Summer Transitions (Summer 2002)

What a wonderful God we serve! Every year we, the AIM staff (administration and assistants), have the blessing of seeing dozens of young people come to us with the desire to learn and grow. For eight months we have the opportunity to teach, mentor, serve and guide the students. Maybe even better than this, though, is our privilege of getting to learn from and befriend some of the godliest young people on earth. God provides for us friendships that will last us a lifetime and experiences that teach us more of who our Father is and how He works in our lives today. Then, in April we are again blessed when, with tearful eyes and hopeful hearts, we hug their necks and send them all over the world.

We then get the privilege of hearing from them about what God is doing in their lives. For four months now we have been hearing from the 2001 AIM class. We hear of their joys and trials, their victories and failures, but mostly we hear the message that God is still alive and is very active in His work in the hearts of people. We praise Him for His wonderful work in these student's lives!

Once the students leave, we, as the AIM staff, also are blessed with many opportunities to grow and serve. This summer staff members spread out all over the world. We served youth groups in Houston, TX and Santa Fe, New Mexico. We served at foreign mission points in the Philippines, South Africa, Brazil and Moscow and Vladivostok, Russia.

We also served in many ways here in Lubbock preparing for the new students that we were praying for. Whether it was cleaning apartments, answering student questions or praying for the support issues of each student, Lubbock was filled with faithful activity, looking forward to the arrival of the next class. With dreams in our heart for the "next generation" of AIM students we closed the summer, hoping that God had been praised in what had been done in His name for the sake of His work here in Lubbock and all around the world.

Jason Thornton