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The Mexican-themed fund raiser was a success! In anticipation of our upcoming mission trip, we dined on Enchiladas and Mexican rice dishes while listening to Ecuadorian instrumental music and watching a slide show with photos from past Maranatha mission trips to the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador and Juliaca, Peru.

We raised over $500 at the dinner for the Construction Fund bringing the total raised as of 5/31/09 to just over $5,400. Our minimum sponsorship goal, requested by Maranatha, is $7,000.00 but our ultimate goal is to raise the complete amount needed for the entire church which is $20,000.00.

Following the dinner we had a planning meeting where a number of items were reviewed. We were offered the town of Penitas or Corozal by Maranatha and the team chose Penitas. It is a rural ranching community in the state of Chiapas and is located about 3 hours southwest of Villahermosa, Mexico.

We have located Penitas on Google Earth and it has been suggested that we start praying for each individual home we can identify on the satellite photo. Technology can be such a wonderful thing! Being able to view the area, house by house, makes it much more real to us.

The Northern Lights team leader and superintendent will travel with Maranatha to Penitas in mid-July for a pre-site visit. They will be reviewing such things as housing, ground transportation, the actual job site, and the excursion. We anxiously await their report!

The team members present at the planning meeting also decided to move the trip from December to January for financial reasons. It would cost an additional $1,000.00 per person to travel during late December. Multiply that by our team (20-30 people) and we would have enough money to build another entire church! We felt it was not being good stewards of God's money by traveling in late December. We are currently working with Maranatha to confirm specific dates of travel.

We will add the option of an excursion while in Mexico. The Palenque Ruins has been suggested by Maranatha. Further details will follow after the pre-site visit in July.

We also discussed team T-shirts and are currently researching this option. In addition to that, we are considering a team Scripture--something we can claim for our team during the planning phase and actual mission trip and perhaps include on our team T-shirts.

The planning is progressing and our mission trip is taking shape. It is no longer just a desire, but something that we can see more clearly each week. Excitement is building (*chuckle* I guess that has a double meaning!).

God is at work in Mexico. We feel God is calling Hillside-O'Malley Church to Mexico. He is working in our hearts and in the hearts of the people we will serve. Please pray continually for His guidance as Team Northern Lights joins with Maranatha on this mission trip. It's time to get off your seat, onto your knees, and then up onto your feet as we go where the Father calls!