Summer Ministry - Hope is the Anthem of my Soul

Here in Guadalajara the summer holidays are just about over; only two more days until school starts and life gets back to more of a routine.

Ministry in summer does look a little different, as most of the people we work with are families with kids who are also on summer holidays. Because of the class we live and work in, most families do have funds to be able to go away on holidays, and these holidays are longer and further away than what we could do! So this means people are often missing from our weekly Bible studies or have family here visiting from other cities in Mexico that keep them busy.

This is much the same as church in Canada though, as we've noticed when we're on furlough there some summers! We Manitobans also like our holidays at the lake or camping, etc. :)

But we still continue with ministry, perhaps just in different ways.

We may meet in the park for a Sunday morning Bible study as the park is beautiful right now due to the rainy season.

We meet as moms and kids in parks, giving me a chance to connect with moms who have become good friends and the boys get to see friends also.

We also get invited away, and last weekend we went out to a cabin just an hour out of the city with 4 other couples - families from Brady's class at school. One of the ladies is in my weekly ladies Bible study.

Doing things like this together that are out of routine and involve the whole family give so much more time for conversation and getting to know one another. We also focus on getting together with the specific families in our studies one-on-one in more informal settings and this opens people up as well. 

So our 2 weekly studies kept on, with a couple of cancellations here and there when just everyone was unable to make it, we had our bi-weekly study when people were around, and my weekly ladies study will be starting up again in 2 weeks when school is back on! 

We have also been giving a pre-marital class to a young couple this summer! This is the first time Dallas and I have done this and we've enjoyed doing this together for the most part. This couple is so easy to work with and so open that it's been a good experience. Another couple we are mentoring right now are in a very rough spot in their marriage and that is much more difficult (please pray for this couple and that we would have wisdom).

Our furlough (home assignment) is also coming up in November, so we are preparing for that and talking about how to prepare our Bible study groups for when we are away (76 days till we go! Boys are soooooo excited to see snow as they don't remember it at all - the last time we were there in winter was 7 years ago).

There is also the day to day ministry that involves so much more than "fun outings"- there are daily interactions with church people, training in prepping Bible studies, working with different youth, mentoring, helping in tangible ways, doing our finance reports, communicating with you all back in Canada, cleaning the house and making food for having people over (!), emails, meetings etc etc.....

#Switchfoot

and let's not forget time in prayer, finding strength and wisdom in God for the next steps. Let's not forget "the work within the work" - allowing God to transform us personally and staying close to Him. I think that it can be a temptation to measure our level of relationship with God with what we are "accomplishing" for Him. I learn more and more that my heart is what he is after and is pursuing.                                                                                      
And He pursues each and every person's heart to give them HOPE and belonging in Him. That is why we are here. To bring that HOPE to those that live without it. Both Dallas and I have such a heart for those that are not living in fullness, whether that be spiritual or emotional and wholeness is only completely found in really knowing God's love.