Mission Trip update 2/24/20
Well, even in the middle of my impending job change, I’m still making plans for my upcoming mission trip to Uganda through Raise The Roof Academy.
Tonight was a milestone of sorts, as I drove to Brentwood for the first training session with some of my mission trip teammates. I say “some” because not everyone has even committed to the trip yet, and so the people at tonight’s introductory session were only a subset of the team. There will also be a few team members from out of state who won’t be participating in our in-person training sessions.
And there are still some slots open. Marlene Ssebulime, executive director of RTRA, said there’s still room for more team members — and a particular need for members of the health care team, since a few of last year’s team members had conflicts this year and they don’t have as many health care folks as they’d like.
There will be several teenagers on the team, all from Goodpasture High School. Also on the team will be the Rev. Skip Armistead, who I know from the early 1990s when I was on the Tennessee Conference UMC Singles Council. (Actually, I think I first met him when I was at junior high church camp at Beersheba in the 1970s, and he was on the camp staff!) I enjoyed seeing Skip at the training tonight.
I still don’t have a clear vision for which of the several work teams I am supposed to be on. It would be fun to work with the kids. The skills/sustainability team ties in with a little of my LEAMIS experience; I’m not sure I would have a lot of good content to provide on my own, but I might be useful in a helping capacity. I actually co-taught pastoral leadership sessions on a couple of my LEAMIS trips, but I was basically presenting LEAMIS’s content, not coming up with anything on my own. I might even wind up as an unskilled helper on the medical team if that’s where they need me.
I have raised $2,400 of the $3,500 I need to send RTRA for the basic cost of the trip. I have $1,100 left to raise. The good news is that I’ve raised more than enough for air fare, which is the most time-critical part of the financial package. I’m actually paid up through what they want you to have submitted by April 1.
I will have some personal costs on top of that, of course, and those are my responsibility. There is a free day at the end of the trip where there will be an optional excursion (such as to a safari park or something similar). If I can swing the money, I’ll do that, but if not, it won’t be a big deal. (Marlene said tonight that some people actually prefer just hanging around the guest house in Kampala and recovering.)
I had been wondering if my luggage would be in shape for the trip. But I found out tonight I won’t be bringing either of my normal checked bags. I will need to put most of my personal belongings in a carry-on bag (and a backpack, which I always fly with anyway). RTRA will give each of us two duffel bags, filled to the allowable weight with mission trip supplies, to check through. There will be one checked bag set aside for the team’s individual belongings that can’t be carried on due to TSA regulations.
So I’ll need to pack light — but that’s a good thing. And we will be able to get things washed at the guest house where we’ll be staying.
Would you please consider supporting me both prayerfully and/or financially? Monetary gifts to Raise the Roof Academy, with a note asking that they be applied to my trip expenses, are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. You can make a gift on my behalf in any of the following ways:
- Mailing a check to Raise the Roof Academy, Mission Trip, P.O. Box 92216, Nashville, TN 37209, or giving it to me in person. Please write my name in the memo section of your check. You must make the check out to Raise The Roof Academy in order for it to be tax-deductible.
- You may also go to http://www.raisetheroofacademy.org/donate/ to donate with your credit or debit card, or checking account. Please choose “Mission Trip Support” from the drop-down menu and enter my name in the memo section.
If I am unable to participate in the trip for some reason, any monetary gifts raised toward supporting me will in turn be used to support the mission.
