We are so humbled by all the support and giving of prayers and money for our upcoming Zimbabwe mission.  20 days ago, our overwhelming needs to accomplish this upcoming trip seemed like an unattainable goal.  Over and over and over throughout the last month, though, God has shown us what He is able to do when we truly give it to Him.... several received our prayer magnets and have expressed interest in praying for us as we prepare to go and as we're away.  One group of men even committed to getting on their knees together several times a week on our behalf while we prepare and during the six months we're away... a dear couple at our home church asked to help with the storing of our belongings while we're gone for the six months... the congregation we grew up in held a special "Mission Sunday" highlighting our trip and took up a special contribution for our financial needs.  Several were in attendance, including an old friend who hasn't been to church in years and welcomed the invitation to attend church for our special day, rekindling old friendships in the process of worshiping together... elders of other church congregations have approached us, showing interest in supporting us in anyway they can... family members have stepped up and volunteered their time to help pack and clean as we prepare to leave, others have expressed interest in keeping our dog while we're away... a sweet little girl who attended church with her grandparents, brought a dollar bill she had earned earlier in the week. Much to her grandparents' surprise, she didn't want to put her dollar in the regular children's collection that day, but instead after hearing of our plans to go to Zimbabwe, we she cheerfully and confidently gave all she had to our trip... friends have offered their vehicles and basements for transportation and storage... a family member has shown her support by reaching out to her friends and church family, voicing our cause and passionately asking others for their support... our family photographer asked to publish our information on her site, promoting our trip and helping raise awareness and support...   messages of encouragement have filled our inboxes with words so rich in support and love, carrying us through moments of doubt or fear... 

"Now to Him who is able to do immeasurable more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us." - Ephesians 3:20

Thank you so much to all of you!  This isn't just the "Scharrer's" mission, this is YOUR mission, too.  We're all doing this together.  Thank you for joining us!

If you've come to our blog for questions on our specific mission or on giving, please see the tabs at the top for more specific information or feel free to contact us and/or leave a comment.  Just  a quick wrap up for some questions we've received recently...

Our family of six will depart for Zimbabwe, Africa just after May 1st of this year.  We plan to work at the Brian Lemons Memorial Hospital, which will also include work with the church, school, and orphanage there.  Erik is currently an Emergency Medicine physician at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and will jump right in to work at the hospital at Nhowe Mission.  Kara and the kids hope to connect in all areas of Nhowe Mission with God-driven hearts to serve wherever they are needed.  It's our goal to raise $30,000 by May 1st.  If you are moved to give, please see the "Donate" tab above.  Prayers are always welcome.  Without prayer as our lifeline, we would not be able to fulfill the Great Commission.

Yesterday afternoon as I laid on the floor in our living room, my eyes scanning all of our belongings around the house, I wondered how in the world I was going to be able to get all of it packed up.  Packing, along with a to-do list 400 miles long, has really been stressing me out lately.  Thinking about packing, I decided to pray for some friends of ours who are getting ready to depart on their missionary journey to Africa, too.  They have had some recent unexpected health issues come up that have put a little more stress on their trip.  As I prayed, my thoughts wandered and I wondered what, if anything, was going to go wrong for us as we prepare to head out into the mission field...  Less than three hours later, my phone died.  Like died, died. I tried five different chargers, taking it apart and putting it back together, hitting it, blowing in the cracks... nothing worked.  Later after the kids got home from school,  I went to turn on the TV (my babysitter in desperate times) and the television wouldn't work. Just completely, 100%, would not work no matter what I tried.  Erik came home from work later on and got on the computer to do his notes, discovering that the computer wasn't working properly.  Instead of notes, he spent several hours trying to fix the computer (and never got it fixed).  Well, since I didn't have a phone alarm, I had to set the old-fashioned alarm clock last night before bed.  The old trusty alarm went off at 6:25 this morning and I pushed snooze, as always.  I laid there a little longer, thinking of the kids and their schedules that day.  I glanced up a little while later and the clock still said 6:25.  I thought to myself that it felt like the longest minute ever!  I fell back to sleep while waiting on the snooze alarm to go off, but  I woke up in a panic 25 minutes later and the clock still said 6:25. Ah! The kids surprisingly were able to jump out of bed and quickly work together to get things ready for school.  I went to start my car with the automatic start a few minutes before leaving and discovered that automatic start remote wasn't working, either.  After dropping the kids off, I drove home from school, thinking how odd it was that every electronic-type device that I rely so heavily on to make our lives run smoothly, had gone kaput within the last 12 hours.  It shouldn't have been any surprise that when I went to make myself a cup of coffee, the coffee maker wouldn't work, either.  

The devil is so evil.  I truly believe that when God's people try to do good, the devil works overtime and tries to butt in every time.  He doesn't want us to succeed. He wants to make doing good harder and he wants to  make us fail.

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.

Ephesians 6:12-13

**** I just need to point out after publishing this post that for some odd reason, it is publishing in a weird format.  I thought I'd point it out because maybe it's not so odd, after all - he just won't stop trying to get in the way.  Hopefully you all can still read this post and hopefully you all will pray for us.