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!