Greetings in Christ from South Florida!
If you are receiving this, you are officially registered for our mission to Guatemala this summer. Bienvenidos! (Welcome!)
Thank you for your willingness to come serve with us side by side this summer! Thank you for your faith, and for your willingness to step forward to serve those less fortunate than yourself in the name of Jesus.
Damaris and I have been working hard for the past 6 months preparing for your arrival, as have our mission hosts in Guatemala. We are SO excited for this year's mission, and we are honored and blessed to have you and your family members join us.
I have some important announcements to share with you, so please take a few minutes to carefully read everything below.
PLEASE CHECK YOUR EMAIL DAILY
I will be sending you lots of emails between now and when you arrive in Guatemala. Nearly all of these are to make your experience as safe, and as smooth as possible.
Some of these will be very time-sensitive announcements, so please check your email every day between now and when you depart for Guatemala, so you don't miss a thing!
USING GMAIL? PLEASE STAR THIS EMAIL!
This will help our mission emails from falling into your spam, trash, or promotions folder. Here's a quick, 2 min. step-by-step video I created of how to keep our emails from getting trashed:
http://youtu.be/6qubmajX55w
FLIGHTS
All of your flights have been booked and paid for, Praise be to God! However, this year, our overall flight costs were higher than in the past 9 yrs.
Part of this was because they were purchased them one week later than usual. However, most of it is because flights to Guatemala are simply much higher this year.
Our travel agent, myself, and Pastor Stuart Nice have been tracking flight costs throughout the year. Nobody really knows why, but flights were just way more expensive all year. - 24% higher.
Last year our average flight cost was $700. This year, it was $916/flight. We always budget an extra 10-15% slush fund for unexpected expenses, but this is well beyond that. So, we need to be creative with our budget, and we need to ask for your help.
EXTRA DONATIONS NEEDED
Because of the unexpected flight costs, we are asking everyone to raise or donate a little more this year, IF YOU CAN. $75-$100/person would cover our extra flight costs.
We do not want to pass these costs onto all Crew Members, because we know what a burden it has been for many of you to raise funds already - especially for families of 3-6 members/each.
So, at this point, we are asking everyone to “Give what you can” to help defray these costs. If you can give a little more, or fundraise a little more, we’d really appreciate it.
The more you can raise, the less we will need to cut into our work project funds to pay the flight costs. I will keep you updated on our progress making up this deficit.
DONATE A STOVE FOR $129 - 129 STOVES BY JUNE 8TH
To help raise extra funds for us, I have launched a stove fundraising campaign. We are shooting for 129 stoves x $129/stove.
If we raise even half of this goal, we will cover the extra expense, and not need anything extra from our mission Crew Members!
Would you please help us by sharing the stove campaign?
Please share this amazing video with everyone you know via email, Facebook, Twitter, and any other social media, AND ask them to PLEASE DONATE A STOVE TODAY:
https://youtu.be/FjBC7Jbtudo
This campaign ends at 1:29am on Mon, June 8th.
FLIGHT INSURANCE
We have purchased excellent Travel Insurance including Trip Interruption coverage for all of our mission Crew Members. You will NOT need to purchase any other coverage.
For a copy of our travel insurance policy and what it covers, go to our
Forms Page.
REGISTRATION FORMS DEADLINE - LAST FRI, MAY 15
Thanks to those who have submitted their forms already. I will be replying to you in the next 2 wks to confirm we received them, and that they are legible and complete.
If you have not received your doctor’s physical, please schedule it immediately, have your doctor complete our 2 Health Forms (found on our
Forms Page), and submit them with the rest of your forms in ONE EMAIL PER CREW MEMBER asap.
FINAL PAYMENT DEADLINE - BEFORE THIS FRI, MAY 29
Thanks to many of you who made your full registration payments early. This allowed us to not only cover the extra flight costs we didn’t anticipate, but to also pay our deposits for stoves, hotel, ground transport, and building supplies.
THANK YOU - this was a huge blessing for us.
Final payments for all mission Crew Members are due BEFORE THIS FRIDAY, May 29th. Please make your payments early if possible.
1 Week = $1,700 Total
2 Weeks = $2,200 Total
We have some really exciting, non-administrative announcements coming soon - keep a lookout in your email inbox.
Until then...thank you again for your service to our Lord and to His Children in Guatemala!
God's Peace,
Brother Shawn
Shawn Smith
Director,
Now Is the Time for Missions
