Linzi, Joey, Roy and Mike goofing off with some of the merchandise

Time is rapidly winding down to our departure for Bulgaria (only 5 weeks until we leave) and we're busy getting all the details worked out. Last week, we held our last yard sale at the church, making about $600 toward trip expenses. We really appreciate all of those who donated stuff for us to sell, and also those who came out to buy other people's stuff from us. The support of the church body continues to bless and help meet the need year after year! For instance, last Thursday Vern and I drove to Mike and Cheryl Meadows house to pick up a donation. They are a new couple in the church, but heard about the yard sale and wanted to help. We ended up filling the back of a pickup truck AND a trailer with stuff while enjoying some great fellowship. We spent some time in prayer together and drove away feeling so blessed! Thanks again to everybody who has helped out, and please feel free to continue donating your unwanted stuff. We'll be starting up the yard sales again in September to fundraise for next year's trip. We also appreciate those who have made personal donations to various members of our team to help get them there. It is so amazing every year to see how God provides from so many directions to send the team overseas.

Mike helps decorate a shirt at last year's camp

We got the schedule for the children's camp we'll be helping with at the Black Sea. Joey, Vern and I will all have the chance to teach in the evening services while we are there and the topics we've been given are AMAZING! I get to open on Monday night with a message on Coming to Christ (salvation). Vern will share two nights later on Sharing Christ (evangelism) and Joey will teach on Spiritual Warfare later in the week. We also help all day in getting the kids where they need to be and spend about 3 hours each morning at the sea with them. During the VBS-type activities in the afternoons, we will be responsible for arts & crafts and teambuilding games. We have a couple neat projects in store including:

• having the kids decorate scarves in traditional Bulgarian style
• cross necklaces made of nails
• paper flippers used to demonstrate and share the gospel message, and... 
• possibly, we will be launching colorful sky lanterns by the sea one evening

Keep us in prayer, as we order and assemble all our materials and figure out how to pack them! In my next update, I'll share about the one-day youth conference we're planning in Sofia before the camp... God bless!