Zak knew he wanted to go on a missions trip. His church (yes, cats have churches) had a missions trip going to help old cats in Belize. These were mainly Jaguars that had gotten too old to hunt. By having a home where these cats could get chicken on a stick rather than their being impaled while trying to get the villagers chicken on the run the missionary cats could save many of the old warriors. Further, by holding services for them each night many of these old warriors would come to know the lord.
The first challenge once Zak had received the call was to raise the money for the trip. Angus put up most of it. It is always cool to have a supportive family member, even if they are motivated by needing a break from the daily chore of emptying the kitty litter box. Angus needed one of those automated kitty litter doodads. These had come a long way since they used to scoop up the cat along with the litter.
The missions leader for the trip was EvangelCat. He was a youth pastor at his home church. EvangelCat had a incredible heart for people and for helping people. He was also in incredible shape. Of course, if working with big cats, it helped to be able to move fast in case they wanted to eat you before you could tell them about the chicken sanctuary. EvangelCat had explained to everyone about the price of the tickets and that the cost of the trip would be $1,400 per cat. A big part of that was the plane fair. To fly from Pensacola to Houston to Belize was $1,400. However he had been able to get a deal. They would fly from Pensacola to Atlanta to Charlotte then change planes. Next they would fly to Chicago then to Houston and onto Belize. The plane fair would only be $600 per cat. Zak did not understand that. The other money went to supplies, bibles, building materials, food and for a day of entertainment. They were going to go snorkeling. Yum.
Zak had sent out his fund raising letters so he could raise support for the trip. He got a call from one of his new age friends , Florence NightingCat all angry and irritated. She said, "How dare you ask me for money so you can approach other cats and ask them to change their beliefs. I will never give to something like that."
Calmly, Zak said to her, "In the olden days the people in the area where I am going used to take their neighbors, strap them to an altar and cut out their hearts. Are you saying it is wrong to try and change their beliefs?"
"Florence snorted, "That is not what I meant. They don't do that anymore."
"What you mean." Zak said, "Is that it is wrong to change their beliefs to something you don't believe in."
"You know what I mean. It is just horrid." said Florence and the phone went dead.
Fortunately for Zak, many of his friends did give and he raised enough to leave on the trip.
