About a month ago, Mayra and I were invited to a missions conference at the Villa de las Flores Bible church in northern Mexico City. There we ended up sitting with José (Pepe) Rivero and his Uruguayan wife, Selva. Pepe and Selva work as missionaries at the Word of Life camp outside of Bernal, Querétaro, a quaint town about two hours north of Mexico City. Pepe mentioned to us that Word of Life Mexico, in their three year program, now has 97 students. He also mentioned a pastor’s conference in Ixtapa, Guerrero, Mexico, a resort town on the beach.
One important aspect of the ministry here that we probably don’t do a great job at is providing ongoing training for our pastors and their wives. Here was a great opportunity. God worked it out that both Martin and Laura, as well as Ismael and Marta could accompany us to the “Escuela para Pastores“, or the “School for Pastors.” Click the link to check it out.
The only down side to the trip was that it implied either a rather expensive plane trip or a 9-10 hour car ride. We opted for the cheaper option, and the six of us left at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday morning, and arrived around 2:30 in the afternoon. Our 2003 Astro Van keeps delivering!
It was a blessed time! A team of pastors from Harvest Community Church, near Milwaukee, WI, led the 8 different teaching sessions. We ate well, both spiritually and physically! We were even able to enjoy the beach for several hours on Wednesday.
I was praying for the time in two different ways. First of all, I knew we all needed some spiritual refreshment and renewal. Second, I wanted to investigate ways to network with Word of Life Mexico. I’ll write more about something special that happened with regards to that second request in the next post.
We left Ixtapa around 12:30 on Thursday and arrived home safe and sound at 10 p.m. that evening. Lots of driving…but it was well worth it! Thanks to so many of you that make experiences like this possible.
Thanks for the great work you are doing for the kingdom of God. May God bless you.