Thank you to all who prayed for us on this mission trip to Mexico to lead a marriage conference for pastors and leaders near the border area. God used Pastor Martin and Jon and Mindy Baker to have a significant impact on the lives of the 17 couples and others who were able to attend the conference, a total of 60 people, at the Grace Brethren camp in Tecate Mexico.
The team arrived in San Diego on Thursday March 19 and began working with our partner and GBIM missionary, Rosa Churchill, to complete the material for the conference. God blessed our work greatly as the final plans came together quickly and with very high quality. The Holy Spirit clearly had a message to deliver to the couples that were attending.
On Friday the team finished printing materials and preparing notebooks and handouts for the couples and traveled to the camp. After some introductions and ice breakers, the couples were treated to a date night, something many of them have not had for quite some time. We watched a movie, Fireproof (in Spanish of course), which was well received.
Saturday was focused on education. Jon delivered a session on concentrating on your primary love, Jesus, and making
sure the relationship with Jesus is at the center of your life. Pastor Martin continued teaching a session about the 3-way relationship between God, a husband, and a wife, a relationship that starts with a basis of friendship and progresses to unity and oneness. In that relationship we grow closer together as we grow closer to God. Mariano Azcarate, our missions coordinator in Mexico, continued to teach about biblical priorities in marriage, which involves Christ at the center, our spouses next, followed by children and so forth. He focused on the relationship with God being separate from the ministry, something that many people in ministry lose sight of so easily. Jon and Mindy then followed with sessions on praying for and with your spouse, a practical application of the materials already taught. Each of these education sessions included time to reflect, seek God, and put the lessons into practice. These times of reflection are something Pastor Martin calls “Going to the mountain,” something they can actually do at the camp, but they can also do figuratively at home.
Saturday night was a banquet hosted by a couple, Pancho and Nancy Bravo, who helped sponsor the conference. The couples attending showed great vulnerability by singing to one another, professing their love for one another, and sharing some things they learned throughout the day. One pastor told his wife, “there’s no one here but us” as he sang to her. It was a beautiful, intimate, romantic time.
Sunday morning was more education time as couples reflected on the analogy of their lives together as a painting they are creating together. They were encouraged to make the painting colorful with much variety, but to have the important objects in place first. The couples were given exercises to remind them of the 3-way relationship by creating a chord of 3 strands (Ecclessiastes 4:12) and weaving ribbon and rope together. Pastor Martin finished the conference by teaching a lesson on unity using the exercise for the object lesson. Before they left, each husband received a copy of the book, The Love Dare (in Spanish of course) and a challenge to do this for their wives. They received it eagerly and some took additional copies for couples in their congregation.
After the conference many couples came to us thanking us for making the retreat a reality. Some were crying. Some said they had never considered having a friendship with their husband or wife as opposed to “ministry partners.” Some thanked us for reminding them to focus on their spouse again. Many of the pastors said they were going to take the material back to their churches to share with couples there and many were going to show Fireproof to their congregations as well.
One couple, Roberto and Ynidia, 2 professionals, who happened to be a the camp that weekend and decided to join the conference had a great experience when they went back to work on Monday. Roberto shared with his boss that he was at a marriage conference. His boss was so intrigued by the impact on his employee that he said… “my marriage is in trouble- could you help me?” So Roberto and Ynidia are going to go with his boss and his wife to have the same retreat at the same camp on Easter weekend. They hope to not only share concepts of a healthy marriage, but the Gospel as well.
A famous quote often used by Rosa Churchill’s husband, Jack, was ”only one life, ‘twil soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.” Rosa shared with us “This is true- and what you are doing for the ministry in the border of Mexico will last forever.”
Again thank you all for your support, encouragement, and prayers.
