Impacting Mexico through Camp Retreats

The following article appears in the Winter 2008 edition of The Overflow. Click here to download the entire edition as a PDF document.

Have you ever needed a break? Just wanted to get away for a few days from the routine and everydayness of life? Felt like you needed to escape and be with God? I’m sure you’re nodding your head up and down right now in agreement. We’ve all been there. We’ve all needed to take a break, get away, and often times as Christians we do so with the hope of hearing from God. Well it’s no different here in Mexico. Though the cravings are probably a little spicier south of the border J, in just the same way Mexicans enjoy a weekend getaway.

So where do they go? Many of them come visit us at Agua Viva on church retreats. Almost every weekend throughout the year our campground is filled with Mexican campers. Youth groups, men’s retreats, women’s retreats, family camps, leaders’ conferences…you name it, we’ve seen it. Many times we rent out the facilities and the churches run their own programs. Other times we host the entire program-youth camps, couples’ retreats, etc.-and last year we held our first children’s missions camp! Either way, groups enjoy staying in the cabins, fellowshiping in Agua Viva’s meeting rooms, and eating great food prepared by our wonderful cooks.

Tug-of-war competition at the 2007 spring youth campMany of you, when you think of Agua Viva, you think of it as a place you’ve visited as a short-term missionary. That’s great, you should. You’ve visited us through our Missions Partnership Experience program. But that’s just one way to see Agua Viva, just one perspective. The 4,601 Mexicans who visited us in 2007 see it through the eyes of our Mexican Camping Ministry. They are blessed that Agua Viva exists so that they can take a retreat, get away for a few days, and whether they expect to or not, hear from God. Others see Agua Viva as one of our many seminary students and still others as a national missionary supported by Agua Viva Ministries.

You’ll hear more about the other aspects of Agua Viva in the following newsletters. This time we’d like to focus on the impact our Mexican Camping Ministry has had in our ultimate goal and God-given desire…To reach Mexico for Christ! Read on to hear one of the many, many testimonies of how God has used this part of the ministry to change lives.