http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org Naomi Skeltis - Adventures In Missions - Serving in Matamoros, Mexico en-us Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:22:37 GMT 30 http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=oh-belize http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=oh-belize   My experience with the country of Belize is one I will never forget. Belize is a country with a little bit of everything. The inland country is a swampy, jungle that is full of critters. The costal area is rocky, with course sand and the sea is many colors of blue and green. The country has a healthy and active mosquito population that was delighted we were visiting. The people of Belize are warm and friendly but from many different nationalities including Mexican, Mayan, Chinese, Americ Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=belize http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=belize In the world of missions things can change so fast. This past week I found out about the opportunity for me to take a trip to Belize with AIM. My role as support staff will be assisting the project leader and participants as they minister. For some of the participants this will be the first time out of the country and others this will be there first mission experience. The age range is from ten years old to adult. It is a very diverse group. However I know God has some great things in store for Thu, 29 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=building-a-house http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=building-a-house As an FYM team we built a house for a family a few weeks ago. The money for the house was raised by FYM's and all the construction was done by our team. It was a great experience for the team. The family we built the house for have three children. They were renting a house but the rent payment was so high that they did not have enough money to live off after paying rent. This house was a huge blessing to them. They are so thankful. Sat, 10 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=hope-continued http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=hope-continued I am sitting in the Brownsville airport because I just dropped someone off. They have free wireless and when you live in Mexico anywhere you can get wireless for free becomes a great place to hang out. I started reading the blogs the team wrote yesterday about their time here in Mexico. After I read about the first two a theme because apparent to me. The theme was that God is doingamazing things in the lives of the team members as well as in the lives of the Mexican's they are ministering to. Sun, 4 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=hope http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=hope I don't understand this fallen world we live in. It truly is a broken place. It seems so often that things are hopeless. However I have to remember we have hope. I asked God the question where is the hope in this world? Where is the hope in this life? Where is the hope in this situation? My prayer was, "please Father, help me I feel so hopeless." The situation felt like I was supposed to be holding a fistful of water and it was all leaking out the sides of my hand. My human strength, mind, and e Thu, 1 May 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=giant-killer-spider http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=giant-killer-spider In Mexico it is relatively easy to find creatures of all shapes, sizes, and colors living in community with you in your house. The other day I found one of these little friends in the bathroom. He, the spider was black and large. With his legs stretched out he was around the size of the palm of my hand. He is not the biggest spider I have seen here but his size was noteworthy. Normally when I find "friends" like this I find someone else to kill them because I struggle to kill something the siz Sun, 20 Apr 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=adjustments http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=adjustments I want to share some about my experiences from the past four weeks. Because so much has happened I will try to be brief. The way all this affected me was I went from going along doing my RA thing to leading the entire FYM Mexico team through a time a crisis. Week one: Hearing the news and tying to make sense of it; removing the team from Mexico for a few days to try and find out what was going on; being very thankful Scott (my boss at AIM) came down to help; debriefing the team when we still had Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=bittersweet-home-going http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=bittersweet-home-going I wrote this on Saturday. Bittersweet is the only word I can think of to describe the feeling in the pit of my stomach this morning. As I shut the door to the van after saying goodbye to almost half of my FYM team. It has been around 2 weeks since this whole mess started. Today, I saw a very tangible reaction to Bob's failure. My heart is hurting as I lay here in my bed wondering if somehow I have failed these FYM's. I know I had nothing to do with the situation but still a small part of me wan Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=change-of-pace http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=change-of-pace Today is the first day I have had to think or write since last Sunday. Everything down here has changed very drastically this past week. The man I have served under for two years has experienced a moral failure and the effects are rippling through many lives including my FYM team. In the matter of a few hours I went from ladies RA to leader of the entire FYM Mexico team. I am now responsible for fifteen people including two staff. I am in a position that I never desired but God must know that I Sat, 16 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=why-god http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=why-god As I walked past our neighbors house the other day I heard screaming coming from within. It is not unusual for me to hear screaming or even loud talking coming from houses as I walk past because the walls of the houses are thin and windows or doors are usually open. You can hear almost everything going on inside the houses. Normally, I do not pay attention to the noises as I walk the mile trek from the church to Bob's, our base leaders, house. Today was different for some reason and I slowed my Sat, 2 Feb 2008 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=construction-week http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=construction-week This past week we had four visitors. Three guys came down from Indiana and my brother Gabe. Because they were here we decided to change our schedule to help them with contruction. Our normal week is meet together in the morning for worship and class then in the afternoons we go out and do different ministries. This week we helped with construction of the church. It was a good change of pace for the group. They all worked very hard and we did more then Bob ever imagined we could. It was a great Mon, 12 Nov 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=a-visitor http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=a-visitor Since coming down here as staff last year I have been trying to get Miss Stephanie Pack to come down here and teach one of our weekly classes. Last week all my hard work paid off and Miss Pack, one of my teachers from Bible College, came down to teach the FYMs. Miss Pack is someone that I respect greatly. My first year in college she taught my English class. From that class we developed a mentoring relationship. She has taught me a lot about people, ministry, and life. She is part of the reason Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=cockroach-ministry http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=cockroach-ministry I feel like ministry is sometimes viewed as the perfect job. It is perceived as a job where it never seems like work because people's lives are always being changed. The minister floats around on a cloud and lives in some sort of Jesus bubble where everyone loves. God is always speaking and you never wonder if what you are doing is worth it. This idea often has nothing to do with ministry. The reality is ministry is all about the little things. Little things like cockroaches. Cockroaches have Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=say-what http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=say-what The other day I stopped at the Mexican version of a mall to grab a quick lunch. Forty-five minutes later I came back out to my truck and realized something was different. I looked at the back of the truck and realized the tailgate was down. I thought to myself that is strange and I walked around to close it. When I got to the back of the truck I realized my tailgate was not down it was just no longer there. Apparently someone needed or wanted a little, blue truck tailgate so they took mine. I am Thu, 4 Oct 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=mexico-fymers-have-arrived http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=mexico-fymers-have-arrived Week one of Mexico FYM 07-08 is almost over. I can hardly believe it. The last few weeks are basically a blur. The first part of September I was in Georgia for staff training. Then on Sept 12 the FYM's arrived for their training in Georgia. The quiet, peaceful, office in a matter of moments turned into one loud roar of excitement as 150 new missionaries arrived. We were glad everyone arrived safely. The Georgia FYM training lasted for one week. It was intense and challenging for the participants Tue, 25 Sep 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=peru-earthquake http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=peru-earthquake The earthquake in Peru has effected several of the missionaries I know living in Lima, Peru. They are working in Lima, Peru to establish a First Year Missionary Program like the one we have in Mexico. Lima was effected with mostly minor structural damage except some of the poorer areas where some people have lost their homes. The places hit the worst by the earthquake are between 3-4 hours from Lima.  This link is a report written after these missionaries Fri, 24 Aug 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=thank-you http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=thank-you I just want to say a special thanks to everyone who has been supporting me in prayer, financially, and many other ways. This past year has been a time of great learning for me. I have seen God work in ways I never dreamed but I have also had some hard times along the way. Even with all the things that have happened I know God wants me to come back down here for at least one more year. In August I will head to Georgia for training and to welcome our new FYM group. Then in September I will be Mon, 28 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=searched-by-the-military http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=searched-by-the-military Last night I had a very interesting experience at the plaza in downtown Matamoros. I was at the plaza with the FYM's, Mexican Bible College students, and a group of American's who are visiting for a one-week mission trip. Our group in total was quit large so we rode to the plaza in an old school bus that the American group was using for the week. Ministry time went well. We were able to talk, show love, and explain the Gospel to many people. It was a good night and we were all getting ba Tue, 8 May 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=jfbc-project http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=jfbc-project Our group just finished helping with the biggest mission trip in the history of AIM. The Johnson Ferry Baptist Church (JFBC) project was a large group but with everyone working together it was a huge success. We had 350 participants, 42 translators, and 11 staff. It was crazy. In the course of five days we built 21 houses, had 12 children's programs, evangelized several communities, encouraged countless Christians, and saw over 300 people come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. I Sat, 14 Apr 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=beached http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=beached The last few weeks here have been good but they have also been very challenging for me. I am seeing God working in people's lives but I am also seeing the struggle people have when they resist God working on them . The last few weeks God has been bringing the students to a point of decision. They need to decide if they are going to continue the next two months strong or if they are going to give up by saying the program is almost over and the next two months don't matter. As leaders we hav Wed, 28 Mar 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=land-of-beauty http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=land-of-beauty When I first arrived in Mexico in January 06 I wondered if I had really heard Gods voice telling me to come here. The place was so dirty and ugly. I peered through the bars out the window of my room and I saw what looked like a small mountain, actually it was the city dump. There was little grass and lots of dirt. It seemed everything was broken and trash was everywhere. The air was heavy with the smell of burning trash, sewage and animal waste. I sat on my bed and asked God if I really had Mon, 12 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=stuck-in-the-mud http://naomiskeltis.myadventures.org/?filename=stuck-in-the-mud Kelsey and I decided to visit a family in our neighborhood. We drive over to visit for a half hour and then continue to pick up a group I had dropped off in Las Granjas. From where we were to quickest and easiest way there was the back way through the fields. I did not think much of this because it had not rained in days and the roads were dry. Everything was fine until we were about a mile from Las Granjas. It was dusk so I could not see the road well and we got into a couple hundred feet s Fri, 2 Feb 2007 00:00:00 GMT