Rain or shine, right?

Well, today is move day; regardless, i suppose, of the rain pouring down outside. We've spent this whole week packing up our clothes, getting rid of unnecessary junk, acquiring a storage unit and now is the time to make the first transition of the summer.

i finished my last day of school on Wednesday and it was a good finish to the school year. i will confess that my mind has been elsewhere these last few weeks of school, but i was able to close out well. i was very blessed by the generosity and love i was shown at school this last week--i was able to go to lunch with some good friends and colleagues to properly say goodbye and it was touching to have that time and attention before we leave...

we have been spending some time with people in our amazing community to say goodbye, and even though i often allowed myself to be stressed about getting everything done, those times have been restorative and sweet. thank you to everyone who has made it a priority, and has been flexible with our schedule, to be able to say goodbye.

we are over 100% support. isn't that incredible? i still cant believe it. i dont know what else to say but thank you thank you THANK YOU for answering God's tugging at your heart to give. we hope to be a blessing to others through your generosity.

well, the gang's here to to help us move so i'm off. please keep checking the blog this summer so we can share our adventures with you!

much much love,
Laura (and Mikey)

Two Tickets to Paradise...

Well, we had procrastinated long enough! Last week Laura and i finally broke down and bought our tickets to South Africa. It was pretty exciting, though, with a moment as anti-climactic as "did you check our credit card balance to make sure the purchase went through?!" it was hard to express the building excitement in words :)

For those of you who "need the info", we will be leaving Greensboro on June 10th and flying through New York on the way to London. We will be in London for about a day and a half before we finish our journey to Johannesburg, S. Africa. From there we will probably be booking passage in a van or on a bus to make the last leg of our journey. This should have us arriving at the final destination sometime midday on Saturday, June 13th.

We will be starting our journey home on July 29th. With another quick stop through London we will be getting home on July 31st right after midnight. Hopefully this will give us the whole day on the 31st to catch our bearings and maybe even try to figure out what timezone we're in! regardless, we are pretty friggin' excited!

So, it's really happening... we have plane tickets and our support is hovering around 95%. We have been so blessed as we have prepared for this journey and it seems like our lives are changing so much for something that will sadly only last two months. We are ready for the challenge and to be changed as much, if not more, than we are able to affect change itself.

If you still are planning on supporting us financially, or just want to send us snail mail, then please do so by the end of the week (May 29th) else we may not get it due to our upcoming move! despite our move, remember that you can get ahold of either Laura or I anytime via mikey@fissel.com or laura@fissel.com.

we love and cherish all of you who are sharing this adventure with us! thank you!

Encouragment & Support

Hello again!

Well, Laura and i just wanted to take the time to thank everyone who has written us with words of encouragement and support. We have been keeping all letters and notes and, until just recently, they were sitting on my desk in a pile. But, this past week we started packing things up to get ready to move out of our place at the end of the month and we decided that since everything was coming down off the walls, we would put up the letters and notes from all of you. Laura actually had this great idea, and went a step further to paste them around our hallway door frame so that we would see them everyday and be reminded of all of the people who are praying for, and supporting us on this new adventure.

so, as i said before, thank you so much... we could not do this without the love and encouragement each of you has given to us!

PS. We're at 81% support raised -- almost there!!!

Home

The newest Video from Ten Thousand Homes. Hopefully this will give some of you more of a picture of where and what we'll be getting into.

Immunizations, Support, and Babies, OH MY!!!

Not OUR babies though... in family news, Laura's oldest sister had her first baby which, incidentally, was the first Wright family grandchild. Though, due to a week delay in the birth, I have not had the chance to see her, Laura was able to stop by and see her new niece! Congratulations to Daniel and Sarah Clark on their new baby (our new niece) Skyler Renee Clark!

Also, a week ago, Laura and I found ourselves at the Guilford County Health Department getting our pre-trip vaccinations. Laura (the health-insurance-having guru she is) did not need much. If memory serves, she only needed an optional Hepatitis A shot. I, on the other hand (with my lack of up-to-date immunizations), had Tetnis in one arm and Hepatitis A & B in the other. We also picked up some diahrrea medicine just in case along with a prescription for Malaria & TB pills -- wowee! I feel like a science experiment!

Many of you have been asking how our support has been going, and the simple answer is "really great!" We are currently at 65% with a little over a month to go. We know a number of you still are planning on supporting us financially, and we'd ask that you do so soon so we can get the paperwork taken care of through the proper channels. Thank you so much to all of you who have already written us letters of support and encouragement -- your words have meant so much to us in this time of transition.

We love you guys SO MUCH!!! Please feel free to email me or Laura anytime, we love being able to connect with you!

It Has Arrived!!!

Finally, after much anticipation (and frustration with "the system") my passport has arrived! The US government has foolishly allowed me to travel abroad! Laura and I are still working on getting out tickets. We have a little over $4000 raised so far, so this shouldn't be a problem, but a couple things have happened this week that has made us hold off for the time being. This is kind of making us nervous as we feel every day we wait the price goes up. Please be praying that everything will continue to be worked out in God's perfect timing... thanks to all of you!

Expensification...

We have had the pleasure of talking to so many of you over the past few months and it has been exceptionally encouraging. Laura and I cannot express how nice it has been to receive your calls, cards, letters, and emails. We love the chance to connect with you, even if for only a short while, or a quick chat.

I think one of the biggest questions that we have received is about how our finances break down for our trip. So, realizing that we haven't really put it out there, we thought we would give a pretty general breakdown of our expenses budgeted into our support raising for your detail people :)

Support Goal $7500.00

Daily Bills back home - $150
Our College Loans (2 months) - $500
Passport Fees - $250
Mikey's Health Insurance (2 Months) - $400
Transportation other than Plane - $150
Plane Tickets Round Trip - ~$4000
Living Expenses in White River, S. Africa - ~$2000

our living expenses cover out transportation, apartment, and general food needs while we are there. we actually inflated this a little to cover any unforeseen expenses while we are gone.

All of the money we raise outside of what we end up needing, if any, we are going to give to Ten Thousand Homes for their ministry. But regardless, this is a general overview of how our expenses will break down and as always, if you'd like to know more -- ASK!!! We love hearing from you guys :)