My husband and I are members of the University Church of Christ, where we placed membership on arrival in fall 2008. Steve was appointed as elder to the congregation in 2011, which also has impacted the way I interact and serve with the other members of the congregation.
As a member at UCC, I have served as an adult Bible class coordinator (2008-09) and as a youth group huddle leader (2008 – 2013). I have also served on the youth group steering committee (2009 through 2012). Steve and I are actively involved in service to the bilingual/Spanish-speaking ministry, where we participate in regularly in worship, fellowship, and bible classes. As part of that ministry, I was involved in 2009 in facilitating the participation of the Spanish-speaking women in the annual women’s retreat, where I served as interpreter as well as assisting in event planning. Through my association with the bilingual ministry, I have been able to travel with other members on mission trips to Mexico (2009), Costa Rica (2011, 2012), and Cuba (2013) where I have been involved in teaching (in Spanish) women, children, and married couples. I have also engaged in service projects with the team. Those projects have included teaching local women to sew (carrying the machines and materials with us in our bags and donating them to the local works) in both Mexico and Costa Rica. This service allows the participants to use those new skills to both clothe their families and earn some income.
Lynette Austin, employing my (rudimentary) sewing skills in Mission Costa Rica, 2012
An area where professional, personal, and spiritual interests meet for me is in meeting the needs of missionary families (a group dear to my heart) whose children have speech/language/learning challenges. I have had opportunities to consult with three such families since arriving at ACU (and to engage graduate students in serving them). (Note: due to confidentiality requirements I will not be able to provide specific documentation of these interactions). Most recently, I was contacted by a family from Ecuador whose child has significant speech difficulties. At the time of the initial contact they had no access to services. Working with the family I evaluated the child via Skype, and developed a home program for the family’s use. I continued to counsel with the family and review the child’s progress until they were able to locate services in another town. I have visited with personnel from the Missionary Resource Network in Dallas for ideas about how I could work in a more structured way to serve/provide resources for missionary families. This is an area of service in which I hope to grow in the future.
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