God is working!

Hello! Its Cara. Things have been so busy this past week, such exciting things happening, I have not been able to get back to write it all down! God is surely working double time, it is exciting to awaken each morning to discover each new development. Two Sabbaths ago I visited the Sheridan SDA Church to tell them the good news: We are opening a school! Though half of the congregation was in Cody, WY for their new church dedication (congratulations!), the members who were present were very receptive and excited about our school. There were lots of questions and they invited me to come back another Sabbath to redo the presentation for those who were gone. Except they asked if I could do the presentation during the sermon time instead ( I do get a bit excited and can wax abit long...who me ?!) I was so pleased at the offerings of support, thank you everyone. Together, with God leading, this endeavor is so possible...

While at the Sheridan church, I was inspired by something in the sermon. The speaker mentioned ( I am paraphrasing here, guys) how God expects us to do our part to the best of our given talents and than we can relax because the Holy Spirit than takes over and does His part. This really inspired me. For those of you who have ever fundraised or even been in sales, it is nervewracking to ask for money. Before calling I can always feel my insides tightening up. But this sermon has made me feel so much better about it. It's so simple: if I diligently do my part and give others the opportunities to help our school, than God will do his part to impress on those people to help us, and if they are receptive to Him they will respond! It's a partnership, and what a partner!

Well, along those lines...I have begun calling the Adventist Hospitals throughout the United States for support. On March 27th, I talked to the Marketing Director at The Central Texas Medical Center. Their Sponsorship Committee is meeting on April 8th and he was very encouraging. I quickly realized though that the corporate forms we had prepared were sadly lacking. Larger corporations expect so much more, they really want to see a plan for success before they contribute. We knew we needed alot more and we needed it fast! I knew exactly who to call for help...my mom Mickie Carstens of course! She has an extensive background in grant writing and fundraising(it's amazing how God is providing the resources we need). Alisa, mom and I spent about 40 intense hours preparing a ten page Letter of Intent including all kinds of enclosures with big names like Sustainability Plans...It was with a big sigh of relief that I sent the whole thing off to TX. Thank you mom and Alisa! The wonderful thing about creating this document is that it can be tweaked and sent to other corporations too. Now all we have to do is keep sending it out and trust in God's pwerful influence. See, we do the work and than God does the rest!

We recieved the first letter donations from our 300 Club letter drive this past friday. Alisa & I burst into tears when we opened them...$8000! One gentleman in particular sent a $4000 check and is also sponsoring $300/month for the next year. The generosity is overwhelming and moves us to work harder than ever. The Holy Spirit is truly on our side! We now have over $20,000 sponsored and donated to our goal. Thank you so much and God bless.

Heidi and Shane Greet are taking their little family to California for a much needed vacation this week. They will be gone for two Sabbath's and offered to do an offering call at two differet churches. Today we are madly preparing the bulletin inserts and contacting the pastors. Each drop in the bucket counts so much. We are blessed.

Until next time my friends...keep your eyes on Jesus and your ears open to His voice, for He is calling and His voice is beautiful.