If I were to sum up my time in Argentina last month, I would probably say God taught me more about MISSIONS and FLEXIBILITY like never before.
Argentina was an all-squad month, which meant all 50 missionaries on our route were in one place and lived in community for the month. We were hosted by YWAM (Youth With a Mission) and we stayed at their campsite in the outskirts of Mendoza.
God definitely taught us this month what missions are all about! Missions are about being flexible and having a “yes” attitude for whatever our hosts asked us to do. We cleaned pools, raked leaves, dump out trucks load of trash, preached, shared testimonies, presented at schools, became a drama team, spa specialists, wedding/marriage retreat servers, camp directors, and everything else you can think of!
Although there were constant changes in our ministry schedule every day, God never failed to remind us that we are building His Kingdom regardless of how difficult or mundane the task may be.
Here are some of our ministry highlights last month:
- Prayer Walk/ Door to Door Evangelism in Santo Tomas: My team was asked to pray over a small neighborhood by the countryside where people were living next to a garbage dump and barely had any income to survive. We were able to meet and pray over a few locals, but God led us to walk over a hill where we can oversee the whole town. As we were up there, God spoke to our hearts and said, “I am teaching you to intercede for the town. These people may be struggling financially and economically, but they can still find freedom, joy, and peace in their hearts because of me. That’s something money can’t buy. You may not be able to meet with every single person and pray for them individually, but you can intercede for them as a whole.” Such a powerful moment when God revealed this personally in my heart.
- Park Evangelism in Central Park, Mendoza: We were partnered up with a local church one day and we were told to do a drama/skit in front of strangers. We have never been a drama team before, but we were willing to take the challenge! As we got to the park, we started off with games and a nail polish party – attracting kids to play with us and asking girls if they wanted their nails painted. A bunch of kids said yes and their parents followed along to our station. As we finished gathering kids, our team put on a skit about “The Good Samaritan” and we were able to invite them to church and prayed for them. Whether they showed up to church or not afterwards, I know God planted seeds in all of their hearts that one day will reap and harvest.
- Prayer Intercession Walk Around the Sex Trafficking Road: We were told that there was a brothel next to our campsite so our team was assigned one day to walk over and pray for that specific road. As we were worshipping and praying one by one, we started to feel the Holy Spirit pour down on us and started giving us visions and words. I had a vision that as we were praying, I saw a white linen cloth started to cover the road and I heard God say all the sinfulness, sexual immorality, prostitution, sex trafficking, and lust have been washed away by His blood and He will restore that place. For the first time, I have never felt in my heart that prayer intercession actually works and it’s so powerful. When we gather as a group with pure hearts and cry out to God, He hears our prayers and answers them. We felt at peace and so full in the Spirit after this walk.
- Teenage Camp Retreat: By far, this may be one of the top ministry assignments we’ve been most blessed by! My team and I were asked to go out of town for a weekend to attend a teen camp retreat. We were excited and ready to go, but before less than 24 hours of leaving, we were told that we were actually in charge of everything that weekend. From the program, to the schedule, to the worship, the message, and every single detail you can think of… Wow! Our jaws obviously dropped and we had no idea we had to run the whole camp, but we got our thoughts together and asked God for direction and He guided us every step of the way. We planned games, team-building activities, talent show, testimonies, worship, preaching, and the Holy Spirit also led us to do an altar call at the end. Everything went so smoothly and what an amazing feeling to be able to speak into these teenagers’ lives and pray over their inner struggles about identity. Our team was so full and blessed by this special weekend that we will always carry this moment in our hearts! I will also never forget the special moment when the Pastor’s wife gave me the biggest and longest hug as we were both crying and just kept saying “Thank You Lord” and “Gracias Señor” over and over because we were so overwhelmed by how amazing He is and how He has touched all the teens and young adults that weekend. Wow, we were all so full and blessed!
There were many other special moments in Argentina that we were fully blessed by, but I’m grateful that God stretched us out of our comfort zones and taught us more about missions this past month! I’ve experienced Him in new ways and I think He’s unlocking more spiritual gifts within my team as we continue on this journey together.
So it’s been about a week since I arrived in Bolivia, but I’ll be posting more updates about Argentina and Bolivia soon… pics and videos are also posted on FB! thank you all for your prayers!
