We have only been here in Argentina for 2 weeks, but it honestly feels like it’s been forever. This isn’t a bad thing, and I have enjoyed our stay. I’m just so tired. At the same time however, we only have roughly one week left because we are here for a total of three weeks instead of one month. I know I’m going to look back on my time in Mendoza and think about how quickly it went, but currently the days feel long. We are staying at the YWAM base in Mendoza, where they do Sports DTS (Discipleship Training School) and I love it. Day one my group got to do a high ropes course, my favorite. We also get to play basketball, volleyball, soccer, and swim in a giant pool during our free time. Our ministry has been very random and it ranges from evangelizing in parks to raking leaves. My squad mate Matt Turner posted a blog that gives a great list of the different ministries our teams have been up to, check it out here.
I will be honest, ministry has been tiring for me this month. It is always changing, we never really know what’s going on, and we usually don’t know the plan until moments before leaving, and it rarely goes the way its suppose to go. We travel a lot by bus, we go to large parks and outdoor markets, and we usually try to talk to people about God. Despite how chaotic our ministry has been, God continues to orchestrate it perfectly, and we always seem to end up at the right place at the right time.
One particular day we got linked with a local church and spent an afternoon with their missions team. We all split up; some of us held signs on a street corner while a pastor preached, some passed out flyers to stopped cars at the stop light, others of us walked around an outdoor market with signs that said “ABRAZOS GRATIS” which translates to “Free Hugs” in English. I was weary of being the sign holder for the free hugs. When I was handed the sign I didn’t really want to hold it up. Not that I don’t like hugs, but hugging random people didn’t sound fun to me. I did it anyway, and of course God showed up. The first person I hugged was a woman named Debora, after we hugged I explained that we were missionaries and that we were giving out free hugs to share the love of Jesus with them. I asked her if she knew who Jesus was and she said no, not really. I asked her if she wanted to know more, and she said yes. So right then I shared the story of creation, the gospel, and that we had all made decisions to follow Jesus and believed that he is our Savior. I told her that this is the reason we are traveling around the world, because we want others to hear about this good news too. I asked her if she would like to accept Jesus into her heart, and again she said yes. So through the translator I led her in her salvation prayer. The best part of this story is that one of the women with us from the church knew her in high school, but they hadn’t stayed in contact. They were able to swap information, so now Debora has the opportunity to be discipled and get plugged into a church. All because of a free hug.
That is just one testimony out of many amazing things that are happening here in Mendoza, Argentina. Thank you for reading!
God Bless,
Averi Wing
