Newsletter #3

GV Team Newsletter

Molokai, Hawaii

July 17 – 27, 2010

Newsletter #3

Aloha! It’s hard to believe the trip is only a month and a half away! Below you will find some important reminders. We will send a longer newsletter with last-minute details and reminders a few weeks before the trip.

New Team Members
If you have visited our blog recently, you may have noticed that two of our team members’ profiles are no longer there. Chelsea and Austin both had to drop out of the trip unexpectedly. We have already found two wonderful people to fill their spots- Gary Wenz and Linda Isola. We will be posting their bios and photos on the blog soon, so be sure to check the blog to learn about them and your other fellow team members!

Travel
If you haven’t booked your flights yet, please do so as soon as possible and forward us your itinerary. So far, we have itineraries for Jacquie, Mack, Alexia, Tina, Jana, Neil, and Matt. As a reminder, please try to arrive on Molokai as close as you can to 4:00 p.m. on July 17, 2010. We will gather as a team for a Welcome Dinner that evening. Our final activity as a team will be the Mahalo Party the evening of Monday, July 26, 2010. Since there are no flights leaving after the party, please book your departure flight for the morning of Tuesday, July 27, 2010. Your transportation to the airport will be covered.

Important Dates
Trip Balance: Most of you successfully met the June 1st deadline- great job!! Also, several of you fundraised some or all of the money for your trip- congratulations to Jana, Neil, and Matt Jackson, Sarah Sawyers, and Don Nunn!!

Conference Calls: We have tentatively scheduled team conference calls for the evenings of July 6th and 7th. The Molokai Habitat affiliate has agreed to be on both calls to answer any questions team members may have for her. We will ask everyone to join one of the two calls. More details about these calls will be sent out to you later in June.

What to Bring
Please refer to the suggested packing list we included in Newsletter #2. Remember that you will need your own safety goggles, work gloves, sunscreen, and water bottle for the work site. You will not need to bring your own tools, however, if you do choose to bring any of your own tools, please make sure they are clearly marked so they don’t get mixed up with the affiliate’s tools.

Communication
Telephones will be available at the hotel. You will need to bring a long-distance calling card or other method of payment for calls to the mainland. Cell phones should not be used during team meetings, on the work site or during team activities. Feel free to use your cell phone during free time.

Team News
Remember to check our blog for updates about the trip, and to learn about your fellow team members. You can find the blog at http://molokaigv.blogspot.com/. Also, if you have anything you’d like to share with the team, please email it to us and we will post it on the blog. Feel free to share the blog address with family and friends so they can get to know our team and keep up with our adventures on Molokai.

**If you would like to be a guest author on the blog while we’re on the trip, please send us an e-mail to let us know and we will get you set up.

Devotions
As we mentioned in our phone calls with you, we will be having daily reflection time in our team meetings to help set the tone for the day. We invite all of you to participate by sharing something with the group. If you would like to lead a reflection one day, please bring any resources (readings, poems, devotions, etc.) you would need. We look forward to having some of you lead this time. Please let us know if you are interested in leading one of these reflections so that we can put you on the schedule.

Habitat Learns
All team members need to complete three courses on Habitat Learns in order to prepare for our adventure in Hawaii. These courses will give you some basic knowledge about Habitat for Humanity and are easy to complete. Each course will take you about 15-20 minutes to complete. Please take the time to read the extra tidbits within each course, there are some really interesting things built in.

To sign up for the courses, please complete the following steps:

1. Go to http://www.habitat.org/Habitat_Learns/default.aspx.
2. Click the "Online Courses" link near the bottom of the page.
3. On the left side of the screen, click on "courses."
4. On the right "Categories" sidebar, click "(Open) Foundations of Habitat for Humanity," which is towards the top of the list.
5. On the right, under the "Enrollment" column, check the boxes for "HFHI Values," "HL_BEG The Beginnings of Habitat,” and "Vision and Mission of Habitat for Humanity."
6. Click the "Enroll Now" button.
7. Check to make sure you have the three correct courses under the "Course Title" column and click the "Confirm" button.
8. You will then have to click the red "Register Now" link at the bottom of the page.
9. Fill in your contact information. When you are asked for your "Habitat E-mail" enter your primary email address. When asked for organization/affiliate put "Molokai GV 11027" and for job title put "participant.”

 Once you submit your information, you'll have to wait for HFHI to process your information. You will first receive a “registration request” e-mail. After your registration is processed, you will receive a “registration confirmation” e-mail with your user name and password. This process can take several days to complete.

Once you receive your login and password you can complete the courses by following these steps:

1. Go to http://habitatlearns.org/home/
2. Log in on the right side of the screen.
3. Then simply click the course you'd like to take! The circles on the right will show your progress through the course.

Make sure to save your answers on every page as you work your way through the site.Please be sure to save a copy of the certificate upon completion of each course, and e-mail all the certificates to us. Please let us know if you have any questions or problems throughout the process.

Conclusion
We recommend that you save this newsletter for future reference, but it will also be posted on the blog for quick and easy reference. We will be sending one more newsletter before the trip, in early July.