Prayer Requests for Salta!

-Safe travel to Salta Capital for 3-day retreat with all of the students and professionals before the project begins
-Safe travel for the many different teams going to their respective towns from Salta Capital on July 16th
-That God will bless our U.S. team's Spanish language ability as it is even harder for us to understand people from this region than it is to understand someone from the city
-No technical problems with each JESUS film showing in the different town plazas that we'll visit
-That men, women, children, and youth will attend our evangelistic outreaches and have an interest in hearing the Gospel
-That the donations will go to the families that truly need them most
-Safe travel for the teams who will traveling to different towns every day
-Rest and wisdom for Andres and I, the team leaders in Cachi, Salta, as we lead two teams of 10 people
-That our student leader, Leo, will have the freedom to share the Gospel during the two hours of air time he has daily on a radio program that reaches 10,000 people in the province of Salta
-That our time in the different towns will be uplifting and encouraging to the pastors and small church congregations there
-Wisdom for us as we disciple new believers in the various church plants
-Good relationships with the priests that many times "run" the town and has to approve of any mission work that comes in to help
-Safety and efficiency in construction efforts as we build houses and churches in various towns
-That the Holy Spirit would open the mens' eyes to how their abusive and alcoholic behavior is destroying their families
-That the Holy Spirit would stir up a passion in the youth's hearts to find their true eternal purpose in life instead of simply living the common lifestyle of drugs, sex, and alcohol


THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR FAITHFUL PRAYERS

Giving an empanada box an eternal purpose

Empanadas are bascially Argentina's more delicious version of a hot pocket. Except the contents inside are actually fresh and can consist of beef, chicken, ham, cheese, corn, and vegetables, among other things. While I have enjoyed this Argentine delicacy many, many times since arriving in Buenos Aires 10 months ago, I have never seen it's packaging used in such a God-glorifying way before a few weeks ago during our Summer Project's goodbye party.

Summer Project consists of around 25 students and staff from Cru movements on US campuses that dedicate 6 weeks of their summer to go on a evangelism-intensive experience and help an international Cru movement generate contacts and share the Gospel with more students that they can normally throughout the year. This year, our group was amazing and did such a great job stepping out in faith and sharing the Gospel on the Law, Economics, and Engineering campuses. They also did a great job connecting the STINT team and student leaders in Cru to their contacts BEFORE they left so that we can continuing following up with the students they met and those they led to Christ.

At their goodbye party, we encouraged the students and staff to invite any and all campus contacts who either came to know Christ recently, are believers that are interested in getting involved with Vida, or are spiritually interested non-believers. During the goodbye party, our city director, Charly, shared the Gospel and encouraged any students there to talk to a student leader, STINT, staff, or Summer Project member if they were interested in finding out more about how to know God personally.

One of the male contacts from the Engineering campus, Bruno, grabbed one of his Summer Project friends and began asking questions. A group soon formed and they decided to order empanadas and find a meeting room in the hotel where they could talk more. When I arrived a few hours later, they told me the exciting news that Bruno had just accepted Christ and that they had used the empanada boxes to share the Gospel with him. Pretty resourceful, huh?? Don't worry! If you're wondering, "How in the world did they pull that off?!" I've posted the pictures below! :)

And just think...how many times do we come up with excuses for not sharing the Gospel with those around us? If these college kids from the States can share the Gospel using empanada boxes, we really have no excuse. :)