Tuesday, June 24, 2008

1 month to go

So I officially have 3 weeks and 4 days until I fly to California to begin my training and transition into a new period of my life. Days are flying by, and I am trying to make sure I get everything finished before I leave.

Last weekend I had a garage sale to raise money for the trip. We went to the warehouse and cleaned out anything and everything that had been setting up there for a while. I made a big decision to sell the majority of my dvd's, my surround sound system, and a lot of my electronics... I'm sure it isn't a big deal to most, but to a guy who loves watching movies, it is. especially the dvd collection. So Saturday we had our first customers at 7:10, we officially started at 8, and by 8:00, we had already sold over $200 worth of stuff. I felt very blessed. God kept the rain away, kept people coming, everyone was buying something, even if it was just a dollar or two. By the end of the day, we had raised over $900. Amazing!
That is 1/10th of what I need for my total support. Pretty awesome, just from old stuff.
So, now that the garage sale is done, I am going to be following up with friends and family that I mailed support raising letters to. I got them out late, my fault... well, my oral surgeons fault for making my recovery for my wisdom teeth surgery last almost 3 weeks... but I think I will be getting some responses soon.
I also just got my new macbook!!!! its pretty awesome. I decided to go ahead and bite the bullet and get one while I could still get a college discount. not only did I get $200 knocked off the price, but I got a free Ipod touch. Its pretty cool. not nearly as much can go on it as my 80 gig (the new one is only 16 gig) but 16 will still hold a lot of music and I can just update it if I need to before trips.
I also just bought a "Learn to speak Czech" program. It has 15 hours of language training.. and I can put it on my ipod and listen to it as I am working or traveling. I really hope to at least have a small base of the language before i get there. It was the Pimsleur program, which cost a bit, but I felt I would rather spend the money and get one that was well known and had good reviews than a cheap one that didn't work. I should get that in in a few days. I will let you know how that goes.

On the financial side again, I have raised/made/donated myself altogether around $5250, pretty cool. but I still need around $4000 more for the year, $2000 of that before I leave in August. Please all be praying about that.

My last day of work is on the 3rd. My office is having a going away party for me and 2 other co-workers that are leaving.. but that will give me 2 weeks to hang out with friends and family before I go. If you want to hang out and see me before I go.. let me know!

Also, if you want to be on my newsletter list, send me your address: atrector@yahoo.com

Prayer requests:
Mental preparation for the transition
Finish all logistics of moving out and tying up all lose ends.
My team that I will be serving with in Czech.
Finances
Start praying for my health.. I know I will be stressed, and I get sick when I get stressed.. and I don't want that.
That I will find someone on my team who can be my travel partner!
That I have a blast!

Love you all!
Aaron