Update from Sasha and Maria Silvia

Sasha and Maria Silvia: An Update

May 2008

Cordoba Argentina

In This Issue

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Maria de los Angeles

Growth without Watering

The New Kids on the Block

Greetings!

It has been an explosive beginning! It is like getting on some ridiculous rollercoaster and five clicks up the 60 degree ascent realizing that your strapped tight and going nowhere. It is that dual sensation of fear and exhilaration, entrapment and safety, the blur and pinpointed clarity of God's work in your life and in the lives of others.

We have been doing a lot, but God has been doing more. If this is what our first three months have been like, I'm overwhelmed by what the rest of the time God has set aside for us might look like. Maybe that is what He wants, for me to be overwhelmed by Him. I am satisfied with that, although a little nervous, but it is the kind of nervousness that makes me just hold tighter to my Fathers leg, grasping His safety as I watch in wonder things too big for me to comprehend. Hold on and maybe this newsletter will help you feel the rush of wind I am beginning to become accustomed to.

Bendiciones,

Sasha Rasmussen
Alto Voltage

Home

Finding Ourselves in Cordoba Again

Sasha working on a bookshelf for our new apartment.

After the months of deputation travel Maria Silvia and I were past ready to settle down and find our own little corner of the world. We wanted something within walking distance of the church for convenience and to save money on transportation, but also an apartment within our budget. We were able to find a brand new apartment, with a lot of extras, cheaper than most in our area, and only three blocks from the church!

It is a small one bedroom apartment, but has an industrial washer and dryer available for all tenants which we buy economical tokens for, it has a terrace that overlooks the city, which is a perfect place to pray for our neighborhood, and it has a multi-use room, which we have already used for two ministry events; a youth-staff barbecue, and a girls activity. We are so happy with our new home. Thank you for your faithful support which has provided us with the choice of renting something perfect for the ministry and for us!

Maria de los Angeles
Baptism and Growth
Maria Silvia and Angie in Discipleship about Baptism

Maria de los Angeles was a surprise for her parents Eduardo and Stella. She is the youngest of five siblings, and while the rest are married and have children, she is still 16 and living the life of a teenager. But life hasn't been what you might consider an average teenage experience. Her father was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease a few years ago, and has slowly digressed through the debilitating stages of his infirmity. Angie, as she is called in our group, seemed shy and unsure of herself, and of her faith when she entered our group a couple of years ago.

This year though has marked a turning point for her. She began taking classes in Child Evangelism Fellowship, and began to show a quiet confidence in herself, and in her faith. Through CEF she also realized that she had never been baptized and asked us if she could be. Maria Silvia spent a couple of hours one afternoon to explain what baptism meant, and why it is important in the life of a believer. On May 11 she was baptized, and she proclaimed to her unsaved family, to her church, and to her Lord that she has been buried in the likeness of His death, and raised in the likeness of His resurrection and she lives in newness of life through her Saviour.

Maria Silvia and the girls in the multipurpose room of our apartment building.

Growth without Watering

God's Work, Our Tending

My idea about how things would go upon our arrival back in Cordoba was one where we slowly reestablished ourselves, unified the leadership in the youth group, and slipped ourselves comfortably back into missions like putting on an old pair of boots. God as usual had other plans.

The last two months have looked like this:

Since we have begun having youth group this year starting the first Saturday of April, we have not gone one Saturday without a new visitor, and some Saturdays with as many as five.
The groups attendance has been between 25-30 kids weekly, not counting adult volunteers.
Maria Silvia discipled Angela about baptism and Sasha baptized her, marking his first time baptizing, and the first baptism of our youth group.
One of the kids in our youth group is now going through a membership class with Sasha because she wishes to join the church.
Sasha has begun four one-on-one discipleship with four of the guys in the youth group; Nestor, Mattias, Martin Moreda, and Martin Altamirano.
Maria Silvia has started a girls Bible Study working through the book of John.
We had an evangelistic event in the park playing Futbol Americano, Futbol Argentino, and Volleyball. Our mission interns gave their testimonies and we were able to proclaim God's grace and love to at least one unsaved kid that we know.
Next week we will be going with the children's ministry to a Children's Home and we will be presenting an evangelistic skit with our newly formed drama team.

The group has so much energy and so much passion that anything we do or suggest seems to be gold. There is a lot of hunger for God, and passion for His kingdom in our group. Those are things we could never generate, that is God's work. Our group is growing in every sense, but it is growth that comes from the roots, from the deep aquifer of God's love and not from the watering cans of our feeble programs. Our job the last couple of months has been to tend the garden, weed it, and watch it grow as God provides the growth.