The "chance" meeting took place yesterday morning. The fact that I met this couple at the Immigration Office here in Guaymas, I had to ask them where they originally were from. While having lived in Mexico now for four years, they responded, they were in fact from Peru. Myself, while having lived in San Carlos now for 16 years, was from Canada, I shared with them - they had always wanted to visit San Carlos. He was a teacher of philosophy and world religions. I shared that I too was a teacher, in a Bible School. Their eyes lit up - they too were Christians, missionaries, in facto, who had been involved in planting churches and he also having taught practical theology including topics such as church growth and discipleship.
Within half an hour numbers were exchanged and it wasn't more than a couple of hours later, as I was arriving home, that I got a call from him, Antonio, wanting to see if him and his wife Daisy could swing by to not only visit San Carlos but also come by and see the school for themselves. With a brochure and an application in hand, they left after a tour of the school, excited about the ministry of CEC, both parties being blessed by the "chance" encounter. Only God knows what will come of it, but this incident seems to capture a recurring theme over the past months.
I would have thought that this fall would have been more relaxed with the missions program Consiervos having been cancelled due to a low number of potential students - it would have run during the months of October and November. Yet, this has probably been one of the busiest seasons in a while, outside of the CEC course itself, full of many of these kinds of chance encounters. In many ways "In the Dark" captures how we've felt in general over the past year especially, with Howard's (CEC's founder and past-director) failing health eventually leading to his passing away this past summer - we have been thrust into uncharted waters (yet again...) trying to find our way forward. Yet at the same time there have been many chance happenings - what we like to call them "coincidences" - that remind us that while the waters might be uncharted for us, there is Someone who's got the whole terrain already mapped out.
It's come in the form of other chance meetings where, while on a promotional visit this fall I ran into a young man who was looking for an opportunity to study at a Bible school - he was excited to hear about CEC and Lord willing, he will be joining us this coming January. As it turns out, his brother is the pastor of a church down in the state of Jalisco, and I was planning to be in that area a month or so later, on another promotional tour. I was able to spend some time getting to know the church while having further opportunities to share about CEC's ministry.
This fall has been, among other things, a season of these "chance" connections, both here locally as well as a few ventures both west and further south, including a 5000 km road trip where I met the above-mentioned young man and the church that he came from - all to help form bridges between CEC and new churches, while also visiting some of our past students. Here's a few other highlights of the past couple of months:
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| Five of us staff were able to attend the wedding of two of our alumni in Atotonilco, Jalisco this past September. This picture includes us staff along with seven CEC alumni who also come from that area. |
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| This is a photo taken from our leadership conference this past Saturday here at CEC. After several years of being on hold we were able to continue once again, enjoying a strong representation of alumni, hearing from a local pastor share from his 40 years of experience as a pastor. The theme of the conference was "Renewal," looking to God's Word for encouragement to be faithful to the call that God has placed on each one's life, especially in the capacity of leadership in ministry. |
There's other opportunities I could mention such as the chance to be a part of a workshop for training children's ministry teachers here locally lead by someone from my parent's church, Bethel, in Manitoba, among other things. All of these bear witness, however, to Someone who holds all things in the palms of His hands, even if in the moment one doesn't always see how it is all coming together.
As we enter December we have that same sense of uncertainty as we wait for applications to arrive (two have already come in!). Over the years we have asked at this point in the year, Will there be a school season next January? but we know better than to question God's plans and His timing. There has not yet been a year when the "right" amount of students has not arrived (and yes, we have always had a good sized group of students...). Yet the present uncertainty we experience only stresses us out, not God, thankfully! There is no uncertainty in Him. "Even the darkness is not dark" to Him (Psalm 139:12).
Pray for me as we get ready for another year, as I'm involved with the organization of teachers and schedules, as we continue to reach out for new students, and continue to navigate these new waters as a team. I'm looking forward to spending a couple of weeks up in Manitoba this Christmas season! It has been a few years since I've enjoyed a white Christmas. I'll have to dig out my parka and my boots again... As always, thanks for your continued support and prayers! ¡Dios les bendiga!
