We have one day left on campus. I can't believe we are so close to being done. On Saturday, the 25th our team will leave for debriefing in Uruguay.
Today we walked home from campus in the thunder and pouring rain knowing we'd only have one more day to do our work here. It's sobering to ask myself if I've used my time well here. There is just so much work to be done in this 14 million person city.
A cool story: Last week Aaron and I decided we'd have one more conversation on campus. Aaron took off before I could even gather my things and approached a guy named Pablo. Pablo was really friendly. We talked too him for a really long time and started to share the gospel with him. He told us he used to always turn away people who wanted to talk with him about religion, but that he's been more interested and seeking more recently. We explained to him that it is not works that saves him and that our sin is payed for on the Cross through Jesus' perfect sacrifice. He still didn't get it. So we explained it again... and he got it! He said he wanted Jesus to come into his life but he had to think about it more. We arranged to meet with him again last Friday. So we met with him at Subway and he told us that later that night when we talked to him he had prayed and asked Jesus to be his Lord and Savior. It was awesome! I've never had the chance to be a part of leading someone to Christ before then, and it was such a joyful thing.
Fun: On Monday it was Flag Day, a national holiday. So, the whole team took a bus and visited La Plata. It's a much much smaller town where a lot of people I know who had been on Summer Project in Argentina in the past were based. We went to the plaza at the heart of town, walled in on one side by a massive cathedral. We went inside. It was so massive and quiet and holy feeling. I love cathedrals. This morning I went with three others to the Buenos Aires Zoo. It was a lot of fun and the animals were all really lively (pictures and a video of the lion cubs wrestling, coming soon).
Today I was writing down the things I have learned in the past six weeks. It was a long list and until I started writing them down I hadn't realized the change.
Please pray for our last day on campus and our last few days in Argentina. Thanks!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
El Tigre
I really, really wish I had brought my cord so I could upload my pictures.
This post isn't really about ministry.
The staff have been really awesome about listening to our needs (particularly for sleep and rest) and balancing them with the goal of the trip-to share the gospel as much as possible. So, today was a totally free day. I went with a few other people to Tigre. It's a place about an hour by train north of the city along the river. It was a beautiful day today (in the upper 50's!) and a great day for an excursion. We bought tickets for a boat ride to a small island about half an hour down the river. We had some awesome food there and got to explore the island for a little while. On the boat ride back the sun was setting. After being cooped-up in a skyscraper canyon for weeks, getting among some trees, and in places you can see the whole sky, and out on the water was amazing.
When we do picture surveys with Argentines and we ask them what they wish were a part of their lives they always choose pictures of nature, and after being in BA this long, I can see why. Almost all the Argentines always say they experience God in nature. It can be a little annoying that person after person picks the exact same picture to represent God, but after today and seeing again the beauty in nature, I think I understand a little better. Sitting on the boat with your head out the window and your fingers scraping the wake from the boat, with the sun setting over the Paraná river... its hard not to see God. Romans 1:19-20
This post isn't really about ministry.
The staff have been really awesome about listening to our needs (particularly for sleep and rest) and balancing them with the goal of the trip-to share the gospel as much as possible. So, today was a totally free day. I went with a few other people to Tigre. It's a place about an hour by train north of the city along the river. It was a beautiful day today (in the upper 50's!) and a great day for an excursion. We bought tickets for a boat ride to a small island about half an hour down the river. We had some awesome food there and got to explore the island for a little while. On the boat ride back the sun was setting. After being cooped-up in a skyscraper canyon for weeks, getting among some trees, and in places you can see the whole sky, and out on the water was amazing.
When we do picture surveys with Argentines and we ask them what they wish were a part of their lives they always choose pictures of nature, and after being in BA this long, I can see why. Almost all the Argentines always say they experience God in nature. It can be a little annoying that person after person picks the exact same picture to represent God, but after today and seeing again the beauty in nature, I think I understand a little better. Sitting on the boat with your head out the window and your fingers scraping the wake from the boat, with the sun setting over the Paraná river... its hard not to see God. Romans 1:19-20
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Middle of the road
We are half way through our time here in Buenos Aires. In some ways it feels like it has gone really fast but in a lot of ways it seems like the first day we got here was soo long ago. We are finally getting into our schedule, people have stopped getting sick, and we're all starting to get used to Argentine culture. We are spending around 25 hours a week at our respective campuses and it can be exhausting at times. I'm finally getting to the point where I know my way around the labrythine, hogwarts like campus. I wish I could post pictures now, but it'll have to wait until I get back.
Ministry has been getting better and better. I have never spent this much time before talking to students (most of whom only speak a little English) about what they believe and sharing the gospel this much. Early last week I was just getting really exhausted. Last Wednesday I hit my lowest point when I woke up thinking, ''why am I even here?'' I was feeling like I had only really come on the trip because I had started sending out letters and started raising support and it would be embarrassing to send out other letters that said I'm actually not going to go. I prayed about it a lot that morning and later when we went on campus I was feeling a lot more calm and confident that I was supposed to be here. A friend and I were talking to a guy and sharing the gospel later, and she was leading this one while I was praying and supporting. And it jut hit me then that 'this' is why I am here. To share or to proclaim the gospel. That it doesn't matter what successes or failures I see but just that I am telling people that God loves them, that he sent his son to die for them, to save them from their sins to enable them to have a relationship with him. 'While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.' This is why I am here.
Two stories:
A week ago, Erica and I talked to a guy named Augustin. We shared the gospel with him and he was really receptive. He had to go so we gave him a 'Four Spiritual Laws' Gospel tract/pamphlet (which are totally normal here and people seem to like them a lot more than in the States) and hoped to meet up with him again. Later I was in the cafeteria and I saw him across the room, reading the tract. As he was leaving I waved at him and he came over and told me, 'This is very interesting, I'm reading it again.'
On Monday, Steven and I talked to a guy named Ricardo. He told us he was shy and not very sociable which is weird for an Argentine. The conversation went well and we asked if we could share what we thought. We shared the gospel with him and he was following along with us really well and agreeing with everything we said. We finally asked if he wanted to pray to give his life to Christ, and he said 'yes.' And then we kind of sat there for a second and I asked if he wanted to do that now, and he said 'no.' I'm hoping we can meet with him again.
These past three weeks have been awesome and challenging and completely the opposite of how last summer's Summer Project was. Please pray for me and for the entire team.
Some things I miss from the US: Napkins that actually absorb stuff, understanding what everyone is saying, peanut butter, having a car, having a cell phone/computer/internet access, getting refills at restaurants, vegetables
Things I really like about here: mate (its a drink, kinda like tea that everyone drinks pronounced mah-te), public transportation (subway), everyone is really friendly, people are eager to share what they have, that its not 95 degrees and super humid, that people don't worry about political correctness.
Thanks for reading!
Ministry has been getting better and better. I have never spent this much time before talking to students (most of whom only speak a little English) about what they believe and sharing the gospel this much. Early last week I was just getting really exhausted. Last Wednesday I hit my lowest point when I woke up thinking, ''why am I even here?'' I was feeling like I had only really come on the trip because I had started sending out letters and started raising support and it would be embarrassing to send out other letters that said I'm actually not going to go. I prayed about it a lot that morning and later when we went on campus I was feeling a lot more calm and confident that I was supposed to be here. A friend and I were talking to a guy and sharing the gospel later, and she was leading this one while I was praying and supporting. And it jut hit me then that 'this' is why I am here. To share or to proclaim the gospel. That it doesn't matter what successes or failures I see but just that I am telling people that God loves them, that he sent his son to die for them, to save them from their sins to enable them to have a relationship with him. 'While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.' This is why I am here.
Two stories:
A week ago, Erica and I talked to a guy named Augustin. We shared the gospel with him and he was really receptive. He had to go so we gave him a 'Four Spiritual Laws' Gospel tract/pamphlet (which are totally normal here and people seem to like them a lot more than in the States) and hoped to meet up with him again. Later I was in the cafeteria and I saw him across the room, reading the tract. As he was leaving I waved at him and he came over and told me, 'This is very interesting, I'm reading it again.'
On Monday, Steven and I talked to a guy named Ricardo. He told us he was shy and not very sociable which is weird for an Argentine. The conversation went well and we asked if we could share what we thought. We shared the gospel with him and he was following along with us really well and agreeing with everything we said. We finally asked if he wanted to pray to give his life to Christ, and he said 'yes.' And then we kind of sat there for a second and I asked if he wanted to do that now, and he said 'no.' I'm hoping we can meet with him again.
These past three weeks have been awesome and challenging and completely the opposite of how last summer's Summer Project was. Please pray for me and for the entire team.
Some things I miss from the US: Napkins that actually absorb stuff, understanding what everyone is saying, peanut butter, having a car, having a cell phone/computer/internet access, getting refills at restaurants, vegetables
Things I really like about here: mate (its a drink, kinda like tea that everyone drinks pronounced mah-te), public transportation (subway), everyone is really friendly, people are eager to share what they have, that its not 95 degrees and super humid, that people don't worry about political correctness.
Thanks for reading!
Monday, June 6, 2011
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