Thank you God for instilling in us all your mothering spirit, a mixture of love, wisdom and tenacity which, has kept the door of hope open for the future, despite our fumbles and changed expectations.

In this life we have many mothers--relatives, in-laws, friends and their mothers, mentors and teachers unbeknownst to whom we owe great debts for being part of who we become and aspire to be. We are montages of their strength and tenderness, boldness and meekness, humor and seriousness, faith and doubt, order and chaos.

As mothers, we pray that we might have a smidgeon of the patience you have with us as we guide the children entrusted to our direct care and the others who run in and out of our domain. Keep us mindful to live out the faith we teach with prayer and action for all your children worldwide.

Help us to pull out the weeds in our own nurturing gardens and support each other's nurturing garden skills.

Copyright Marlene Obie 2012. All rights reserved. Find more of Marlene's writings here.

I was anxious not to miss any of the next steps in final preparation for our trip, but I was unavoidably late to our last team meeting. I got there just in time to learn about our commissioning by the church on May 13 at all three services. This practice of receiving the church's blessing and formal sending into this important ministry is a very meaningful and emotional step in our journey for me. It is a reminder that we are going on behalf of Holy Spirit Lutheran Church congregation, not just to "do" things, but to connect and build relationships with the people who are there. We are the body of Christ with them as we are here.

At the meeting, there was a lot of enthusiasm about the activities we"re planning to share with the villagers, including teaching them the Virginia Reel dance step, serving them an American meal, playing soccer and baseball with the kids and taking family photos and putting them in a frame for them to display in their homes. We were curious about their electrical system, and if we needed to bring adapters so that our equipment would work, but we were assured that our printer etc. would work just fine. There were also decisions made on who and how we would transport all of the supplies we needed for the activities and our own health care like band-aids, aspirin, Pepto-Bismol etc. Then there were the more mundane details like when and where we were going to all meet at the airport on our departure date and what not to bring.

We are all very grateful to all who signed up last Sunday to be our prayer partners during the next few weeks as we finish up our last-minute preparations and while we are on our trip. Having our family members who remain here at home along with our prayer partners praying daily for our safety and a positive experience gives us much comfort.
Team Member, May 10, 2012
Read the full series here.

Commit, Connect & Contribute

2012 Stewardship Invitation

Supporting our New Neighbors at Francis Village