That's about how I'm feeling these days as I'm in the process of...well, maybe thinking about starting the process of packing my bags so I can get on a bus later today and head up north to Canada to spend some time with family and friends in Manitoba.
The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of hosting groups here at the center, and preparing to be gone for several weeks. As many of you know, there are very few Canadian/American groups that come down during the summer. Well, actually, in the four years that I've been here, there's only been one! My youth group from the Blumenort Mennonite Church in Rosetown, MB are the only ones who have braved a Mexican summer missions trip (way to go, guys!!!). Needless to say, with they way summers go in Canada and the US combined with the crazy heat and humidity we have, summer is definitely the slow season as far as "foreign" groups go. However, that's not the case for "national" groups!
The weekends are largely booked up with local church groups who have church retreats, women's retreats, youth retreats, etc., etc. here at the mission center. You may not believe it but over the past two weekends we hosted about 140 people altogether! Yeah, you read that right...for those of you who have been here before you're probably doing the math trying to figure it out. Each weekend had a group of about 70 youth. The first weekend they actually all managed to stay and sleep here...I guess "sleep" might be a bit of a loose term as there didn't seem to be a lot of sleeping for some of them! Saturday night anyways, I'm pretty sure I heard them going hard till about 5:00am. Thankfully the next weekend only about 40 slept here at the center and the rest in a local hotel. Even 40, you're probably wonder, how in the world did they manage to find enough floor space, never mind the 70 from the weekend before! Between our two dorm rooms (which typically hold 12 people each) and a whole truck load of foam mattresses borrowed from a neighbouring bible school laid out over the entire living room/dining room of the mission center, everyone managed to find some real estate to call their own for the few hours they did sleep!
Beyond the craziness of having to feed up to 70 people (80 when you count all of us as well) 3 times a day and keeping on top of everything, it really is a blessing to be a part of events like that, to meet people from different parts of Sonora and to just provide an atmosphere and place where God is at work in the lives of those who come.
So, you can imagine that getting away for a little bit sounds kind of nice! I am looking forward to spending time with friends and family and by all means, for those in MB, if you want to hook up over the next couple of weeks, let me know! I'd love to do coffee or something! Just send me an email, Facebook me or you can also call me at my parents house, 204 325 4496. I'll be heading up today evening and be flying out August 21.
Thanks to all of you, as always, for all the prayer support that we as a ministry receive, and me personally. I know I've said it before but you are all an integral part of this ministry! God bless!!
