Hey Jason,
Ive just resprayed my sprinter and it tooks yonks to prepare it properly.
It depends what type of job you want and how good your existing paint was.
I spoke to heaps of guys as it was my first time doing this as well.
This is a ROUGH idea of what i did
Cut the rust out and weld up a new piece of metal in there.
Then sand down my old paint to get rid of all the damaged paint.
Then high filled the entire car.
Then sanding the high fill down to get a straight smooth body.
Then away to the painter.
That is a rough idea..but i hope it helps..
Ask me if your unsure about anything..