"I
would like to introduce you to our friends Annette and Tim Gulick.
They are here working with the Presbyterian Church",
said our dear friend Monica Oliviera to her co-workers.
To
which we responded,
"Uh,
actually we're not. We attend a Presbyterian Church and we do
work with some Presbyterians but we also work with many different
churches and denominations."
"Ok,
well they work with youth",
she went on.
Almost
apologetically we had to correct her,
"The
truth is we work with youth workers, not with the youth themselves,
although we do volunteer with youth in the church we attend."
The
next day one of the college students on the leadership team for
the youth group at our church was over visiting and asked:
"Exactly
what do you do? My brother asked me the other day and I wasn't
quite sure."
Recently
I've been reading through three months worth of letters from all
the other OC missionaries and I realized that I don't have a clear
idea of what many of them do.
These three things made me wonder if we
have communicated to you clearly what we are doing. I bet you
have a general idea of the Gulick "forest", i.e. Tim and Annette
are missionaries in Mexico doing missionary things like teaching
people about God. You might even have picked up some individual
Gulick ministry "trees" like the fact that we give conferences
and have a web site. To try to clarify the picture a little here
are some "snapshots" of our life and work.
Wide angle of the whole forest
:· Our desire is that God
would use us as catalysts in the Mexican Church in the area of
youth work; that our work would help the church move from where
it is to where it could be.
Close up of the trees
[Our progress towards
our goal has various aspects]
:· Our relationship with you Through
your prayers and financial support, you are a part of all we
do. We try to be a part of your life by keeping you interested
and informed, as well as by praying for you.
:· Our "personal ministry" in
our local church This serves both as a training ground, as we
try to "contextualize" what we know about youth ministry from
the US, and as place to field test the materials we create.
Like others who volunteer time to work with youth, we love the
kids and want to see them grow spiritually but feel the crunch
of not having enough time to spend with them.
:· Research about Mexican youth
and youth ministry Our polls of people who work with youth have
been foundational in determining how we focus our efforts. And
our research about the youth culture and values will help the
church know better how to reach the youth inside and outside
their walls.
:· Resources and Publications
Because youth workers listed "dynamic materials" as
their number one need, it is one of our biggest concerns. The
web site www.sepal/jovenes.com and our ready-to-use, active
Bible studies form the core of our efforts right now. A publication
of the research findings is in the works.
:· Training and Conferences Possibly
the things we enjoy the most are, on the one hand, the depth
of our informal mentoring relationships with a few other youth
workers, and on the other, breadth in teaching people who work
with youth in conferences nationwide.
Hopefully this gives you a clearer picture
of what fills our lives here. Of course if you were to look at
snapshots in our photo albums you'd see us hiking in the mountains
around Toluca, touring interesting colonial cities, or best of
all with family and friends who have come to visit. Everyone who
has visited gives their time here two thumbs up, so come on down.
...:::
With Love :::...
tim
& annette