The begining of Spring...

Finally the craziness of birthdays has ended. Let me tell you as much as I enjoy celebrating these birthdays and showing the youth that they are special… I also reached my limit. It takes a lot of time and energy to clean the house before the party, prepare the cake and food, clean up afterwards and try and get all my ministry stuff completed as well. I was at the point of telling everyone they can no longer grow older.. J The one birthday that I did enjoy a lot this past month, was being able to celebrate Norma’s 50th birthday with her extended family. It was the first time many of them came to the house, last year they didn’t want to come because they aren’t too fond of the fact I am an Evangelical missionary. But God is definitely at work in their lives and it was neat to be able to share an evening with them and allow them to see me as a person just like them. Besides, we were able to enjoy an “Asado” with really good meat!

We put a twist into the “Fiestas” and celebrated a wedding during this time as well. It was the first young couple to get married. It is so common for people to date 5 years or more before finally getting married in their upper 20 or 30’s or just hooking up and living together. Enzo and Elie decided to do things differently and got married after dating just over a year. Pray that God blesses their marriage and that they will continue to serve him faithfully in the church they are attending in the North. It was neat to be able to celebrate this day with them and enjoy time with friends from various churches.

I am absolutely enjoying the warmer weather we are having these days. We are currently in the middle of spring and it is beautiful outside. The days are sunny and HOT… and the evenings are warm enough to still use short sleeve shorts. I have been taking advantage of this by leaving the house more often and visiting other people or taking walks and enjoying the beauty of God’s creation.

My various Bible studies are going really well. Commitment to the studies has always been a point of stress for me but I have about 3 or 4 that are very regular and another 3 o 4 that are irregular. Not to mention the informal “studies” or counseling times that I have with other youth. I come to a point where there is not enough time in the week to get everything completed that I want to… sounds pretty normal, huh?

We have had two big events at the church which I would like to share. First off, we took a weekend to get away as a church body in a nearby vacation home. Some of us were able to spend the whole weekend together while the others came out on Sunday. During this weekend we were able to enjoy one another and worship God together. The reason behind this weekend away is that Matias, one of the youth, decided to get baptized. God has definitely made changes in his life in just a short couple months. When I met him, he was pretty drunk and a bit wild. Since then I have seen him humble himself and ask forgiveness from those he offended as well as completely give up drinking. He has a passion for the word of God and getting together to pray or talk about God! He definitely brings passion into the group and reminds me of what it is to be in love with God for the first time.
The other activity we had was a special service for Mother’s Day last Sunday. The youth were able to invite their mothers for this event and a couple of them even showed up. Some of the ladies of the church were able to share about their experience of being a mother and training their children in the Lord and Carolina (my roommate) was able to share about the role her mom has had in her own life… I was near tears as she shared, even calling me her “Spiritual Mother”. At the end of the service each of the mothers received a flower and card by their children. One of the youth shared that this was the first time he has hugged his mother in about 6 years. Both of them had tears in their eyes. Pray that God continues to work in the lives of these mothers and that they would know the love that God has for them.

This past week, I ended up doing a bit of marriage counseling with a Pastor’s wife… let me tell you that I felt completely unprepared for this, as I am not married and didn’t know what I would say or how I could help. It was neat to see God work through me and give me just the right words of encouragement. After sharing with this young lady about the importance of taking care of her marriage, I came to realize that so often I get so involved in the ‘ministry’ that I fail to take care of myself. This past week was pretty emotional for me… I was constantly busy giving advice to others I came to a point that I needed someone to encourage me. And then I realized that my inability to communicate to admit this weakness and to open up about how I am feeling is going to destroy me. I spent many nights not being able to sleep, which only made me more tired and an emotional wreck. I finally told one of my friends that she needs to force me to talk, so tonight we are going to take a walk and I am going to share what is going on in my own life… that is if I can figure it out myself! Pray that God would continue to mold me in this area.