by Misty L. Yoder

So many people have asked me about my summer in Mexico, what all I did and how I enjoyed it. There is no way I can begin to tell all the experiences I had. There is no way to describe the joy I felt in teaching my students each day and in watching them learn things for the first time. I cannot tell you how those people walked into my heart and became so special to me.

I’m sure many of you have had an experience similar to mine, where you become attached and involved in the lives of others and where you feel complete in your work them. That’s the way it was for me this past summer. I knew I was where God wanted me and it was good to be there!

I taught two classes each day. My first class began at 6:15 in the morning and ended at 7:45 a.m. Then by the time everyone left, I had about a half-hour before my second class began at 8:30. My first class was mostly adults ranging from 20-50 years of age. I really enjoyed that class; they had such a good sense of humor, although sometimes it was hard to understand them. I learned from their stories about their families and jobs.

My second class was made up of 10-17 year olds. They were so special to me! Each one was different in his or her own unique way. We had so many good times together, talking, reading, playing baseball, telling jokes, and so on. Each of those students holds a special place in my heart. I’ll never forget them, and I look forward to seeing them again!

This summer was a time of discovering things about myself, and I found I didn’t like a lot of the things I learned. It was also a time of seeing God really work in my life. I spent a lot of time praying for my students, and through that God blessed me more then I ever imagined! He taught me how to take joy in the simplest things, like seeing one of my students smile, or watching them be excited about learning something new.

I could write a book on all the things I went through this past summer, but I’ll just say it was an incredible time, and I’m so very thankful that I was able to go. Thank you all for your prayers, faxes, and support; they meant a lot to me. Thank you for allowing me to share just a smidgen of what it was like for me in Mexico. God bless you all. It’s good to be back in your presence again.

  Hello, everyone.

Another month has sped by and there is still work to be done and fun to be had. There were a couple of exciting things seen this month. As some of ya'll may be aware of we had a kids camp for the gas sniffers of Pik. Twenty-two youth aging from twelve to twenty-two years of age showed up, many just coming out of their places of sniffing that morning. As you can imagine stress was high here at Stormer Lake. We had one counselor for every two kids. The kids began to show up at about twelve o'clock Friday afternoon. Right away we separated the kids from their bags so we could search them for anything they could have brought to sniff for a good buzz. With all our searching, we found one bottle of something that smelled very strong.

Not long after lunch, I discovered who was the leader of the boys, a boy by the name of Aaronson. Was he ever full of himself. It wasn't long afterwards that I took some of the guys down to the lake and Aaronson found some filet knives. "Oh great," I thought, "here I am alone with a couple of guys that are probably still a little stoned from a night’s worth of sniffing gas. One has two knives and he's walking toward me with the knives out of their sheathes. What do I do, stand my ground, try to get the knives from him, or just run?" I decided the first choice was the best but backed with prayer. He was within inches of my neck acting like he was going to slice it open and I stared him in the eyes and asked him to give me the knives. He just stopped, looked at me and then handed the knives over. Thank you Lord! Not ten minutes later he was reading my shirt that says, "If you love Jesus raise your hand," and he just bluntly said, "I hate Jesus."