Exalted among the nations: "And you will be my witnesses...to the ends of the earth"

Have you ever been in a situation where God astounded you with His power and showed you what a lack of faith you really have in Him? Well, that was basically the theme of the 2 weeks I spent with 15 other Argentine students, professionals, and Crusade staff in the small town of Payogasta in the province of Salta. Over the two weeks, our team split up into two groups, one that went to a nearby town called Cachi each day to work on construction projects, share the Gospel in people's homes, and put on evangelistic events for teenagers and young adults in the area, and the other group either stayed in Payogasta or traveled around to very small, nearby villages to give out donations, show the JESUS film, and share the Gospel with families in their homes. The things God did in each location in 2 short weeks astounded me and the rest of my team. What a great God we serve!

I helped lead the team that stayed in Payogasta and traveled around the surrounding villages, and it was an experience I will never forget. In one of the villages, Piul, I had the opportunity to hike up a mountain for 45 minutes to find a family who told us they had never heard of Jesus Christ before! What a privilege to share the name of Jesus and His story of salvation with someone for the first time!

In Payogasta, the town where we stayed, we were able to do more follow-up and discipleship since we were there for a longer period of time. One of the first days there I met Graciela, a believer who gave her life to Christ with Campus Crusade students when they visited Payogasta as a part of this annual mission trip in 2010. When we met, she told me she was so excited that we had come back. She told me that she would take me to the most needy families in the town so we could get together a list of what exactly they need and later take them the donations they requested. I asked her if she had ever shared her faith before and she said she hadn't and would like to watch me do so and learn how! I told her I thought we could maybe work something out... ;)

The next day, Graciela and I visited Susana, a woman with no husband and three children, who lived in a tiny room in an old barn with her three sisters and all of their children. Other women and their families rented other rooms in this barn as well. My heart dropped as I saw a dog start lapping up the soup that Susana then served to her children. Their clothes and shoes were falling apart and the only food I saw was a half-filled bag of rice. She warmly welcomed us into her home, quickly trying to find stools that we could sit on as she sat down on the bed. We conversed for a while about her family and her life in Payogasta and then asked her about the physical needs that her family had. After making a list of donation requests, I told her that the most important reason our group of students and professionals came to Payogasta was to share with the people how our personal relationship with God has changed our lives. Graciela silently watched as I transitioned to the Gospel and began sharing the Knowing God Personally booklet (http://www.campuscrusade.com/downloads/kgp.pdf) with Susana. By the end, Graciela was chiming in and talking about how her personal relationship with God through Christ has a daily impact on her life. When I asked Susana if she had ever accepted God's gift of forgiveness through Jesus Christ and given Him complete control of her life, she said, "Of course not. No one has ever told me how." As I listened to her pray out loud and give her life to Christ, I thanked God for such an awesome opportunity to not only lead someone to Christ, but also show a current believer how she can share her faith with others! Afterwards, Graciela told me, "Wow. I've never thought about how much people here in my town need to hear the Gospel. And now I know how to share it!"

Throughout the rest of that week, the girls on my team and I organized a women's Bible study each night for the three believers we had met, along with the women who had come to know Christ with us that week. Susana came twice and loved it! Pray that the women continue to meet and grow together in their relationship with the Lord!

Here, I'm going to list out the prayer requests I passed along in my last post and detail how each and every one was answered!

-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. Everyone arrived safely to Salta and, afterwards, to their respective locations! Such an answer to prayer since the mountain roads are pretty dangerous!
-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. There were a few times in which the older ladies in the villages could not understand my accent in Spanish, but in general I was able to understand everything that they said and they could understand me! This is a definite miracle!
-No technical problems with each JESUS film showing in the different town plazas that we'll visit. In La Paya, Buena Vista, Payogasta, and Piul, the JESUS film equipment worked beautifully! However, in Brealito, one of our student leaders broke the equipment on accident and we were unable to show the film. However, God was gracious and everyone who came to see the film stuck around and we got to share the Gospel personally one-on-one with each person!
-That men, women, children, and youth will attend our evangelistic outreaches and have an interest in hearing the Gospel. We had outreaches for teenage girls, teenage boys, women, and children in the different villages throughout the 2 weeks and each outreach had a great turnout! We were able to clearly share the Gospel at each event as well!
-That the donations will go to the families that truly need them most. In Payogasta, we were able to talk to Christians in the town who helped us find the most needy families and find out exactly what they need. While we did this, we shared the Gospel with them and several accepted Christ!
-Safe travel for the teams who will traveling to different towns every day. Our team traveled in the back of a pick-up truck through mountainous terrain and we never had any troubles!
-Rest and wisdom for Andres and I, the team leaders in Cachi, Salta, as we lead two teams of 10 people. Andres and I worked very well together and experienced no conflict as we led the team each day. (Such a miracle!) God was very gracious to give us a wonderful team of students and professionals that took initiative and worked hard each and every day, making our job much easier! Though there were a few nights in which we got little sleep, both Andres and I were able to sleep as much as the rest of the team most nights.
-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. Though the radio did not allow Leo to share the Gospel, he did interview our team leader, Andres, and asked him to share his testimony! He talked about how having a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ has changed his life and no one at the radio studio said anything about it afterwards!
-That our time in the different towns will be uplifting and encouraging to the pastors and small church congregations there. Pastor Marcelo in Cachi, asked us to focus our efforts on teenagers and young adults. After two weeks of ministry there, Moises, one of the young men who is extremely influential among the young people in Cachi (he started a folklore dance school that has 70 teenage students) accepted Christ along with 15 of his friends! What an impact they can make on the youth of Cachi! Pastor Marcelo was so excited!
-Wisdom for us as we disciple new believers in the various church plants. Graciela (from the story above) and her sister Gabriela were two believers that attend Marcelo's church that we were able to disciple through the women's Bible study we started. Also, Daniela and Audelina, two women who accepted Christ with me, attended the Bible study as well and also met with me a couple of other times for discipleship!
-Good relationships with the priests that many times "run" the town and has to approve of any mission work that comes in to help. Thankfully, we didn't have any run-ins with the priest in Cachi and the other towns where we visited are too small to have their own priest. Most of these towns share one priest within their region and he usually passes through each town once a month or sometimes only once a year. However, in Molinos, a town where another one of our teams was, the priest told the town over the radio to not talk to our team because we were preaching lies. After that happened, the team prayed fervently for the upcoming evangelistic events and at every event they had a great turnout! The people said that they didn't care what the priest said--they wanted to come hear what the team had to say anyway! Praise the Lord!
-Safety and efficiency in construction efforts as we build houses and churches in various towns. We had three architects on our team that helped build a house and a well for a Christian family in Cachi! They were so thankful for the help and the architects were so excited to use their gifts for God's glory!
-That the Holy Spirit would open the mens' eyes to how their abusive and alcoholic behavior is destroying their families. In general, we do not converse much with the men in the villages, but I had an opportunity to clearly explain what a man of God is like to the father of Daniela, one of the women who accepted Christ with me. He happened to be sitting in the room as I encouraged Daniela to start going to church in Cachi and find Christian men who can be a godly example to her sons. She had told me separately how her dad never expressed his love for her and was drunk most of her childhood. As I sat there and talked to her about the kind of man her sons need, her dad listened attentively the whole time. Please pray that what he heard will impact his heart and that he will accept Christ and become the male role model that his grandsons need!
-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. The potential impact that Moises (read story above) and his friends can have on the young people in Cachi is tremendous! Pray that the impact that was made on their lives will be transferred to their friends and families as well! Also, one of the students on our team is studying to be a doctor and she taught a sex education class to a group of teenage girls in Cachi and talked about why abstinence before marriage is the best option physically, emotionally, and spiritually. She also talked about our value as women in Christ and how we often settle for the lies of this world that tell us that we must meet certain standards in order to be "beautiful." Praise the Lord for this wonderful opportunity to speak truth into these girls' lives!

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers! Enjoy the pictures below!

We found a Clemson shirt with the donations! This precious little boy in Piul is now a proud Clemson Tiger!

With Daniela, one of the women who accepted Christ with me and began attending the women's Bible study we started!

With Susana and her family! You can see the small room in the back right corner where she lives with her 3 sisters and all of their children

With Mabel, another woman who rents a room in the same place where Susana lives

With Romina, one of the teenage girls I was able to share the Gospel with and get to know during my time in Payogasta

The teenage girls (and a sister and mom!) who came to our talk on our beauty and value as women created by God!

With Mateo, one of Graciela's sweet children :)

Unloading the many donations that we collected before the project and gave out to families in Payogasta, Piul, Buena Vista, La Paya, and Brealito

Some of the children who attended our evangelistic event for kids in La Paya

Our team that traveled to different towns surrounding Payogasta each day! In this picture, we're on our way to Brealito, a 1 1/2 hour drive in the back of a pick-up!

One of the sweet little girls that came to our evangelistic event for kids in Brealito

Ayelen, one of the missionaries in Cachi, who I actually met in 2009 when we attended the same church while I was studying abroad in Cordoba! Small world!