Nervousness, Gathering Donations, and Unaffordable Immunizations

I'm getting nervous.  I'm going to Uganda and Kenya next month.  Next month.  There is a basket on the dining room table that contains bottles of mosquito repellent, sunscreen, and other items that I will need to take with me.  Yesterday a beautiful skirt that I had ordered came in the mail.  They wear skirts in Africa.  I  usually don't.

Doneva and I have been assigned the ministry that we will be responsible for gathering donations to meet some specific needs that they have.  YAY!  Our ministry is Grace of God Children's Home and School located in Kaptagat, Kenya.  Some of the things we will be working on gathering are:

• Clothes and shoes (flip-flops and sandals) for children ranging in age from 5 to 16
• Children's books (this is my favorite!), both Bible-based and secular as it is very rare for them to get to hold a book themselves.  :-(
• Small toys and stuffed animals, balloons, cheap toys you get at the dollar store, silly bands, nail polish
• CANDY - it is suggested that we bring bags of individually wrapped hard candies

A cash donation to this church would be very helpful as they normally don't have enough money to pay their teachers

There are, of course, many other things the people there are in constant need of:

• School supplies
• Medical supplies
• Toothpaste
• and just general things that are required to take care of children

Today Doneva talked to someone at a local clinic that will give us all of the immunizations that we need to have before we go.  For $700.  I don't like shots.  They hurt.  But, oh my goodness, they are going to hurt a lot more if I have to pay $700 for them.  I still don't know how I'm God is going to finish paying for me to get to Africa, much less the orphanage and other ministry donations I need to take with me.  Tomorrow I will talk to someone at Methodist Hospital (I haven't spent enough time there in the last year and a half!) that can provide this service.  Say a prayer, please, that they can tell me it will cost quite a bit less than $700.

June 26th is sneaking up on me.  It will be here soon, and I will board a flight to Uganda.  Wow.  If you'd have told me a year ago that I would be embarking on this adventure, I would have thought it not possible.  God is pretty neat that way.  His plans are always better than mine.  I love these plans.  I'm nervous, but I know that God's got this.  He's got a plan for how I'm gonna get those stinkin' shots for less than $700 too!