httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQJiohNo91M
One of the best decisions we made during our training camp in Puerto Rico was regarding where our students would stay. Students and staff (including us) stayed in the same dorm on campus where the Puerto Rico students regularly live, giving us the opportunity to really get to know them. We played Ping Pong, ate meals together, danced in impromptu “Salsa” lessons (in the above video, he is the one in the black graphic T-shirt and blue shorts) and had late night discussions, enabling us all to become friends. These very relationships ensured the success of our mission trip.
Daniel is one of the students with whom Susie and I had some extended time of personal discussions. He was trying to better understand how Christ’s death was sufficient to redeem his life from his sin. Though his heart language is Spanish, his knowledge of English allowed us to communicate the Gospel with him. We became friends, and now he considers us family! So much so, he wrote the following post on our Facebook wall:
Here is a photo of us with Bob and Elizabeth Axtmayer. He is a Puerto Rican doctor and was key to helping us set up the camp this summer. The relationship I started with him during my scouting visit last December grew deeper with the many phone calls to set up this training camp. While in Puerto Rico, we were intentional about taking every opportunity to spend time with Bob and his family – attending his son’s baseball game, visiting him in his home – we enjoyed them a lot. One highlight was to join his family for a professional baseball game. It was a ton of fun and a pretty crazy cultural experience.
“It’s all about relationships…”
Taking this time to be with Bob and his family was a way for us to show our commitment to him.
Our vision is that this training camp will be the first step in bringing AIA and the Gospel to Interamericana University and eventually to all the young people on the campuses in the Caribbean Islands.
