Thus commences my regurgitation of the other students’ topics, taken from my unique and probably superior perspective.
If you have read the Equip newsletters from Donny, Logan, and Aidan, you undoubtedly have heard of the Great American Outdoor Show, our huge snow storm, and power outage…but, you have not heard my version.
The Great American Outdoor Show is held in Harrisburg at the Farm Show building, which is a huge complex with multiple buildings and rooms. This year there was so much to see! First of all, guns galore. I thought I knew what I wanted in a handgun, but after seeing the bevy of options and varieties on display, I was thoroughly befuddled. The fact that you could handle almost all the guns was really awesome too. There were the requisite booths selling trinkets, stickers, shirts and the like. There was ammo, scopes, fancy gun accessories, and all manner of hunting-related goodies. I greatly enjoyed the brand-new trucks, tractors and mowing equipment on display. There were fishing rooms, and bow hunting rooms, and boating rooms, and um, other rooms that we didn’t get to. We four had a great time. There was one stand that sold strange and unusual meats, and I got to try kangaroo and alligator. They tasted shockingly normal, but were very good. Overall, it was a really really fun experience.
In last month’s newsletter, I mentioned how much I enjoyed plowing snow. Well, February certainly brought more opportunities to plow. In just one week, we got over a foot of snow! And the snow tore the power lines down, so we were without power for a day and a half. But stuff like that happens in life, so we just found a way around using the electric. Thank God for gas stoves! Oddly, counties farther north, and my town in NY, got barely a puff of snow. I am very thankful for the variety of seasons and weather. Speaking of seasons, the other day, I was walking outside and I could smell the smell of Spring in the air (mud and dirt I guess). It was marvelous.
February 22nd was the annual CMTS Banquet. Its purpose is to show supporters and friends of the ministry what has gone on in the past year. I was really glad to be able to go, and I learned a lot about what CMTS had done in 2023 before I got here in August. There were multiple shipping containers filled and sent to other countries, several mission trips, and a ton of donations received and then sent out to local ministries. I’m glad that I was able to be a part of a few of those things.
We just started a couple new classes for Monday morning and Thursday evening. The Monday class is about the Kingdom of God, and the Thursday class is about racism. I am really enjoying them both. I just started my new vocation this week too. I am back in the body shop with Doug, learning bodywork and spraying paint. I used the spray gun for the first time yesterday, and it was kind of scary at first, but after the 3rd time, it definitely got a little easier.
One really big event coming up is the Equip mission trip to Mexico, starting April 2nd. We will be staying at a YWAM base in Monterrey, and helping to teach kids and share the gospel with immigrants, and other stuff. A few things we have to do to prepare is come up with skits and crafts that we want to do with the kids, Bible stories to tell them, and learn some songs in Spanish that we can sing with them. I’ll have much more on that later.
Please pray that we are able to make a big impact as we’re sharing the gospel in Mexico, and for me as I decide what to do after this year is done.
Thank you to everyone who is already praying.
Have a wonderful month!
Caleb
