Briefing #2

The second briefing conference was a little different from the first. Paul and I got to play completely different roles this time. Instead of coaching a team, Paul worked on operations and I helped with finances. Our schedules weren't quite as intense this time around, but it was a huge learning curve for Paul since he'd never really done anything like it. He had to coordinate with a rep from Vanguard to figure out rooms, meals, meeting space, parking, etc. for all the staff and students. He also had to arrange airport shuttles for all the teams to get to LAX. Then, of course, there is all the little unexpected stuff that comes up when dealing with so many people. And there were more people this time. Instead of just sending 3 teams, we were preparing 7.

The 7 teams were going to Tokyo, Australia, South Africa, East Asia, El Salvador, and 2 Middle Eastern countries. Several of these teams were being led by students and one is a new partnership with a church in San Diego. It was exciting for us to see so many new laborers going into the harvest.

My job was a little more familiar than Paul's. I mostly got to answer questions for the leaders about handling finances for the project and help count up all the support to make sure every student had enough for the trip. It was fun for me to work with Chrissy, who was in charge of finances. We only met at the last briefing. She had been on staff in East Asia for 10 years before coming back in the fall to work in the regional office. We became fast friends, so it was a lot of fun. We even found ourselves reading the exact same book during briefing--East of Eden.

For the teams themselves, especially on the financial side, this briefing seemed to go much smoother. They weren't nearly as short on funds as the previous team had been. I guess leaving a month later helps quite a bit. However, there was still money to raise and we watched it roll in over the couple of days we were there as students got on the phone to invite people to take part in the mission.

In the end, all the teams were ready to go and headed out safely. Pray for them over the next few weeks as they step out in faith to share the gospel with many who have probably never heard.