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.