Welcome to all of you to this “special” blog cowritten by all the members of team SCELTE (Italian word for CHOSEN) during our stay with the organization YWAM Mendoza (Argentina).
We hope you had a nice Christmas time full of love, smiles and hugs! Our Christmas was actually quite different and unusual this year because we spent it very far from home and surrounded by people we didn’t know at all till a few months ago. As it is now summer on this side of the planet, it was (and still is) super hot, over 30degrees celsius or 90 fahrenheit: instead of coats, scarfs and boots, we were wearing sleeveless dressses or shorts and sandals. We participated in a Secret Santa gifts-exchange system, we wandered in the woods, we played Dutch Blitz (a fast paced and addicting card game), football and frisbee together with the staff of YWAM and we ended the day with a delicious Argentinian asado (barbecue) at midnight. Truth is we all certainly missed on different levels the traditional winter Christmas and not being with our family or loved ones, but God pointed out to us more than ever the Jesus is the true reason for Christmas and if we truly abide in HIM we will always feel at home wherever we are.
We want to tell you now a bit more of what happened during this last month of 2019 and at the same time thank God for all the opportunities and revelations He gave us not only this December but throughout all year. Please keep reading for more details. Each one of us picked up 1 or 2 favourite volunteering activities of this month and you will hear about them from an individual perspective.
SIMONA
One of my favourite activities this month was visiting the hospital. In particular, we went for Christmas Eve and on Boxing Day (the 26th). We played and sung Christmas carols and modern Christian songs in the reception area.
We also handed out some little panettone gifts with encouraging written messages inside. However, I believe the most impactful time was when we split up in small groups and went to pray for patients in their rooms or outside in the courtyard. Everyone was receptive and willing to listen to us, to pray with us and tell us about their reason for being in the hospital on those festive days. We had beautiful encounters: the man who asked us to pray for his business that was doing really bad and for peace in his family as they were having issues: the sweet elegant lady we prayed for so that her pain caused by bad arthitrts would go away; the pregnant woman who was accompanying her husband at the Emergency Department who first confessed she didn’t believe much in God but then ended up praying with us and asking Jesus to enter in her heart and life (how wonderful!); the loving mother sitting next to his son’s bed who blessed us and thanked God for us stopping by; the young man with 24 tattos who was eager to learn how to read the Bible in a language he understood and was willing to be prayed for so that his relationship with God would be restored. Finally I will never forget the prayer circle with the familly who was grieving because their mother was fighting between life and death and doctors told them she had only 10 % chance of survival. I will never forget the tears of one of the daughters: it was almost like I could feel her pain. We held hands all together and we started to pray in Jesus name for a Christmas miracle. I could sense the presence of God in our midst in that moment. I will probably never know what happened to that woman (or maybe one day I will) but I trust that God heard our prayer and in a way or another will be with that family through their suffering and rejoycing.
God taught me that day that when we feel powerless in front of someone’s else desease or pain (even when we don’t personally know them), we can always give them an encouraging word or a prayer out of love, faith and compassion. That can “move mountains“ and bring a wind of freshness into someone’s day or soul.
Another experience I enjoyed particularly was the ropes course we did with YWAM. This was a challenging outdoor personal development, team and trust building activity which consisted of different games among which there was the popular “leap of faith”.
After ascending to the top of a quite high utility pole, we had to gather our courage and leap for a hanging trapeze. We had to put complete faith in our team on the ground if we hoped to reach our target. Once on the top, we had to scream out our promises of “faith over fear” to God before jumping into the void. I must confess I am a bit scared of heights and voids, so I was quite nervous. However, it was a liberating and overcoming experience for me and it helped me to picture in a vivid way what the Bible means with the expression “live by faith and not by sight”. When I was standing there, at the very top, all of a sudden I had all the negative thoughts: “what if the rope is going to break” or “what if my teammates get distracted and let the grip go?”. However, I chose to have faith and I jumped in the void: it was…scary but beautiful: I conquered my fear!
Sometimes it may seem unconfortable to take a step forward or follow God’s plan in our life because there might be risks or we don’t know exactly what it is going to happen, but if we dare to take that little leap of faith and trust HIM, we will be surprised with the outcome and with the point where we will eventually land.
Here below a couple of pictures of other activities and more details from my teamate.
ALYCIA (preferences and VIDEO below)
This month has been so full of a variety of ministries. Each day we did some type of physical labor and spiritual service to serve our hosts and the community we have been residing in this month.
There are so many to choose from and they all produced so much fruit, but I decided to pick one of each. My favorite two were cleaning the Pool and a night of ministry we had with children at a local church.
The Pool took a lot of physical labor and a lot of hours were spent preparing it. The Pool is half the size of a football field which is ginormous! On our first day of doing the Pool, it was filled with leaves that we had to gather then remove. Everyday we sort of had to start over because leaves continued to fall and blow, but eventually we got to the point where we could begin to power wash and clean the Pool with bleach. There was only one power washer so base staff took overnight shifts to get it completed. After power washing, it was time to add a new coat of paint. Except we didn’t have enough paint or enough time to finish because we were expecting 800 people to come swim. We were able to make the Pool happen! I love to do physical work and it is especially cool to see the fruit of a finished project!
My second favorite well most favorite moment was the night we spent with children at a local church. The children live in the community and come from bad homes. One little girl had a black eye and a few of them are really shy. The church try’s to give them a safe space to be children, to be fed, and to have fun. That night we prepared a hand full of games, my team mate April gave her Testimony, and I did a devotional about the meaning of Christmas. At the end I asked everyone if they believed in Jesus and all said yes except one. So, I asked her if she would like to have a relationship with Jesus that night and she said yes. I prayed for her and the night she accepted Jesus into her life. After all that me and the kids chased each other around the church for hours sharing tickles and laughs!
The truth is I didn’t even feel well as we were on our way there and I almost didn’t do the devotional. When I arrived I bowed my head and asked God to change how I was feeling and immediately I began to overflow with His love. Had i not moved out of the way and invited to Father to be the center, that beautiful little girl may not have given her life to God that night. Remember to allow God to be the center of all you do and when it gets hard just simply ask God for His help because He will do the same for you!
APRIL
During our time here we’ve gotten to help out with a soup kitchen that’s run by our ministry host every Thursday for lunch.
We helped prep the food and serve it to the people in the city. When we arrive we will have someone share a quick testimony and pray before we serve them.
We also get to do many outreaches with kids in the community. There’s a church that feeds the local kids and shares a devotional with them once a week. My team and I got to go to the church and pour love on the kids. I got to to share a part of my testimony with them about comparison and how God created them perfectly just the way they are. My teammate Alicia shared a devotional and then we got to play games and it was so much fun. It’s so sweet how even the simplest moments can have the biggest impacts.
ADI
This month we are serving with Youth With a Mission in Mendoza, Argentina. Youth With a Mission (YWAM) is an organization with a vision to see the world transformed by waves of young evangelists. Here in Mendoza they have a 5 month Discipleship Training School (DTS) that focuses on fostering the students’ relationship with God, education in doctrine and theology, and hands on training for gospel outreach. Throughout the year, the students serve in the community here in Mendoza in dozens of ways, but during the off season, in between DTS sessions, the base has a much smaller workforce. This is where we have been able to help this month! The Christmas season brought so many ministry opportunities to YWAM and we were able to help step up and meet those opportunities. Below, you’ll be able to read about a bunch of the different things that we’ve been working on! But first, let me tell you more specifically about the people we’ve been working with.
The YWAM staff here has been so good to us! The point of contact for our team is Marlon, from Peru. Marlon is such a busy guy and he is so integral to everything they do here in Mendoza. Because of his life experiences, he has earned the respect of so many youth and men so he runs the soup kitchens and youth outreach programs (urban tribes) in the city. I love seeing how God made him so specifically—his personality, his story—to perfectly serve the kingdom in these ways. He is fierce and protective and so good to us.
Vanessa, from Canada, is the point of contact for Team Amazed, but she takes such good care of us, too. One of the strangest things for us these past three months is never having church in English. We’re able to understand a little on our own, and sometimes we’ll get small bits translated, but most of the time we lose so much through the gaps! This Saturday night, Vanessa came with us to youth group, pulled her chair right up behind us, and translated the whole thing! She translated an hour long service and we were incredibly grateful.
What has been so helpful about Marlon and Vanessa is that they are also tough on us. They live their whole lives for service and they call us into that too. I remember once we asked Vanessa about Mate, an Argentine drink that is shared around a whole gathering. Friendship is shared AND germs are shared. So we asked, “Vanessa, do we have to drink it if it’s offered?” And she said, “Let me ask you another question before I answer. Why are you out here?” “To share the love of Jesus,” we replied. “And how do you expect to do that if you are not first willing to meet people where they are and to put your own comfort aside?”
So many other people on this base have brought us along side them, have fed us, have entrusted us with their children, have translated for us, have bought us Christmas gifts, and have been our friends. We are so grateful for them.
CATHERINE
Among other things, we also spent several days working to clean up the entire property at the base. Most of this involved raking leaves and picking up and transporting the piles.
Although it was very hot and we all got blisters, I thoroughly enjoyed being able to serve YWAM in this way. It is the beginning of summer here in Argentina and YWAM is preparing to host summer camps and different events. It may seem like raking leaves is just a silly chore, but for us it was a way to bless our hosts here and take up some of the burden of getting the base ready for a whole summer of outreach and ministry.
We wish you all a wonderful new year; may 2020 bring in your life an abundace of peace and joy, helthy relationship and friendships, smiles, new oppourtunities and victories. Above all, may you all experience the manifest presence of God, may you be able to hear the voice of the Lord like never before, may you be especially aware of the guidance of Holy Spirit and may you know Jesus more personally and deeply as your Saviour and Friend.
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2020!!!!:)
Team SCELTE / CHOSEN
***ITALIANO***
Benvenuti a tutti voi in questo blog “speciale” scritto da tutti i membri del team SCELTE durante il nostro soggiorno in Argentina con l’organizzazione YWAM Mendoza.
Tutte noi speriamo che abbiate trascorso un bel Natale pieno di amore, sorrisi e abbracci! Il nostro Natale è stato in realtà parecchio insolito quest’anno perché lo abbiamo trascorso molto lontano da casa e circondate da persone che non conoscevamo affatto fino a pochi mesi fa. Essendo ora estate in questa parte del pianeta, il 25 dicembre faceva molto caldo, oltre 30 gradi: al posto di cappotti, sciarpe e stivali, abbiamo indossato vestitini leggeri o pantaloncini e sandali. Abbiamo trascorso la giornata in mezzo ai boschi (nel campus in cui viviamo) a passeggiare ammirando la Natura tutt’intorno, a giocare a Dutch Blitz (un gioco di carte super divertente), a calcio e a frisbee insieme allo staff di YWAM.
Verso mezzanotte ci siamo ritrovati tutti insieme per il classico barbecue argentino (asado). La verità è che a tutte noi è mancato il tradizionale Natale invernale e non poter essere insieme alle nostre famiglie in una giornata di festa così speciale, ma Dio ci ha ricordato più che mai che Gesù è la vera ragione del Natale e se dimoriamo davvero in LUI saremo sempre a casa ovunque ci troviamo.
Vogliamo ora raccontarvi ora un po’ di più di quello che è successo in quest’ultimo mese del 2019 e allo stesso tempo ringraziare Dio per tutte le opportunità e le rivelazioni che ci ha regalato non solo questo mese di dicembre, ma durante tutto l’anno. Vi preghiamo di continuare a leggere per ulteriori dettagli. Ognuno di noi ha scelto di soffermarsi su 1 o 2 tra le diverse attività di volontariato svolte.
*NOTA*: Qui in basso troverete però solo la mia traduzione in italiano (SIMONA) perché per motivi di tempo non mi è stato possibile tradurre quanto hanno scrittto le altre del team. Sono certa che molti di voi conoscono l’inglese e non avranno problemi a leggere i testi originali riportati in alto; mentre per tutti gli altri che fanno fatica con l’inglese, godetevi semplicemente le varie FOTO in questa pagina e non perdetevi il video creato da Alycia che troverete nella sezione inglese sotto il suo nome.
SIMONA
Questo mese abbiamo svolto diverse attività manuali (come preparare e pulire la piscina del centro YWAM per l’apertura al pubblico,
rastrellare le foglie intorno al campus, lavare i piatti per tutto il gruppo, aiutare a cucinare per la mensa dei poveri, scaraventare i muri di una scuola prima della pittura) che di intrattenimento e insegnamento ai bambini in diversi quartieri della zona e nelle varie chiese che abbiamo visitato (attraverso merende di gruppo, sport, giochi, testimonianze, messaggi motivazionali).
Abbbiamo infine anche avuto modo di evangelizzare e pregare per le persone nelle strade del centro di Mendoza. In un’occasione, ci è stato chiesto di scegliere 3 sfere o gruppi sociali e il mio team ha deciso di soffermarsi a conoscere meglio e successivamente a pregare per la politica, la scuola e i centri culturali del posto. Così siamo andati a finire in un palazzo del governo,
in un teatro all’aperto e in un liceo dove abbiamo conosciuto e intervistato degli studenti che poi si sono rivelati così interessati a conoscere la nostra storia personale e il perché della nostra fede in Cristo che alla fine hanno deciso di pregare insieme a noi affinché potessero conoscere profondamente il Signore Gesù.
In particolare, una delle mie attività preferite è stata la visita all’ospedale la vigilia di Natale e il giorno di Santo Stefano. Abbiamo suonato e cantato alcuni canti natalizi e canzoni cristiane moderne nell’area di accoglienza. Abbiamo anche distribuito delle confezioni regalo con all’interno dei panettoni e messaggi colorati con frasi di incoraggiamento. Tuttavia, credo che il momento più bello sia stato quando ci siamo divisi in piccoli gruppi per andare a pregare per i pazienti nelle stanze o fuori nel cortile. Erano tutti disponibili ad ascoltarci, a pregare con noi e a raccontarci il motivo per essere in ospedale in quei giorni di festa. Abbiamo avuto incontri indimenticabili: come l’uomo che ci ha baciato le mani in segno di rispetto e gratitude dopo che abbiamo finito di pregare per la sua impresa che stava andando molto male, nonché per la pace nella sua famiglia in quanto stava attraversando un periodo problematico; la dolce ed eleganta signora del posto che soffriva molto per via dell’artrosi e ha accettato con gioia la nostra offerta di preghiera per la sua condizione; la giovane donna incinta che stava aspettando che il marito fosse visitato al Pronto Soccorso e che inizialmente ci ha confessato di non credere molto in Dio ma che poi ha scelto di pregare con noi e chiedere a Gesù di entrare nel suo cuore e nella sua vita (che bello!); l’amorevole mamma seduta accanto al letto del figlio operato che ci ha entusiasmato con la sua fede in Dio e ci ha poi benedetto ringraziando il Signore per la nostra visita; il giovane con 24 tatuaggi, desideroso di imparare e iniziare a leggere la Bibbia con la app online in una lingua che poteva comprendere facilmente e per il quale abbiamo anche pregato affinché il suo rapporto personale con Dio fosse ristabilito. Infine, non dimenticherò mai il cerchio di preghiera che abbiamo formato con la famiglia riunita fuori nel cortile perché la madre stava combattendo dentro tra la vita e la morte e i medici avevano appena riportato che c’era solo il 10% di possibilità di sopravvivenza. Una delle figlie più giovani era in lacrime ed era quasi come se potessi toccare fisicamente il suo dolore in quell’istante. Stringendoci per mano, abbiamo iniziato a pregare tutti insieme in nome di Gesù per un miracolo di Natale. In quel momento era come se si avvertisse la presenza manifesta di Dio in mezzo a noi. Probabilmente non sapremo mai cosa è successo a quella donna (o forse un giorno lo sapremo) ma confido che Dio ha ascoltato la nostra preghiera quel giorno e in un modo o nell’altro sarà accanto a quella famiglia sia nella loro sofferenza che nella gioia.
In tutte queste occasioni, Dio mi ha insegnato che quando ci sentiamo impotenti di fronte alla malattia o al dolore di qualcun altro (anche quando si tratta di un estraneo), abbiamo effettivamente il potere di intervenire positivamente: regalando un sorriso ad esempio o una parola di incoraggiamento, offrendo un aiuto materiale o una preghiera detta con amore, fede e compassione. Tutto ciò può “smuovere le montagne” e portare una ventata di freschezza nella giornata o anima di un’altra persona.
Un’altra esperienza di cui mi ricorderò senz’altro è stata l’attività all’aperto con le corde gestita dallo staff YWAM il cui fine era lo sviluppo personale e rafforzare lo spirito di squadra e la fiducia nel team. Abbiamo svolto diversi giochi tra cui il famoso “salto della fede”.
Dopo esserci arrampicati in cima ad un palo molto alto agganciati ad un trapezio, dovevamo urlare le nostre promesse di fede e tuffarci nel vuoto riponendo la massima fiducia nei nostri compagni a terra che avevano il fondamentale compito di tenere e tirare la fune. Devo confessare che soffro un pò di vertigini e pertanto ero un pò nervosa. Tuttavia, sono contenta di aver trovato il coraggio di saltare poiché si è rivelata un’esperienza liberatoria, ho sconfitto la mia paura e ho letteralmente sperimentato in modo molto pratico che cosa voglia dire l’espressione contenuta nella Bibbia “camminiamo per fede e non per visione” (2 Corinzi cap. 5 verso 7).
A volte può sembrare scomodo e spaventoso fare un passo in avanti o seguire il piano di DIO nelle nostre vite poichè non sappiamo esattamente dove ci porterà e potrebbero inoltre esserci dei rischi o dei pericoli lungo la via, tuttavia se osiamo fidarci completamente di LUI e perseverare nell’ubbidienza e nella fede, saremo sorpresi del risultato finale e della meta raggiunta.
Vi auguriamo uno splendido anno nuovo. Che sia un 2020 di traguardi raggiunti, amicizie sincere, pace interiore e con il mondo intero. Sopra ogni cosa, vi auguriamo che possiate sentire ancora più forte la voce di DIo nella vostra vita, che vi lasciate guidare dallo Spirito Santo e conosciate Gesù in maniera ancora più profonda affinchè diventi il vostro Salvatore e Amico in ogni occasione.
Auguri sinceri e affettuosi di BUON ANNO NUOVO!!!:)
TEAM SCELTE
