I’m very excited because Janell and Nathan are coming back tomorrow! They’ve been in the States while I came back earlier to work (Seminary class and Guadalajara trip). They have been having a great time with Janell’s family, but I miss them a lot. I can’t wait to see them tomorrow.
Janell says that they are bringing so much stuff back that there isn’t going to be room for clothes. She can only bring one suitcase because she’s bringing the car seat, too. She’s gonna have her hands full tomorrow, now that Nathan prefers to be moving around and not sitting still like is required on airplanes. Pray for her as it’s going to be a looooong day for her.
Photo: Us at Kelle and Joe’s wedding.
I went to Guadalajara for a National Baptist Youth Leadership Workshop. It was the same type of workshop that I went to last year in Mazatlan. Huberto and Oscar were supposed to go with me, but they cancelled on me. Instead, I got a flight out on Friday and came back on Sunday.
We stayed at a home for retired Baptist pastors, and there were about 40 young people there in all. We had times of conferences, workshops, games, and worship. We visited downtown Guadalajara and had a photo scavenger hunt. The students were really creative with their pictures. We also visited the Mexican American hospital, the only Baptist hospital in Mexico. It is really nice and gives free treatment to Baptist pastors and missionaries.
While downtown, we ate some “tortas ahogadas,” or “drowned tortas.” They are normal tortas drowned in salsa, and are typical of Guadalajara. I also tried some Tejuino, a drink made out of corn, salt, and lime. It was okay. I had to try it since I was there.
Check out more photos from the trip.
Check out the video I made here.
We invited Nahum, a friend of Tim and Annette Gulick, to come and share at the seminary last Friday. He did a great job both in my class and in chapel. He came on Thursday night and spent some time at the house with me. Then on Friday, he shared. Nahum has a lot of experience working with the young people at his church in Toluca, and he has also been involved in the development of classes for training youth workers online with paralideres.org.
I got to the airport today in Guadalajara (more on that later) to find out that my flight was cancelled. When I asked why it was cancelled, the lady said that they had planned to cancel that flight. I don’t really understand why they would sell me a ticket for a flight that they were planning on cancelling. Maybe that was so I would show up an hour earlier because I thought that my flight was leaving at 4 and so they could really put me on the flight that left at 5. I’ll never understand.
I received a phone call earlier today from Oscar telling me that he and Huberto can’t go to Guadalajara this weekend with me. The reason I was going to drive to the National Youth Union’s Leadership Workshop Weekend was to take them with me. So I got on the phone with Janell and she got me a flight out tomorrow afternoon so I won’t have to drive 7 hours by myself.
It turns out that another one of the leaders isn’t going to be able to go, either. So, 3 out of the 6 people who have been preparing to present are going to be there. That leaves me, Salomon, and Juan. We will be doing all of the activities for the 2 days we are there. It’s going to be a stressful weekend for sure.
In a few hours, I am going to pick up Nahum, a friend of Tim and Annette Gulick. He’s going to be speaking in chapel tomorrow at the seminary about the topic of youth ministry. He’s been helping out with Tim and Annette for a long time, and they highly recommended him to me as a speaker.
