Hi everyone! I hope all is well in the USA...it´s going well here in Argentina, although the weather is getting a bit colder. Sad day to know that I´m missing out on the lovely summer weather! But I do enjoy fall (which I missed this past year) so I get to see it here. I am currently at a locutorio, a place to get internet, and trying to upload pictures for everyone, but it´s not working! So, I will definitely do that soon! I know I keep promising it. :-)
Thanks Pastor Dave for your awesome words of encouragement! I too love the verse from Jeremiah 29:11 and have reminded myself of it since arriving here in La Plata. I also am reminded of this verse from 1 Peter 1:6-7 :
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
I feel like the whole experience of summer project is the process of being refined by fire for me. It´s great and fun and exciting....but it´s also challenging, draining, and a huge learning experience. As our leaders put it, when you´re on a summer project we each come with a big bucket of junk, following along after us. Througout the summer our junk starts to slosh out and get onto everyone else. Our sins become much more evident and we´re put in a position of great growth. It´s hard to ignore change! And, as Pastor put it, it hurts to change our ways sometimes...but so necessary if we´re to continue on the path that God has for us.
Gosh, I´ve been learning SO much! We listened to a sermon on Monday morning (my birthday, whoot whoot!!) that we followed up with a discussion. I ended up in tears, which shows that it impacted me in a great way. It talked about just the absolute need to share our faith no matter who we are, what we´re doing, or where we´re at. It used a great illustration of the Titanic. After the Titanic sunk, there were many people floating in the water in their life jackets, with no one to come rescue them. There were also people in life boats that we´re not even full. The lifeboats didn´t stop to pick up those who were desperate to be saved. The next morning searchers arrived to a sickening scene of hundreds of dead people floating in their life jackets.
Those people didn´t die because the Titanic sank...They instead died because those who were already saved wouldn´t go back for them.
Isn´t that how it works with us? We´re so content in our salvation that we don´t recognize the fact that there are hundreds and thousands of people we see each week heading in the direction of Hell. We have a voice...we can tell the truth. At least if people hear the truth, they can make a choice too, just like we once did.
Anyways, that was a tiny piece of what I´m learning. We´ve also focused a lot on the power of the Holy Spirit and how we need to yield EVERY area of our life to him, even the very difficult areas. This is convicting for me because there are definitely some areas that I need to hand over the reigns on.
Lastly, how I am doing. I´m genuinely joyful and content with being here in La Plata. I get tired easily, but I know a lot of that comes from long spiritual conversations with non-believers (or even those who believe) and pouring yourself out constantly. It´s easy to get discouraged when you have a day where you only have one conversation with a person and they´re not even that interested in what you have to offer. However, it´s teaching me more and more that God does not define success like we do and it´s not MY job to work in the hearts of those who we talk to. He will lift the veil from their faces when the time is right. I get to constantly be a seed planter! Spiritually I am constantly learning and (hopefully) growing. I am developing new friendships and I can´t wait to see where they lead.
Thank you SO much for keeping up-to-date on my experiences and know that ALL of us here appreciate your prayers. Know that you´re helping us over here be the bearers of Good News!!
You can pray for:
BOLDness! Our goal is to share the true gospel and it can be intimidating!
Energy! We are only running this particular race for 3 more weeks and we need God´s strength to keep going.
Ciao!!
Gosh, I´ve been learning SO much! We listened to a sermon on Monday morning (my birthday, whoot whoot!!) that we followed up with a discussion. I ended up in tears, which shows that it impacted me in a great way. It talked about just the absolute need to share our faith no matter who we are, what we´re doing, or where we´re at. It used a great illustration of the Titanic. After the Titanic sunk, there were many people floating in the water in their life jackets, with no one to come rescue them. There were also people in life boats that we´re not even full. The lifeboats didn´t stop to pick up those who were desperate to be saved. The next morning searchers arrived to a sickening scene of hundreds of dead people floating in their life jackets.
Those people didn´t die because the Titanic sank...They instead died because those who were already saved wouldn´t go back for them.
Isn´t that how it works with us? We´re so content in our salvation that we don´t recognize the fact that there are hundreds and thousands of people we see each week heading in the direction of Hell. We have a voice...we can tell the truth. At least if people hear the truth, they can make a choice too, just like we once did.
Anyways, that was a tiny piece of what I´m learning. We´ve also focused a lot on the power of the Holy Spirit and how we need to yield EVERY area of our life to him, even the very difficult areas. This is convicting for me because there are definitely some areas that I need to hand over the reigns on.
Lastly, how I am doing. I´m genuinely joyful and content with being here in La Plata. I get tired easily, but I know a lot of that comes from long spiritual conversations with non-believers (or even those who believe) and pouring yourself out constantly. It´s easy to get discouraged when you have a day where you only have one conversation with a person and they´re not even that interested in what you have to offer. However, it´s teaching me more and more that God does not define success like we do and it´s not MY job to work in the hearts of those who we talk to. He will lift the veil from their faces when the time is right. I get to constantly be a seed planter! Spiritually I am constantly learning and (hopefully) growing. I am developing new friendships and I can´t wait to see where they lead.
Thank you SO much for keeping up-to-date on my experiences and know that ALL of us here appreciate your prayers. Know that you´re helping us over here be the bearers of Good News!!
You can pray for:
BOLDness! Our goal is to share the true gospel and it can be intimidating!
Energy! We are only running this particular race for 3 more weeks and we need God´s strength to keep going.
Ciao!!
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