(more pictures to be included in the future)
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.
- Be quick yet effective in your time spent sharing the Gospel with students because time is limited and you might not see them again.
- 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
Praying for your meeting today. Glad to see you are having a good time and a faithful impact. I pray God works in and through you.
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