Identity?

In the campaign, we are also hosting events in our meeting room every Saturday afternoon. Along with going on campus to talk with the girls, we are inviting them to a time to hear about their value as women, what is true beauty, what a perfect God thinks about them, who Jesus really is, and so much more. Last week, our first talk was about our identity and value as girls, given by our national director's wife, Leticia Bloise. She asked us to think about the labels that we've been given from our families, friends, teachers, and the many people that have influenced us in our lives. Sharing how these affect the perception of ourselves, she asked us to share in pairs some of our answers. I was partnered up with a friend of Erika's from class, Ana. After I shared a few of mine, she was very quick to speak up, and with a stern, "No, nothing that anyone has ever said affects me, I don't let it affect me," the conversation came to a halt. I saw right through it.

In talking to and interacting with so many girls now on campus, it gets easier to read through a persons words to their thoughts or see through their defenses. I could see right through this girl. It was almost like a calling out for love. She had obviously been affected with the things that people have conditioned her to believe about herself. I didn't push past her answer because she wasn't budging. I started praying. Then Leticia brought us back together to share some of our answers. My partner shared the same thing with the group. That nothing that anyone says affects her. Leticia was able to share with this girl some personal vulnerable stories of how the labels had affected her and how she had replaced those lies with the truth of Jesus. After the talk was over, Ana began to tear down her defenses and share that in reality everything affected her and that she was holding so much in. We got to see the Lord soften her heart. It was an experience for our student leaders to be involved in as well. They were encouraged by the way the Lord is working through the campaign to touch the lives of students.

I'm not listening to your rules...

As you might have seen in my newsletter, this is the flier for our new women's campaign on campus. We recently started this new project! Its been a great experience so far. We are going on campus asking women really hard questions like:

What is beauty to you?

What makes a woman valuable?

Are women valued in society today?

What do you see when you see yourself?

How do you think God sees you?

Our focus is on two very distinct campuses. One is the humanities campus with the English Translation, Psychology, Law, Sociology and History majors. We have found the women to be open and willing to talk. In talking with two girls who are Sociology majors, we discovered that they had conflicting views on the church vs. God. Like so many Argentines, they went to Catholic private elementary, middle and high schools, where they are taught what to do to be a "good girl" and taught a bunch of "out-of date" teachings on the Bible. The power and love of the gospel is nonexistent in many of these schools. So as you can imagine, the picture of God they receive is one of a rule imposer, condemning them. Who would want that God? To have that perception of the Lord, I wouldn't want that either. What's the need for another authority in our lives to boss us around? 

In talking deeper with the girls, the Lord gave us the chance to share about our personal relationship with the Lord and what He's actually done for us in his LOVE. How He's changed us, how he delights in us and allows us to delight in Him. Praying for the need of the gospel to come through to these girls, they kept sharing their views of religious people and their even less desirable religious rules. One of their comments was about how they didn't like that people just believed what was imposed upon them, that they heard something in school and then blindly followed it. When did the need for Jesus become a blind-dumb following? It is about questioning and searching and discovering why do I really believe this? I encouraged the girls to question to seek out answers, not just believe "because someone told me." In conclusion to this conversation we were able to present the Lord how He really is, desiring the hearts and lives of these girls, and wanting to know them on a personal level and caring for them.  They were left questioning things they'd believed for years about the church and more importantly about who God is...Could He really care about ME? 

changes in Animana...

As you may remember, I went to the town of Animana last year and had the chance to go back. Last year the kids of the town were horrible. They were mean and had such tough exteriors. You could just see the fact that they had such a hard life and had lived through many things at home. It was a very tough time to have patience and love for the children and teenagers.

This year we were totally surprised with the way the kids had changed. They were so loving and willing to talk and hug and hang out with us. I got to see many of the children I met last year and see how much they had really changed. It was so surprising the way they had opened up and softened their tough exteriors from a year ago.

These are a few of the teenage girls I tried to make relationships with last year and didn't have any results. This year we spent a lot of time hanging out and talking deeply about the Lord. It was a complete change. In the second picture is one of my friends from last year who was the most special to me.  Josue is his name,8 years old, and he comes from a hard family story as well, having lost his dad at a very young age and his mother who doesn't care much about him. As well as last year, he's still the trouble maker of the town, but he remembered what we had talked about the story of Jesus. One day he was waiting for me early in the morning, he had been walking around waiting for me and shooting birds with his sling-shot.  He had a lot of questions for me about the Bible and about who Jesus was. I had a kid's magazine for us to read together. He read to me that morning and his questions continued. It was a great experience to share the love of Jesus with him, that he doesn't see from his neighbors, his friends, not even his family.

making connections...

The culture and way of life in these towns of the Valleys of the North are very particular. They are very much small town ways of living. Its normal to leave your doors unlocked all the time and people are just trusted, bikes are left outside of the neighborhood grocery. There's a trust within the families as well, where the kids can roam free to all of the other houses in the town.

One of our daily walks to visit houses.

Along with that comes a curiosity when new people come to town. We would be walking down the street and meet new people all the time, especially the kids. They would come up to us and ask what we were doing, who we were, or why we were visiting their town. My favorite thing to do was to ask the kids who came up to come along with us to invite for the film projection we were going to do that day. They would come with us and of course knew everyone in town so they could tell us who lives where and how many kids lived in the house and all the details! It was a great way to have a mini tour guide!

 A few connections we came across, or the Lord brought our way were the son of the pastor of a church way deep in the mountains who got us connected with his dad, Marcelina who works in the Municipal center as the Secretary for the Council of Women, and the bakery's owner told us of a family in need who lives up in the mountain in tents.  They don't receive any help from the town because they don't support the government, so some of the guys on our team paid them a visit to share the gospel with them as well as leave them clothing donations.  The connections were just un-ending in all of the little towns.