So it is the middle of the week and although we are exhausted, we are really beginning to see God work here in El Salvador. Each day we go out on campus and build relationships with the students, instigating spiritual conversations and setting up future appointments to continue our relationships with the students. I myself have made many new friends and have already gotten to meet with some of them multiples times! It is really difficult and straining with the language barrier and although we know some Spanish and have translators, it is very hard to be consistently instigating conversations with students. We are learning alot though, especially on how insignificant we are and how much of a blessing it is that God chooses to use us in showing other students His love. God has the ability to transform hearts without our help and so it is just incredible to be a part of the process! It has been very humbling and has brought all of us closer to the Lord as we come to him each day surrendering our conversations, our relationships with students, and our hearts, seeking to be refilled by Him each an every day. We have been here about a week and it is crazy to think that we have about 5 more weeks left.
We also have been pouring into the student leaders here involved in Vida Estudiantil. One of our jobs is to disciple these student leaders and give them encouragement and support. Most of them are new believers themselves and need to be poured into. It is very difficult as new believers to go out on campus and share their faith and so I really admire their courage and dedication to their relationship with the Lord. They have been very inspiring to me and it has been awesome talking to them and hearing about their heart for the Lord. They have been really excited to have American students working along side them in ministry and in August we will be going with them on their leadership retreat at a farm two hours outside of the city. It will be a great time of fellowship and encouragement and we get to learn how to milk a cow!!!
On Tuesday we had our first outreach fiesta and had over 50 students show up. Only about 20 students are involved in Vida Estudiantil on a regular basis and so it was amazing that so many students showed up wanting to know more and find fellowship and community for their faith. We did the Lifehouse Everything skit for them (I played the role of vanity for those of you who have seen the skit) and it was extremely powerful. We also had worship and snacks and games and got to meet all of the students. We had a blast and it was encouraging to see how many students were seeking either Christian fellowship and a relationship with God and it really gave us vision for our project!
If you could continue praying for our safety and our mission here that would be great! Also if you could pray for the students that we are meeting each day and that they would have a desire a relationship with God and would want to continue meeting up with us, we would really appreciate it! Most of these students are Catholic and come from spiritual family backgrounds but they don't know what it means to have a relationship with God. It is difficult to get down to the gospel because most students believe that they already have Christ in their life. They know the right answers, but they don't know what it means to be transformed by Christ. This culture is very centered around Church and family, but they often become idols that distract from a real relationship with God. Also be praying that our Spanish would be growing and that despite the language barrier, we would still be able to communicate our love and passion for Jesus Christ. We appreciate your prayers so much and it is great to know that we have such an awesome team of supporters back in the states!
Gracia y Adios!!!
Amy
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