Thursday, March 27, 2008

Easter






I'll bet you don't know where the name Easter comes from... As we we're celebrating our Risen Lord on Sunday with our new church family no one discussed the fact that Christians celebrate the resurrection of Christ on a day called Easter. Crazy how you can do something all your life and never know the origins. Later that night we invited some international students over for dinner before we took them to our church's musical. One of them casually asked what Easter meant. Of course, I thought he was asking about Christ. No, he knew that part, but he wanted to know where the name came from. Thanks to google I was able to find out in minutes.
Are you curious yet? Well, I thought about giving you the answer, but from you own good I decided to let you find out for yourself. Happy googling.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Pictures!


Argentina pictures are up!
Check them out
Don't judge by this picture... we had been traveling for something like 30 hours!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

The story of the girl...



Our second full day in Argentina we headed out to a section of town right along the border of Paraguay. This neighborhood had a church and somewhat of a building to hold services. A pastor and his family had just moved there and recently started meeting with the people. The pastor’s wife Elizabeth had also been counseling students at the local high school. Our main goal was to invite people to come out to our event that night, inform them of the church, and talk to them about their relationship with Christ.
After splitting into teams my team headed out right down the road from the church and began to “knock” on doors. To knock you must clap your hands at the edge of the front yard. I would talk to any women that came to the door and my translator would translate my words. This became less awkward and distracting the more I did it. We came upon a home and “knocked” and out came a young girl carrying a baby boy. She was really open to listening and the Lord prompted me to continue sharing the hope I have in Christ with her. Half way through she started crying so I told her about God’s love for her and the free gift of salvation in Christ alone. I asked her if I could pray for her and if there was anything specific. She just said her family.
After we prayed I asked if she would be coming to the event and she said yes. I told her I would see her there and that was it. We continued on our road. Time came for the event, but there was no sign of her. As we were wrapping up the kids portion of the event and starting the movie I was rounding up the kids when the translator from earlier waved me over. He pointed over to the other side of the field where I saw Elizabeth talking to her. She had come. Several minutes passed and I looked back over to see her crying. I so walked closer and began to pray. The seriousness of the conversation kept me from entering (not to mention that they were speaking in Spanish). I remember asking God to heal her from the pain that was causing her never ending tears. Finally, I walked by and gave her a hug to let her know I was glad she was there.
A few of us left the event to go back to the house and start dinner so I didn’t get to hear what she had said until the team arrived for dinner. Come to find out she had actually met Elizabeth at her school during a counseling session a while back. She had sought counsel for being rapped (she’s only 15). She told Elizabeth that she felt dirty and unworthy and that nothing she has done makes it any better. Sunday, just the day before, she had walked to church to talk to Elizabeth again only to turn around at the corner not once, but twice to return home. Monday morning was when I met her. That night talking to Elizabeth in the field she confessed that she had planned to kill herself that afternoon by jumping off a bridge, but when we came by and told her about the love and hope in Christ she decided to talk to someone instead.
She accepted Christ that night.
God allowed me to be a tool in His kingdom work. I am humbled and delighted to have a new sister in Christ. Although I probably will never see her again on this earth I know I will never forget her face. I saw God change a life and there is nothing more amazing in this world. Please continue to pray for her as she learns to walk with God. Elizabeth is starting to disciple her so pray for that time. Pray that she would read the Bible and hope only in her savior.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Hola! Buenos Dias

My spanish has improved the past few days, but I'm no where near where I'd like to be. Here's a quick update before we leave Argentina to go to Paraguay. Our past 3 days were spent in smaller towns throughout the providence of Formosa. Yesterday we were in a really small town, but had an awesome turnout at our event last night. I'd estimate 300 people were there. We have visited a lot of people during our time. The main goal was to find out if any people were interested in starting a Bible study and if they were listening to the radio program. A lot of people had heard the radio and a few want to start learning more about the Bible.

The girl I mentioned in the last post... long story about her. The ending is that she did except Christ that night and has been in contact with one of the ladies from the church since then. I'll have to tell about the whole story later.

The next couple of days we'll be in Asuncion touring the city. We will have a pool! Also we will be eating at a Churrascaria. We fly out Sunday night around 6pm. Then arrive in NYC at 6am. Layover for a long time, then, home at 2:30pm.
Much rest is needed and will be enjoyed in Paraguay! Praise the Lord for a great time of sharing the Gospel!

Monday, March 10, 2008

Feelin' HOT HOT HOT

Hey! We are all well here in Argentina. It is hot, but not as hot as it could be. Today is our last day in Clorida with one of the missionary families. This morning we went door to door inviting people to the event at 5:30 for kids and 7:30 for everyone. We walked across the border early in the afternoon to check out the Paraguay market.
At the kids event I took 100 kids picture's and they made frames to put them in to take home. After that we showed a movie and got eaten alive by mosquitoes. Thankfully I was able to leave early to help cook dinner. Food has been wonderful. We also had ice cream today! Way better than the US.
Please pray for a friend I met today named Caren. I was able to share the Gospel with her this morning during door to door and when she came tonight one of the spanish speakers talked with her for a good 30 minutes. I know the Lord is working in her so please pray that she will put her hope in Christ. Hopefully I'll be able to know more about her discussion later tonight.

We will be traveling tomorrow morning up the river to a new place where the missionaries are hoping to start a church. We are doing a lot of ground work and meeting as many people as possible. The people here want anything that offers hope for their seemingly hopeless life. Sadly that results often times in idol worship. Many of them claim to "know" Jesus Christ, but their understanding of salvation is heavily influenced by catholicism. We have seem many idol shelves or boxes with the virgin Mary.

The team is great and excited. A little tired from the long days. Pray for us to be hard-working and patient. Pray that we would be urgent in our conversations with the people we meet. Pray for the missionaries here: Jerry, Judy, Alan, Melissa, Reagan, and Ben.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

From Argentina!

Hey! This might be the only update you get, but the family we are working with here are updating so check their blog...

Thursday, March 6, 2008

12 hours til take off!

We are outta here! Why am I blogging right now when I have a lot to do? Well, because this is more fun and I will be traveling for 24 hours so hopefully I'll be so tired from staying up that I can sleep on the plane.
Pictures are back! Praise God we were blessed with money to purchase a new camera! This was taken during our packing process...




We'll try to post while we're there, but no promises...
I'm looking hard core.