We´re here! I can´t believe I´m really at debriefing! I have learned to love these people so much and I know it will be so hard to leave them! Last week started off sort of strange because their Flag Day was Monday, so we didn´t go to campus. Tuesday we went and I had the opportunity to share the gospel with four different girls! One was very interested in changing her life, but had so many things holding her back because of what she had been taught growing up. She was raised in a home that emphasized doing good things for salvation, which is VERY common here. Please pray for her as she looks over the Knowing God Personally book we left with her after we shared it with her. Wednesday was crazy because the president, Christina, came to speak in BA, and, after we arrived at the campuses at 11am, we found out that all government-run schools and businesses were closing so that the people would go home and watch the president speak. The president is VERY unpopular here because of the high taxes she is levying on the farmers, so at one of the campuses, a riot broke out, but thankfully, all of our students got out safely and we all caught our different buses home before they closed down! Thank you for your prayers of protection!
Friday night was our goodbye party and so many Argentine´s came! It was so much fun! Please pray for Vida Estudiantil as they try to follow up with the contacts we´ve made and try to gain more members! Saturday night we went out with Argentines and I got to give a KGP booklet to my best Argentine friend here, Mariela! She is agnostic, so please pray that as we talk over MSN messenger, she will have questions about the booklet!
Sunday morning we came here and got to see Kate and Charley from LOST because they were on our plane! One of our staff, Mark, sat beside them and talked with them!
Today, we went to the Iguazu national park and had an AMAZING time, taking a jungle tour, boat ride (that included going ride to the base of one of the falls and getting SOAKED!), and seeing some breath-taking examples of God´s creation. Pictures will be on facebook soon!
Thanks for your prayers throughout this trip! God has heard your prayers and worked in amazing ways in this beautiful country and I can´t wait to come home and talk to all of you in person about it! God bless you!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Only 12 more days!
Hello everyone! I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a while! I've been getting complaints!! Haha, I'm glad though, because that lets me know that people actually read these! :) So, I CANNOT believe that I will be HOME in 12 days! Time has FLOWN and I can't believe how fast I have developed such deep the relationships with the people on this project! Well, now with the update...
Saturday two other girls and I went shopping with a girl we met named Mariela! She is an agnostic and was not really interested in hearing the Gospel when we tried to share it with her. Yet, she came and shopped with us for four hours and we had a blast! Last night she came by the hotel and we made a true southern apple pie (with the crisscrossed crust on top!) and she LOVED it! She is also going to come to our outreach tonight, so, hopefully, as a result of our relationship growing, she will feel more comfortable opening up with us and being willing to hear the Gospel! By the way, our outreach tonight is popcorn and a movie! We're watching the Bourne Ultimatum! Most of the students we've talked with know of the movie, but haven't seen it! All the girls' faces light up when we tell them Matt Damon is in it! :)
Sunday we went to a River (a big soccer team here) game and, we didn't realize it, but it was the game that determined who the champion was going to be! And they won! I have NEVER been to anything more crazy in my life! There were hundreds of streamers flying down from the overhang in the stadium, firecrackers going off everywhere, confetti, and red smoke bellowing from some type of tube that people had! I could hardly see because of all of the choas around me! It was INSANE! It was fun, but also sort of sad, because you could see how much value these people put into these games. As I looked around at the other 60,000 people in that stadium, I could only wonder if there would ever be a day when that many poeple in Argentina will be that excited about Christ. I could tell that these poeple had nothing else to live for, so they put so much value in soccer and their teams.
This week was the last week for the www.cadaestudiante.com campaign and the theme was, "Are all religions the same?" Many students were very interested in this theme, so many spiritual conversations took place this week!
Tuesday, a girl named Maggie, along with Turner, one of the STINTers, got to lead someone to Christ on the Law campus! We were all very excited! God has definitely answered our prayers about preparing the hearts of the people before we got here!
Thursday was also a very exciting day because three people on the Ag campus got to lead a guy to Christ! That makes nine people who have accepted Christ into their lives so far! The STINT team told our team how amazed they are at the amount of fruit that has been produced while we have been here! It was really neat because one of the students who was there, Brett, asked his mom to pray for him from 12:30 to 1:30 that day because he was supposed to be following up with a contact, but he didn't show up. So, he went with two of the women on staff and, during that time was when they were able to lead that person to Christ! That is such a great testimony of the power of prayer!
Also, the past two Thursdays we have had English club on the different campuses and last Thursday we had 4 people show up on the Ag campus, which was a huge blessing, considering no one came the first week! And then, this week, we had two people, one of which was Mariela! Before English club we met with five girls, two of which we knew before and who connected us with their friends! We don't think that any of these girls are saved, so please pray that we are able to follow up with them sometime in this last week!
Yesterday, Katie, one of the women on staff, and I talked with a girl named Maria Luz for about an hour and shared the KGP booklet with her! When we got to the two circles that represent a life without Christ and one with Him, she said that she was the one without Him, but that she wanted to have Him in her life! She has been taught a very works-based salvation, and even though we went back through the booklet and tried to explain the Gospel multiple ways, she still thought that you needed to do enough good to get to God. Eventually, she admitted that she didn't believe in Hell either. Please pray for her as we talk with her next week, that she will look over the booklet and ask us questions about it! I pray that God opens her eyes to the truth of His beautiful Gospel!
Please pray that we will stay focused as we feel pressure because this is our last week here! Please pray that God will help us use the relationships we have built to lead to the sharing and accepting of His Gospel!
Thanks again for all of your prayers! God is moving in amazing ways down here and we are continually amazed at his constant goodness and faithfulness!
Saturday two other girls and I went shopping with a girl we met named Mariela! She is an agnostic and was not really interested in hearing the Gospel when we tried to share it with her. Yet, she came and shopped with us for four hours and we had a blast! Last night she came by the hotel and we made a true southern apple pie (with the crisscrossed crust on top!) and she LOVED it! She is also going to come to our outreach tonight, so, hopefully, as a result of our relationship growing, she will feel more comfortable opening up with us and being willing to hear the Gospel! By the way, our outreach tonight is popcorn and a movie! We're watching the Bourne Ultimatum! Most of the students we've talked with know of the movie, but haven't seen it! All the girls' faces light up when we tell them Matt Damon is in it! :)
Sunday we went to a River (a big soccer team here) game and, we didn't realize it, but it was the game that determined who the champion was going to be! And they won! I have NEVER been to anything more crazy in my life! There were hundreds of streamers flying down from the overhang in the stadium, firecrackers going off everywhere, confetti, and red smoke bellowing from some type of tube that people had! I could hardly see because of all of the choas around me! It was INSANE! It was fun, but also sort of sad, because you could see how much value these people put into these games. As I looked around at the other 60,000 people in that stadium, I could only wonder if there would ever be a day when that many poeple in Argentina will be that excited about Christ. I could tell that these poeple had nothing else to live for, so they put so much value in soccer and their teams.
This week was the last week for the www.cadaestudiante.com campaign and the theme was, "Are all religions the same?" Many students were very interested in this theme, so many spiritual conversations took place this week!
Tuesday, a girl named Maggie, along with Turner, one of the STINTers, got to lead someone to Christ on the Law campus! We were all very excited! God has definitely answered our prayers about preparing the hearts of the people before we got here!
Thursday was also a very exciting day because three people on the Ag campus got to lead a guy to Christ! That makes nine people who have accepted Christ into their lives so far! The STINT team told our team how amazed they are at the amount of fruit that has been produced while we have been here! It was really neat because one of the students who was there, Brett, asked his mom to pray for him from 12:30 to 1:30 that day because he was supposed to be following up with a contact, but he didn't show up. So, he went with two of the women on staff and, during that time was when they were able to lead that person to Christ! That is such a great testimony of the power of prayer!
Also, the past two Thursdays we have had English club on the different campuses and last Thursday we had 4 people show up on the Ag campus, which was a huge blessing, considering no one came the first week! And then, this week, we had two people, one of which was Mariela! Before English club we met with five girls, two of which we knew before and who connected us with their friends! We don't think that any of these girls are saved, so please pray that we are able to follow up with them sometime in this last week!
Yesterday, Katie, one of the women on staff, and I talked with a girl named Maria Luz for about an hour and shared the KGP booklet with her! When we got to the two circles that represent a life without Christ and one with Him, she said that she was the one without Him, but that she wanted to have Him in her life! She has been taught a very works-based salvation, and even though we went back through the booklet and tried to explain the Gospel multiple ways, she still thought that you needed to do enough good to get to God. Eventually, she admitted that she didn't believe in Hell either. Please pray for her as we talk with her next week, that she will look over the booklet and ask us questions about it! I pray that God opens her eyes to the truth of His beautiful Gospel!
Please pray that we will stay focused as we feel pressure because this is our last week here! Please pray that God will help us use the relationships we have built to lead to the sharing and accepting of His Gospel!
Thanks again for all of your prayers! God is moving in amazing ways down here and we are continually amazed at his constant goodness and faithfulness!
Monday, June 2, 2008
Bad news, but God is working!
Thank you so much for all of your prayers! As many of you know, Saturday night I was in a Locutorio using a computer and talking with my parents on Skype when I looked down and saw that my backpack was gone! I had put it beside my feet under the desk, but because I had my earphones on talking with my parents, I didn´t hear the person steal my bag! The main thing that was in there was my camera with all of the pictures I had taken since the trip began! But it has been amazing to see how ENCOURAGED I have been in the last few days! Because of my earthly possesions being taken away (my wallet was not found at the moped rental shop) God has shown me how much I value earthly possessions over Him! God has given me such a peace about this whole situation and I have not had any anxiousness about it! I have never felt the power of prayer more than I have the last few days! When the people on my team say that they are so sorry that this happened, I shock them when I say that I am fine and I am overjoyed to go through this small trial in my life because of all the amazing things God has taught me each time I open His Word! I am growing at an unbelievable speed in my relationship with Him and I know it´s because of my prayers and the prayers of those back home!
PRAISE! Saturday we had a soccer outreach and, even though not many girls came, several guys did! After we played, one of the guys sat down with two of the STINTers and they had the opportunity to lead him to Christ! He was so excited about it, telling everyone he met! It has been so encouraging to see such a drastic life-change! Thanks for praying!
This Saturday, instead of having a formal outreach, the outreach team decided to leave it open so that we can meet in small groups with students we have met and go out to shop, play soccer, drink mate, etc. in the location that is best for the students! It has been really hard to get the students to come to where we live because it is not close to where most of the students live, so this gives us an entire day so that we can travel to where we can meet them! Today, I met two girls named Dolores and Mariela and they both are so excited about showing me and the girls I was with where to shop! Please pray that they and the other girls we invite will come so that we can develop deeper relationships with them and eventually share the Gospel with them! Our team had a meeting about our recent problem of getting off-focus because we have so many events to invite students to like Vida, English club, and the outreaches. We have been making LOTS of friends, but not many of them are deep relationships. We´ve been sending a lot of mass emails and not enough personal ones. Please pray that as we start trying to get reconnected with people we have met, that they will respond to our personal emails and that they´ll want to get together Saturday! Thanks! God bless!
PRAISE! Saturday we had a soccer outreach and, even though not many girls came, several guys did! After we played, one of the guys sat down with two of the STINTers and they had the opportunity to lead him to Christ! He was so excited about it, telling everyone he met! It has been so encouraging to see such a drastic life-change! Thanks for praying!
This Saturday, instead of having a formal outreach, the outreach team decided to leave it open so that we can meet in small groups with students we have met and go out to shop, play soccer, drink mate, etc. in the location that is best for the students! It has been really hard to get the students to come to where we live because it is not close to where most of the students live, so this gives us an entire day so that we can travel to where we can meet them! Today, I met two girls named Dolores and Mariela and they both are so excited about showing me and the girls I was with where to shop! Please pray that they and the other girls we invite will come so that we can develop deeper relationships with them and eventually share the Gospel with them! Our team had a meeting about our recent problem of getting off-focus because we have so many events to invite students to like Vida, English club, and the outreaches. We have been making LOTS of friends, but not many of them are deep relationships. We´ve been sending a lot of mass emails and not enough personal ones. Please pray that as we start trying to get reconnected with people we have met, that they will respond to our personal emails and that they´ll want to get together Saturday! Thanks! God bless!
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