Dylan writes-
One of the reasons we chose to come to Bariloche is because of the climbing that exists all around. In particular there is a place in the mountains nearby call Frey that has some amazing alpine granite spires which draw climbers from all over the world. Most of the climbers I’ve ever met are pretty hardened like rock to the things of God. Thankfully there are groups like Solid Rock Climbers for Christ, www.srcfc.org, which I am a part of, that seek to reach climbers with the gospel. So one of my goals in coming here was to climb, meet climbers, and shed some light into their darkness. During the last few days I was able to do just that. I don’t have any recent pictures of this trip, but some older shots of a previous trip will give you an idea of where I was. So I hiked up to Refugio Frey on Monday. On the way is another small Refugio built into the side of a boulder where people stay if it’s raining really hard. It’s only a small shelter with a wooden floor to keep dry. Inside I left a ziplock bag with the usual New Testaments in various languages and an Hecho book. Romans 10:14 says “…and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard…” so I want to make sure everyone has a chance to hear or read the gospel. Pray that some stranded trekker will spend the night there and read those words of life and be saved. Once at the Refugio Frey I ended up meeting some climbers. The weather wasn’t so great so we hung out most the time in the Refugio sipping mate, playing chess, and talking. I did get to climb 7 pitches though, one of which was an amazing 5.10c overhanging perfect hand crack, but more importantly God gave me opportunites to share the gospel with quite a few climbers. I shared with different climbers from Canada, America, Chile and Argentina. It’s neat that by coming to one specific location we can help fulfill what is written and commanded by Jesus in Acts 1:8 which says “…you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Please remember to pray that God’s word bears fruit in the lives of Mike, Walt, Claudio, Brito, Lucas, and three others whose names I didn’t get. Isaiah 55:11 reminds us that God’s word is never wasted when it goes out, it will always do what God has planned for it to do. Sometimes it instantly brings a person to repentance and salvation (Acts 8:26-37), for others it takes some time (Acts 18:4), yet many reject the word of God (Mark 7:6-16) and chose for themselves the wrath of God instead (John 3:36). On the hike down Tuesday afternoon I was replaying in my mind the last two days and God’s goodness towards mankind. I began to wonder with great expectation what God would have in store for me next. Then about 20 minutes later on the trail about 40 teenage Jewish kids from Buenos Aires came hiking up. I quickly reached into my backpack and found what few Hebrew and Spanish gospel tracts I had brought. I usually don’t carry too many when I’m trekking but I was able to talk to a few of the kids and give out roughly 8 Hebrew tracts telling of Jesus the Messiah and another 12 Spanish tracts that use the 10 commandments to show a person their need for Jesus as Savior. They were stoked to hear a Gringo American Gentile speak the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4) in Hebrew and that I would proclaim to them that I was Jewish in Spirit (Romans 11) and worshiped the one true God of their fathers. My hearts prayer like that of Paul in Romans 10:1 is that “Israel may be saved.” Needless to say I walked on down the trail rejoicing to have been used by God to bring the good news to a lost and dying people whom God loves and is reaching out to continually (Romans 10:21). I hope that perhaps some of those kids will find the Hebrew/Spanish New Testaments I’ve left in both Refugios and curiously read about Messiah. Finally at the bus stop I chatted with a climber who was up at Frey the previous day. He gladly took a Spanish climber gospel tract and read it on the bus. Upon walking the last 20 minutes up the hill to our house an hour later I was simply overwhelmed with the love of God and his mercy towards all mankind. If you havn’t yet read the book of Romans you should. Read it slowly and dwell on it’s deep message of God’s love. Then as icing on the cake, as if all that had transpired wasn’t enough, I get home and find Cheri sharing the gospel with a neighbor teenage girl in our living room! Turns out she also had been busy the last two days, not just with two kids but meeting people in the park and talking of our Lord. So now we are chilling downtown at a free WiFi restaurant where Ritter can watch some Curious George cartoons and we can catch up on email and blog stuff. It’s raining and windy out so today is rest day. But you never know what will happen when you take seriously 1st Peter 3:15.
One of the reasons we chose to come to Bariloche is because of the climbing that exists all around. In particular there is a place in the mountains nearby call Frey that has some amazing alpine granite spires which draw climbers from all over the world. Most of the climbers I’ve ever met are pretty hardened like rock to the things of God. Thankfully there are groups like Solid Rock Climbers for Christ, www.srcfc.org, which I am a part of, that seek to reach climbers with the gospel. So one of my goals in coming here was to climb, meet climbers, and shed some light into their darkness. During the last few days I was able to do just that. I don’t have any recent pictures of this trip, but some older shots of a previous trip will give you an idea of where I was. So I hiked up to Refugio Frey on Monday. On the way is another small Refugio built into the side of a boulder where people stay if it’s raining really hard. It’s only a small shelter with a wooden floor to keep dry. Inside I left a ziplock bag with the usual New Testaments in various languages and an Hecho book. Romans 10:14 says “…and how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard…” so I want to make sure everyone has a chance to hear or read the gospel. Pray that some stranded trekker will spend the night there and read those words of life and be saved. Once at the Refugio Frey I ended up meeting some climbers. The weather wasn’t so great so we hung out most the time in the Refugio sipping mate, playing chess, and talking. I did get to climb 7 pitches though, one of which was an amazing 5.10c overhanging perfect hand crack, but more importantly God gave me opportunites to share the gospel with quite a few climbers. I shared with different climbers from Canada, America, Chile and Argentina. It’s neat that by coming to one specific location we can help fulfill what is written and commanded by Jesus in Acts 1:8 which says “…you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Please remember to pray that God’s word bears fruit in the lives of Mike, Walt, Claudio, Brito, Lucas, and three others whose names I didn’t get. Isaiah 55:11 reminds us that God’s word is never wasted when it goes out, it will always do what God has planned for it to do. Sometimes it instantly brings a person to repentance and salvation (Acts 8:26-37), for others it takes some time (Acts 18:4), yet many reject the word of God (Mark 7:6-16) and chose for themselves the wrath of God instead (John 3:36). On the hike down Tuesday afternoon I was replaying in my mind the last two days and God’s goodness towards mankind. I began to wonder with great expectation what God would have in store for me next. Then about 20 minutes later on the trail about 40 teenage Jewish kids from Buenos Aires came hiking up. I quickly reached into my backpack and found what few Hebrew and Spanish gospel tracts I had brought. I usually don’t carry too many when I’m trekking but I was able to talk to a few of the kids and give out roughly 8 Hebrew tracts telling of Jesus the Messiah and another 12 Spanish tracts that use the 10 commandments to show a person their need for Jesus as Savior. They were stoked to hear a Gringo American Gentile speak the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4) in Hebrew and that I would proclaim to them that I was Jewish in Spirit (Romans 11) and worshiped the one true God of their fathers. My hearts prayer like that of Paul in Romans 10:1 is that “Israel may be saved.” Needless to say I walked on down the trail rejoicing to have been used by God to bring the good news to a lost and dying people whom God loves and is reaching out to continually (Romans 10:21). I hope that perhaps some of those kids will find the Hebrew/Spanish New Testaments I’ve left in both Refugios and curiously read about Messiah. Finally at the bus stop I chatted with a climber who was up at Frey the previous day. He gladly took a Spanish climber gospel tract and read it on the bus. Upon walking the last 20 minutes up the hill to our house an hour later I was simply overwhelmed with the love of God and his mercy towards all mankind. If you havn’t yet read the book of Romans you should. Read it slowly and dwell on it’s deep message of God’s love. Then as icing on the cake, as if all that had transpired wasn’t enough, I get home and find Cheri sharing the gospel with a neighbor teenage girl in our living room! Turns out she also had been busy the last two days, not just with two kids but meeting people in the park and talking of our Lord. So now we are chilling downtown at a free WiFi restaurant where Ritter can watch some Curious George cartoons and we can catch up on email and blog stuff. It’s raining and windy out so today is rest day. But you never know what will happen when you take seriously 1st Peter 3:15.
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