Welcome to all of you to this “special” blog co-written by all the members of team SCELTE (Italian word for CHOSEN) during our stay with the organization YWAM Mendoza (Argentina).
We hope you had a nice Christmas time full of love, smiles and hugs! Our Christmas was actually quite different and unusual this year because we spent it very far from home and surrounded by people we didn’t know at all till a few months ago. As it is now summer on this side of the planet, it was (and still is) super hot, over 30 degrees celsius or 90 fahrenheit: instead of coats, scarfs and boots, we were wearing sleeveless dresses or shorts and sandals. We participated in a Secret Santa gifts-exchange system, we wandered in the woods, we played Dutch Blitz (a fast paced and addicting card game), football and frisbee together with the staff of YWAM and we ended the day with a delicious Argentinian asado (barbecue) at midnight. Truth is we all certainly missed on different levels the traditional winter Christmas and not being with our family or loved ones, but God pointed out to us more than ever the Jesus is the true reason for Christmas and if we truly abide in HIM we will always feel at home wherever we are.
We want to tell you now a bit more of what happened during this last month of 2019 and at the same time thank God for all the opportunities and revelations He gave us not only this December but throughout all year. Please keep reading for more details. Each one of us picked up 1 or 2 favourite volunteering activities of this month and you will hear about them from an individual perspective.
SIMONA
One of my favourite activities this month was visiting the hospital. In particular, we went for Christmas Eve and on Boxing Day (the 26th). We played and sung Christmas carols and modern Christian songs in the reception area.
We also handed out some little panettone gifts with encouraging written messages inside. However, I believe the most impactful time was when we split up in small groups and went to pray for patients in their rooms or outside in the courtyard. Everyone was receptive and willing to listen to us, to pray with us and tell us about their reason for being in the hospital on those festive days. We had beautiful encounters: the man who asked us to pray for his business that was doing really bad and for peace in his family as they were having issues: the sweet elegant lady we prayed for so that her pain caused by bad arthritis would go away; the pregnant woman who was accompanying her husband at the Emergency Department who first confessed she didn’t believe much in God but then ended up praying with us and asking Jesus to enter in her heart and life (how wonderful!); the loving mother sitting next to his son’s bed who blessed us and thanked God for us stopping by; the young man with 24 tattoos who was eager to learn how to read the Bible in a language he understood and was willing to be prayed for so that his relationship with God would be restored. Finally I will never forget the prayer circle with the family who was grieving because their mother was fighting between life and death and doctors told them she had only 10 % chance of survival. I will never forget the tears of one of the daughters: it was almost like I could feel her pain. We held hands all together and we started to pray in Jesus name for a Christmas miracle. I could sense the presence of God in our midst in that moment. I will probably never know what happened to that woman (or maybe one day I will) but I trust that God heard our prayer and in a way or another will be with that family through their suffering and rejoicing.
God taught me that day that when we feel powerless in front of someone’s else disease or pain (even when we don’t personally know them), we can always give them an encouraging word or a prayer out of love, faith and compassion. That can “move mountains“ and bring a wind of freshness into someone’s day or soul.
Another experience I enjoyed particularly was the ropes course we did with YWAM. This was a challenging outdoor personal development, team and trust building activity which consisted of different games among which there was the popular “leap of faith”.
After ascending to the top of a quite high utility pole, we had to gather our courage and leap for a hanging trapeze. We had to put complete faith in our team on the ground if we hoped to reach our target. Once on the top, we had to scream out our promises of “faith over fear” to God before jumping into the void. I must confess I am a bit scared of heights and voids, so I was quite nervous. However, it was a liberating and overcoming experience for me and it helped me to picture in a vivid way what the Bible means with the expression “live by faith and not by sight”. When I was standing there, at the very top, all of a sudden I had all the negative thoughts: “what if the rope is going to break” or “what if my teammates get distracted and let the grip go?”. However, I chose to have faith and I jumped in the void: it was…scary but beautiful: I conquered my fear!
Sometimes it may seem uncomfortable to take a step forward or follow God’s plan in our life because there might be risks or we don’t know exactly what it is going to happen, but if we dare to take that little leap of faith and trust HIM, we will be surprised with the outcome and with the point where we will eventually land.
Here below are a couple of pictures of other activities and more details from my teammate.
ALYCIA (preferences and VIDEO below)
This month has been so full of a variety of ministries. Each day we did some type of physical labor and spiritual service to serve our hosts and the community we have been residing in this month.
There are so many to choose from and they all produced so much fruit, but I decided to pick one of each. My favorite two were cleaning the Pool and a night of ministry we had with children at a local church.
The Pool took a lot of physical labor and a lot of hours were spent preparing it. The Pool is half the size of a football field which is ginormous! On our first day of doing the Pool, it was filled with leaves that we had to gather then remove. Everyday we sort of had to start over because leaves continued to fall and blow, but eventually we got to the point where we could begin to power wash and clean the Pool with bleach. There was only one power washer so base staff took overnight shifts to get it completed. After power washing, it was time to add a new coat of paint. Except we didn’t have enough paint or enough time to finish because we were expecting 800 people to come swim. We were able to make the Pool happen! I love to do physical work and it is especially cool to see the fruit of a finished project!
My second favorite well most favorite moment was the night we spent with children at a local church. The children live in the community and come from bad homes. One little girl had a black eye and a few of them are really shy. The church try’s to give them a safe space to be children, to be fed, and to have fun. That night we prepared a hand full of games, my team mate April gave her Testimony, and I did a devotional about the meaning of Christmas. At the end I asked everyone if they believed in Jesus and all said yes except one. So, I asked her if she would like to have a relationship with Jesus that night and she said yes. I prayed for her and the night she accepted Jesus into her life. After all that me and the kids chased each other around the church for hours sharing tickles and laughs!
The truth is I didn’t even feel well as we were on our way there and I almost didn’t do the devotional. When I arrived I bowed my head and asked God to change how I was feeling and immediately I began to overflow with His love. Had i not moved out of the way and invited to Father to be the center, that beautiful little girl may not have given her life to God that night. Remember to allow God to be the center of all you do and when it gets hard just simply ask God for His help because He will do the same for you!
APRIL
During our time here we’ve gotten to help out with a soup kitchen that’s run by our ministry host every Thursday for lunch.
We helped prep the food and serve it to the people in the city. When we arrive we will have someone share a quick testimony and pray before we serve them.
We also get to do many outreaches with kids in the community. There’s a church that feeds the local kids and shares a devotional with them once a week. My team and I got to go to the church and pour love on the kids. I got to to share a part of my testimony with them about comparison and how God created them perfectly just the way they are. My teammate Alicia shared a devotional and then we got to play games and it was so much fun. It’s so sweet how even the simplest moments can have the biggest impacts.
ADI
This month we are serving with Youth With a Mission in Mendoza, Argentina. Youth With a Mission (YWAM) is an organization with a vision to see the world transformed by waves of young evangelists. Here in Mendoza they have a 5 month Discipleship Training School (DTS) that focuses on fostering the students’ relationship with God, education in doctrine and theology, and hands on training for gospel outreach. Throughout the year, the students serve in the community here in Mendoza in dozens of ways, but during the off season, in between DTS sessions, the base has a much smaller workforce. This is where we have been able to help this month! The Christmas season brought so many ministry opportunities to YWAM and we were able to help step up and meet those opportunities. Below, you’ll be able to read about a bunch of the different things that we’ve been working on! But first, let me tell you more specifically about the people we’ve been working with.
The YWAM staff here has been so good to us! The point of contact for our team is Marlon, from Peru. Marlon is such a busy guy and he is so integral to everything they do here in Mendoza. Because of his life experiences, he has earned the respect of so many youth and men so he runs the soup kitchens and youth outreach programs (urban tribes) in the city. I love seeing how God made him so specifically—his personality, his story—to perfectly serve the kingdom in these ways. He is fierce and protective and so good to us.
Vanessa, from Canada, is the point of contact for Team Amazed, but she takes such good care of us, too. One of the strangest things for us these past three months is never having church in English. We’re able to understand a little on our own, and sometimes we’ll get small bits translated, but most of the time we lose so much through the gaps! This Saturday night, Vanessa came with us to youth group, pulled her chair right up behind us, and translated the whole thing! She translated an hour long service and we were incredibly grateful.
What has been so helpful about Marlon and Vanessa is that they are also tough on us. They live their whole lives for service and they call us into that too. I remember once we asked Vanessa about Mate, an Argentine drink that is shared around a whole gathering. Friendship is shared AND germs are shared. So we asked, “Vanessa, do we have to drink it if it’s offered?” And she said, “Let me ask you another question before I answer. Why are you out here?” “To share the love of Jesus,” we replied. “And how do you expect to do that if you are not first willing to meet people where they are and to put your own comfort aside?”
So many other people on this base have brought us along side them, have fed us, have entrusted us with their children, have translated for us, have bought us Christmas gifts, and have been our friends. We are so grateful for them.
CATHERINE
Among other things, we also spent several days working to clean up the entire property at the base. Most of this involved raking leaves and picking up and transporting the piles.
Although it was very hot and we all got blisters, I thoroughly enjoyed being able to serve YWAM in this way. It is the beginning of summer here in Argentina and YWAM is preparing to host summer camps and different events. It may seem like raking leaves is just a silly chore, but for us it was a way to bless our hosts here and take up some of the burden of getting the base ready for a whole summer of outreach and ministry.
We wish you all a wonderful new year; may 2020 bring in your life an abundace of peace and joy, healthy relationships and friendships, smiles, new oppourtunities and victories. Above all, may you all experience the manifest presence of God, may you be able to hear the voice of the Lord like never before, may you be especially aware of the guidance of Holy Spirit and may you know Jesus more personally and deeply as your Saviour and Friend.
It sounds like you and your team did a lot of work to help the ministry prepare and be more effective in their service to the community. You all accomplished a lot and left an indelible mark on Pack-a-Smile!