Mid Summer

Wow, my summer is half over and it feels like it has just begun. So far I have had two short term teams: St. Mark's Missionary Church from Mishawaka, Indiana and Capistrano Valley Christian School from Southern California. Both teams have been great although very different. The leader of St. Mark's had graduated from the Alliance Academy here when I was in grade 2. He remembers picking on me, which I thought was funny. St. Mark's was a very reserved team so part of the challenge was getting them to speak up and pray for example. CVCS was quite the opposite. It was great seeing them learn to relate to some of the people they were working with. Also, a couple of them felt God's guidance on their lives which is great. St. Mark's worked at Carmen Bajo which is a poor neighborhood in the north of Quito. They spent about half their time in construction and half running VBS for the students there. CVCS worked mainly with Argelia Alta which is a poor community in the south of Quito. They spent some of their time building and a fair bit of time visiting homes in the community. It was these home visits that were most impacting for most of them. Both Argelia Alta and Carmen Bajo are also Compassion International sites, which means if you've seen those cards for supporting a child, those are the kids we've been working with.
CVCS left last night, so I had a break today. Tomorrow I will be running a checkpoint for an adventure race here. Pray that I continue to develop good relationships with people in the outdoors/adventure world here.
Starting Sunday I will have a week break and then I have another two teams back to back which will run me through the end of my commitment time here. I plan on returning to Canada August 11 or 12. Plans are still up in the air to some extent. I hope to nail things down more with Youth World this week. Please pray that God will raise up monthly supporters so that I can return full time. Pray that God would provide wisdom to the Management Team of Youth World as they work out what my job description would be. Pray for the two teams I have coming still this summer: that they would be changed and that they would change the people they come into contact with. Finally, pray that I would know how to best spend my time back in Canada.
Thank you for your time as you read this and pray. Thank you for the encouragement you are to me.

Summer Start

I'd like to begin this note with my thanks to all who prayed for me over the past week. After a rough couple of days, I am doing much better. I have had the necessary time to process and seeing all my friends who came down for the funeral helped a lot as well.
Alliance Academy graduation is tomorrow and with that comes the departure of nearly all the students. Goodbyes will be... well, goodbyes. I never look forward to them but I have become somewhat numbed. It still will not be easy.
At the same time, my first team is here and running. I will be running three more over the course of the summer. This team's leader graduated from the Alliance Academy back in '93 and oddly enough, remembers me as a second grader in the Alliance dorm. I have really enjoyed being with this team so far and have no reason to expect anything different for the remainder of their stay. Carmen Bajo is the ministry site where they will spend most of their time. It is a very poor section of north Quito with an Alliance church that partners with Compassion International to run social aid programs as well.
Thank you for your prayers yet again. I cannot tell you how much it encourages me to know I have you backing me up.