A Gringa Headed for Home

I don’t know how I should even start this. How do I wrap up more than a year of my life in just a few paragraphs? This time has been the most challenging, exciting, and growth-encouraging year of my life. I give thanks to God for the people He has put in my life and for all the experiences that I will remember for the rest of it. I know that He has used this year to really shape my character, thoughts, views, and dependence on Him. I learned what it means to be stretched beyond what you think you are capable of both mentally, emotionally, and physically. I was given responsibility that at times seemed unbearable and impossible to accomplish. But God is faithful, showing me that what may seem inconceivable based on my own opinion will never change the reality of His sovereign will. (1 Cor 1:27-28) His purpose will be carried out whether I think I am capable or not.

I have also found out the great importance of the heart. Solomon’s words couldn’t be more true when he says in Proverbs 4 that the heart is the wellspring of life. Out of our hearts come our thoughts, words, and actions- it is essentially who we are, our being. Lots of times it is a great battle for me because my heart has been “deceitful” and “desperately wicked” since the day I was born (Jer. 17:9) and that will follow me the rest of my days. Jealousy, along with the need to be the best and making sure everyone knows it, is a battle with the other part of me that wants to do what I know is right, doing things for the total glory of the Lord and not for myself. Another thing I have learned along this same line is the importance of giving my best because that’s what the Lord would want from me. He deserves all that I’ve got, each and every day of my life. A struggle for me is the need to be and do everything perfect. A great lesson for me this year was that God doesn’t ask for perfection from us, that standard is too high and it is impossible. But, what God does ask is that we give Him our best, using our abilities not to impress or wow others, but to do things out of a sincere heart, giving all for Him.

Here at Word of Life, it’s very easy to get caught up in a routine and schedule. It’s easy to get lost in it all, as day in and day out things are always the same. At the same time, there’s always something new to be involved with whether it be ministry needs or slots to be filled. At times it’s hard for me to get involved as it’s another thing on the schedule, while at other times it’s hard for me to say no to the constant opportunities that come my way. I’ve learned the importance of being balanced this year, finding time not only for ministry, but for my time with the Lord as well. Life can make it hard when trying to find the median between being the super “I can do it all” ministry person in comparison to the one that “sits at Jesus’” feet to learn and put into action these truths.

Life here has been very interesting, challenging, and well worth it, but it’s time for me to move on to the new things God has planned for the future. I have had some great years of solid preparation, and now it’s time to start life and use them. When I get back home, I would love to start using this new language. I’m hoping that there are some great jobs available that allow me to keep it fresh. Also, when I get back, I’m going to start taking classes at a seminary for Biblical Counseling. I’m excited to take this new step, and my mom is excited that I’ll be spending more time at home as many of the classes can be taken online! So, as this chapter of my life closes and a new one begins, I will look back and remember the growth that this amazing year has brought. Thank you all for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers, I greatly appreciate it.

Bendiciones, Alyssa

One Last Hoorah!

Campana en Scasso

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Today I left around 7 p.m. on my last campaign in Argentina. A group of Americans from North Carolina came down to do some evangelism and to meet with some of the churches that they have been able to support. After our 2 hour drive the bus driver literally kicked us to the curb saying, “This is it!” I was fortunate enough to be placed in a house with a very nice family having two children. By the time we made it to their house, we arrived just in time for dinner- even though it was just about 11:30 p.m.. While back at the church they had served us hot dogs, so we felt badly saying no to the food that they were offering at the house. I stayed in the house with another girl from Canada named Kristina. We were in the same PBB group together... she’s really sweet and a great roommate. The daughter of the family was very nice and easy to talk to. She was willing to give up her room and bed so we could stay in there. Everything was great as they had running water, a bathroom, and heat, but I started having some asthma problems and I couldn’t put my finger on it as to why. Fortunately, I brought with me some Benadryl that did me very well.

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Today was the Lord’s day and so I did my best to rejoice, knowing that He gave me this great opportunity to share. It was an early morning for us all as we were up and out for the morning church service. It’s interesting because where I’m staying is a very poor neighborhood and so the roads are made of dirt and the family that I’m staying with doesn’t have a car. To get to the church we had to walk 15 blocks. It was good exercise for me, especially with all that we would be eating for the week. We got to meet the Americans today. They’re a really nice group of people, and very easy to get along with. They’re all older, I would say around 35+, and very sweet. I got to translate for one of the pastors, Pastor Jim, who I would say is around 75. He was pretty much like the grandpa I never had. Today was a special day for the church because it was their 11th anniversary and so all the congregation (around 40 people) stayed and ate lunch and played some games outside. Some of the women brought face paint so they were able to paint the kids’ faces and they also had beads with lanyards to make salvation bracelets. The weather was about 90 degrees and very hot, but a beautiful day. Around 3 o’clock we went to another church which was about 20 minutes away. Apparently the Americans had some connections and so they wanted to visit them. When we arrived, we still had a good amount of time so we all went out and the pastor bought us ice cream. After our treat a few of us went on a little adventure in search for a phone card. One of the women brought an Argentine phone so the whole team pitched in to be able to call their loved ones. Once we got back after a little bit of a search, the service was about to start. It was nice because one of the American guys preached, which meant that I didn’t have to translate the whole message. After his sermon, we had a little break and then it was time to go. Once we made it back, the bus driver kicked us to the curb again and we were hoping that the church was open, which it was. A few minutes later, the pastor showed up and from there we walked a bunch of blocks to get to his house. Once there, he fed us fideos till about 9 p.m.. I was so ready to just take a shower and go to bed as you can imagine. It was a good hope, but it didn’t come to pass. The family we were staying with still had not eaten and they were at someone’s house. The husband ended up getting us and we walked to to where they were eating. It had to be around 10 p.m. at this point and we still had to wait for them to eat and then we could go back to their house. We couldn’t just walk back ourselves because it was a dangerous neighborhood. This house that we went to was like nothing I have ever seen. These people are poor and you could clearly tell that before even walking into the house. It was actually kinda sad to see that there are people that live in these conditions. They didn’t have any doors so they used sheets and the walls of their house were like crumbling bricks. No joke, I’m pretty sure my room in the States is bigger than their entire house. I just can’t even fathom living like this. What a blessing it is to live in the United States, in a house that is fully furnished with electric and painted walls and a kitchen that’s bigger than a small bathroom. It’s hard to see poverty when you know that when you go home it’s the complete opposite. “Thank you, Lord, for all that you have blessed me with.” Around 10:45 that night we finally left the house to head “home.” The highlight of the night for me was that I got to take a warm shower and wash my really dirty hair, body, and feet. I now understand the sacrifice Jesus made and portrayed when He washed the disciples’ feet.

Monday, November 8, 2010

What an awesome day God has blessed me with! This was definitely the best day yet. I was a little nervous going into it because I wasn’t sure what it would entail. Even though I’m pretty confident in the language at this point, I still have those times when I doubt myself and my abilities. What is good about this is that it really helps me to rely on the Lord, knowing that He will be with me each step of the way as He performs His work through the Holy Spirit. The day started out pretty early once again as we had to be at the church at 8:30 am. Unfortunately, it had already started to rain and wouldn’t stop until late that night. It put a little bit of a damper on things, but that wasn’t going to stop us from preaching the Gospel! Once we got to the church, we had bread with dulce along with coffee that was served in tea bags. After the Americans arrived around 10 am, we all split up into groups and were given assigned blocks. It was actually pretty neat to be able to go house to house sharing with the families. I’m sure it helped stir up the curiosity as to what we were doing. To get the people to come out of their houses, we had to clap because many of the houses didn’t have doorbells. The morning wasn’t all too special, we visit about 5 people, but no one made a decision for Christ. We still moved forward though, knowing that the seeds were planted. After that, we went back to the church and ate some spaghetti and meatloaf which was pretty good. We had about an hour off for those who wanted to take a nap or something and then around 3 we headed out until about 7 p.m.. This is where the day began to get exciting! We still had to finish off our block and so we visited about eight more houses. We went up to one house and right near the fence there was a shrine with Mary in it, so we put a tract in the shrine! As we turned the corner, there was a tiny kiosco with a 16 year old girl named Soledad who was running it. We decided that we should talk to her. She had piercings in her lip and her eye brow, and she seemed interested and really open to what we were saying. She was listening very intently to what we were saying and she said that she wanted to accept Christ as her Savior, praise the Lord! Another “translator” who came with us was there as well and was able to answer her questions and give her assurance of her salvation. While Pablo was still talking to Soledad, another girl, Annaleah came up to buy something and so Dawn (the woman I was translating for) and I decided we were gonna share the cube with her as well. To our great joy, she also trusted Christ as her Savior! This was awesome for me, because it was the first time that I shared the gospel in Spanish and had someone accept Christ! This was such a blessing for me, and it just showed how awesome God is. What really amazed me was the fact that the whole day we mostly spoke with adults who had a million excuses and yet when we talked to these girls we were like, “So what do you think? Do you want to make a decision?” ...and they said “Yeah, sure.” It just reminded me of child-like faith. These girls didn’t have a bunch of excuses, they were so easy to believe and trust. They were so ready to accept, you could see that God had been working on their hearts. For me, Annaleah was an answer to prayer. As soon as I heard I was able to go on the trip, I was asking God to give me the opportunity of bringing at least one soul to Him. It was super exciting for us because these two girls who were already friends now had each other for accountability and were motivated to start attending the church together. After talking to them, we witnessed to a few others that were pretty hard and didn’t want to listen to what we were saying. It reminded me of the States... as they were living for the here and now and saw eternity as just a game. But, God granted us the privilege of talking to one more woman who in the end also accepted Christ. It gets interesting here as we realize that the woman we talked to was Annaleah’s mom! She told us that she had heard the gospel before, but that with the cube she was really able to understand and believe what Jesus did for her. She also mentioned to us that Annaleah came home just a little before that and that she was very content. Annaleah told her that she had accepted Christ and then she showed her the New Testament Bible that we had given her. I know that up to this point it’s great, but it gets even better! There was a gamily member in the house that wasn’t able to walk. When he had seen the Bible of Annaleah, he wanted to be able to have it. The only problem was that Annaleah didn’t want to give it up! As God would have it, although I had run out of all the Bibles I had, Pablo still had an extra one and so we were able to give it to the man. Everyone arrived back to the church content, and we knew that everyone had had a good day. After eating dinner, we had a little sharing time where we were able to tell about the blessings of the day. All in all, there were 26 declarations of faith! It was cool because I got to translate into Spanish for Dawn about her day and then into English for Kristina as she shared. This was interesting for me because usually I get really nervous in front of a large crowd and my voice stops working. The difference about this night was that that didn’t happen this time, and I’m not sure why. I think it may have been the joy of the Lord as I knew that what I said would be an encouragement to others. So, we had very good experiences this day that really showed me how great God is and that He continues to work in the lives of people today. While things don’t always go perfectly or the way you would expect them to go, we can still rejoice knowing the greater plan and how the little problems don’t really matter in the grand scheme of it all.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Today we visited a kindergarten (ages 2-5) as well as do some discipleship with the people that were saved form the day before. We set out around 9:30 am, walking the 10 blocks to the school. It was cool to see how prepared the group was to do some kids‘ ministry. They brought along with them a bunch of candy, balloons that they could make animals with, and face painting sets. We were given one hour with the kids and they allowed us to take pictures and even share the gospel. We started out by teaching them some songs like, “Who’s the king of the jungle?,” “ Jesus loves Me,” and “Inside Outside.” The kids really enjoyed learning the songs and some hand motions. After this, we had a small drama where we showed them the Gospel through different characters. The kids were really cute, but by the end it got harder for them to concentrate. I helped out with the face painting and translating. Before lunch, the woman that I stayed with asked if I wanted to go with her to pick up the kids from school. We took a bus over there and found them right away. The ride home in the collectivo was a little different than our trip there though. The bus driver kept allowing more and more people on the bus and it was as full as it could possibly be. When the bus was ready to go, it was so full and it kept stalling. Talk about crazy. The engine was roaring, but we weren’t moving anywhere. Soon after this, one of the tires could no longer take the amount of weight and it popped! So much for that! We ended up taking another bus and arrived safely back to church. After lunch we had a little more relaxing time and then we headed out to the kindergarten again. We still had quite a bit of time and we decided to go out and do some discipleship and more evangelism. We were able to talk with Soledad and tell her about the meeting the following night. When we went to the house of Annaleah and Florencia (her mom) to disciple them but they weren’t home. There was one person that was home though, and that was the son/brother. We were able to talk to him and he accepted Christ! It’s awesome to see one by one the whole family getting saved. After this, we went back to the church and had a sharing time. I can see the importance of having this special time. Each group really has their own story to tell, the way that God worked during the day... and it’s really neat to see.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

The last day came faster than I could’ve ever imagined. This week has been a huge blessing in my life. God has taught me so much and it will never cease to amaze me, knowing that He uses stained people to carry out His will. Today we started out with evangelism and discipleship. The difference for me was that I was placed in a different group to translate. It was a little harder for me today because I wasn’t used to the new explanations that the woman gave. Everything worked out though and the woman actually ended up getting saved, which was very exciting! We had to go over the gospel a few times to make sure she understood it. While they were doing that, I was trying to share the gospel with her two children of 4 years old. Unfortunately, they didn’t understand and believe, but it was a good, unique experience for me. After lunch, we went out around four o’clock to invite those that had gotten saved to the meetings. At five we would have a women’s meeting and at seven a church service. We got to speak to a few people that ended up coming. We also decided to do some more discipleship with three of them, assuring them of their salvation and also making sure that they really understood. I got to speak with two sisters, one who was 9 and the other 12. Also, a great opportunity for me, not just because they were younger, but because I had never done discipleship of that kind before. Both meetings went very well, and a lot of the people that we had been witnessing to showed up. After the service, they recognized all the translators and everyone who helped out, giving us all little gifts. They were SO sweet. Dawn was so generous to me as she included in my little bad peanut butter, Kool-Aid, candy, shampoo, conditioner... just things that are hard to buy in Argentina and things I needed as well! Honestly, I wasn’t sure if my shampoo and conditioner would last for the next week, but now I have enough to get me through! Our God is definitely a God of details! After this, we enjoyed some great pizza and empanadas and then we had to say our goodbyes. This group was really special to me and truly touched my heart. I’m blessed to have met them!