This last week hosted many of our seasoned chaplains as well as our new ones since chaplain's training was held in Harlingen, at Lakewood RV Park. The newbies attended Mon thru Wed morning, then the seasoned forks joined them for the rest of the week. We have a great group of new chaplains, eager and excited to begin their duties here in S. Texas as the minister to the residents of various parks. Our Friday session was led by Chaplain Jeff Hastings as he held our attention in the morning with a great teaching about grief, how to deal with in yourselves and others. The afternoon was spent discussing and learning about ways to deal with stress. All of us stress about something everyday - even if it is getting tangled up in a traffic snarl, or waiting in a long line at the grocery store after long and busy day. A great afternoon of sharing ways of stress relief and how to deal with others who are stressed out. We were treated to a wonderful meal of bar-be-que ribs , thanks to a few of our chaplains who smoked them for us. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and getting to know the new members of our organization Caring Resources Ministries. If you are interested in becoming an RV resort chaplain go to crmintl.org and check us out.
Chaplain Al Dickey leading us in prayer
our amazing music ambassadors - Suzi ad Greg York
singing praises to the Lord
Even with all the events concerning the border, we traveled in two vans to the refuge in Reynosa to celebrate the Oct thru Dec birthdays of the kids and adults there. What a huge group!! We met at Peter Piper Pizza for a fun time with the birthday kids (they all were allowed cards which had money loaded on them to play games, etc. ) We celebrated the kids who had birthdays and allowed them special pizzas and "first in line"privileges. We were dismayed to a certain extent as there are so many of these kiddos that we did not recognize _ but the other side of the situation is that more children are being saved. Many of the kids we have seen grow up are now employed, attending college, and graduated college with a career that they are pursuing. They are truly a role model for those kids at the refuge to work hard and a proof that they, too, can achieve their dreams.
examining her gifts - new sparkly shoes
some of these sweet children never received presents before, let alone had pizza and ice cream
Pati on the right - studying to be a lawyer - Jacklyn on the left , also in college
birthday kids
playing the games and winning tickets for prizes
everyone got in on the fun
It always amazes me how our Sunday School and Sunday Sermon always seem to compliment each other. The theme of both today was change- whether it be because of your own choosing or not. Sometimes a change is made because of a determined decision to do so, sometimes it is because of a job change, perhaps it is because of a financial or health issue. In all circumstances, change causes stress of some sort (same theme as our chaplain training!). The Israelites were forced to change when they were defeated by the Babylonians - forced to leave their homelands and be resettled in Babylonia. They were forced to accept the strange ways, to build homes, plant crops, raise families in a foreign land with a foreign culture. What a shock that must have been! Learning to cope with change is a big part of our accepting Jesus as our Savior and leaning on Him in faith. Always remember that He will never leave you or desert you, no matter what the changes can be occurring in your life.
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