Summer Project and answered prayers

The Summer Project (SP) group arrived in Valencia on June 12th. With 24 students and 5 staff, they are the largest group to come work with Vida Estudiantil Venezuela and it has been exciting watching God work in their lives and on campus.  They are the answer to so many prayers and what God has done through them has been amazing.  In their first week they had over 200 gospel conversations!! It's sweet to see how God has brought laborers into His harvest field.  Their presence here is evidence of God's faithfulness to Venezuela.  He has a plan for this country and He has invited all of us to be part of it.
Specifically on the Engineering campus we have been able to do so much more and reach more students because we have 8 students going there everyday, in addition to myself and one or two other staff.  We were able to host an open forum in which we invited Engineering students to come and share their views on God, life and purpose.  There were over 15 students in attendance and we were able to meet many Christians as a result.  The SP students also organized the first-ever English Club on the Engineering campus.  This provided another opportunity to meet new students and begin building relationships with them.  Another prayer that has been answered is that an Engineering student began the first women's Bible study on her campus!  We are so thankful that the SP students chose to give their summer to the Lord and trust Him to use them!
Ministry in Venezuela has been very exciting this summer!  God is doing amazing things and we're so thankful for your prayers and support!

Summer Project students and staff at Engineering

Love Your Team

Our team at debrief

Our second of four STINT objectives, after "Love the Lord", is to "Love Your Team".  Personally, this has been the most challenging of the objectives but also the sweetest to see the Lord work in.  I met my team for the first time at our initial training in April 2010.  I was immediately encouraged by the way our team interacted and was excited to see how God would grow our friendships over the next year.  Throughout the summer we had weekly phone dates with someone on the team and had the opportunity to start getting to know one another and encourage each other through the process of raising support.  There were so many times over last summer when God began to show me how blessed I was through our team.
At our national briefing before leaving for STINT we were told over and over that our teammates are God's perfect provision for us in the coming year.  They are the people God has specifically chosen to love me, encourage me and sharpen me; and He has chosen me for them too  This has been a humbling and refreshing thing to be reminded of this year.  I could never have done this year without God's provision through my team.  I had to learn early on to open myself up to be cared for by them and to allow them to speak truth into my life.  I also learned to allow God to love them more through me and to love even when I'm tired or frustrated. It has been sweet to see the gospel lived out in our community.  The gospel has been central to loving the team this year.  At times when I felt like I couldn't love anymore I had to look at the cross and see the limitless love that continually pours out into our lives.  Seeing the ways I fall short in loving others also caused me to stand in awe of God's perfect, unfailing love and to give thanks.
My teammates have become some of my dearest friends and sometimes it's so hard to believe we've only known each other for a little over a year.  God has blessed me so much and I'm so thankful to have spent a year with such amazing, loving, godly, funny and beautiful people.