I've come to adjust to a whole new concept of what it means to have the seasons change! It used to mean going from beautiful, sunny summer to chilly, leaf color changing fall, to freezing cold, white winter, to muddy, and wet spring, and all over again. There was no question about what time of year you were in or really what to expect, although sometimes you would get snow super super early and then the next year wonder if Christmas would have even a single snow flake!
Well, the seasons down here in Mexico are as follows: Nice with a little chilliness in the evenings and mornings (winter), to hot during the day and pleasant during the evenings (spring), to just plain blazing hot 24-7 (summer), to not quit so hot (fall), and the cycle starts again! It's pretty much the same sunny weather year round with different levels of heat throughout!
What is also odd is what I now consider to be "cool" or "chilly". For example, these nights we are having currently are a "cool" or even "chilly" high teens, hovering close to 20 degrees, and for you American folk, that is Celsius, not Fahrenheit! When would I ever have thought that 18 or 19 degrees could be considered cool?! How quickly we adjust to our environment!
Enough about the weather, though! As you can tell, we are in the midst of season change out here as well, and that includes not only the weather but our seasons of ministry. The team has arrived back at the centre including Art and Brenda, the couple who runs the mission centre as well as two new staff members, one of which many of you probably know, Shorty. For the few of you who may have not met the legend Shorty, he's a young man who's here from San Carlos and spend the last year and a half up in Manitoba studying and serving at Winkler Bible Camp through their Crosscurrent Discipleship Program. Prior to that he was somewhat of an adopted son here at the centre, helping out, learning English, and hanging out with the teams during the winter. For those of you who have had the pleasure of meeting him have witnessed his craziness and passion for life and you won't soon forget him! Having recently come back from Canada after spending more than a year there, there are always lots of adjustments to be made coming back "home", especially when home is as different as Mexico is from Canada. But for those of you who have kept him in your prayers at any point, it has been so encouraging to see how God has been shaping and forming him! To see the spiritually growth that he has taken place in his life is wonderful to see! I mention this first of all to give God the glory and second of all to encourage you to keep praying for him as God puts him on your hearts. One could imagine the shook of spending so much time in a culture different than your own and then suddenly being reimbursed in your own culture. And then you throw in the intense discipleship experience that takes place in a place like camp and then suddenly being taken out of that situation and put back into your "normal" life and to try to bridge that gap!
As a team we are in the midst of preparations for the coming busy season of hosting missions teams. It all begins in November with the first team coming in on the 13th, a small group from Crystal City, Manitoba that will help to construct a roof for Pastor Pablo's church. It's a building that has been in the process for that past couple of years. Their former church was constructed with wooden pallets as the main material and with the help of some teams that have come down as well as many hours of work on the part of the church, their building is close to being completed.
Thanks for the many prayers that have been offered up on my part and on the mission's part! You are all a huge part of the ministry that takes place here! I've gotta go and refill my cup of coffee here…it's a chilly 18 outside right now...
