Ministry glimpses

I’m just heading out the door! Tonight, Lord willing, I’ll be in Mexico with the team. Please pray for endurance through the day – after virtually no sleep last night, I have a 20 hour day with lots of travel ahead of me. But, at least I’m finally on my way!

Shari will be packing up today, and Lord willing heading for SK tomorrow. Pray for strength for her too – she’s about to drive me to the airport. 🙂

So, I’ll let you know how it goes – if not this month, some time in August! Stay tuned…

Most of the Meximize Team is now on the road.  They left Sudbury today and headed for Sarnia (about an 8 hour trip).  Then they’ll crash for the night and tomorrow they’ll be off to Detroit, where they’ll catch their flight for Mexico City.

Here on the home front, we just got home from church.  We’re going to have some lunch, and then it’s just a few hours before I head out.  Everyone’s going to ask,”Are you ready?”  Well, not as ready as I would like to be!

People with migraine like me always have to remember to leave an extra day of leeway.  Yesterday I had a bad migraine attack (which hasn’t really gone away yet), and I ran out of steam pretty early.  But, such is life!  We’ll all make it somehow.  Hopefully I’ll be able to recover over the next day or so (after a migraine attack like that, it usually takes a day or two to recover.  Migrainuers often have symptoms like a hangover).  Maybe I’m just getting it out of my system!

Shari is getting ready to go too.  She, Hannah and Nathanael will be heading for Saskatchewan on Tuesday.  Her sister will be travelling with her, so that will be nice.

I’m back from my weekend with the Meximize Team from Sudbury!  I travelled to Sudbury on Wednesday, and spent a couple of days with Tim and Val Cressman preparing for the weekend.  Then we drove out to Galilean Bible Camp (in Blind River, Ontario Canada) on Friday evening.

From Friday evening until Sunday afternoon we trained, trained, trained!  How do I greet a Mexican?  What if someone comes to me and asks how to become a Christian?  What drama get explain the concept of sin?  How do you pronounce the Spanish words in this song?  How can I stay healthy in Mexico?  How should I exchange my money?  How can we resolve conflicts on our team?  What activities will help us teach English?

That’s only a hint of the things that we worked through.  The team was committed, enthusiastic and hard working.  It was a pleasure to spend the weekend with them all, and I’m looking forward to joining them in Mexico in only 3 weeks’ time!

There’s still lots to do before the team leaves.  From here I’ll still be helping them with testimonies, songs, and various aspects of the paperwork and preparation.  Most of the team has exams to get through this week.  So keep us all in your prayers, that the Lord would continue to guide and give strength!  And pray that we’ll all recover from a very busy weekend.  Praise the Lord for a group that really wants to serve Him and dedicate their lives to His service!

Early afternoon tomorrow I’ll be getting on an airbus and flying to Toronto, and then Sudbury, Ontario Canada.  There I’ll be helping with the training of the “Meximize Team” from Lansing Avenue Baptist Chapel.  I’ll be with this team as they serve in Mexico from 11-21 July.  The team is made up of youth and adults, male and female, smart and…well, actually they’re all smart as far as I know.

For those of you who want to pray, I really want to keep reminding you to keep us as a team in your prayers.  We’ve already faced a whole host of challenges preparing for this trip, from the minor (uh oh. I think I feel a sore throat coming on!) to the major.  This team will be sharing God’s love and truth in an area where very few understand it – they’re invading enemy territory, you could say.  It’s exciting, but it won’t be easy.

Around here, Nathanael is sick right now, and I’m a little sick myself, so we’d appreciate extra prayer in that area too.  But here are some things you could specifically pray for this weekend:

Dates:  I am in Sudbury from the 15th to the 20th.  The actual training runs from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon.
Please pray that the Holy Spirit would draw together the team in unity, love and a common goal.
» Pray for special strength, energy, insight, patience and wisdom for those (including me) who will be doing the actual training.
» Pray for wisdom in the days before the weekend as we prepare the rest of the training.
» Pray for each team member, that they would find strength and guidance in the Lord in each situation they’re facing.
» Pray that we would all be able to communicate clearly to one another.
» Pray for us as we prepare ways to share in Mexico, that the message would come across clearly in spite of cultural and language barriers.  Please pray that we will be wise as we prepare.
» Pray especially for Tim, who will be leading the team.