Influential People.

Have you ever had a person in your life that was really influential in who you became later in life? The person in this picture, Gregg, is one of those people for me. With my upcoming trip to Africa he has been on my mind a lot lately. Gregg was the youth leader at our church for a few years. He became a good friend to me, and I even went on my first double date with him (he was not my date). Later he left to go to Africa for missions. We wrote a few times (this was before the internet) but eventually we lost touch. While in Africa he told me that he thought someday I would go there, and then in the next breath he would tell me about the cobras. I would tell him that because of the cobras there would be no way...ever... that God would send me to Africa. Africa is one place that I never thought in a million years I would be led to go to, and now I am gearing up to go...snakes and all. Gregg has always been at the back of my mind during special times, and I always wonder how he is doing and then I say a little prayer of thanks that he was in my life for that little while. Someday, I hope to tell him how grateful I was to have him in my life. I also pray that someday my own children will have a youth pastor and friend like him.
As far as Africa, we had our fundraising luncheon yesterday. I was in charge of the menu and shopping. I also did most of the prep work and a lot of the cooking. We made Gyros, lemon rice, green bean soup, green salad, Mozambican biscottis and Rababit (a middle eastern drink). Everyone raved about the gyros, and we made a good amount of money for it being a holiday weekend. The team that is going to Mozambique worked really well together and I think we will have a great time working together in Africa, and I am getting really excited about the work we will be doing while there. As a team we have also decided that we should take a few extra days and go on a safari! Although it will cost us more money how can we go to Africa and not do a safari, and this is probably the only time most of us will ever be in Africa.