December 31,what a crazy year its been for me,waiting and preparing to go to Cambodia. I still can't believe I'm actually doing this! Sometimes I say to myself what was I thinking!!!But my God has been good and faithful .Soon I'll be traveling to Cambodia, no doubt an adventure for me, but with Him in charge. Something I struggle with daily, allowing God to be in charge. Easy to say,but hard for me to do. I want to let Him control our time as we serve. People ask what will you be doing over there,and I say all kinds of stuff. Correct and simplified answer would be serving Him. An answer I don't always give. Taking me out of my comfort zone. Too many questions for me, just let me serve, but I don't think that is all he has planned for me! He has many things to teach me. He gives me the oppurtunities to talk about Him, but I feel my words don't always impact people the way I feel. But I try anyway, because I should know He will do my talking for me. I do know my life will be changed,but how it will impact others as I try and talk about it,thats going to be tuff, just let me trust in Him. It would be great if you could remember us as we travel abroad and be praying for the folks (teamseven) I'll be serving with.They are a great group of friends. Thanks Hey I finally wrote a blog,how exciting. Michael

Alright, alright already. I know it's taken me forever to get on this blog, but here I am. I'm very excited to see Ron is team member #4, because that makes me team member #1!

As for Pete and his team member #8, I will wash my hands of that whole situation! Last time I went I got busted for sneaking food into America (I forgot officer! I swear!) I will have no parts of sneaking a woman into the country!

At this point I'm just going to cut and paste a bit from a letter I sent to my fans, I mean supporters:

"In exactly one month, I will be hopping a plane to sweet, sweet Cambodia. On a day like this, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I’m really looking forward to that 90 degree weather!.....

......I seemed to have compartmentalized this trip into something that was happening in January and was unable to allow it to completely seep into my life right now. Over the past week, God has shown me that I have caused myself to become overwhelmed and was in fact relying on this trip to rejuvenate me. Rather than being prepared for it spiritually, I was relying on it. Through a variety of vehicles God is leading me out of that mindset and bringing me into His sweet peace and rest. Believe it or not, your support has been a part of that deliverance. I know that God has given me a task and you have supported that, and I must be the best that I can be. And I can only be that through Christ...."

~Cathy

Coffee House

Please join us Sunday, Dec 14th, 6:30-8:30
for an evening of Starbucks coffee, homemade desserts and the musical talents of
Heather Wituschek, John Lyford, Paul Wituschek, Dave Smith, Dave Liebert and others.

This event is free. There will be a freewill offering box.

There will also be a silent auction for pieces of Premiere Jewelry.

This is a community event. Please feel free to invite your friends and neighbors.
Fraser Hall, Warrington Fellowship Church

A Message from Joel

Greetings from Preah Vihear, Cambodia! Preah Vihear (PV) is limbering up to stretch out it's hands to welcome the Team Seven here. I (Joel) am in the throes of catching up on things, getting ready for Christmas and thinking through details regarding the upcoming WFC Team Seven trip... First of all, I want to let folks know that God is doing some incredible things here in an area of the world that 30 years ago was a place of unimagineable misery... Now those "Killing Fields" are turning into "Living Fields". This is one of a very few countries that is open, ready for the harvest and unreached... and we have front row seats! My prayer for this team is that, rather than planning to DO something (your presence and encouragement will be enough), plan on a change in your BEing! Pray to see things from God's perspective... and perhaps even begin to see things from the perspective of the Khmer people who live and sweat in this land to eke out a living. While it takes years to acquire a good understanding of the culture, a lot can happen to change one's own perspective in 10 days. The shots were the easy part... there will be fun, hard work, and you will be physically taken care of... but I hope you don't go back the same person. I hope that some of the values you previously held might be shaken a bit... because that will bring you closer to God's viewpoint, which is the best place to view from. So have FUN! I hope everyone gets behind you and becomes part of the Team! I pray for your preparations, and that mint M & M's find their way into your Action Packers! But most of all, I pray that you will be praying for God to change YOU, and as you go back to Warrington that God will use you as agents of change and ambassadors for Cambodia. Happy packing and preparing! And may your Christmas be blessed as you anticipate serving God in a place that knows very little of Christmas, or why it is celebrated.

~Joel Stewart

Hi, #4 of team seven here. Just wanted to check in and see if I could do this. I think I can, I think I can. Anyway I'm pretty excited about all that has happened so far. The meeting's are going great and our speakers have been excellent. Very informative,thanks to Judy Severns and Kevin Kane. Prayer requests at this time would be for peace in knowing that God is in control. Also I have some health issues that need attention before we go. Please pray for all and thank you for your love and support.
~ Ron Stewart.

Tardy...as usual

So, I was thinking that it would be appropriate for me to be the last one to blog on here from TeamSeven (since I'm bringing up the rear on all of the other pre-trip activities), but I don't want to give Patti any more reasons to get mad at me. So, here you have it. My very first blog about our Cambodia trip.

I am still working on getting my support letters out and I haven't gotten any shots yet. So, I'm way behind. But if you know me at all...you know that punctuality and I are not well acquainted. However, I usually get the job done. So, after this short blog entry, I will go work on my address list for my support letters some more.

Prayer stuff...
It has just occurred to me that there is now less than 2 months until we leave and during those two months is the Christmas holiday which is always a busy time of year. So, please pray that we are able to complete our preparations in the coming weeks.

While I'm working on the other things that have been keeping me busy (scheduling vaccinations, doing homework for school, working on DSL and FIOS issues at WFC, etc), I tend to get frustrated and I have to remind myself that those things will get done and there's no need to worry about them. So, please pray for sanity, focus, and peace. Philippians 4:6-7

That's all for now from TeamSeven's 7th (and possibly 8th) member,
Peter (and the yet-to-be-found, Mrs. Peter)

Hit me with your Best Shot!?!?

I can clearly remember the last time we sent a team to Cambodia. I said “Even though I would love to go to Cambodia, I could never do it because of the SHOTS!” Fast Forward to 2008, and WFC is forming a new team to go to Cambodia. God is speaking to my heart, telling me that I need to go. I decide to listen to His voice, instead of my fear, and I add my name to the list. And so begins the countdown to my date with sheer terror.

This is a fear that has been with me as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories from Elementary School is a day where I was called to the nurse’s office to receive some vaccination nobody warned me that I was getting. I screamed and cried and ran away shouting, “I’m not supposed to get this, I’ve already had it!” Many years later, I even begged the nurses not to give me the shot that would keep me from bleeding to death after giving birth to my son, but they insisted I get it. Some people say to me “How can you be afraid, you are a nurse?” That is true, I do not fear the needle, and I have given countless thousands to other people. But when it is my flesh that is being pierced, all rational thought is completely discarded. I’m very glad that the airline tickets were bought early, because that meant I could not back out. So, after putting it off, I finally called to schedule our appointment. Of course, the doctor said I could come in that week, but my heart was definitely not ready for it yet! I chose a day closer to the end of the month.

All too quickly, that day arrived. Even though I knew a small army of people was praying for me, my stomach had still been in knots for several days before, and from the moment I awoke, all I wanted to do was cry. I got into my husband’s car, and bawled like a baby. It didn’t help my nerves any that traffic was so bad, we were 15 minutes late for our appointment. I didn’t want to go, but I didn’t want to be late either! I made it very clear to the doctor and nurses how terrified I was about the whole thing. So the time came for us to decide, with the doctor’s direction, what vaccines we were going to get. The count just kept getting higher and higher. Polio (Can’t I get the sugar cube?) Tetanus (The one that hurts!) Typhoid, and two Hepatitis (A and B). And then the even better news, Hepatitis requires 2 more boosters later, and I need to get MMR(Measles, Mumps, Ruebella) too! Finally, it comes down to the moment of truth. I turn on my iPod, listening to one of my favorite Newsboys tunes, and bury my head in my husband’s chest, crying like a baby again. 1 down, 2 down, 3 down, time to switch arms. Hepatitis B (of course, one that I need to get more of) burns. Now I am chanting to myself “Only one more, only one more” Then, it is over! Tony’s turn. He sails through like an old pro, and takes his seat next to me. Suddenly he’s making his way back to the examining table to lie down. He learned the hard way the importance of having breakfast before having 5 shots! Good thing the nurses brought some snacks in for me.

Although I know I have to go back again in a month, I do not think I will be nearly as frightened as I was the first time.

~Sue Kaskoun