too.

The most unexpected was a card I received from the Washington, D.C. area. Inside was a nice note, along with a $200 check, from a woman whose name I did not immediately recognize.

It read:

"Dear Brian,

Here is a check to help with your mission to Guatemala. I know you will have the experience of a lifetime. I have many missionary friends. Some have gone for a month. Some have been overseas for more than 10 years. May you travel with God's grace, and please share your experiences with all that will listen.

Vaya con Dios, 

Michelle

It took some detective work to figure out who this Michelle was. The fact that she included her maiden name provided a clue. Indeed, Michelle is a long lost (to me) West Seattle High school classmate, one whom I regretfully did not spend much time with in high school, and that was a long time ago now, so not immediately familiar. The story gets better. I sent her an email and, as it turns out, she had actually sent the card with her donation from Botswana, Africa, via a friend who was flying to D.C. so it would reach me in time! Her husband works security for the U.S. Department of State and she works for a Department of Defense AIDS/HIV prevention program there. Michelle had read my post about the mission on our class's Facebook page and, other than my twin, was the only one of my classmates to make a donation - all the way from Africa. Thank you, Michelle!

And thank you, everyone, who has shown your love and support these past few months to our cause. And thank you, God, for your steady guidance and hand as our team has made its preparations for our mission.

"Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;"
Hebrews 12:28 NASB