On Tuesday morning, June 25th our group arrived safe and sound in Miami at the International airport. Many of us were sick and all of us were tired but we were thrilled to be home. It was an amazing experience in Argentina watching God work in us, through us and around us as the Word of God was proclaimed. In summary, we were able to minister to 5 different childrens groups, 3 youth groups, 5 groups of adults, 1 Word of Life Chapel and 4 days of door to door evangelism. Around 65 people gave their lives to Christ and many other seeds were planted in the process. The three churches we partnered with were encouraged and excited about our campaigns using that energy to kickstart some new programs. The church in LeLoir has a new interior paint design thanks to our group and their fine guidance in painting expertise the "Argentine" way. There are also many new friendships and partnerships that have been created due to this wonderful mission opportunity. May God have the glory.
Thank you so much to the many folks who prayed for us and commented here on the blog while we were serving. Also a big thanks to those who supported the group financially to enable us to travel so far away to bring the Gospel and a life changing opportunity to the members of our group. We are very grateful to have been used by God in this way and pray that we will never be the same because of the lessons we have learned in Christ.
Many of you will be receiving follow up letters from the members of our team with thank you's and pictures of our trip. Our students look forward to sharing their stories with you.
Until next year, God Bless and keep working for the Kingdom...
Pastor James Nolette
Monday, July 7, 2008
Monday, June 23, 2008
Here we come!!!
Last time you heard from us, we were ready to participate in the youth group at the church in Monte. After taking a much-needed rest (Late nights catch up with you), the group headed over to the church at 4 to practice some skits before the middle school “Club Biblico” began at 5. There were a lot of middle school students at the bible study and they started with games and songs. Our group introduced ourselves and provided some humor through our tennis skit and gave a lesson in the form of the sin skit. The kids were interested in the skit and had passionate reactions to what we did.
That was pretty much our entire group did in the middle school youth group as a missionary gave the message to the group. After middle school broke, our team relaxed a little bit and was treated to a dinner from the Monte church. The meal consisted of a food that had quickly become a team favorite: hot empanadas. The meal tasted delicious and we are extremely grateful for the selflessness of the church members. They gave us so many empanadas that w couldn’t put them away, and we had Bengi and David in our group.
After we had finished our meals we got ready for the high school version of “Club Biblico.” There were about 90 students there and they were crazy. The students were constantly chanting, it felt like a futbol match. Pastor James was inspired by the passion at the youth group and wants to implement some of their traditions into Afterburn.
Like the middle school youth group, our team introduced themselves before doing some skits. We began with the doctor’s office skit and the students were even louder than the middle school kids. Pastor James even got applause from the audience during the skit. When we finished the skit, Kelley, Tyler, Jeff and Jayme gave their testimonies Kelley and Tyler talked about their transition to college (seeing that they are going to be Florida Gators and the youth group’s mascot is the Gator) and how the week went while Jeff and Jayme shared their personal testimonies with complete strangers for the first time. We followed up the testimonies with the heart skit, which went over just as well as the doctor’s office. James gave the message to finish up the night. This marked the 10th time he had given the message during the trip which is even more amazing when you consider the fact that he was told he would speak only twice before coming to Argentina. This wrapped up an amazing night as well as an incredible trip overall.
Sunday was a day to relax after going hard for nine straight days. We woke up and had hot chocolate (or coffee, depending on what type of person you are) before driving to Buenos Aires. Once we arrived, we ate lunch at high-end restaurant and had steaks, empanadas and sausage. When we finished the filling meal, our group headed over to see the capital building among other monuments and a catholic church.
After viewing the monuments, we spent 3 hours shopping. The girls looked for jewelry while most of the guys shopped at the countless soccer stores. The one gift both genders had to have: chocolates. Our team then went over to a mall to shop. Most of the kids had already spent more money than they should have so we chose to enjoy the Ferris wheel on the fourth floor. We ended by eating dinner at the food court and heading back to our hotel in Monte to sleep.
Today we woke up and had to pack up to leave Argentine. Most of the group is surprised the trip has ended. It has been a great week and we’ve all gotten much closer to God and each other. We drove over to Lobos, where David and Tanya’s father once preached. We had our final debriefing session in the very church that their dad once preached. After finishing our debriefing, we ate lunch and had Argentine ice cream for the final time (why!?!?!?). As I’m writing this, our team is at the Word of Life Bible Institute waiting to leave for the airport. One again, this week has been great and we have mixed feelings about leaving. We are really going to miss all the friends we’ve made here, but we are most definitely not going to miss the cold weather. Please pray for a safe trip and we look forward to seeing you guys tomorrow morning.
That was pretty much our entire group did in the middle school youth group as a missionary gave the message to the group. After middle school broke, our team relaxed a little bit and was treated to a dinner from the Monte church. The meal consisted of a food that had quickly become a team favorite: hot empanadas. The meal tasted delicious and we are extremely grateful for the selflessness of the church members. They gave us so many empanadas that w couldn’t put them away, and we had Bengi and David in our group.
After we had finished our meals we got ready for the high school version of “Club Biblico.” There were about 90 students there and they were crazy. The students were constantly chanting, it felt like a futbol match. Pastor James was inspired by the passion at the youth group and wants to implement some of their traditions into Afterburn.
Like the middle school youth group, our team introduced themselves before doing some skits. We began with the doctor’s office skit and the students were even louder than the middle school kids. Pastor James even got applause from the audience during the skit. When we finished the skit, Kelley, Tyler, Jeff and Jayme gave their testimonies Kelley and Tyler talked about their transition to college (seeing that they are going to be Florida Gators and the youth group’s mascot is the Gator) and how the week went while Jeff and Jayme shared their personal testimonies with complete strangers for the first time. We followed up the testimonies with the heart skit, which went over just as well as the doctor’s office. James gave the message to finish up the night. This marked the 10th time he had given the message during the trip which is even more amazing when you consider the fact that he was told he would speak only twice before coming to Argentina. This wrapped up an amazing night as well as an incredible trip overall.
Sunday was a day to relax after going hard for nine straight days. We woke up and had hot chocolate (or coffee, depending on what type of person you are) before driving to Buenos Aires. Once we arrived, we ate lunch at high-end restaurant and had steaks, empanadas and sausage. When we finished the filling meal, our group headed over to see the capital building among other monuments and a catholic church.
After viewing the monuments, we spent 3 hours shopping. The girls looked for jewelry while most of the guys shopped at the countless soccer stores. The one gift both genders had to have: chocolates. Our team then went over to a mall to shop. Most of the kids had already spent more money than they should have so we chose to enjoy the Ferris wheel on the fourth floor. We ended by eating dinner at the food court and heading back to our hotel in Monte to sleep.
Today we woke up and had to pack up to leave Argentine. Most of the group is surprised the trip has ended. It has been a great week and we’ve all gotten much closer to God and each other. We drove over to Lobos, where David and Tanya’s father once preached. We had our final debriefing session in the very church that their dad once preached. After finishing our debriefing, we ate lunch and had Argentine ice cream for the final time (why!?!?!?). As I’m writing this, our team is at the Word of Life Bible Institute waiting to leave for the airport. One again, this week has been great and we have mixed feelings about leaving. We are really going to miss all the friends we’ve made here, but we are most definitely not going to miss the cold weather. Please pray for a safe trip and we look forward to seeing you guys tomorrow morning.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
New Places!
Hey everyone! It´s Kelley and BenjO (the “O” is not a typo)! I know that many of you may be rather worried because we haven´t written in a few days, but please fret no more! We are all ALIVE and SAFE! We have been so busy and we couldn´t get to a computer! We are now staying in a city in Monte an hour away from Oro Verde. We packed up the bus early Thursday morning and headed to the Word of Life Bible Institute for their daily chapel. It was a cold and rainy day! What is amazing is that we have had wonderful weather all week during our outreach and evangelism times. When the time came to change ministry gears, God opened the heavens with lots of water! We are so thankful for God´s perfect timing! During the chapel at Word of Life, we heard testimonies from Benjo and Lisa. Lisa gave a quick synopsis to the 500 Word of Life students about how our week of evangelism in Oro Verde went. Benjo´s touching testimony brought tears to many eyes as he shared the story of his father. After the chapel, we found our Word of Life friends and toured the campus! After lunch in the cafeteria, we checked in to the hotel and enjoyed a wonderful 2-3 hour siesta (nap) while a few of our boys played soccer in the rain. Dinner took place at El Mongrullo and consisted of sausage and delicious steak! Yum yum! With stomachs full, we went back to Word of Life. The boys shared their testimonies with other Word of Life males in the dorm rooms while the ladies chatted with missionaries living on campus. We headed back to the hotel and slept to the peaceful pitter patter of raindrops on our windows.
Yesterday, we went out to breakfast at
It´s Saturday! Yes! The sun is back out! No more rain! Breakfast again at the
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
The Day of Gideon
Our Bus driver is a maniac and we love him. He looks like an Argentine version of ¨Tony Ferrara¨
Pastor James is now 8 for 6. That means that he has preached 8 times in 6 days. He is getting on a roll now. Thursday at Chapel he will speak for the entire student body at Word of Life.
After a game of big ball volleyball, Pastor James shared the gospel to some kids and the girl below named Natalia accepted Christ as Savior at the church called Parque LeLoir.
We learned today how to trust God for much when we have little to offer.
Day 5 the children swarmed us from all directions. It was like wading through a river during the monsoon season. This is Jeff Madsen at the helm of this computer accompanied by none other than 2pac himself, Greg Motte. As the co-pilot (yes our Spanish is amazing we know) Motte man requests that you put your seats in an upright position and enjoy the crazy ride as we describe the events of our day. Hopefully we have your attention by now, and if we don’t, log off your computer and watch the nba finals because we’re feeling pretty insane right now.
Motte and I are working on six hours of sleep; suffering from exhaustion; working late; and this computer will not work correctly which explains the recent lack of commas. On to what matters, Ha!! The comma button works again!! This morning, Tuesday, June 17, our missions group started our glorious escapade (props to Motte for letting me use that phrase) by passing out bibles to children at the local schools in our area. Between eight teams of word of life students, local church members, and missions group members, we passed out 4,000 bibles today. The highlight of this excursion came from Greg, who was given the opportunity to witness to 6, yes 6, teenagers who all came to Christ. Praise God!! WHOOO HOOOO!!! We passed out all the bibles we had in our possession, which was/is awesome. We returned to the church in Odo Verde after this fruitful adventure to Argentine style hot pockets called empanadas (which are homemade and are actually delicious) and pizza.
I must now record for safety reasons the means of transportation used to get to the schools and back. A bus, a car, a van, and another car were used for transportation on this fine day. I had the distinct privilege of riding in pastor David´s car. Pastor David is pretty much in control of all our lives while we’re on this mission trip. Today however he had the ability to decide whether everyone in his car lived or died, and didn’t seem to be able to make up his mind as to whether he wanted us all to meet Christ at that moment or not. Swerving around two cars, which belonged to the church by the way, he attempted to pass the bus. Juan-chi, the bus driver, avoided a puddle, no it was more like a lake, in the road, and promptly came straight across the road cutting us off. This near death encounter did not slow down the good pastor one bit however, and as we turned down a different street, via a bat-turn, we increased our speed and then SLAMMED on the breaks to pick up another pastor on the side of the road. What was he doing there? Don´t know...
We swerved in and out of traffic trying very hard to avoid the like 50 billion stray dogs that live in this area, out on the streets. (If all the dogs united and rebelled, they could so totally take the Argentine people) Finally after beeping the horn furiously at a truck, which had stopped at a red light, we arrived at the school. I think the drive back was even better, but I had my eyes closed so I can’t really tell you what it was like.
After lunch we visited another church, which was recently planted. We then went door to door witnessing, sharing the gospel, and inviting local people to the evening event. Several people came to Christ during this time period. PRAISE GOD!!! As a side note, I would like to say that instead of ringing a doorbell, you clap (not too many times, max of 5 or it is considered very rude in this culture). Also do not enter the front patio without permission, unless you are a personal friend as it is some of the only personal space each family has.
At the evening rally, the team started off with balloon animals for the children, shapes included, dogs, hats, Christian fish, a different type of dog (apparently the original wasn’t enough) and the big favourite, a gigantic flower made out of four different balloons. We then proceeded to totally blow the kids away with our amazing acting skills (HA HA HA). ¨The tennis skit¨ as the drama is called, was a big hit with everyone. Props to the whole team, especially Jayme, who has a unique and difficult roll. The skit is about a movie scene which is never done right and has to be repeated over and over. The scene is about 4 people playing tennis, and one player (Benji) hits another player (Jayme) square in the face knocking him out cold. Jayme has the unique privilege of being ¨knock out¨ about eight times. (Benji for some strange reason loves this skit, I don’t know why) Afterwards, James was asked to preach for the SIXTH time this week. He totally nailed it despite his being asked later each day, and the 20 minutes they gave him to prepare. He is quite fine with it though as he understands the culture of Argentina and the fact that the Holy Spirit gives you the words to say each time you need them. The next skit we did is called the heart skit, its long so I won’t explain it. All you need to know is that I act amazingly and am as smooth as silk. After this drama, we were able to evangelize again, and many more came to Christ. PRAISE GOD AGAIN!!! We then returned to the church, Greg bought a soccer ball for a family of kids who only had an old, COMPLETELY flat ball. It was pretty sweet I’m not going to lie. I wish you could have seen the looks on the kids faces.
We then left, ate some awesome chicken and steak, and debriefed. Seriously, that´s what we call it, DEBRIEFING. How cool is that?!! We are now at the hotel, most of us are going to sleep, except for Greg and I who swore we would do this blog justice by relating every single minute detail of the day. You can thank us when we get back. Also Matt just called Kelley four eyes while taking her and DeAndra’s picture, and she kicked him. It made my day/night, I wish you all could have seen it. In other news, us guys refuse to get enough sleep (seriously we’re getting delirious, not really...) and we continue our never ending games of go fish, one of which Benji has yet to win. Also I’m pretty sure David, James’ brother in law, wants to make the game a contact sport, he really scares me when he plays. He’s ridiculously good though. Shout out to my folks, pray for us all, and God bless. See ya (From Jeff and Greg, hope you enjoyed our three hour narrative) toodles…
Day 5 the children swarmed us from all directions. It was like wading through a river during the monsoon season. This is Jeff Madsen at the helm of this computer accompanied by none other than 2pac himself, Greg Motte. As the co-pilot (yes our Spanish is amazing we know) Motte man requests that you put your seats in an upright position and enjoy the crazy ride as we describe the events of our day. Hopefully we have your attention by now, and if we don’t, log off your computer and watch the nba finals because we’re feeling pretty insane right now.
Motte and I are working on six hours of sleep; suffering from exhaustion; working late; and this computer will not work correctly which explains the recent lack of commas. On to what matters, Ha!! The comma button works again!! This morning, Tuesday, June 17, our missions group started our glorious escapade (props to Motte for letting me use that phrase) by passing out bibles to children at the local schools in our area. Between eight teams of word of life students, local church members, and missions group members, we passed out 4,000 bibles today. The highlight of this excursion came from Greg, who was given the opportunity to witness to 6, yes 6, teenagers who all came to Christ. Praise God!! WHOOO HOOOO!!! We passed out all the bibles we had in our possession, which was/is awesome. We returned to the church in Odo Verde after this fruitful adventure to Argentine style hot pockets called empanadas (which are homemade and are actually delicious) and pizza.
I must now record for safety reasons the means of transportation used to get to the schools and back. A bus, a car, a van, and another car were used for transportation on this fine day. I had the distinct privilege of riding in pastor David´s car. Pastor David is pretty much in control of all our lives while we’re on this mission trip. Today however he had the ability to decide whether everyone in his car lived or died, and didn’t seem to be able to make up his mind as to whether he wanted us all to meet Christ at that moment or not. Swerving around two cars, which belonged to the church by the way, he attempted to pass the bus. Juan-chi, the bus driver, avoided a puddle, no it was more like a lake, in the road, and promptly came straight across the road cutting us off. This near death encounter did not slow down the good pastor one bit however, and as we turned down a different street, via a bat-turn, we increased our speed and then SLAMMED on the breaks to pick up another pastor on the side of the road. What was he doing there? Don´t know...
We swerved in and out of traffic trying very hard to avoid the like 50 billion stray dogs that live in this area, out on the streets. (If all the dogs united and rebelled, they could so totally take the Argentine people) Finally after beeping the horn furiously at a truck, which had stopped at a red light, we arrived at the school. I think the drive back was even better, but I had my eyes closed so I can’t really tell you what it was like.
After lunch we visited another church, which was recently planted. We then went door to door witnessing, sharing the gospel, and inviting local people to the evening event. Several people came to Christ during this time period. PRAISE GOD!!! As a side note, I would like to say that instead of ringing a doorbell, you clap (not too many times, max of 5 or it is considered very rude in this culture). Also do not enter the front patio without permission, unless you are a personal friend as it is some of the only personal space each family has.
At the evening rally, the team started off with balloon animals for the children, shapes included, dogs, hats, Christian fish, a different type of dog (apparently the original wasn’t enough) and the big favourite, a gigantic flower made out of four different balloons. We then proceeded to totally blow the kids away with our amazing acting skills (HA HA HA). ¨The tennis skit¨ as the drama is called, was a big hit with everyone. Props to the whole team, especially Jayme, who has a unique and difficult roll. The skit is about a movie scene which is never done right and has to be repeated over and over. The scene is about 4 people playing tennis, and one player (Benji) hits another player (Jayme) square in the face knocking him out cold. Jayme has the unique privilege of being ¨knock out¨ about eight times. (Benji for some strange reason loves this skit, I don’t know why) Afterwards, James was asked to preach for the SIXTH time this week. He totally nailed it despite his being asked later each day, and the 20 minutes they gave him to prepare. He is quite fine with it though as he understands the culture of Argentina and the fact that the Holy Spirit gives you the words to say each time you need them. The next skit we did is called the heart skit, its long so I won’t explain it. All you need to know is that I act amazingly and am as smooth as silk. After this drama, we were able to evangelize again, and many more came to Christ. PRAISE GOD AGAIN!!! We then returned to the church, Greg bought a soccer ball for a family of kids who only had an old, COMPLETELY flat ball. It was pretty sweet I’m not going to lie. I wish you could have seen the looks on the kids faces.
We then left, ate some awesome chicken and steak, and debriefed. Seriously, that´s what we call it, DEBRIEFING. How cool is that?!! We are now at the hotel, most of us are going to sleep, except for Greg and I who swore we would do this blog justice by relating every single minute detail of the day. You can thank us when we get back. Also Matt just called Kelley four eyes while taking her and DeAndra’s picture, and she kicked him. It made my day/night, I wish you all could have seen it. In other news, us guys refuse to get enough sleep (seriously we’re getting delirious, not really...) and we continue our never ending games of go fish, one of which Benji has yet to win. Also I’m pretty sure David, James’ brother in law, wants to make the game a contact sport, he really scares me when he plays. He’s ridiculously good though. Shout out to my folks, pray for us all, and God bless. See ya (From Jeff and Greg, hope you enjoyed our three hour narrative) toodles…
Late Blog from Monday Night
Jesus Outstreched Arms
Jesus´s Outstretched Fingers
¨Clap clap clap clap clap!¨ God´s fingers were very busy today using his servants in Oro Verde , Argentina . Not only did those five claps signify how many times we were to clap to draw people out of their houses, but also a grand applause from the angels welcoming all the new believers. The day started at 9AM with a quick breakfast and a jump on the bus, we were off. Bundled up as usual, we went to the church and were greeted with steaming tea, ¨Happy birthday, Jayme,¨ and toast. We worshipped by singing songs before embarking on our day´s mission- inviting as many people as possible to attend the evenings drama production from the Word of Life Bible Institute. During worship (yes, we were freeeeezzing), Pastor David (yes, he´s a ham) decided to pick on a few of us. He threatened to make us sing the ¨frog song¨ if we didn´t ¨whole heartedly¨ worship. Nevertheless, he held up to his request! Light clapping to the songs clearly did not suffice. Benji, David, and I (Kelley) were selected to perform this humorous dance which consisted of standing with our toes pointing outwards, bobbing up and down, and singing in about a green frog in Spanish. It definitely warmed us up and got us ready to start our day! Pastor David shared some important words of wisdom that we were told before we went out in the neighbourhoods. ¨By obeying God, you are worshipping him. Your job today is simply to invite as many people as you can to the drama tonight. It may not sound spectacular, but by doing so you will be obeying God.¨ None of thought twice about what he said until later that night. We got split into 12 groups. Being that there were exactly 12 of us, we were all split and matched with a translator and a local. We folded up gospel tracks, zipped our jackets, and dispersed to our assigned areas! The 6 hour experience (including lunch) ended up being incredibly uplifting! We had the privilege to do sporadic evangelizing the whole day. For example, Benji admitted to sharing his testimony to a mother and a child for the first time in his life. Jeff was touched by a man who refused to let us tell him the gospel. Jayme (the birthday boy sitting to my left) helped lead a man to Christ straight off the streets for the first time. Many said they were very interested in attending the drama that would take place later that day. Little did we know that they were serious! We tried to load the bus to transport the people to where the drama would be shown (none of them had cars). Surprisingly, we had to come back for a second trip to the large amount or people. Pastor David was astonished at how many came. Nobody had any idea that so many people would attend- over 350! We completely ran out of chairs, but everyone still stayed and watched even though it meant standing for an entire hour. The drama, performed in as a professional setting as you can in a warehouse, was emotional and spectacular. The Word of Life Bible Institute performed it. It was about two people who had drug problems, went to a Christian summer camp, got saved, and as a result changed their life. They unexpectedly had contracted HIV during their drug experiences and died. Pastor James presented the gospel after the drama. He had no idea who idea that he would do this until the drama had already started! What is the key word of every mission trip? Flexiblilty! We didn´t even have time to count the all people’s raised hands who agreed to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. The decision cards deemed the night with the success of over 50 new believers! Fellowship after the drama was a blast. Tyler and Benji were human child magnets. They had kids climbing all over them! We engaged in an intense four player ¨patty-cake¨ session with elimination rounds. It was intense! We went back to the church at Oro Verde around 8 and had a birthday celebration for Jayme! We embarrassed him by making him sing the frog song and the chicken song. We ended it with the Argentine tradition- cake in the face after blowing out the candles. We hopped back to the bus and ate an early dinner at 9. We are now eating ice-cream (dulce de leche flavor) and cooling off after our eventful and encouraging day. We are all exhausted and have sore throats- but the common eye would not be able to see it! Our energy is still overflowing! Since we got back to the hotel a few hours earlier than usual, we might even sleep before midnight tonight (a fabulous first)! All in all, busy mouths and tired feet had been used by God today. While we had NO idea what a success the day and night would be, and we cannot take any of the glory. We were simply little, helpless instruments used by God- his little ¨fingers.¨ He planned this day out before we were even born, and as a team we are overjoyed to have been used by him in such a spectacular way.
Jesus´s Outstretched Fingers
¨Clap clap clap clap clap!¨ God´s fingers were very busy today using his servants in Oro Verde , Argentina . Not only did those five claps signify how many times we were to clap to draw people out of their houses, but also a grand applause from the angels welcoming all the new believers. The day started at 9AM with a quick breakfast and a jump on the bus, we were off. Bundled up as usual, we went to the church and were greeted with steaming tea, ¨Happy birthday, Jayme,¨ and toast. We worshipped by singing songs before embarking on our day´s mission- inviting as many people as possible to attend the evenings drama production from the Word of Life Bible Institute. During worship (yes, we were freeeeezzing), Pastor David (yes, he´s a ham) decided to pick on a few of us. He threatened to make us sing the ¨frog song¨ if we didn´t ¨whole heartedly¨ worship. Nevertheless, he held up to his request! Light clapping to the songs clearly did not suffice. Benji, David, and I (Kelley) were selected to perform this humorous dance which consisted of standing with our toes pointing outwards, bobbing up and down, and singing in about a green frog in Spanish. It definitely warmed us up and got us ready to start our day! Pastor David shared some important words of wisdom that we were told before we went out in the neighbourhoods. ¨By obeying God, you are worshipping him. Your job today is simply to invite as many people as you can to the drama tonight. It may not sound spectacular, but by doing so you will be obeying God.¨ None of thought twice about what he said until later that night. We got split into 12 groups. Being that there were exactly 12 of us, we were all split and matched with a translator and a local. We folded up gospel tracks, zipped our jackets, and dispersed to our assigned areas! The 6 hour experience (including lunch) ended up being incredibly uplifting! We had the privilege to do sporadic evangelizing the whole day. For example, Benji admitted to sharing his testimony to a mother and a child for the first time in his life. Jeff was touched by a man who refused to let us tell him the gospel. Jayme (the birthday boy sitting to my left) helped lead a man to Christ straight off the streets for the first time. Many said they were very interested in attending the drama that would take place later that day. Little did we know that they were serious! We tried to load the bus to transport the people to where the drama would be shown (none of them had cars). Surprisingly, we had to come back for a second trip to the large amount or people. Pastor David was astonished at how many came. Nobody had any idea that so many people would attend- over 350! We completely ran out of chairs, but everyone still stayed and watched even though it meant standing for an entire hour. The drama, performed in as a professional setting as you can in a warehouse, was emotional and spectacular. The Word of Life Bible Institute performed it. It was about two people who had drug problems, went to a Christian summer camp, got saved, and as a result changed their life. They unexpectedly had contracted HIV during their drug experiences and died. Pastor James presented the gospel after the drama. He had no idea who idea that he would do this until the drama had already started! What is the key word of every mission trip? Flexiblilty! We didn´t even have time to count the all people’s raised hands who agreed to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. The decision cards deemed the night with the success of over 50 new believers! Fellowship after the drama was a blast. Tyler and Benji were human child magnets. They had kids climbing all over them! We engaged in an intense four player ¨patty-cake¨ session with elimination rounds. It was intense! We went back to the church at Oro Verde around 8 and had a birthday celebration for Jayme! We embarrassed him by making him sing the frog song and the chicken song. We ended it with the Argentine tradition- cake in the face after blowing out the candles. We hopped back to the bus and ate an early dinner at 9. We are now eating ice-cream (dulce de leche flavor) and cooling off after our eventful and encouraging day. We are all exhausted and have sore throats- but the common eye would not be able to see it! Our energy is still overflowing! Since we got back to the hotel a few hours earlier than usual, we might even sleep before midnight tonight (a fabulous first)! All in all, busy mouths and tired feet had been used by God today. While we had NO idea what a success the day and night would be, and we cannot take any of the glory. We were simply little, helpless instruments used by God- his little ¨fingers.¨ He planned this day out before we were even born, and as a team we are overjoyed to have been used by him in such a spectacular way.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Hey ya´ll
Seeing that we all woke up on time, today promised to be an amazing day.. which...IT WAS!! :) The bus picked us up around 8:45 this morning and took us to a different church from yesterday called La Iglesia Biblica Missionario. We then ventured out into the neighborhood to pick up the kids for sunday school. Because it was Father´s Day many children were unable to join us, but we still had about 42 kids come. We played games and sang with the kids. Then children here were very into chanting and competing: guys against girls. Maryanne gave her testimony and did an AMAZING job! Then we did the doctor skit again, where Pastor James broke out of his shell and played the role of the moneky instead of the chicken. Then we did a craft which was very succesful, because we were able to bond with the children despite the language barrier. After the program we walked the kids home and then got on the bus and returned to the church in Ouro Verde ( the same church from yesterday) for lunch.
After lunch we hopped back on the bus and returned to the neighborhood from earlier and had a soccer marathon. The game was a blast and the boys really enjoyed playing with the Argentine kids. The marathon was used as an outreach where we did our Tennis skit (which had a much better response than our first attempt), and Pastor James spoke. After this we returned to the church in Ouro Verde once again, and prepared for the church service.
The service was awesome, and members of the church put on a special skit/musical for Father´s Day. DeAndra and David shared their testimonies, and Pastor James preached. The Holy Spirit was at work and two people came to Christ, a little girl and a father of 15 kids! woot woot!! After the service we had a great time of fellowship between us and the church members. Jayme now has a fan club consisting of four little admirers. And Tyler and Benji were able to connect with all the kids, and their energy brought lots of laughter.
We are excited for all God is doing here!! Please pray for us as the cold here is quite chilling and the lack of rest is adding up.
We hope ya´ll are doing amazing and we are thankful for your constant prayers! :)
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Day 2 es muy bueno
Today we began by waking up around 7 and met for breakfast in the hotel lobby. We have been led to believe Argentine time is more relaxed than American time, but we were the ones behind this morning. The bus came as we finished breakfast and we had to rush to get our supplies for the day and catch it.
We arrived at the Oro Verde church at 9:45 and found it had been prepared for a children´s service with signs, streamers and flags. Our group broke up and joined locals with translators and went around the city finding children to participate.
The service began around 11 after we picked up the children and made balloon animals (which was a major success). In all, there were approximatly 65 kids at the service. Activities included games, songs, skits performed by us and food provided by the church. After we were finished, the children were reluctant to leave and begged for more balloon animals, even if they already had 3 or 4. Groups walked the children back to their homes while others cleaned up the church.
When this was finished, we spent an hour to unwind and prepare for the rest of the day. During the break many of us got the chance to try matte, a local hot tea. After the rest, we formed into groups consisting of us, a local and a translator. Groups went throughout the city giving out gospel tracks and inviting people to the plaza for soccer and a message. The soccer game was not surprisingly a big hit. After the game, we gathered everybody and had a painting on the steps from being a sinner to having an active relationship with Jesus.
Then everybody jumped onto a bus and drove back to Oro Verde church. There we had what they call bible club, consisting of games, skits, singing, and James sharing the word of God. Also in this time tonight, Greg and Kelley gave their testimonies. The children seemed moved. At the end of bible club, we had bread and tea while socializing with members of other churches.
We packed up the bus and rode back to our hotel. When we arrived, we headed over to a restaurant across the street for dinner at 9. This was followed by the world´s greatest ice cream. Jayme, David and me had way too much and most likey took a couple of years off our lives. It was unfortunate, but worth it. We all gathered in a lobby for debriefing and prayer requests. Now it´s time for bed, so some will sleep while others play go fish (which is for some reason becoming popular again despite the fact we are no longer 6 years old). Continue to pray for us as we go out and evangelize on one of the biggest church-attending days in Argentina, Father´s Day. Let´s pray to give James the wisdom to speak. Adios.
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