We are down on the border again! I haven’t seen the list of guys yet, but recognize a lot of men from past years. We do have more than a couple first timers, which is exciting to see. The airline trip went mostly uneventful from Burbank, California for me. My loving wife set her alarm for 3:50 am, and drove me from Camarillo to the airport. She is looking forward to a relaxing week without me to deal with around the house (we are empty nesters, which should help explain her thinking). She is happy for me going on the trip for the ninth? time, but won’t have to worry about taking care of me for a week.
On the van ride down from San Antonio to McAllen, our guys got to know each other. We had 2 first timers in the van, and our families ranged from those with infants to those who have grand children. We shared inspiring stories of how we all came to the Lord as we cruised down the highways. In my role as ‘shotgun’, I even was able to figure out the GPS with Dave’s help.
There are about 20 of us in the first group, and another 25 or so will join us in a couple of hours. We will stay here at Valley Baptist Retreat Center for 4 nights.
There has been a change in our itinerary. Because of the hot daytime temperatures, we will go down to the Magdiel Bible College tomorrow, and do the construction work in Reynosa on Friday, when the temps will drop from 100 to around 80.
It is great to reconnect with the POWER old timers, and meet the new men. I am excited to once again be doing the Lord’s work down the Rio Grande River Valley, as we fulfill Acts 1:8 – ‘But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’
Doug
P.S. – On a personal note, it was great to reconnect with Chris, the first one from my church that I was able to convince to join us in our adventures. Sadly for our church, but happily for Chris, he has relocated to eastern Texas, and met up with our group in San Antonio.