This week something amazing happened. It was actually weird. We actually had a cloudy day when all of a sudden water droplets began falling from the sky! It has been so long since any of us had seen anything like this we had to call the old timers in to find out what this was called. They said it was rain. We kinda liked it! As a matter of fact this event caused the temperature to go down too! Some of us were talking and decided we wouldn't mind if something like this would happen again. It is odd to say the least, the northeast got so much rain that the rivers and streams are flooding and the gulf coast area from the Florida panhandle to the very eastern edge of Texas got lots and lots of rain. Here, and out west in places like Texas and Colorado, we have gone weeks without rain. It would be sure nice if we could spread all of this rain around so that everyone could benefit from it.
This past weekend, Labor Day weekend, was the annual SonQuest Youth Rally in Orlando, Florida. Unfortunately, I missed for the 3rd consecutive year. It is a great rally, normally averaging around 2,000+ from all over the state of Florida and other states as well, and this year was no different. Thanks to the brave efforts of Brandy Barnett Torch was able to once again have a booth at SonQuest. Last year Nathan ran the booth and this year Brandy was in charge. She was able to set up the Torch booth next to Mark and Lori Connell and the Mi Esperanza booth! According to Brandy the youth rally was awesome and several people came by the booth to talk and get information. Of course no trip is complete without flat tires, traffic jams, and detours. Brandy experienced all of that and more. Who else could take a 12 hour drive and turn it into 18? OK, several of us could, but Brandy actually did it. She even managed to run over a skunk. Oh yeah, she enjoyed that little event for a while! I am very thankful that she was able and willing to drive down from Corinth, Mississippi to run the booth. She was thankful for getting to go to Orlando and seeing the Bell Shoals group! I guess it worked out well for all of us.
This coming week is Missions Emphasis Week at Freed-Hardeman University. Torch will have a booth for this event which I feel quite confident will create a lot of interest for the 2012 trips. F-HU is a recruiting ground dream come true for me. Nearly 2,000 students on campus and a lot of them are starting to look for mission trips to go on this year. Of course several are offered here so I will be one of many to choose from. During school breaks, especially spring break, dozens of trips are offered to the students from social clubs to organizations like Torch. This is the first time Torch will have a booth and I am really excited. For those of you that are thinking about going on one of the trips this year, you might want to get with me very, very soon. Next week could generate a lot of names for the summer trips and the teams might fill up even faster than I projected. Drop me an email if you want to reserve spaces! Once I get in recruiting mode, it is hard to turn off the switch!
Plans are being made to have a Torch booth at Winterfest this year too. We did not have one last year (first time in a long time not having one) and I hope we can put a booth in once again. Many times our booth generates not only contacts and creates interest, the booth also provides us with a way to keep our name out in front of the people who attend the event. Our booths become a place for former Torch members to come by and visit and catch up with us and what we are doing. It gives us a chance to visit with other mission organizations to see what they are doing and "compare notes." Let me know if there are other places that you might know of where we might be able to display a booth and talk about our mission program. Maybe some of the other Christan colleges and universities have events similar to Freed-Hardeman's Mission Emphasis Week, or maybe there are other youth rallies or lectureships we can attend.
I am actively recruiting medical personnel for the Costa Rica and Honduras trips. Doctors, nurses, physical therapists, Nurse practitioners, physical assistants, athletic trainers, and even people who are EMTs and first responders, are needed this year. I am also looking for interpreters. Last year we were very limited at times on what we could do because we didn't have enough translators. Please help me in searching for any of these people who you think would be able to go on one of the trips and would be willing to help.
Information about the 2012 internship will be ready next week. If you, or anyone you know, might be interested in the internship and spending 3 1/3 weeks in Honduras, contact me via email. I know I will have a lot of interest here at F-HU and I want to make sure others have the chance to apply. I haven't decided how many interns will be selected this year, but all of that will be decided by next week. I will decide and announce the interns by the end of October.
Adios for now, take care and God bless. May the Lord keep you in the hollow of His hand!
TR
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