Samuel Gill Servant in Training with NTM 
Jack, the one-armed builder of "God's Mountain Retreat"
As you will surely remember, the youth of my church in Missouri, la Iglesia Latina del Lago, and their Riverview Baptist counterparts were to take a “mission” trip to Tennessee in July. Our two work projects were to paint the interior of a church and to help restore an elderly widow’s home back to a somewhat respectable condition. The restoration effort included using chainsaws to reduce a fallen tree to firewood, replacing rotted planks on her porch, priming the exterior of the house for a paint job, and an assortment of other yard projects. In the afternoons, half of the team would leave the worksite to run a boys and girls club in a town nearby – something like a VBS. Our catch phrase for the week was “open eyes”, an expression intended to encapsulate our purpose for traveling to Tennessee and spending a week at God’s Mountain Retreat. We wanted to open our own eyes to see what God is trying to teach us and we wanted to open the little eyes of the boys and girls to see what it means when we say that Jesus loves us. Considering the short time we had, I believe this trip was a great success. I was particularly encouraged by two things:
- The way that the two youth groups interacted. The American kids were very welcoming towards the Latin youth, allowing them to feel right at home among them. The Latin youth told me they were very glad to be on the trip and said they hope that these new friendships continue to develop. I hope so too.
- The way that the youth came away from the week with a renewed perspective concerning what is important in life. Every night we had a time of singing, sharing, and encouragement. The convicting work of the Holy Spirit was evident in the lives of the youth. The last night there, several of the kids broke into tears as they confessed personal struggles in their faith and asked for prayer. We pray that this was only the beginning of some needed changes in the hearts of these precious young people.
To those of you who were praying for the devotionals in the morning, I just want to thank you and say that I believe the Lord used them to contribute to the overall learning experience of the week. I also enjoyed the personal connections I was able to make with some of the Riverview youth. It’s so great to see young people truly eager to grow.
The last few weeks have been filled mostly with visiting. After leaving Missouri back in July, I went on a tour of the southern end of Lake Michigan. My first stop was at a friend’s wedding in Muskegon. Next I intruded on my Aunt Patti’s family reunion. And recently I have been visiting friends all over the Wheaton area, including church friends, Bolivia friends, and Starbucks coworkers. Once again it has been a pleasure to spend time with “Uncle” Dick Wyma. He has plenty of floor space and has always opened his apartment to me whenever I come back to West Chicago.
The first week back here in West Chicago I helped to coach a group of young boys at a soccer camp. Community Fellowship Church has maintained consistent involvement with a Latin community nearby and had decided to run a soccer camp as another means of outreach. There must be some strange magnetic force among the Latin people, because I seem to find myself with them everywhere I go! It was neat to be able to work with some of the same kids that I used to tutor in the afterschool program when I was here a year ago. It is exciting to see a church that is not just interested in short-term mission blitzes, but also in sustained, relational outreach with its own neighbors. I am convinced that this is the sort of ministry that, in the long run, reaches people at the heart level.
As a special, unexpected blessing, I have been able to spend a few days with my dad this summer. He flew up to Florida last week to attend a conference with other NTM leaders from around the globe. I’m so glad for email and telephones that allow us to remain connected though separated by many miles. But it’s even better to be able to see him in person.
With the end of August comes the beginning of a new semester – this time, my last. Please pray for me as I return to Roach, Missouri to finish the last courses of my missionary training this side of the Pacific Ocean. December will be here before I know it, and perhaps I will be thinking there’s still much more I want to know before moving on. But for now, I am glad that I still have one more semester of training before I begin to make final preparations to travel overseas.
