Thursday, June 21, 2007

...A little about the teams...

I've been working with short-term mission teams since I've been back. The first one I was assigned to was a Chi Alpha team from Wright State University in Ohio. There were ten people on this team, including the leaders... (The two leaders are actually returning to Guadalajara in August to help with campus ministry.) I wasn't really able to do that much campus ministry in the Fall because of my school schedule. I enjoyed experiencing this ministry because so much of it is relationship based.
I was also able to visit four of the major universities in Guadalajara and pray. I have been feeling the need to be more actively involved in intercessory prayer. It was encouraging because I would have a thought about what I should pray for and as I would be praying it (in my head) someone else would speak the exact thing, almost word for word, of what I had just thought. It wasn't anything weird or spooky. If it hadn't been for the confirmation of the others praying what I too had been impressed upon to pray.
I am now working with a team from Wisconsin...it's a group composed of different (mainly junior high and high school) students from around the state. Their focus has been children's ministry... which is something that I always love being involved with. We've been doing a lot of work in a very poor neighborhood and I hadn't seen those kids since I'd left for the United States, and it was so good to be able to hug them and talk with them again. It was so exciting to hear that our work with these kids has made an impact. A church plant is now going to be made and Latin American Child Care is also going to be opening a school. If they open a school in the area, the roads might be paved as well as utilites added in the area. It's funny how we never know before hand what impact our obedience will have.
Another very encouraging thing happened today, and we almost missed it. As we were preparing lunch for the kids, we noticed that there probably wouldn't be enough. One of the girls in the Engage program said, "Guys, lets stop and pray that God will multiply the sandwiches." We prayed and handed them out...and finished with the rest of our program. Afterwards we tallied up the number of students who were there and it was bigger than the number of sandwiches we had...but all of the students were able to eat!