As I said in the last post, we were not idle in the time that we were stateside, taking on several exciting ministry opportunities. We made sure to “redeem our time.”

The first was in the beginning of June. Adam was asked to drive the church bus down to our Wichita church’s elementary school camp. He was so excited to help out and was able to stay for almost the whole camp. He was already honorary Uncle Adam to a couple of the kids, but by the end of the week, he had been adopted by a few more! He had also gained the friendship of the “new” (to us) Family and Community Pastor at our church. Adam said that he really enjoyed re-acquainting himself with the kids that he knew and establishing relationships with the “new” (to us) kids at our church. Adam and I previously taught several of the kids in Sunday school when they were four and five years old. He said that it was such a blessing to see their spiritual understanding and growth since that time. Keep up the good work, parents and teachers! While they were at camp, Adam had the opportunity to review the gospel and pray with a boy from another church named Beau, who professed Christ as his Savior during that time!

Our next big chance at ministry seemed to happen quite by accident, but God was absolutely in those details. I was hanging out with my sister, Rachel, when she mentioned off-hand that she had Summit (an intense youth camp experience) that weekend and they were still trying to recruit staff for it. We had volunteered at her church in the past and knew a few of the kids that would be there. I called Adam immediately and he said it was something we would think and pray about. So, for two days, that’s what we did. After those two days, Rachel’s pastor needed an answer. During a late night phone conversation with him, we ironed out a few details and we were in! I was so excited, and to be honest quite nervous. Our children are little, we taught four year olds in Sunday school, the kids at Vida Nueva are still relatively young as well, what were we going to do with high schoolers?!? In addition to that, I was bringing our almost three month old baby, Evelynn. I was apprehensive to say the least. But I didn’t need to be. God was in the details. The other staff/leaders were really great, and Daren, the director of Summit, was very accommodating to me with the baby.  Adam and I were both given really wonderful groups of young people in our dorms. I had four sweet Christian girls from a church in a neighboring town that all knew each other, yet welcomed me (and our baby) into their group with open arms. Adam had a good mix of six young men from Wichita and neighboring towns, they were also all believers except one. Please, whenever you eat bacon, pray for Dakon to come to know Jesus (he introduced himself to me as “Dakon, like bacon”).

We had a really special week with the youth! The idea behind Summit is to physically run everything out of the kids in the beginning of the week in order to fill them up with Jesus by the end. I really saw Jesus working in their hearts and lives! By Monday night, my girls were talking about volunteering to teach Sunday school in the toddlers’ classes at their church. Tuesday was an emotionally charged day for one of my girls especially as she allowed Jesus to heal some very old wounds in her heart. Adam was really excited to have his guys take one night to share with each other how Jesus changed their lives. Evelynn was such a blessing to Daren and was able to help at camp as well! She was in a very sweet illustration about how God treats His children. It was so meaningful. Adam ended up calling her the camp mascot. It was incredible to see God alliviate every one of my fears about having her come along! One evening late in the week there was a special event called the Concert of Prayer. Different stations were set up to walk yourself through an entire evening devoted to prayer. During this time, Adam was available to pray for anyone that wanted prayer and he had a chance to talk to another young man, Colby, and lead him to Christ! Praise the Lord! Friday was met with tearful goodbyes to new friends. It was a beautiful week together seeing God work!

Two days after Summit ended our Wichita church held their annual VBS with the theme Destination Dig. We were so excited to be able to volunteer for this time as well! Adam floated around helping wherever he could. I was assigned to pre-k and kindergarten crafts. On Tuesday we were blessed to be able to speak to the grade school groups about the work God is doing in Mexico. We had a blast exploring what a missionary is and does, talking about our home, friends, and ministry in Mexico, trying some Mexican foods, and breaking open a pinata with each group! The kids that we were working with paid attention very well, asked really good questions, and seemed to have a wonderful time! On Wednesday, an invitation was given to anyone that had questions about following Jesus. A young man that we taught in Sunday school, Jude, responded to the invitation and Adam had the opportunity to talk to him. He professed Jesus as Lord and prayed what Adam called a,”sweet, simple, and very sincere prayer.”

We are so grateful to have had these exciting opportunities to serve the Lord while we were waiting to return to Mexico. It was lovely to volunteer when and where we could, and we gained many new friends and some new brothers in Christ through that time! God is so good!