Headed out

I'm headed out right now to go over to washington park here in Anacortes where we'll dip our tires in the pacific ocean and start out towards Maine. Thank you all for your prayers and support for myself, my team, MCYM and YFC International.

Anacortes

After church, getting my bike put back together and going out for a short ride with Paul (one of the my teammates from England) to make sure everything was in order, my host family took me out for a drive around the Anacortes area. I wanted to just post a couple pictures for everyone to see. I've been told by many people that this area of the US is beautiful, and I would have to agree with them all.
Thanks to the clear weather today, I was able to see Mt. Baker (top, to the North East), Washington Park (center), and the San Jaun Islands to the west (bottom, out in Puget Sound). Obviously, this was all right around sun set. I was also able to just barely make out Mt. Ranier to the south, but it was a bit too hazy for a piture.
I'm looking forward to getting underway on Tuesday. I've already had the chance to talk to a couple people about the work of Military Community Youth Ministries in Europe, and I'm looking forward to meeting and talking to many more people across the US. I've got 51 host families that I'll be staying with yet.

Arrived in Washington

I made it safely to Washington with all of my luggage and bike. For the most part it was a pretty smooth flight and I was able to get a little bit of sleep on the flight from Philly to Seattle. But, now it is 1 am and I need to be in bed...

Tomorrow I'll get to go to church with my host family and then start the adventure of getting my bike put back together!

On my way

Dear Friends,
In just a few hours I'll be boarding my plane to Philadelphia and then on to Seattle. That'll give me enough time to arrive in Anacortes, WA, get my bike rebuilt, make any last minute adjustments, etc., and get ready for to start biking on Tuesday morning. I'm really looking forward to that!

I wanted to first let everyone know that from now on most of my updates will be to my blog and not via email. I will make an effort to get at least one email out each week, but the blog seems like a more effective way to communicate with everyone. Here is the link again: http://mcsc2c@blogspot.com If you would prefer an email or other communication, please, let me know.

Also, more importantly, I want to send another quick general thank you to everyone who has and is supporting me and YFC in any way. Whether that is by partnering in prayer (I know I will need it!), with finances or simple notes of encouragement that have come at the times when I've needed it the most. Thank you, all!

I also wanted to make sure that everyone knows that through your generosity, I have raised over $8,100 towards the mission of YFC to military teens in Europe. I posted a blog entry a couple days ago, mentioning how God was unbelievably faithful in his provision for this trip. I'd recommend that you go read the post (Link), but in short it covers God unbelievable provision to cover the required $6,500 of fundraising even before I realized he had done it! And just to prove his point he had an extra $4.50 in my account! He is good.

Anyways, I need to finish packing the last couple things and go to bed. I've got a long day of flying ahead of me tomorrow.

Thank you again for all of you prayers and support!
In Christ,
Mike

P.S. There is a new Sea to See official blog page if you'd like to follow our progress there as well (http://www.yfcseatosee.blogspot.com/)

6500!

Friends,
I just have a few minutes to be online while I'm away from home until tomorrow evening, but I took the time to check on the status of my fundraising for YFC. I can't tell you how thankful I am for the generosity of so many people. Thank you!! I know that God is going to do amazing things with this money.

Actually, I was just talking with my roommate, and realized how God has worked this out, He is so amazing! I thought I was still about $600 short of the required $6500, but realized that He had already provided the 600 through the commitment of the VBS program in California, which I have yet to add to my donations.

I still don't know how he is going to raise the remaining $93,500, but just as I said when I started down this path back in February, God is faithful and he has reminded me of that today!

Thank you all again for your prayers, encouragement and support. It will make a huge impact on the lives of the military youth!
In Christ,
Mike

It's getting close

Dear Friends,
In just one week, I'll be flying to Seattle and going through a final checklist before I leave from Anacortes, WA on the 17th! I'm still hoping and praying for support money to come in. I need to have $6,500 pledged before I leave Germany on the 14th. Which I'm much closer than I was a few days ago (now over $3,000!!) Thank you to everyone who has supported me in prayer, notes of encouragement and financially so far!

If you are still planning to donate, at least let me know approximately how much by next Thursday, so I can add that to my website as an "offline donation"/pledge.

I'll be working through a pre-ride devotional that YFC has for us over the next days. I'm pretty excited about it.

Also, if you're interested in contacting me during the course of the ride (June 17 to Aug 15), the post below this one will tell you how to do that.

Thank you all for your prayers and support!
Mike

Contact information for the bike trip

All,
In case you want to contact me during the course of my bike trip there will be several ways to do that.

First, I will have my cell phone with me, though I may not answer all the time.... :) Send me an email if you would like the number.

Second, of course there is email. Feel free to email any time. I'm not sure how much time I'm going to have to be on the internet, but I will try to get back to everyone who emails, and I appreciate any notes of encouragement!!

Third, is the traditional, though now seldom used snail mail. Here are the instructions I received for that medium, if you're interested.

Mailing Locations--The following are dates and locations where you may have something mailed to you. Please allow enough time for it to get there prior to our arrival. Please label each mailing with:

Your Name
YFC Sea to See Ride Across America
c/o (Church or Location below)
Address of Church of Location

June 21	First Congregational United Church of Christ 205 N. Maple Colville, WA 99114
June 28	Bison Creek Ranch P.O. Box 144 East Glacier, MT 59434
July 5	First Lutheran Church 916 Main Williston, ND 58801
July 12	Red River Area YFC Box 3021 Fargo, ND 58108
July 19	St. John's Lutheran Church 500 W. 3rd Street Northfield, MN 55057
Aug 2	Bay Presbyterian Church 25415 Lake Road Bay Village, OH 44140
Aug 9	Calvary United Methodist Church P.O. Box 311 Newcomb, NY 12852