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Camino Global Canada: Searching for a New Director

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Camino Global Canada is searching for a new national director.

We recently met with the Camino Global director here in Canada, Charlene de Haan.  She was helping us get organized as we plan ahead for our ministry here in Canada over the summer and in Mexico beyond that.

Charlene feels that it’s time to move on after 4 years of service with Camino.  We appreciate the many ways that she has helped move the mission forward, and the ways that she has helped us personally in our ministry.

Below is a copy of the press release from the board regarding the search for the new director.  Please pray that God would lead the right person to the position, and that the board would be wise in their search.

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Toronto, ON, April 21, 2014 – The Board of Directors of Camino Global Canada seeks nominations and applications for the next CEO/National Director. Camino Global’s current Executive Director, Charlene de Haan, submitted her resignation to the Board, effective as soon as a replacement can be found.

Marvin Srigley, Board Chair, says “The Board of Camino Global Canada is thankful to God for Charlene’s inspiring hard work in furthering His Kingdom.  The advancements of Camino Global Canada have come through Charlene’s tireless faithful efforts.  We pray and know that God will continue to bless and use Charlene for His Glory.”

Camino Global Canada has established a search committee to facilitate the selection process.  The search committee would like to be in receipt of nominations and applications by June 30, 2014.

National Director Search will Culminate with 125th Anniversary

Founded in 1890 as the Central American Mission, Camino Global has always focused on ministry among Spanish speakers.  Today, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world!  The scope of Camino’s outreach is global, spanning four continents with missionaries serving on-site or online among Spanish speakers everywhere.  Explosive growth of online ministry has accelerated Camino Global’s impact on an international scale.  Spanish speakers in more than 100 nations benefit from tools such as Obrerofiel.com and ministry partnerships such as Global Media Outreach.  Kingdom business ventures, like HOPEcoffee.org, have developed in Honduras in the last four years.  Now multi-cultural teams prepare to leave North and Central America to reach Muslims in Southeast Asia.  As Camino Global celebrates 125 years in 2015, David Ruiz, Vice President of Global Ministries, says “This is a time when the Lord wants to make a deep impact in world evangelization through the Spanish speaking church.”

To the Ends of the Earth – Together

Nineteen-eighty-three.  Costa Rica Bible Institute.  A Camino missionary challenged his students about sending missionaries from Latin America to the ends of the world. One student refuted him with a strong statement. “It’s easy for you to say that because you (Americans) have dollars but we (Latinos) don’t. Less than a year later God changed that student’s understanding about missions, and today Gustavo Soto is the Director of Latin Mobilization for Camino Global.  When God recently opened a door in the Philippines, FAM and Camino Global mobilized seven candidates from Costa Rica, Honduras and Mexico to serve on a multi-cultural team.  FAM International supports 49 Spanish-speaking missionary units in 21 countries.  Camino Global’s mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ, serving among and with Spanish speakers globally.

Responsibility of the National Director

The National Director will build on the success of the past and shape vision for the future.  The ND assures the purpose of Camino Global as defined by the Board of Directors in a biblical, legal and efficient manner.  The ND ensures that the mission fulfills its vision by aligning personnel, finances, structures and procedures in a way that effectively achieves its goals.  Salary of the ND is contingent upon skills, qualifications and participation in personal/organizational support-raising.

Summary

Camino Global Canada, through a time of economic challenge and internal reassessment, has emerged with a clear directive and mandate to grow and further the missional journey alongside Spanish-speakers.  The new National Director will work with the Board to complete a strategic plan, investing personal unique skills, experiences, relationships and passions into the development of a strong leadership team.  The new leader will guard the legacy of Camino Global while leading a robust mission culture that will further the vision of Camino Global worldwide.

For more information:

Property Update: March 2014

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So how are things going with the property for the church in Jesús María?  It’s time for a bit of update!

Little by little, construction is continuing on the land.  As a matter of fact, we have a structure in place.  This won’t be the main sanctuary in the future, but it will suffice for the time being.  Below is a panoramic shot, from the wall to the right of the picture to the wall to the left.  Because it’s panoramic, the back wall looks curved, but it isn’t.  It just gives you a better look at the length.

Structure panorama


As you might imagine, there are still a lot of little things that need to be done.  Things that involve various people and various lengths of time.  Things like doors and windows, and items for the temporary bathrooms.

Our goal is to be using the structure on or before the 6th of April, when we’ll be celebrating the 4th anniversary of the church.

Here’s a shot from the same place, in the opposite direction:

The rest of the property


This is where the sanctuary and some other parts of the building will go once they’re built.  As you can see, there’s not much there yet!

At the far end is the entrance to the street.  On the right is a construction worker with a wheel barrow, proving that work is in progress. 🙂

That’s about it for now!  Thanks for your prayers – I’ll let you know when we actually start using the property for services!

Another Mexican Visa Milestone

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Yesterday we were able to take another major step forward in the visa process!

As of yesterday, I now have a visa for Mexico which is valid for three years.  At that point (as the law stands now) I’ll be able to apply for a more permanent visa.

This is an answer to prayer – thanks to all of you who prayed about this.  We were concerned that the visa wouldn’t be ready for another couple of months (by no means unusual!), which would mean trouble for our plans to visit Ontario.

The next step won’t take place until we get back from Ontario.  At that point the rest of the family will have to apply for three year visas.

As you know if you’ve been following this story for the past two-and-a-quarter years, the biggest challenges have been the time it has taken to work through the process, and the money that it has required (and will continue to require later in the summer).

But as I was saying to my friend José who drove me to the government offices yesterday, thank the Lord that we are able to be here.

This time of year, Mexico City is simply exploding with flowers, and we enjoyed the site as wove through the city streets.  We pray that there will be an explosion of praise to God from those of us who live here – we’ve seen it happening, and we pray for more!

And now, the Rest of the Story

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So it was Sunday, and I had just typed up the previous post.  But I never posted it.  Well, not until a week later.

When I went to post it, I discovered that our website was down.  I requested help from the host, and hoped all would be well by the morning.

In the morning, the water was still pouring out of the ground.  We were supposed to be leaving on a retreat (with our Camino Global team members), but the water was rising again and – well, we now had no water in the house.  Not a drop.

Theoretically, the water had been pouring out since sometime late Saturday night/early Sunday morning.  The ground must have been pretty wet, the worms were evacuating madly, and the hole in the ground had grown quite a bit.

The website was still down.  No response whatsoever from the host, and I couldn’t reach them by phone.

So I thought I’d better post a note on Facebook to let people know that we were aware of the problem and were working on it.

Yes, it was the 21st of October, 2013.  The day of the Great Facebook Outage of 2013 – when users couldn’t post a status update or like anything at all for over 4 hours.  (That’s right – light a candle and remember the victims)

Twitter was all good, of course.

So no website, no Facebook – but more importantly, not a drop of water.  No washing dishes, no showering.

So how did it all end?

Well, of course Facebook returned in a couple of hours or so, and so we were able to tell our Facebook friends that things weren’t working on the site.

Fixing the water pipe

The water?  Well, just in time, the water company showed up.  They dug a big hole, ripping out our grass and smashing part of the sidewalk, and they fixed the plastic pipe.  Then they left, suggesting we fill up that hideous hole and clean up the mess.  And they asked for a tip.

“Just in time”, because we were able to leave for our retreat almost when we planned – just after 1pm (yes, God even cares about the little things).  And the place we went to – had WATER!  Feeling a lot cleaner now.

The remnants

And the website?  Well, we’re still working on that.  As you can see, the majority is back up and running.  I’m not sure it’s ever been down for a whole week before, but we were gone for part of that time, and there have been numerous adventures in between.

There may still be some problems here and there – let me know if you find them.  And the Photo Gallery isn’t back yet – hopefully it will live again.

The retreat was a time of worship together, meetings, and relaxation in the nearby town of Cuautla.  Where it’s around 4° warmer.  Which, at this time of the year, makes all the difference.

We had a great time with our friends, and ate a lot of meat, and then returned home to near freezing temperatures.  A bit of a shock, but it’s warmed up a little since.  Winter is coming, though.

In other news, on Saturday we got to see our friends Julian and Malu from Canada, who were passing through and had a stopover at the airport.  So the Rod and Mayra Fry and our family went to the airport to see them.  They’re hoping to come help us with the ministry here, and so we had a great time catching up.

The Grymaloskis, the Cottrills, and the Frys

Well, now you’re more or less caught up.  I do have some other things I would like to post – a whole week of silence is a little uncharacteristic of Finding direction.  So hopefully we’ll be back to regular programming soon.

* The title is a nod to Paul Harvey, of course.  I see some of his famous short programs are here.

We Have Visas. Now What?

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Today, after working at it for 676 days, we have visas!

Now is not the time to talk about all of our adventures over that 1 year, 10 months, and 6 days.  If you want to hear some of the gory details, you can always check out some of these gems:

Ah, the memories.

To give a thank you is enough.
This sign is in the immigration office – ‘To give a “thank you” is enough.’  In other words, don’t try to bribe anyone.  I’m not sure I was in a gift-giving mood after 676 days! 🙂

Today, things went a lot better than I expected (thanks for your prayers!).  In spite of the traffic, we made it (barely!) in time to get the pictures taken (although the picture-taking-place was closed, but we went to another place (the more expensive one!)), pay the fees, and get to our appointment in time.  We did have a lot of help from our lawyer.

Of course the printer wasn’t working at the immigration office.  So the repair crew worked on it while we waited.

And can you believe it?  They fixed it and managed to get our cards to us after only about a couple of hours (we were expecting a few more).  (Thanks for your prayers!)

We still have one issue that we’re trying to get resolved (we wouldn’t want life to be dull), but our visas at least are in our hands.

The next step?  We had hoped to get them for four years, but were only able to get one.  So the next step will be to start getting things renewed, starting early next year.  But thankfully, due to the dates we got on these visas, that will be somewhat less complicated than I thought it would be.  (Or will it?)

This adventure has, unfortunately, cost us thousands of dollars – literally (ouch).  But hopefully it taught us a little patience – a little trust – maybe – … (the kids were asking today – “What are we doing now?”  The answer was always the same – “Waiting, of course!” 😉 )

We’re thankful that God has allowed us to be here in Mexico.  We’re thankful for the person that Shari was able to share the Gospel with this week at her baking class.  We’re thankful for the laughs I could have with a family that just came to a service for the first time.  We’re thankful for the chance I’ll have to preach the Gospel this Sunday.  And sometimes God reminds us that all these things are really in His hands.  Always.

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