VAMOS A LA PLAYA

Vamos a la playa.....A mi me gusta bailar....el ritmo de la noche....sounds of fiesta!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Oq0CPXPtHs&feature=relmfu

Tomorrow morning we are leaving for the playa (beach)!! Bright and early but we are all excited! Due to all of our excitement, and CJ instilling the lyrics into our brains, the opening line has been sung multiple times in the past 24 hours.

Due to my lack of blogging the last couple nights (all for good reason), I will attempt to catch you all up on the past couple days of my life.

MONDAY: Got in a good morning run with Jenna and Courtney which included quiet time at the top of Las Peñas.  Had great spiritual conversations on campus as I went out sharing with Hannah.  We talked with 3 different Christians throughout the day which was cool because part of starting a spiritual movement on campus is discipling the Christians that are already on campus and getting them involved, not just bringing together new believers.  Monday night's dinner included this deliciousness:

a steak sandwich with plantains and avocados on a pretzel like roll with french fries! It is called the Guayaquileño.

TUESDAY: Ran again but minus Courtney so just Jenna and I.  Jason and I have discipleship on Tuesdays so we went out sharing beforehand. We had a spiritual conversation with a guy who chose to accept Christ as his Lord and Savior but the conversation had its complications. He had been fed a lot of different truths from other religions and denominations so he wasn't really sure what he believed.  He only spoke Spanish and was asking questions that would've been hard to answer in English so Jason and I tried our best.  We arranged a follow up to meet and talk more on Wednesday (which unfortunately fell through) but pray that God just speaks His truth to Tony and the rest of the new believers on the campuses.  It is very easy to get deceived or build a foundation of faith on lies during a new and exploring relationship in Christ.  Tuesday night was guys night dinner and then a Bible study that talked about being empowered by the Holy Spirit, our theme for Summer Project.

WEDNESDAY: Ran again (3 days in row...might be a new record!). Sharing on campus was great as Megan and I went out sharing with Carlos Luis and Alex...two of our new Ecuadorian friends at ESPOL.  While we didn't see anyone come to Christ, it was so awesome to go sharing with a student from the campus. Carlos Luis went with me to share and it is sooo helpful to have someone that speaks fluent Spanish and great English, it helps to make the conversation run smoothly! Then later Helen and I did a prayer walk through the campus which was so awesome. Dinner was with co-op groups which basically were small groups split up to encourage closer team bonding.  I was with Ashley and Ann, such a great group!  We went to this bakery/deli/restaurant place which served to our benefits as we had both dinner and dessert!  We spent quality time sharing each of our personal stories, which was awesome to hear how each of us got here.  God definitely picked a diverse team to be here, with all of us taking different paths, but Ecuador is right where we are supposed to be. God is doing great things here and his presence is definitely known :)

THURSDAY (TODAY): Ran some more but got CJ to tag along (I think I can officially say 4 days in a row is a personal record). Piña jugo for breakfast, one of my favorites!  I went sharing with Hannah and Ashley today as we had a conversation with a guy who said he didn't really have any religion. He listened to our Gospel presentation and after chose to accept Christ! He of course had plenty of questions (speaking very little English) but the Holy Spirit has definitely been feeding me the words to say as I have been more and more confident with my Spanish.  Pray that the language barrier wouldn't be an issue in sharing the Gospel, as about half the team doesn't know Spanish or very little. We helped with Daniel's Bible study today as we got to disciple the Christian students who came.  We went through the "millas" (miles) with them which are worksheets designed to help with understanding your personal walk with the Lord.  There are 10 "millas" in total which start with the basics and work up to some more personal evaluations.  The afternoon was well spent but unfortunately included a Germany defeat (sorry Megan) but it was still fun watching the game in suspense.  Dinner was as a team at the oh so wonderful TRES PEY(P)! The night concluded with project fun night which included fireworks, dance party, cards and FARCLE.  A new addicting game that comes with consequences.  It's all in the roll of the die but certain combination give points and last person to accumulate 10,000 pts is faced with a consequence. After losing in a game of farcle on Tuesday, I am now faced with the consequence of only being able to speak using sock pockets for the entire 4 hour car ride to the beach tomorrow....that should be fun! (sarcasm)....the secret is now out but everyone is asleep so they will all be surprised when I bust out my Golem (LOTR) interpretation for the right hand and Smoker Joe (made up character) for the left hand.  There were more than likely be videos...but wish me luck!

It is now time for SLEEP (my favorite 5 letter word besides JESUS)....Goodnight everyone!

Vamos a la playa.....A mi me gusta bailar....el ritmo de la noche....sounds of fiesta!
(check out the song and you can thank me later)

Pictures and Pray Requests

View overlooking the part of the city we live in (straight ahead)

One of the two hills that overlooks the city (Las Peñas)

Lighthouse at the top of one of the hills

Sorry for no posts the last two nights, I have gotten caught up in playing some intense games of rummi and speed with some of my teammates.  These past two mornings I have gotten up to run and these are some of the photos I took at the top of one of the Las Peñas.  Use these photos as a visual for the city that you are praying for.  

• Continue to pray that God does great things here in Guayaquil, as He has already been doing.
• Pray for the health of our team, as a few people from our team have gotten sick the past couple of days.
• Pray for the safety of our team as we will be making our first long road trip to the beach this weekend (4 1/2 hours).
• Pray for rest, as we have early mornings and long days on our feet.
• Pray for the Holy Spirit to speak through us on the campuses.
• Pray for opportunities and open ears on the campuses.
• Pray for God to work through the language barrier
• Take some time to pray for each of the team members bu name: Courtney, Megan, Ashley, Helen, Jessica, Hannah, Ann, Jenna, Jason, CJ, Andrea, Chris, Linsey and I...that our relationships with the Lord would continue to grow while we are here.
• Pray that we would keep our full trust in His timing and dependence on His works, not ours.  
• Pray for an eagerness to learn more about Him through our time in prayer and the Word.

I am sure I could conjure up some more prayer requests but that is all I have for now.  I hope to post a recap of the last few days and today at some point during free time tomorrow, so stay posted!  

Hasta luego!

Milagro or bust

Life Tip: Just because it's cloudy doesn't mean you can't get burnt

This morning 17 of us packed like sardines into a 17 person van.  8 o'clock in the morning is too early to get that friendly with your neighbors, but after some great jugo and with the excitement of the day planned ahead, we all managed for the hour long car ride.  Today we got invited by our Ecuadorian amigo, Daniel, to travel to his hometown, Milagro, to spend the day playing futbol and swimming.  Then after the morning festivities, his uncle agreed to cook lunch for us all at his restaurant.

We pretty much had the whole sports complex to ourselves which was pretty awesome.  We split into equal teams of 5 on 5 (ours had 6 but we subbed) with each team representing their campus.  ESPOL vs. UG....El Classico Junior.  After slipping, sliding, arguing, and laughing for an hour or so, UG pulled the upset 3-2 victory.  And yes...I meant upset...because let's be honest, ESPOL is the far superior team :) or maybe I am just biased.  But in all seriousness, it was a fun and evenly matched game.

Sweaty and covered in mud, we all changed into swimsuits to join the rest of the team in the pool.  The pool felt so nice after having spent the last week and a half adjusting to the hot and humid climate of Ecuador.  We spent the next few hours, playing water games, synchronized diving and just splashing around.  This is where the life tip mentioned previously comes in to play.  Today was cooler than it has been this past week and had cloud coverage as usual.  It even sprinkled on and off throughout the day.  The majority of the team and I, thinking because it was cloudy and not that hot out, failed to put on sun screen, and now our faces have to pay the consequences of rosey cheeks.

Lunch was amazing!! I was not really sure what to expect after not having seafood for the duration of the trip thus far.  Also I am not that big of a seafood fan in general.  But when they dropped that family (family meaning enough to feed a small army of Ecuadorians) platter of shrimp and fried rice in front of the 4 of us sharing, I had to dig in.  And dig in I did.  I was smart in sharing with 3 girls because that meant bigger portions for me, but they didn't mind as the urged me to eat more and more.  We finished the plate, a proud accomplishment for the day, leaving no desire for dinner.

I did end up passing on dinner....but I couldn't resist going out for ice cream tonight.  Let's be honest, ice cream definitely counts as a meal.

Church tomorrow bright and early so time for bed! Goodnight everyone :)

How Great is Our God

Words can't be used to describe how right it feels being here in Ecuador right now.  God is here. I am part of His plan and it is sooo wonderful.  I wake up every morning with joy, excited to see what the day brings.  I am experiencing so much growth and God is really working in my heart.  I don't know where my future is taking me but I am along for the ride!

This morning included a 6:45 wake up call to go for a run with Courtney and Jenna.  Being awake early and feeling groggy was not the desired feeling I wanted for my morning but turned out to be totally worth it.  We ran along the Malecon (river walk).  Climbed 430 stairs.  As if that wasn't enough, we climbed some more stairs.  But when we came to a stop, we stood overlooking the whole city of Guayaquil.  Standing in absolute awe atop a lighthouse.  We were at the highest point in the city.  We had seen God's work being done on the campuses, but to see how big the city actually was and how many people are in need of being reached just really had me at a loss of words.  God was using me in his plan to start a movement to reach the lost and hurting people of Guayaquil.  Out of all the billions of people in the world....He chose me.  This was definitely the best and most humbling morning of the trip so far.  So glad to have woken up.

My day continued with seeing a brother and sister come to Christ on the ESPOL campus, as Helen and I had the opportunity to share the Gospel with Franco and his sister.  PRAISE GOD!  With the help of Helen's fluent Spanish (SHOUT OUT TO HELEN! GRACIAS!) and guidance of the Holy Spirit, we were able to answer their questions on eternal life and the Holy Spirit.  We spent over an hour sitting in the grass just talking about God's goodness.  Afternoon well spent.

The night consisted of watching Dan in Real Life as a team which provided plenty of laughs to made for a great night cap.

Overall great day! and looking forward to tomorrow!!

Confianza en Dios

"EVERYONE, WELCOME TO BUTTCHEEK PARK!!!" as CJ bellows every morning during our stroll to campus.  Good thing the majority of the Ecuadorians can't speak English...and for those that do, we apologize!

Today was and is an absolute scorcher but we are in our rooms now which makes it somewhat better other than the fact that the cleaning ladies always turn our air off...so we come back to a hot room.  It is almost always cloudy but that doesn't stop the sun from getting through.

So today was campus sharing after taking a break yesterday to do church outreach.  *FLASHBACK* In our first day of campus sharing on Monday we were able to share the Gospel with 3 students but couldn't finish the booklet with them so we arranged to meet again on Tuesday.  Tuesday came and left us discouraged as they were no shows.  But we couldn't keep our heads down, because it's not that uncommon.  All I could do was pray that maybe we got through to them in the short time we had or that our paths would cross again.  *FLASHFORWARD*

Hannah and I were exploring the campus, looking for undiscovered hot spots for sharing when lo and behold behind us we hear...."Hannah! Jeremy!"  We turn around to see one of the 3 guys...unfortunately we could not remember his name but I'm surprised he remembered ours!  He went on to apologize for the no show and I think it was because of class or miscommunication.  He speaks really fast in Spanish.   He went on to explain he still wanted to talk more.  He showed the booklet to his sister and she was interested in hearing more as well! Long story short, he wanted to come to campus tomorrow with his sister, despite having no classes, to talk some more!  Can I just say praise God?! Oh and he speaks English...we find this out after I struggled for 5 minutes to communicate plans with him.

And He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.” (Acts 1:7)

His timing is perfect.  God is at work on the campuses and it's awesome to be a part of His plan!

Pray for our time on campus tomorrow :)

48 hours in review

The past 2 days have consisted of so many conversations, thoughts, emotions and Spanish that my brain kinda hurts.  I couldn't even blog last night because of not even knowing where to begin.  But I am going to attempt to give a spark notes version of the last 48 hours just get some stuff down in writing....don't judge the flow 

Starting with yesterday morning at 8:45am → skipped morning shower, gulped down breakfast in 5 minutes (Jose knows to be rapido when we walk in) → bus ride to ESPOL → shared the gospel with a student, he prayed to accept Christ, PRAISE GOD! → got some jugo de maracuyá (passionfruit...add that to the list...yum!) → had some discipleship time with Jason → got 2 empanadas con queso for $1.50 (I call that a steal) → talked with a student about religion, arranged a followup to share the Gospel → got stood up by the 3 amigos I previously talk about (slightly discouraged, but chin up) → bus ride home (didn't get lost this time) → NAPTIME at the hotel (great part of every day) → had some wonderful lomo off a sizzling grill for guy's night dinner → bible study on the Holy Spirit → tried to blog but epically failed → SLEPT → slept in but was able to sit down for breakfast (we have had scrambled eggs every morning for the past week...) → walked the girls to do laundry meanwhile racked up some puntos → got some lunch (beans, rice and pollo....all day er'y day) and jugo de naranjilla (which is a green orange....awkward) → NAPTIME :) → crammed 14 people into a van to do some church outreach → made some sammiches (I am currently filling out my application at Jimmy Johns) → ate some Dominos pizza with which they labeled the boxes "gringo carryout" → learned some Spanish songs → dressed to impress in matching yellow hats and t-shirts → shared the Gospel to patients and parents at the local childrens hospital...in Spanish....no notes....exhausting → washed and tried dishes...and couldn't finish until they were judged to perfection and approved → made it back to the hotel safe and sound → blogged → now I am about to sleep! Buenas noches!

Punto count: 18....estoy ganando!

***I promise better upcoming blogs...I have been slacking

La Misión Comienza

Today was showtime! Woke up in time to catch some breakfast which I gotta say, those huevos y pan are starting to grow on me....oh and the jugo this morning...phenomenal!  I have been making it a personal goal to try as many of the different jugos that are available.  Luckily the campus I am sharing at, ESPOL has some primo jugo for very cheap with a wide selection.

(more pictures to be included in the future)

As stated in my previous blog, I have been chosen to be part of the team used to reach students through the Gospel at ESPOL.  We embarked on our normal walking route towards the UG campus before having to split ways towards the ESPOL bus stop.  It was a sad moment because up until that moment, we had participated in activities as a whole group and this would be a first for splitting up.  I gotta look on the bright side though, we can reach a larger group of students by splitting between the two campuses.

Even though the bus ride is long (45 minutes or so) it goes by quickly.  Many of the students are curious as to why we are on the bus and often strike up conversation or are eager to talk when we make the first move.  Needless to say, the bus will be a good place for sharing on the way to ESPOL.  During the bus ride today, I was able to talk with a student named Pedro about his faith.  He shared with me how he is Catholic but doesn't really have an established relationship with God. The bus ride ended before we could pursue further into the conversation but out of it I had learned two things.

1. Be quick yet effective in your time spent sharing the Gospel with students because time is limited and you might not see them again.
2. Students are open to talking about their faith, at least so far, so that was encouraging!

We arrived at the campus and split into smaller groups for sharing.  I was paired with Hannah which it was good to be paired with a girl because then we would be able to share with both genders.  It is discouraged to share the Gospel with the opposite gender because it could distract away from the message trying to be shared.  Hannah and I walked around until we found a student studying on his own.  We approached him, introduced ourselves and asked if he had the time to talk.  Realizing that he couldn't speak English, the conversation was put all on me since I was the Spanish speaker of the two of us (Hannah and I).  Although Hannah couldn't participate in the conversation, she contributed greatly by praying for us as we talked.  I was extremely nervous to share the Gospel in Spanish because they may have questions that I can't answer in Spanish.  Spiritual vocab was never covered in Spanish class.   The conversation went smoother than I could've asked for as we went through the booklet and even side tracked a little bit to explore questions in more depth.  All the while, we were able to effectively communicate back and forth.  God was with us :)  One thing that happened, which I guess is quite common, is that as I was sharing the Four Spiritual Laws booklet with him, more students would crowd around to listen to what I had to say.  After the first couple minutes of sharing the booklet, the crowd had built up to 4 students [one was an evangelico (evangelist) as well].  I kept stopping periodically to make sure they understand everything and would go the extra step to highlight the main points.  Unfortunately, reverting back to lesson 1, they had to leave for class.  We had gotten all the way through the booklet to the point of accepting Christ as Lord and Savior, so I wasn't going to let this great opportunity go to waste.  They all seemed very engaged so we arranged to meet again tomorrow at 1:30pm to hopefully pray about a decision and for them to start a spiritual relationship with God.  So definitely keep Hannah, myself and my 3 new friends in your prayers as God is definitely at work on the campus of ESPOL.

Following that, we approached 2 girls sitting on a bench.  There was a definite language barrier but Hannah still gladly shared with them as I served to help translate as needed.  The girls were definitely reading along as they would help Hannah from time to time to correctly pronounce certain words.  One of the two girls was Christian while the other was Catholic.  There is a difference between Catholicism in the United States and Catholicism in Latin America.  The majority of the population is Catholic which they dissociate themselves from Christians.  Christians and Evangelists are grouped in a similar boat here as they both focus on developing their relationships with God through studying the Bible, prayer and fellowship as well sharing God's love with others.  Catholics in Latin America are very passive in their faith where many of them label themselves as Catholics because of their family background.  Some go to church on Sundays, know who God and Jesus are but they don't have personal relationships through the Holy Spirit.  Many of the Catholics in Latin America assume they are saved through good works, loving others and by attending the church.  My Spanish is not up to the level of being able to communicate all of that effectively.  While there was still some confusion, Hannah finished reading through the booklet and we parted ways, once again because of class.  Our hopes is that we opened a door for conversation between the two of them and hopefully the Christian girl, Michelle, can answer and bring to light some of the questions that her friend had.  

On the bus ride home, Megan used her bubbly personality to strike up conversation with a stranger about futbol which eventually was directed into a spiritual conversation.  A stranger no more, Stalin was given an invitation to attend a Bible study that our friend Daniel hosts on Fridays in which he said he would try to attend.  The other friend I made on the bus, Leonardo, said that he was Christian and we invited him to attend the Bible study on Thursdays (still hosted by Daniel, just a different place and time).  There were definitely a lot of new people that we met today so I've started to keep a journal with me to help remember names and conversations.  

Unfortunately while Hannah and I didn't see anyone come to Christ today, we still had very positive and encouraging conversations and were able to share the booklet with 5 students today. There was one girl who accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior today at ESPOL and 7 in total between the two campuses! PRAISE GOD!!  In total, the Gospel was shared with 19 students today.  It is definitely more exhausting than I thought it would be, trying to effectively communicate the Gospel in Spanish.  Day 1 got off to a hot start! Thanks everyone for your continual prayers :)  

Excited for what tomorrow brings!

Jeremias

P.S. for updates from the Universidad de Guayaquil campus sharing, check out Jenna's blog (http://jennareallyspeaking.blogspot.com/), CJ's blog (http://thereandbackagainagringostale.blogspot.com/) or Ann's blog (http://ann-in-ecuador.blogspot.com/) as they are all part of that team