Hola!

A lot has happened this past week that we haven't had time to really write!  Sorry about that.  But here's what's been going on.  We've had about 40 seminars in various departments at the university! Between seminars we've been meeting up with students for follow-ups to share more about Jesus and what it means to have a relationship with him.  

For me, I have been having meetings with one girl, Rocio, and another girl, Cristina.  I met Rocio during one of the seminars when we showed a short film, La Busqueda; a story similar to the Prodigal Son of the Bible.  She really liked the film and I invited her to meet with me to go through the 6 follow-up booklets to learn more about what it means to be a follower of Jesus.  She is really good at English so it has been easy to talk to her (especially with my limited Spanish).  We've been meeting almost daily and going through the booklets.  Although she was previously a believer, I am glad I was able to help her in her relationship and growth with Jesus.  

The other girl, Cristina, is a student I met at the first seminar we had.  I remember the first time I talked to her, I was very intimidated by her but still decided to talk to her.  I'm glad I did because she turned out to be one of the sweetest people I have ever met.  When I asked her to meet up with me for a follow-up, I did not know if she was a believer or not.  At our first meeting, I learned that she decided to accept Christ that very day!  How exciting!  We met every day thereafter and finished all 6 follow-up lessons with her.  During one of our meetings, she brought her nail-polish kit because I had previously complimented her on her beautiful nails--she wanted to paint my nails!  She had an exam in 10 minutes but she still continued to diligently paint my nails!!  At another meeting, she had bought me some chocolate from a delicious chocolate store!  Although her English was as good as my Spanish, I was still able to communicate to her about what it means to follow Jesus (with the help of a Spanish/English dictionary, of course).  I find this so amazing that even with this huge language barrier, we could study the Word, pray together, share about our lives, and become good friends.  

Even though I've been having physical and spiritual attacks, I see how good God is and I'm glad to be a part of it.  I will definitely be sad leaving here in a few days...

-Brenda  :)

First day at the English class

Monday 6-23-08

Wow, after a very burdened afternoon, the evening was completely different. I seriously saw God move at the University tonight. At the Facultad de Idiomas (Language Department), we invited students to attend our English seminar. We presented a lecture about self-esteem, and then conversed with students in English. At the beginning, technical difficulties made me nervous. It brought up burdens from the afternoon, in which I worried constantly about Powerpoint presentations we were using, if they would function properly at each seminar, if the classroom would have adequate plugs, if the laptops we brought would have the correct connections to the projectors, etc. I hate technical difficulties, because I feel it distracts people from the message we're trying to convey. But it's simply unavoidable on missions. I felt God telling me I did my best to minimize technical difficulties, and I was being too hard on myself. So, in the end, it worked out well, and Nancy gave an excellent presentation.

I even got to meet students. Me, the shy guy... That was seriously God working in me. I met two brothers, Pablo and Prudi, who were interested in improving their English skills. Their English wasn't bad, and my limited Spanish helped the conversation (awkwardly) progress. They seemed interested in meeting again, and I was so impressed. Once again, ALL God.
On a side note, two girls asked me for my e-mail address. I'd like to think I got hit on by two Latinas! :P

At sharing tonight, on the rooftop terrace with fireworks from the San Juan celebration all over town, we learned so much about God's movement at all the departments in the University. In our Language Department, I learned that 15 of the 16 students commented that they accepted Christ. Praise Him! Seriously amazing work by God tonight! After an afternoon worrying too much about technical difficulties, God showed up, telling me to let Him take care of it. And He did, bringing 15 students to Christ from one class.

I pray that He'll continue the good work. It's only the first day, and it's going to get even better. I'm so excited to see God more and more.

- Nelson

Iglesia Nueva Jerusalem

In the evening we went to a church in the outskirts of the city.  Gio and Nelson helped set up the equipment to show "Magdalena," a film about Jesus in the point of view  of Mary Magdalene.  Once the technical equipment and chairs were set up we formed several groups, each led by Quechua church members,  and headed out into the neighborhood. We knocked on the doors of all the nearby houses and invited those who were home to join us in viewing the film on the "gran pantalla."  As we walked around, we came across so many stray dogs that we immediately regretted not getting rabies shots. There were dogs everywhere!  Big dogs, small dogs, running dogs, sleeping dogs.  Gio insists he saw a gigantic pig... we're not sure if we should believe him though :)  Anyway, the good news it that no one got bitten.  So we went back to the church at about 6:45pm and waited for people to arrive.  The church was filled, the movie was played and all eyes were focused on the images on the wall.

The greatest blessing of the evening was seeing about a dozen people come to Christ that night. We had heard it in countless testimonies, but seeing God work before our very own eyes was simply amazing.

cWOW!

6-22-2008

Sunday morning after breakfast a few of us decided to go the park to do a devotional on the armor of God together. As we opened up in prayer a man approached us offering various items for sale. Immediately thereafter, a group of kids ages 7-12 came and sat directly infront of us on their shoe-shining kits. Without even asking us if they could shine our shoes, one of them started playing the traditional wind flute. We listened, bewildered at what had just happened as we prayed for God to move. One of the kids, Julio, sat next to Donna and greeted us. While the other kids were jumping and fooling around, we noticed that Julio was the leader of the group. He seemed mature and calm for his age, playing close attention to what we were saying and responding with answers that reflected his knowledge of Christ. Another kid standing next to him was wearing a gospel bracelet. When asked if he knew what the colors of the beads represented, we were surprised to hear him answer correctly. This is what began our conversations on Christ and it gave us an opportunity to teach them about the love and of the peace of God.

We had made a deal with the kids: if they participated in our devotional and prayed with us, then we would invite them to a warm meal. The kids, filled with excitement, agreed and without realizing it, we began our time of church without walls (cwow!). It seemed like the armor of God was a great theme because the kids were attentive and ready to talk about what an armor looks like. Shields, helmets, belts and swords...somehow these reminded the kids of wrestling and we laughed out loud as one of the youngest imitated several characters from the wwe (world wrestling entertainment).

When we finished the devotional, the kids were so excited for the warm meal ahead. We went to the local market and when we entered the cafeteria area, several ladies from different open restaurants rushed to us to pressure us to buy from them. We treated nine kids but more of them appeared from  nowhere.  The kids who listened to the devotional said that they didn't want to share food with the ones who had come late.  Upon hearing this, we told them that just as God had provided us with the money to buy them lunch, that we hoped they would share what they had with others.

It was an amazing experience.  Although we were a bit discouraged when seeing some of the kids not paying attention, we were also reminded that we are seed planters rather than harversters of these kids and that God is in charge of changing their lives. In other words, our acts of love and the words of truth we shared from the bible are preparing the soil of their hearts for a deeper faith that will come in the future.

En Camino (En Route) A Bolivia

Hola! We all got here safely after 31 hours of traveling and only about 6 hours of sleep over two days. Please spread the Word that something great has got to happen because we{ve seen so very crazy things happen already!

Wow! What an eventful day of travel- We got caught in a thunderstorm so we had to circle near Miami before we got the OK to land.
We later learned that we were one of two planes that snuck in to land before another big storm came in- I didn{t mention that our original plane in LA was taken out of service at 6 AM so we waited until 7AM to be rerouted to another plane for Miami.

The good thing about the thunder storm was that all the departing flights were grounded also, meaning our connection flight was there boarding after running for 10 MINUTES, from one terminal to another.

What seemed like it was going to be the beginning of one flight of being delayed to cause a ripple effect to our next 2 connecting flights- was a lesson on readjusting our time scale to be event oriented rather than time oriented.

Actually, this is one of the things that I look forward to a when I come to Bolivia, the centrality of relationships and events you do together to trust God and serve Him.

Why is this event centered and relationship centered life so hard when I return to LA? I{m pulled between being "trustworthy and timely" and yet valuing relationships and events rather than focusin on staying on schedule.

This is where my European roots and upbringing kick in and are juxtaposed to my love for people and my heart to make a sustaining impact on people{s lives

Food for thought: Have you experienced this? How do you keep your priorities of relationships in you daily life?