This is Gary Baits, Mylinda’s husband, supporter, and fan for over 30 years. While we prepare to enjoy Thanksgiving with Jamie and Micah, and friends here in the Northwest, I find myself thankful for them and for you. I also give thanks for Mylinda’s upcoming ministry trip to Nicaragua (more about that later) and ask your prayers for her journey there.

Many of my IM colleagues, their families and faithful American Baptist Churches in Puerto Rico were directly impacted by the devastation that Hurricane Maria caused.

Passed down from trusted mentors and discovered on my own, these strategies for nurturing the soul and sustaining creative engagement in the world are my gift to you. Though certainly not exhaustive or exclusive, I hope these soup-for-the-soul strategies support your good work.

It has been an amazingly enriching summer full of generosity, hospitality, learning and inspiration!

I returned home recently from a rich and full time in Kenya, witnessing God’s abundant beauty. I was honored to co-facilitate a First Aid Arts Responder and Facilitator training in Nairobi with my good friend, Ruth Yeo Peterman.

While recognizing that the scars of wounding could not be totally erased, we offered a gesture of repentance through recognition of harm caused, engaging  in active repair, we moved through forgiveness from opposite sides of a struggle toward reconciliation together.