Weekly Update - May 9, 2010
Hello, dear friends and family!
As we draw closer and closer to the end of the school year, I find that I have less and less free time and am becoming more and more forgetful of what needs to be done. Thus, I forgot to send out an email last weekend. :P I extend a sincere apology to any who were waiting for it and will try to make those moments of forgetfulness less frequent in the future.
One week ago, Saturday through Sunday, Rick and I were able to go camping with a group of friends in Cotopaxi National Park. When we first got to our campsite the weather was cold and rainy. Our moods were pretty somber as we set up our tents, and there was some talk of going home early. But then the rain stopped and the temperature rose a little, and we all settled around the campfire for dinner. Our campsite ran right alongside streams that run off the side of the mountain (volcano), so everything around us was green and beautiful The valley had been cut out by glaciers, and the landscape is full of sharp angles and giant boulders that lay by themselves in the middle of a flat valley. It was was yet another awe-inspiring display of God’s work.
As always, the last two weeks have been filled with ministry opportunities for both Rick and for me. Rick’s relationships with different high school boys continue to grow, and they continue to seek him out for advice on friendship, dating, family, etc. I, too, have seen my relationships with different high school girls begin to deepen and I relish every chance to sow into their lives.
Over the last school year Alliance Academy, along with some of the parents of students, has begun a program named Centro de Apoyo Familiar (Center for Family Support). This program provided basic counseling, spiritual guidance, and support for any student or parent of student at AAI. It has been my pleasure to work with this group over the last year, as they have provided parenting seminars and marriage seminars. They have been instrumental in the mending of several marriages this last year. Through their love and guidance several others have come to know the Lord. I was honored to attend a dinner this last Friday, offered by administration of AAI, as a thanks for their hard work and love for our shared ministry. I wa asked to offer the closing prayer, which I did haltingly in Spanish. 
Our greatest praise and prayer request for this week is for one of our senior boys, Nate, who lives in the AAI dorms and is one of the boys that Rick is close to. Over the weekend he fell down a flight of cement stairs, on his face, with another boy having fallen on his back. He slid down the stairs about 20 feet. He has significant scratches on his arms and side, but most of damage is to his left cheek. He had significant fractures to his cheek bone and to his eye socket , both of which were set with metal plates and pins during surgery this morning. He is doing well and should be released from the hospital this Tuesday. Please pray that his recovery will be without incident. Also, please pray for his parents who are in another country (Uruguay) as missionaries , and are having to trust others to care for their son during this time.
As you have probably deduced by now, Rick and I feel very strongly that, while we work at AAI for teaching and counseling, our ministry here is predominantly one of relationships. God has been faithful in giving us these relationships, both with students and with adults. We have been ministered to by many of our peers, and have been able to be there for several of them, too.
Finally, I would like to wish a Happy Mother’s Day to each and every woman/mother that receives this email. God’s gift of family is a wonderful thing, indeed!
May God bless and keep you always,
Rachel Sams
