Two weeks of Training

Wow!  It is hard to believe that we have been at training for two weeks.  We have met so many amazing people, and heard so many stories of God's faithfulness.  The first week we spent learning about the Foundations of Mercy Ship followed by a support raising seminar.  So much that we learned just helped confirm for us that we are exactly where God wants us to be, and that he has been preparing us for this time.  The Bible study on whether support raising is Biblical was really helpful, and I am a little less nervous about raising support.

Speaking of support raising, we received our first donation on Saturday from two incredibly sweet little boys.  They raided their piggy banks to help send us to the Africa Mercy.

Saturday was also the day we finished moving out of our house and cleaned it for the new tenants.  We could not have done it without the help of my parents, Shawn Bitner, and his daughter Tori.

They were and awesome help, and we just finished unloading the trailer in Abilene before it started to rain.  We still had all our suitcases in the back of the truck so when we pulled up to Granny & Poppy's house we got soaked throwing the suitcases into the garage.

The boys heard us and came running out of their bedroom to give us sweet hugs and kisses. We missed them so much during the week, but after hearing the stories of everything they had done which included vacation bible school and a Dr. Seuss festival I knew that they had been exactly where they need to be for the week.  Sunday flew by too quickly, and Mark and I had to head back to the IOC.  This time knowing my parents would bring the kids for a visit in just four days.  This knowledge made leaving just a little easier on my heart.

This weeks we have been studying Faith Foundations which includes The God We Serve, Communicating with God, Prayer, Kingdom Principles, and a Silent Retreat. 

Mark at the Tyler State Park during the Silent Retreat.