Ministry glimpses

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.

We’re home again!

Thanks for your prayers as we travelled in Alberta this past week.  We were blessed by the encouragement of many people, and I hope we were able to encourage them.  There are some new financial partners, and some who are praying about becoming financial partners, so we are thankful to the Lord for that.  We enjoyed our time at Glendon Evangelical Church, pictured below, and were even able to fellowship with some believers from nearby Maillaig.

Check out our Recent Shots photo album for a few pictures (mostly of the kids, of course!) from our trip.  We enjoyed some time at the beach in Lac La Biche, visited some friends of ours who are preparing to go to Spain as missionaries, and were even able to stop in to visit Grandma and Grandpa Cottrill in Lashburn, Saskatchewan.

The countdown has begun – in 9 days I’ll be on my way to Sudbury, Ontario for the training of the Meximize Team.  So while we’re catching up after our last trip I’ll be getting ready for the next one.  The van is in for repairs today, and we’ll be home doing laundry, preparing training materials, and doing paperwork.  Another week has begun! 🙄

Today we’re in Lac La Biche, Alberta Canada.  I just thought I’d stop by, say hello and let you know how things are going.

We left Calgary on Saturday.  Our trip went without any major mishaps. (Ok, there was the time that I had to add more oil to the van so we stopped in front of McDonald’s and I got the oil in and I went to close the hood and I couldn’t get it closed so I tried again and then realized that I’d left the lid of the oil off, so I knew I had to put it back on before we got underway, but I couldn’t close the hood or open it now, and I realized that the lid was jamming it and I couldn’t get to the lid so I unscrewed and tried to dismantle half the front of the van to get to it and sat on some chewing gum and had to get Shari to help while we tried to keep the kids occupied in the hot sun and the lid wouldn’t budge and we tried and tried with various tools and finally I got it out and reassembled the front of the van, screwed everything back together and went into McDonald’s to get a parfait and had to wait in line while a lady’s card didn’t work and still didn’t work and finally I got to order but they didn’t have any parfaits but it was ok because they had those delicious raspberry shakes I don’t know what’s in them but they taste pretty good on a hot day and then we left)

We enjoyed the warm hospitality of the people at Glendon over the weekend.  We were at the Glendon Evangelical Church on Sunday.  I led Sunday School in the morning, and shared and preached and we sang in the morning service.  In the evening there was a music night, and we sang a couple more times.  For those of you who are following our blog and are wondering how I made out with an injured finger, the morning was a little rough but by evening things went pretty well, so thanks for your prayers! 🙂

Glendon Evangelical Church has been a tremendous encouragement over the last few years.  If you think of it this week, keep them in your prayers as they pray about calling a new pastor.  Please pray that the Lord would continue to work and change lives as the believers in Glendon serve Him.

Now we’re in Lac La Biche, where we’ll be for a couple of days before continuing our travel.  You can see the details on our calendar, as always.  If you would like to pray for us, please pray that we would be able to show the love of Christ wherever we go, and continue to share the vision for God’s work in Mexico.

We’re getting ready to head out tomorrow morning for our trip to Central Alberta.  Tomorrow we travel to Glendon, where we’ll be for the weekend.  On Sunday morning we’ll be sharing in Sunday School and in the morning service, and in the evening we’ll be involved in a music night.  We’re really looking forward to it!

After our time in Glendon we’ll be visiting some people in other locals.  We’re also hoping to stop by and see my parents in Lashburn before we come home, since we’ll be very close.  We’re planning to come back to Calgary sometime next weekend.

If you’re praying, please pray that the Lord will renew us and strengthen us for the trip, and that we’ll be able to find times of rest.  Please pray that the Lord would speak through us in everything we say and do, and that we would be able to share His love and truth with each person we meet.  And continue to pray for myself and the others who are preparing for the training weekend in Sudbury, Ontario Canada.  By the time we get back from this trip, it will be only a week and a half before I leave for Sudbury, and there’s much to be done!  And three weeks after that, I’m off to Mexico.

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement!  I’ll try to keep you up to date as the days and weeks go by.  And now…there’s more to pack…