Thursday, July 25, 2013

Prayer Card

We had our prayer cards at our Benefit Dinner which was a great way to get them to people! However, because of that, I haven't taken the time to make out a list of people to send a prayer card too since we gave away a bunch in one go! 

Our prayer cards were taken by the lovely Mandalyn Renicker [http://morceauphotography.com] designed by my incredibly talented cousin, Michael Albright. He did a fantastic job! (Vanity disclaimer: I'm only posting a picture of it so that you can decide for yourselves whether or not you'd like us staring down at you from your fridge.) :) 


We also have a brochure that Jordan and I designed (in the loosest sense of the word) for the Benefit Dinner. It gives a few more details about Mercy Ships. [Sorry, can't post a picture of it!] 

So if you'd like a prayer card and a brochure, or just one or the other, please email me (kaitlyn.stull09@gmail.com) or Jordan (jordan@stullwoodworks.com) with your address and we'd be happy to mail one to you!




Monday, July 15, 2013

Email

We found out that our Mercy Ship email addresses that are on our prayer cards will not be available to use until closer to the time we leave. Just wanted to let that be known in case someone tried to email us! Until we say otherwise, if you would like to email us, use:

jordan@stullwoodworks.com

or

kaitlyn.stull09@gmail.com.

Thanks!

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Benefit Dinner

We are completely in awe of what God's people can do all together. Last night we came home with tired bodies but minds that would not shut down. Jordan mentioned briefly at church that it's amazing to think of how God's employee system works: the whole earth is His Kingdom, so whether he asks someone to relocate to a boat off the coast of Africa or whether he asks someone to stay where they are to be a sponsor, there is no difference between the two. Some go and some stay, some give and some serve but the body of Christ is most effective when they all work together. 

I'm sure there are a few people who are interested in the statistics part of the evening so here's some information. :)

We figure that close to 200 people came! We had no idea how many to expect but people started pouring in at 5:30 and didn't quit coming until 8! We've obviously been preparing for this dinner for a while but so much of that planning is just practical stuff--how much food, what to share during Jordan's talk, how to communicate information effectively, how to ask for financial support (which neither of us have ever done and don't particularly enjoy doing!), etc. So when Jordan got up to speak and we both took a look at how packed the room was, we were incredibly humbled that all of you came because you wanted to support us in any way you could. So if you did stop by, thank you!! We knew we were going to be saying goodbye to a very special community of people and last night really emphasized that. We count ourselves blessed to be able to say that we have a LOT of support behind us! Not everyone who serves on the mission field can say the same and we do not take your words of encouragement, prayer, and financial support for granted.

We are also completely in awe of how much financial support did come in last night. Before the benefit dinner, we estimated that we were at around 29% of support raised, which we already thought was cool since we hadn't said much to anyone! After last night, we found that we are at 71% of our support!! Needless to say, the phrase "I just can't believe it" keeps popping up. :)

Sandy (Jordan's mom) put the word out that she and Brian were going to be hosting a Benefit Dinner for us. She never asked for help but tons of people offered--even the ice cream was donated! So after we sat down and figured out our menu and what food we would need to buy, she sent out the list only to the people that had shown interest in helping with food. Within a week, the list was full and people were still asking what they could bring so she ended up adding a few more things to the list! We got to Pathway around 2:00 on Saturday and really all we had to do was cut up some watermelon and set up the tables! So many people offered to help with grilling, serving, cleaning, etc. and we want to thank each and everyone of you who brought food and helped out!

So all in all, we thoroughly enjoyed the evening--we loved talking with the people who came and we were excited to share what we're doing next! We hope you enjoyed the food and fellowship. :)