This last week

Cheri writes:

It’s 9pm and the kids are down. It’s finally quite in the house and Dylan and I can catch up. Since we arrived we’ve been trying to figure out exactly what the Lord is having us do here in Bariloche or even maybe outside of Bariloche in another town. Our ministry and evangelism doesn’t appear to be the same as how it has been in the past. In prior trips, we have always been a tag team in evangelism and working side by side – even when Ritter was younger, it was still possible to do everything together. Now, however, with Ritter being older and Amelia being only 2.5 months old, we have found ourselves in a very different situation. To go anywhere with the two of them takes a ton more preparation and a lot of work while we’re out and about. So we’re a bit limited in what we can do together as a family. Having a one-on-one conversation about the Lord while a baby is crying or Ritter is antsy is hardly ideal. So lately we’ve been struggling with what our ministry should look like especially in a city like Bariloche where you have to take buses or taxis everywhere, travelers are more mobile and less likely to just hang out and have conversation. Yesterday, however, shed some new light on the situation. Dylan went out to run errands and check some things out. While he was gone I was at home with the kids and felt a strong urge to pray for Dylan. Not so much for safety, but more so for the Holy Spirit to give him the words he would need to talk to someone in particular. I prayed for boldness for him and for appropriate scriptures to come to his mind as he spoke. Ritter and I stopped what we were doing and prayed for him then and there. About 20 minutes later Dylan comes home super excited that he felt the Holy Spirit urging him to give a gospel tract and boldy share with a young man at the bus stop about 20 minutes ago! It was at the exact time I sensed the Spirit leading me to pray for him. Through that situation he also met and encouraged a fellow believer from California that was also praying for the guy reading the gospel tract at the bus station. All and all, it was confirmation that one of the main things I can be doing for His Kingdom is interceding in prayer for Dylan while he is out sharing the gospel. Anyway, it’s cool to see how the Lord will use us as a team, just a bit differently than in previous trips. Please pray for me to have more sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s leading and for continued direction daily as to how we can further His Kingdom.

Dylan writes:

A few days ago we took a bus trip to El Bolson south of Bariloche. The bus ride was one of the most beautiful drives I’ve ever been on. There were alpine lakes, green trees, roaring rivers and snow capped peaks with wicked spires atop them, all seemingly within arms reach. The town is much more laid back and smaller than Bariloche too. It’s nestled in a small valley of snowy craggy peaks. We went there to discern whether or not the Holy Spirit was perhaps going to have us there instead of Bariloche. Reason being is because El Bolson is one of many New Age spiritual centers in the world, sort of like Sedona, AZ. Most people in the west don’t realize the majority of their beliefs are simply regurgitated Buddhism and Hinduism that’s been cleaned up and marketed to them. While in El Bolson for 24 hours we had some great witnessing encounters. First we met a couple from Germany biking around South America. We were able to talk with them at length due to our common experiences on bicycles. They gladly took a gospel tract in German and promised to read it. At the hostel we stayed at we met another young German man who was doing nothing more than drifting around the globe trying to figure out what to do with his life. I was able to relate to him in the quest for searching. I then told him my testimony and offered him a German gospel tract, telling him once I found Jesus I stopped searching because He is truth. I told him the tract is a good start for him in his search for meaning. A local man named Ricksharaj had a son who was playing with Ritter in a park. We talked with him at length and learned he was a Hari Krishna follower. He seemed pretty open to things, even said he’d read some of the Bible. So I offered him a Done book which says on it’s cover “what the majority of religions don’t tell you about the Bible”. This perked his interest and he happily accepted it. Finally on the ride home I noticed a group of Israeli backpackers got on the bus from doing a trek. I got to talking to a few of them, asking them if they knew where to find any good Israeli food in Bariloche. It turns out there is none surprisingly, but they said El Bolson has a unique hostel location called The Farm that Israelis gather at only by word of mouth. That got me pretty excited because I love witnessing to Israelis. They are direct descendants of and are in fact God’s chosen people which is really cool. When you think about our position to them as talked about in Romans chapter 11 it really humbles a person. If you haven’t read that chapter in a while you should, and read it slowly a second time just to make sure you really get it. Oh, and don’t forget to read verses 1-2 of chapter 12 which are the “therefore” of 11, they are verses that tell us what our immediate response to what you just read should be. Anyhow, back to the Israelis. I had a great conversation with one of them. All I had on me were 3 Hebrew tracts so I gave them to them to read. In the future I’ll need to remember to carry more. Better to have too much than too little. All in all it was a great trip to a beautiful place with some awesome witnessing to be had. We looked all over town for places to rent for 2-5 months but it is really hard to find something there too. Summer is almost here in 2 weeks and when school lets out these places will be flooded with tourists so they all charge triple the normal rates. No one wants to rent to us for a more permanent time frame when they can get triple for the months of mid-Dec through February. We do have a few leads though to follow up on. Pray that God opens doors if it’s His will for us to be in El Bolson. In the mean time we continue to do what the Lord has shown us is his will, evangelism.

Yesterday I was able to get up to the nearest climbing area called Piedras Blancas. My goal was to use my climbing as a way to meet other climbers and share Jesus with them. Sure enough I ended up climbing with Paul and Helen from England. It took a while for me to find an inroad to speak about spiritual things but eventually that obstacle was overcome and I was able to share a little bit. On the way down from our last climb Paul actually brought the subject up again and specifically asked me if I had any kind of experience that originally brought me to Jesus. I then used my personal testimony of salvation to fully share the gospel with him. I wove the themes and scriptures of the law, our sinfulness, our need of a Savior, and the grace and good news of Jesus into my own story. It was exactly the kind of witnessing that I love to do and had prayed for.

Today after church Cheri and Albida, went downtown to the Centro and passed out gospel tracts to passersby and shopkeepers who looked bored and needed something to read. They had a few good conversations with some folks who’ve never heard the good news of salvation before. I was glad for Cheri to get out on the streets with a fellow believer. Albida is a bold witness for the Lord and a great help to us with her sister Lidia. Well, I’m sitting in a local gas station called YPF writing this because they have the nearest wi-fi spot to us. I had to walk here in the cold wind and now must return home with it in my face. Thankfully my wife and two wonderful kids are waiting for me there. Until next time, we love you, we miss you, and we hope you are being a light wherever you are.