Leadership with VanRheenen's

Gailyn and Becky



This past weekend, we had an amazing time with Gailyn and Becky VanRheenen.  Gailyn was one of Sam's professors at ACU, so it was nice to catch up with them 

On Friday evening, Gailyn spoke with our leaders at Rio de Vida.  We invited leaders and those we considered potential and committed leaders.  It was neat to have about 20 people there.  A few of these people were surprised we would invite them!  It was also sad that there were some that we wanted to be there and should have been there, but weren't.  On Saturday, we had a day long seminar for our leaders and leaders from the surrounding areas.  There were about 40 people here that came from Guadalajara, León,  and Mexico City.  Both Gailyn and Becky spoke to us, and it was a great day!  We learned so much and got several important ideas.  Of course, it was a special blessing to catch up with friends and missionaries from Mexico.  As usual, there wasn't enough time to talk as much as we wanted to with everyone.  Most of the out of town people came in just for the day, so they had to head out as soon as the seminar was over.  Our leaders were truly blessed and inspired.  A special blessing, straight from God was our situation with the kids for the day.  We were short on space and people to take care of our kids, but Sam and I remembered a day care near by.  The lady is a Christian, and when we approached her about the possibility of using their facility, she was glad to help, and added the teachers in also.  It was great!!!  They had a place to play, they had activities, supervision and tender loving care.  Some of our older kids weren't as thrilled to have so many limits -- they're used to much less supervision or restrictions at "church activities."  Hmmmm...  A highlight of this time was dinner around the pool with the VanRheenens and our friends the Brednichs and Grays both working in different areas of Mexico City.  Our girls loved the down time at the pool (thanks for sharing the hotel pool with us), and we enjoyed the down time with good company.

We got a day of sightseeing where we went to Tzitzhutzan (I just forgot how to spell it) to see some indigenous ruins -- yacatas not to be confused with pyramids and Patzcuaro.  Our indigenous guide did a great job at sharing not just what we were looking at, but also at explaining and expounding on ideas of animism, syncretism and a few other -isms that I missed in my multiple trips to take Olivia to the bathroom, clean a skinned knee, nurse a baby, peel an orange, etc...You get the idea.  Anyway, it was right up everyone else's alley, so it was fun.  In the travel time, we continued to talk about ideas presented at the seminar and how best to fit it with what God is doing at Rio de Vida.

All in all, it was a refreshing weekend.  We were encouraged and challenged to think big in God's eyes.  We are so grateful to Gailyn and Becky and giving of their time to be here in Mexico.

 

Sightseeing at the ruins

The kids on Friday night

Some of the people at the seminar