Monday, April 20, 2009

Missing Socks

Have you seen any socks around? I ask because MH4H supporters have knocked our socks off with their generosity, and God has knocked our socks off with his generous provision, even in our own inadequacy, uncertainty and doubt! Our feet our going to get cold if this keeps up...

Much has happened since our last post, and I apologize that it has taken so long to get an update. In this exciting season things are changing quickly, so we want to be diligent about sharing all that God is doing with you. The hard part is that it's also the busiest season for everyone involved, making it more difficult to get to the blog as often as we want!

With all that being said, on behalf of Jared & Stacey I want to say a humongous, ginormous THANK YOU to all who supported Hotcakes for Haiti. Our last post shared that there would be a finale pancake breakfast at Third Church on March 29 in hopes of meeting the $30,000 Nickels for Nikkels goal to purchase the Third World truck. Let me tell you, it was a grand finale! We went into the 29th with just over $12,500, so in our wildest hopes, we were hoping to get into the mid-twenties...maybe. Instead, God decided to use the generous hearts of so many people at Third Church to remind us that He is going before us and providing beyond what we can ask or hope. We ended the day with over $40,000! Those of us there when the announcement was made were overcome with gratitude and joy. It was an awesome moment! Thank you again to everyone who served at Hotcakes for Haiti, everyone who attended and offered financial gifts, and everyone who is praying for the mission of Many Hands for Haiti.

We had another great Hotcakes for Haiti breakfast in Sully on April 4, and we want to say another huge thank you to the Sully Lions Club for sponsoring that breakfast and providing all the needed workers. Gifts totaling over $3,000 were given in just three hours that Saturday morning. Thank you to the Lions and the Sully community!

And the craziness continues as this week is meal prep week for the Meals With a Mission fundraiser. More than $12,000 worth of orders came in for frozen meals, cookie dough, Dutch letters and coffee! Again, we were blown away by the response. We are grateful for many volunteers who are willing to help us prepare food this week. With over 660 meals to make, I'm sure many will be seeing lasagna and ham balls in their sleep! Please pray for this meals mission this week and specifically pray peace and protection for Nancy Henry and Tiffany Van Zee and their families as they lead this fundraising event and coordinate all the details. Volunteers will be preparing food all day Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. If you'd still like to help, there are plenty of spots available. Contact Tiffany Van Zee at 641-780-2876 or stvanzee@iowatelecom.net.

On behalf of Jared & Stacey, thank you again for your support of this mission. In this heavy fundraising season, we also say a special thank you to Nancy Henry and Tiffany Van Zee, who have worked tirelessly on details for t-shirt sales, Hotcakes for Haiti and Meals With a Mission. Thank you for your sacrifice of time, and for the use of your gifts for MH4H!

We are so grateful to God for His continued provision and confirmation of this calling on the Nikkel family. It's amazing to be part of something so much bigger than ourselves and see that God is so graciously at work in all things, even when we are blind to it! Keep praying that His will be done through us!