Team Training Week

Team training week ended Friday with a solitude time followed by a BBQ at Whiskeytown lake. The teams are all really motivated and filled up spiritually for the ministries this summer. Kim and I couldn't attend many of the team events, but we went to a few.

The students came out of the training week excited, and motivated. They were stretched, and worked through a number of unity issues during the week. Of course, this is one of the goals of the week, to learn how to work through issues here before we go to Jordan.

Kim did some TESOL training for our team and the team going to Chile. She is going to give "homework" assignments to everyone on the team. We have a lot of lessons to prepare, so if we can get started on them here, it will make things easier when we are in Jordan.

Claire was able to catch a ride home with Micah, so it is a blessing to her to be at home until we leave. The rest of us will meet at Jackson's house and be driven to the San Fancisco airport on June 15th.

I am visiting my parents in Hemet California this week. The day I got here, we had to take my mother to the hospial with a GI bleed. She will have tests tomorrow. It was a blessing that I was here when this happened. Pray for healing for my mother, Dolores, and God's comfort for her and my father Larry. They are very anxious about her health.

Grace and peace to you this day!

Michael

Surprise Team Reunion

Claire and Luke have been staying with us since school ended. We knew Jackson was returning from Conquest, the training for team leaders. Jackson called this afternoon asking if he could come over tonight. We invited him for dinner at 6:30. When the doorbell rang, Micah was with Jackson, so the whole team was here! I was the chef and we shared a meal out on the deck. The weather is beautiful. We're going out for ice cream in a few minutes.

Meanwhile, Jackson has challenges ready for the team, but he isn't telling them very much. He is all pumped up from Conquest. Starting tomorrow at 1:00 all of the teams are on campus for team training, so they don't really know what Jackson has planned. You can pray for the team as they bond this week and plan for the trip.

Grace & peace,
Michael

Micah

Micah is is from Everett, Washington. He is a history major with a Bible minor. He also wants to complete a certificate in Islamic Studies. This trip will be his first time out of the country. He likes sports, music, and cars.

Claire

Claire is the only woman on the student team, but she is used to this: she has five brothers. She is a communication major and has been very active in the student community at Simpson. She worked with First Year Experience, an orientation program for freshmen, and worked with enrollment services.

Claire also got caught without a job this summer, so she is staying with us and is working small jobs like babysitting and housecleaning.

Like the others, she is very excited about going to Jordan and working in the Community Center.

Luke

Luke is from England, or The UK as he says. He is the son of missionaries. His parents served in Ecuador, and Luke went to the Alliance Academy in Quito. He is staying with us for a couple of weeks. He will return to the UK and meet us in Amman. He is a freshman studying history at Simpson.

Jackson

Jackson is the team leader. He is one of the Hmong students Kim & I have gotten to know through us being sponsors for the Asian Fellowship. He has a great testimony about Simpson and about this trip. When he was a young high school student, he visited Simpson during Genesis, our big spring recruitment weekend. We always have the missions teams put on a street fair with booths for each team. When Jackson saw this about four or five years ago he thought, "Cool! I'd really like to go on one of those trips."

And here he is leading the trip! I told him that God was calling him even back then to be here at this moment. God is good and he is faithful.

Michael

Team Pictures

Hi friends & partners,

Thursday we had the team over for one last time before everyone left. Finals ended Thursday, Graduation was Saturday, and yesterday we dropped Nguyen (the Vietnamese student who has been living with us this year) at the Sacramento airport. He got to go home to Vietnam for the summer.


We also took team pictures. Backrow left to right: Luke, Claire, Jackson, and Micah. We're in the front. Below is a picture of the four students.





I start teaching an intense three week astronomy course tonight, so I have to go and prepare for the day!

Grace and peace,
Michael & Kim Huster