A Thousand Splendid Seeds

Whenever I thought of missions, I thought of doing some kind of work that required physical labor, such as building homes.  In Bolivia, we didn't really do any of this.

We spent the majority of our time at the university giving seminars on various topics such as self-esteem issues, dating, leadership, and building good studying habits. There were more topics, and they varied depending on which department we were assigned.  I was with a group that was assigned to the school of communications.   Given the nature of the school, we found the use of media to be the most effective way to capture the students' attention.  Hence, most of 

our seminars consisted of showing short films, produced by the Bolivian staff of Campus Crusades, to the students and holding discussions thereafter.  Eventually all the discussions were led towards the four spiritual laws (a booklet that explains the essentials of christian faith), and ended with an invitation to accept Christ.

The response from the students was overwhelmingly positive.  The comment cards returned to us almost always had something nice to say.  Through the use of these comment cards we also got a better idea of how many people had accepted Christ.  For each class that we went to, it seemed like at least 90% would check off "yes, I invited Christ into my heart."

I was so surprised at the numbers that at one point I began doubting the students' hearts.  For the first few days I couldn't help but think that the students were just being polite and checking off the "Yes" box merely because they couldn't say no.   Then I began to doubt the effectiveness of the campus approach we were taking.  My faith was being clouded by doubt.  Who was I to question their hearts anyway?

It wasn't until the follow-ups that God started to open my eyes to the bigger picture.  The follow-ups were for students who were interested in learning more about Christ.   Typically, they would come to our hostel, we'd get to know them a bit more, and do more studies with them.   We also held various events in the lobby, such as pizza night, for all students that were interested.  To my surprise,  the work we were doing wasn't just for those who didn't know Christ; it also turned out to be a great opportunity for believers to meet other believers in their class.   In one of the gatherings,

 we met a girl, Daniela, who was christian.  As she met other students that had come to the event, she realized she hadn't been alone and teared up as she shared about how hard and discouraging it had been to be without community, and how good it felt to now know that there were others who shared in the same faith.  As we all sat in a circle, I could sense the relief and excitement in Daniela and those around her.   I was thankful to God and prayed that He would bless their new relationships.

In the time that we were there, I also got to know the  Bolivian CC staff better.   I learned that some of them had accepted Christ in the same way that students were accepting Christ in the classrooms.   Someone on campus, while they were still in school, had explained the four laws to them.  Then I remembered something: when we first arrived in Sucre and met with the Bolivian nationals of Campus Crusades, we were told  that there were people in Santa Cruz (where the Campus Crusades headquarters is located) praying that God would raise 5 people that would step up to lead the movement in Sucre. 

When we left for Santa Cruz, one of the Bolivian staff members, Chavi, decided to stay an extra week in Sucre to continue meeting with the students.  In that week, students continued to stop by the hostel eager to learn more about Jesus.  

With the movement clearly alive in Sucre, Campus Crusades-Bolivia plans to send out a team once a month to Sucre so that they can continue meeting with the students.  Our prayer is that God will convict the hearts of the students and that He will make leaders  out of them just as He had done with the Bolivian CC staff.

By the time we left Sucre,  over a thousand students had noted on the comment cards that they had accepted Christ.  How many of them sincerely received Christ is something only God knows.   Still, I like to believe that over a thousand seeds have been planted and it's exciting to think of how many of them will come into fruition.

Thank you all for your support in making this mission trip possible.  

-Vero

We're BACK!

Well we're back in the USA, with mixed feelings. It's good to be home around what's familiar and our family and friends, but it's also sad to be so far away from new friends we have made while in Bolivia.
The Lord blessed us with so many great friendships with the Bolivian Campus Crusade staff, student leaders and the students at San Fransisco Xavier Universtiy in Sucre.
Last night we all meet together to debrief our trip and we began our time with sharing some highlights from our trip. Some of them you've already read about in previous entries. But others we just didn't have enough time and reliable wireless internet in order to write and post them on our blog while we were gone. So I thought that I'd write about a few of our highlights and show you some more pictures from our time.
The Orphanages...
Toward the end our time in Surcre we visited two state orphanages, a girls and a boys. In the past we have handed out clothes and care packages including snacks, socks, toothbrush and paste and even sometimes shoes.
This year we wanted to spend some more time interacting with the kids and also intentionally presenting the gospel in a way that they could really understand.
So we had a time of singing with motions (of course) that was led by some high schoolers on the trip and then we played crazy games like the hula hoop pass (seen above), dodge ball and the human knot. Then we broke into smaller group and did an activity called the Treasure. This is an activity where the kids have to try to make it across a path only stepping on small pieces of newspaper and not touching any part of their body on the floor. The goal is to reach the other side where a leader is holding a treasure that they desperately want to share with each child who can make it to them. It's designed to look possible but is impossible. When the kids touch the floor, we yell, DIE! or MUERTO! and they have to dramatically fall to the ground. The leader than says "Que Lastima!" or "How Terrible!" you couldn't make it to the treasure on your own, but because of my great love for you, I'm going to make a bridge for you to make it over to me and recieve the treasure. But you each have to tell me if you want my help. So the leader rolls out toilet paper from where they're standing to each child and offers them their hand. The kids usually accepted it and they walked across the toilet paper to recieve the treasure.
We then sat them down and explained to them the parralles between the activity and our relationship with God. And then end with an opportunity for them to recieve Christ as their Savior. Many of the kids GOT IT, and prayed.
We also gave out some new and used clothes along with a care package with snacks socks and hygiene stuff. Unfortunately we didn't buy shoes this year, but you can see

from the picture they really needed new shoes.

Mid Afternoon Tea Time

Besides the daily siesta that we could take, I think that my other favorite daily routine was having afternoon tea. This great woman standing next to me would bring her baskets filled with freshly backed pastries around 4 PM everyday right outside our Hostel. And I loved buying cunapes from her, they are round cheese breads eaten with tea, along with other things like sonso (yucca with cheese put on a scewer and browned) and empenadas. I loved the food and the friendships you get to enjoy throughout the day.

--Donna