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180 Degrees
On the 13th of
January, in the middle of Cordoba Argentina's
sweltering summer months, 60 kids, and 25 adults took to the hills for five
days of youth camp!
For many it was their first youth camp ever, and for others it was their
first contact with the gospel period. As
we arrived and settled ourselves in the camp routine something was notably
different than other camps. Where as one
usually expects a warming up time where the kids release their troubles and
their pride little by little, it
seemed that they had somehow on day one acquired a hunger for God's word, and receptiveness
to his Spirit's work in their lives.
Our camp speaker had
prepared a series of messages based on the life of Joseph. He spoke about the injustice done to us by
others, sexual temptation, responsibility, patience, commitment, and the
sovereignty of God, among other themes.
In each message the kid's eyes were attentive and open, soaking in God's
truth. Change began to occur slowly and
subtly. Through conversations with the counselors and in small groups, we began to see that deep change, and renewed commitments had occurred.
One hardened street fighting kid soften to the message of
God's love and forgiveness. He made a
pact with his friends clean up their speech.
One girl, with a strong Catholic background, was enamored with the truth
taught to her from God's word. She
couldn't get enough. On our last day at
camp she asked our camp speaker to help lead her to the Lord. Maria Silvia asked one of the girls who has
been coming to our group if she had ever begun a personal relationship with
God. She said the she felt distant from
God. She was able to explain
that it was sin which had caused that distance and that Christ had provided a
way of forgiveness and a restored relationship with God. She promptly prayed to receive that forgiveness (see picture above). One of the boys, responding
to the question "What did you learn at camp?" in the end of the camp survey,
wrote: "I left my old life behind on 01/17/2010".
In total there were six kids
who expressed that they had accepted God's gift of forgiveness and new
life. Many of our core kids made steps
of faith in committing themselves to a life of greater abandon in their schools
and with their friends. Others were able
to forgive the people who have wounded them, and the pain they have carried
around with them for years. Hope,
freedom, and life seemed to overflow from the kids' hearts as they centered
their lives on Jesus.
Just as God was able to turn
Joseph's situation around 180 degrees through his power and his sovereignty, He
did the same for the lives of our students. We were able to give out 10 scholarships this
year to kids who wouldn't have come without them, and we were able to pay for
the camps of our volunteers so that they could be free to minister to those
kids. Your investment in Argentina, and
in God's kingdom here, has already seen much fruit. God moved in such a deliberate and powerful
way, we felt safely wrapped in your prayers on our behalf. Thanks you!
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Update: The Cordoba Youth Project
 A little under a year ago we created a video underlining the needs of the local youth, and what as a ministry has been our effort in meeting those needs. Sam Masters, senior pastor and missionary at Centro Crecer, took the message of the Cordoba Youth Project with him in his trip to the states last fall. He visited many churches, businesses, and individuals raising awareness and funds for a building that would meet the needs of our growing ministry. God used the trip to touch many hearts for the Cordoba Youth Project. Many have raised special offerings, pledged funds, and planned trips to come and invest in Cordoba's youth. We have yet to reach the amount needed for the building that we were praying for, but for us, God's call to action is not dependent on whether or not we have a building. Maria Silvia and I have been in strategic planning meetings together with Sam and our leadership team to see how we can take steps of faith towards a youth center without a physical space to meet. We are excited about where God has begun to lead us. In the next month we will solidify a ministry plan for the youth center for this year and I will be sharing that with you in our next update. Please be praying for God's leading and provision!
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Greetings!
I write this in the midst of our yearly break, just in time for the kids to study up and finish the classes they didn't pass last year, and for some families to take their summer vacations. Looking back over the last half year it has been amazing. We have accomplished 2 camps, we have seen both our college and high school groups grow numerically, and God has been working His eternal will in all of us. I invite you to grab yourself a hot beverage, find yourself a comfortable place if you have wi-fi, and come with me as we review the last six months of our journey as a ministry! I on the other hand will grab myself a "Sprite Light", and turn my 10" fan directly into my face while we roam together. Are you ready?
(Don't forget to click on the pictures to see related web-albums and videos)
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Burning a Year on the Altar
Time is that
ephemeral thing difficult to grasp, harness, structure, and
control, yet it's consequences are as inevitable as the tide. We like to feel as if we are
making the best of our time; we are elated with a good fast commute, and feel
meaningful when we are efficient and productive. We also tend to judge others by
the use of their time. We wonder whether our employees have been productive today. We are perplexed by those slower in deciding. The young are under especial pressure not to waste
their lives. These social indicators can be helpful measures of what kind of rhythm
should be on the play-list of our life, but
there are some things measured by different standards.
Garret Gardner and Ryan Sundeen, of Colorado Springs faced their
high school graduation with some of the same pressures. What do I do now? When do I start? How long
should it take to accomplish? They sought that elusive answer of how best can one take advantage of the life that they've been given. Many in their place respond by immediately enrolling in
college, and both had pondered that.
Others start working from the ground up in some big corporation, looking
to slowly climb to higher ground, in the fastest manner possible of course. They, however, made a different decision. They decided to "take the year off" from school and invest their lives helping in
missions somewhere in the world. That decision
lead them to us.
They arrived in mid October,
and immediately began clicking with our group.
Garret arrived speaking a sum total of 10 Spanish words, but in the
course of three months with his secret weapon-the complete lack of fear of what
others would think-he rapidly made his way to a good conversational level. Ryan
arrived with a solid base from his Spanish classes in high-school and was able
to flourish in his listening and conversational skills.
Their efforts in language
also represented their efforts in ministry.
With humble spirits, a servant's attitude, and hearts full of love,
they made good friends in a very short amount of time. The language barrier was toppled through the
power of their willingness and the persistence of their love.
They were great examples for our kids.
Two American teenage boys, who could have vacationed the months away,
decided to pay so that they could volunteer in our youth ministry! They wrote and gave devotionals. They planned and led a weekly conversational
English activity. They were gentlemen to
the girls in our group, which served as a needed response to the respect vacuum that
machismo has created in the culture.
They became a part of us, and when they left in January for Peru to help with some
orphanages and a Wycliffe translation center, we were not the same. Some might think that they wasted a year. There are fifty kids in Cordoba
Argentina
that say otherwise.
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Cordoba Cup 2009
In it's fifth year in existence, and in our third year in attendance as a youth ministry, on October 24th the Cordoba Cup did not disappoint. The Cordoba Cup is a city wide evangelistic soccer and volley ball tournament which aggressively recruits teams that contain a high percentage of kids who do not know Christ, or who have yet to hear the gospel, in order to expose them to the God's saving grace.
Pablo Barrionuevo, the event's founder and director, as become a close friend in the ministry. We often get together with He and his wife Andrea who are the volunteer youth directors at another local church in Cordoba to glean ideas, share burdens, and laugh about past mistakes. They have become a refreshing and knowing voice for us in ministry. Through this burgeoning relationship he asked us as a youth group to partner 50/50 in the preparation and execution of the event this. While we weren't quite able to shoulder the full 50% share of
the responsibility, this year saw us partnering in a much
more important role. We got intricately involved in the details of putting on a large scale evangelistic event which gave us a greater respect for them as volunteer youth ministers, and a fuller preparation for future Cordoba Cup's or similar events.
We were able to make some helpful changes to this years event. We held the tournament at a more remote and isolated campus, which helped us to retain all of the teams that attended during the lunch break. We also recruited a drama ministry called "Ruimos" to do a dramatic representation of the gospel. The kids were mesmerized by the well prepared, humorous, and yet
touching mime of redemption in Christ. With that backdrop this years speaker was given a much more receptive audience to speak to.
After the message the speaker led those who wanted in the prayer of salvation. While we saw no hands raised, the sober faces and overall serious mood after the message gave us the impression that God had worked through his Spirit in the hearts of the kids. If the three soccer teams and two volley ball teams that we took as a group are representative of the rest of the teams who came, 80% of those in attendance were not Christ followers. We praised God for the opportunity to present his message of forgiveness and love to so many at risk, and lost teenagers.
As a ministry we look to be even more involved in the planning of Cordoba Cup 2010. We want to make it more efficient, bring in a professional christian soccer player to give his testimony, and improve our time of response and follow up. Please pray for the Cordoba Cup because it is an excellent tool to attract non-christian kids, especially boys, to hear the gospel.
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If you were able to get to all of our newsletter, which I admit can be a daunting task, and were able to get a glimpse of all of the wonderful things God is accomplishing here in Cordoba, then you will be able to understand how important you are to the faces you see in this newsletter. You have been essential to the change that is occurring in kids' lives here in Cordoba. The six kids who accepted Christ and started a new life together with him were brought to him through a ministry you helped make possible. The 650 who heard the gospel clearly, on their turf, were sown that seed from your hands. The two Colorado boys who learned about missions and grew in ministry did so because you helped create a place in South America where they could experience cross cultural missions. Every time God allows us to be a part of his work here I am reminded that I am just a small part of a much larger team which has made it all possible. Thank you for your faithful support! Thank you for your enveloping prayers! We love and appreciate each one of you!
Blessings,
Sasha and Maria Silvia Rasmussen
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