Monday, August 28, 2006

Another Happy Update from Argentina

Hi everybody! Here’s another update from way down in South America.
I can’t believe it’s been two months already! In just one month our DTS team will be splitting into two groups and going to Peru and Chile for two months of outreach. Please pray that God will show the leadership who to put in each group and that He will open doors for where we will stay and minister in the countries. It’s going to be very sad when we have to divide.
Last weekend we went on a mini-outreach, a two day preview of what the real outreach will be like. We split into two groups of five plus our leaders (this did not include the married couple because they had just had the birth of their second daughter! Praise God that baby Brisa was born healthy and please pray for the family as they try to complete the school and the outreach with two very small children. The mother is only 21 years old). My group went to a small town called Palmar Grande. It was a pretty place, a lot cleaner and neater than Corrientes, and the kind of place where the grass streets are used more for horses than for cars. We were ministering to a very small church. The building was average sized but the congregation consisted of about five people (including the pastor and his wife) and a hand full of children. Nevertheless, it was a good time. We did a number of skits, led worship, and shared some testimonies. We also held a program for the neighborhood kids where we dressed up as clowns and did more skits, songs, and a short message. We slept in two rooms in the back of the church and ate some very interesting food. One meal was a soup that included cow’s tongue and intestine (both of which I tried a tiny bit of, just for the experience) and another meal of some animal called carpincho. I’m still not sure what it is but it’s apparently like a large beaver or something. Very interesting, but it tasted pretty good. The next evening back at the base I was very sick with vomiting, but I believe it was food poisoning from an apple I had eaten that day. In future I will give in and remove the skin first ; )
Praise God my Spanish is improving! Thank you so much to all those who have been praying for me! I’m still not the greatest communicator but it’s really exciting that at times I can have long, deep conversations with some of the Spanish speakers and understand almost everything. Please keep praying that I’ll continue to improve.
I found out from my parents that I have been accepted to Trinity College of Florida, a small Bible college near Tampa, for the spring semester. I’m still praying for confirmation, but I believe that’s what God has for me when I return home. I’m also considering doing a school of art (dance and drama) with YWAM somewhere in the world in the near future. The taste I’ve had of their art ministry has really impressed me and I would like to receive more training. I would also appreciate prayer for receiving God’s direction for my future.
One more prayer request is for the other members of the DTS and also for the School of Mobile Missions that is going on at the same time. God has amazingly provided for all of my financial needs for this time through the willing hearts of many of you. However many of the other students have come in faith, not knowing how they are going to pay for the rest of their school or their outreach. Some of them have had problems withdrawing money from the bank. Some of them need to get passports for the outreach, and some have parents and family members who are not Christians. They could all use your prayers, too. And if any of you just can’t get enough of giving away money , what I mean is if God puts it on your heart, there’s always an opportunity to donate towards the other students or to the base itself.
Thank all of you who even take the time to read my updates. It’s so special to know that so many people care about me and are praying for me. This is such an amazing time for me. Someone gave me the comparison that this five months is like the year of beauty preparations that Esther in the Bible went through before she was chosen as queen. This is my preparation time for serving my King. Thank you all so much for being a part of it!
In Christ,
-Esther

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