Back in the Groove

Slowly but surely I'm getting back into the swing of things down
here! It honestly has felt like weeks since I've been here, at least
in a "normal" sense. Sure, I was here two weeks ago (for a week)
with my brother and his friends but that week was such a rat race,
hanging out with them as well as taking care of some regular duties
here. The temperature has definitely kicked it up a little - we're
hanging around the mid 30's consistently with high humidity. We've
had two mornings of rain, though, which has helped to not only
freshen things up but turn everything very green! What once was were
desert hillsides are now turning lush and green. We're just entering
the rainy season which will continue on through till sometime in
September or October.

Just a couple of hours ago I bid fairwell to a youth retreat from a
local Spanish church located about 20 minutes from here. This week,
among regular responsibilities, will be spent gearing up for my youth
group's arrival next week Friday. I'm very excited to have the
opportunity to host this group out here for a week of ministry. It's
always a pleasure to have family and friends from home join me in
this adventure out here. These experiences are great to share with
words and pictures but when you can share the experiences themselves,
it makes it that much richer! The group, 11 in all, will be involved
with a VBS program in a local Spanish church during the mornings, and
the afternoons will included various things like a painting project
for that church, doing some clothes and food distribution, and
spending some time at the orphanage that I'm involved with.

You can definitely keep us all in your prayers in several different
ways: (1) None of the members of the group have been to
Mexico...scary and exciting at the same time! But pray that God will
not only take us all out of our comfort zones but that He will show
Himself faithful as well trust Him in those circumstances. (2) Pray
that we will be able to see God's hand work mightily amongst us and
around us as we seek to serve Him wholeheartedly (3) Pray for safety
in travel for the group - over 5000 miles will be spent on the road!
(4) Please also pray for me as I am in a new role. Generally I'm
working under the leadership of Art and Brenda but since they are in
Montana for the summer, I'll be flying solo...the group won't be the
only ones living outside their comfort zones!

I can't thank you enough for your prayers in all of this...they are
what keeps this ministry going and what keeps it effective!

Where in the World Am I??

So I've encountered more than one surprised face to see me back in
Canada for a little while..."I thought you just left!" Well, I did
just leave for Mexico with my brother and his friends for their grad
trip but returned just under a week ago with them. If you read the
previous post, you saw that our drive down to Mexico was more than
just a little exciting with car trouble and all but I'm glad to say
that our trip back up to Canada was uneventful (and we were more than
glad that it was). I've been spending another week up here in
Canada, seeing more family and friends and just taking it easy but I
am more than ready to return to Mexico where I will stay there for
the remainder of the year. Having travelled more than 10,000 miles
in the last month (by plane, bus, and car) you could say that I am
ready to stay put in one place and no longer live out of a bag. It
has been a very refreshing time, though, to see family and friends
out here in Canada.

One thing that I am looking forward to is my youth group from the
Blumenort Mennonite Church coming out during the last week of July
where they will be involved in various ministry projects including
helping with a Spanish VBS program, doing some painting, food and
clothing distribution, and whatever other opportunities happen to
come our way. You can definitely be in prayer for this team as the
prepare for what will be very new and outside of their comfort zone
for a lot of those coming. This is of course, though scary, a good
place to be as those are often the times when we learn to rely on God
in new ways and to greater depths. Those are also the times when He
shows himself to us in new ways as well. I too, am feeling out of my
comfort zone on this one as generally I'm working under the
leadership of Art and Brenda while teams are in Mexico but this time,
since they are in Montana for the summer, I'm flying solo on this
one. So your prayers will be greatly appreciated!!

I'm also looking forward to my family coming out for about 10 days
mid-August. I suppose they figured that the high 30's that they
experienced last year with 100% humidity wasn't hot enough so they're
going to try out the low 40's this summer! Ray and Char Klassen and
family are also making the trek with them and I'm looking forward to
spending some time out here with all of them.

That's about it for now - the next post will be from toasty Mexico.
Until then, hasta luego!

Double Trouble

Who knew that you could pack this much adventure, trouble, and blessing into a 4 day road trip?? I'm sitting on the back deck of a Days Inn in Tucson, Arizona, about to return to life in Mexico after a two week stay back at home in Winkler. It was an excellent time of reconnection with family and friends - to all who are reading this, thanks for the incredible support that I felt and received as I was back home for a while!

But I've been on the road since Thursday morning with my brother and three of his friends who all just graduated last Tuesday and are taking a grad trip, spending a week down in San Carlos with me. But what an adventure it's been so far. We had the opportunity to spend a night in Montana at the house of Art and Brenda (the people who run the mission center in San Carlos). They of course spend their summers on the farm in Montana and in the course of 12 hours, opened their house to us, gave us a place to sleep, fed us (and packed for us) three meals and sent us on our way. I had never been to their "summer home" and it was a blessing for all of us to stay there, even just for a short time.

The second day held for us car trouble. Cruising down the highway there were several times where we just suddenly stalled. We could let it sit for a while and it would go again but it got really bad and (after pushing the van down a busy street for about a dozen blocks on the edge of Salt Lake City) to the amusement of many other motorists, we got our minivan to a shop just in the nick of time for them to replace our fuel filter, hoping that that was the problem.

Well, that got us through Las Vegas when we suddenly had it happen again. Because of some of the time we lost, we figured we would just travel through the night. So, taking it easy we pushed on through the night and managed to make it to a small town south of the Grand Canyon. There, we waited for a garage to open and got our fuel pump fixed. Thankfully this was the problem and we've sailed ever since.

That is until we encountered in the Grand Canyon park a little rear-ending! And of course the car that we bumped into happened to be nothing other than a brand new, black and shiny Mustang! It didn't happen at super high speeds, though and all the damage that there was was two little screw markings on the bumper of the Mustang from our license plate. The retired couple who was driving it were wonderful people from South Dakota returning home from vacation. They handled the situation better than could be hoped for and we all left the scene with smiles on our faces.

I'm excited to be returning to Mexico (and perhaps a little nervous to see what kind of "adventure" awaits us today!) but over the past couple of days, despite all the crazy things that have been happening, we've been having a blast. And though it's been anything but smooth sailing we're still right on schedule and really have sensed God's hand on our trip so far. Through our troubles we've met a lot of really good people and the atmosphere (which could be stressful and frustrated considering all that's happened) has been relaxed and encouraging. So, to everyone who is praying for us, a huge THANK YOU because who know's where we would be if you weren't praying!