Thank you so much for your continued prayers and letters of support and encouragement for our ministry with AIM. June has been a very productive month and we are truly blessed to have all of you supporting our ministry!
We went camping with 2 other couples from AIM for Memorial Day weekend, and had a ball as a family –hiking, fishing, kayaking, making smores and talking around the campfire.
We have just returned from an incredible trip to Mexico, and it turned into a real adventure for the kids – especially since it involved 2,500 miles in the car! We left on Saturday 31st of May and arrived in New Orleans in time to have supper with the AIM Leadership team and the group of trip participants who’d arrived late afternoon. After dinner, we stayed for the group orientation and time of worship, before going to Café du Monde in the French Quarter for coffee and bignettes with the leadership team. The kids were exhausted after a long day, but impressed us with their great behavior despite it being close to Midnight Georgia time. We slept in a house which was behind in its renovations, so there was no air conditioning and no hot water for the showers. We were tired enough to sleep through anything though, and the 94’ F (31’ C) temperature felt pretty good after a cold shower…
special friends from our Roswell Street Sunday school class who’d moved to Houston a few years ago. After lunch, we continued driving southwards, andthrough Texas. When we arrived at The Gateway (AIM base) in Mexico it was 100’F (34’C) with high humidity and no breeze to cool things down. Once we’d decided on our room (which was way hotter than outside and felt likea preheated oven, they cranked the air conditioning on for us while we escaped back outside – which then felt pretty good! Athol started the training of the summer mission team leaders the next day and was involved with that all afternoon, with another session after dinner. The base director’s wife (Shannon)and I clicked immediately, and Christie and her daughter Hannah were inseparable all week. They had a small inflatable pool at their house which was a few minute’s walk from the base, so Christie pretty much spent all her time there, playing with Hannah and a young Mexican girl (Jaqui). I would keep Joshua with me and work in one of the offices each morning trying to keep up with my work, and then Shannon would bring the kids back to the base for lunch. After lunch, we’d spend the afternoon on her front porch, talking and drinking cold water to compensate for the extreme heat. We’d go back to the Gateway for supper every evening, and join up with our husbands and staff. It cooled off slightly in the evenings, so Athol and I would sit outside our room after putting the kids down, watch the sunset, and just talk for hours…a very special time for both of us!
One morning we headed into the Colonia’s near Matamoros to visit the ministry sites and pray for the pastors and other ministry partners that the AIM teams would be working with this summer.
Christie and Joshua loved the bumpy roads, and endeared themselves to many of the locals we met within the community.
The base bathrooms had no hot water, and the water was well water, which smelt like sulfur. God sure compensated for the cold water by heating the bathrooms to a slow broil, so you didn’t stay cold very long at all! Actually, the cold water felt great, and we’d sometimes shower a few time/day just to cool down and rinse the dust and sweat off. The ground is very dry, and though the wind was great for cooling you down a little, it whipped the dust around something fierce. After training was completed Friday morning, we joined the summer staff on a trip to South Padre Island just over the border in Texas. They guys played soccer on the beach while the girls chilled, and we had great time of fellowship and relaxation before the first mission trip participants were due to arrive on Saturday. After a great meal, which had been grilling all afternoon, we returned to the Gateway around 11pm.
On Saturday, Athol spent one more session of training with the leader team, focusing them on the spiritual battle they would be entering into this summer. They spent time praying for each other, the ministry of the summer mission trips and the participants coming to Mexico this summer. A total of 1100 short term missionaries will be coming to our Mexico base this year.
After lunch the group participants started rolling in from different churches across the States. It was great to be there and be able to welcome each group as they arrived. Dinner was very festive as all the groups got to meet each other and mingle, and was followed by the base and ministry orientation. Following the orientation, we were able to enjoy an incredible time of worship in the tent outside. Christie had already made friends with some teenage girls and was following them like a puppy, even sitting with their group for the orientation and worship. Joshua had endeared himself to most, and was thriving on the attention as he was passed around from one person to another…
Sunday we had free time while the project facilitators took their groups of participants on a tour of the ministry sites in Matamoros, and we joined Jonathan, Shannon and their kids on a trip to the market in Matamoros. We had dinner in a small hole-in-the-wall eatery at the market, and the food was outstanding.
This was my first trip to Matamoros, and it really touched me in ways I never expected. Athol and I are prayerfully considering volunteering to be the Ministry Coordinator couple at the Gateway next summer. As MC’s, we’d be responsible for the summer work crew, who are teenagers volunteering their summer at the base. They work really hard doing the cooking, cleaning and all the chores around the base. We’d also be in charge of the project facilitators and leaders. Our biggest responsibility, however, would be training and preparing each summer staff member, and discipling each team member throughout the summer. Please join us in praying through this potential opportunity, which will also be a great experience for Christie and Joshua.
