 Luis' Gift
Luis
taught me how to be a cheerful giver. Luis was an 11 year old boy that I met
our second day there. For whatever
reason he befriended me. He was willing to put up with my broken Spanish skills
and even played charades with me to help me understand. The second day he came
back to El Refugio and surprised me with a gift. He gave me a worn in metal
watch (which happened to be a girls watch). I was
taken aback and asked him where he got it. He said for his birthday. I guarantee
Luis did not get much for his birthday.
In fact if he was given a used girl's watch as one of his gifts, I
wouldn't be surprised if that was the only gift he had received. I quickly
realized that he had just given me one of his most prized possessions. The story
in the Bible of the widow giving two mites, all she had, for her offering,
suddenly had so much more meaning to me. I hope one day I will be as generous a
giver as Luis.
-Bryant
(5th year Senior Gymnast at Stanford)
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Baptism on the Ucayali River
The
first thing we did when we got to El Refugio de Esperanza on
my first ever mission trip was to attend a church service. The service
was in Spanish, and considering I know basically no Spanish, I had a
lot of time to sit and think. As I sat there, God put a fairly
random thought in my head- that this trip could be a good time for me
to get baptized. I thought about it for a few days, talked to
some of my friends who were on the trip with me, and read some Scriptures
searching for an answer to my thoughts about baptism. Two
years ago, in the middle of my junior year in high school, I experienced a
huge change in my life. There was a specific event which brought on an entirely new outlook
to my life- and it was all centered around Jesus. I've been "a Christian"
all of my life, but this specific event really began a new time of actively seeking
out God and beginning our relationship together. Looking back,
I can say that I made the decision to be baptized about two years ago
when this change happened in my life. However, for the last two years, all the way up to my trip to Peru, I subconsciously
didn't feel it was the right time to be baptized. I didn't
know why, I didn't even realize I was making those decisions at the
time. But now I know. It seems to me that God knew that the act of being baptized was best suited to take place
while I was in Peru, while my heart was on fire for God, in front of
my best friends who I will live and grow and be held accountable with
over the next four years in college. As the week progressed I
spent many nights in prayer. Thursday evening I made the decision,
and I was baptized on Friday. It was quite an amazing experience that I will never forget.
-Austin
(Freshmen Water Polo player at Stanford)
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Team with Kids at The Refuge
It poured down rain one day so we decided to play and slide around in the mud!
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El Refugio just invested in a piece of land nearby called "The Quince" with the purpose of using it to provide profit-building resources to allow El Refugio to be self-sustaining financially. Most of our work was done on this piece of land by planting trees, helping build a retreat center, and putting in fence posts for the livestock.
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Our New Baby Girl - Elliana Corinne Wiesen
While the Peru group was away for
an epic spring break mission trip, we were havng our own
adventure in welcoming our sweet baby girl, Elliana Corinne, into the
world. She is now seven weeks old and thriving beautifully. Besides being
a little more tired than usual:-), we feel incredibly blessed to have this new addition to our family.
We feel like God has used her birth to usher in a new season of greater
intimacy with Him, and for that alone we are abundantly thankful.
Children truly are a gift and blessing from Him.
- Trent and Natalie
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Partnering with us
We covet your prayers for us and for students here!! Please pray this week for the three of us that we would be filled with God's Spirit and
attuned to Him everyday to "walk in the good works He has prepared for
us" (Ephesians 2:10) so that we might not miss any of the ways he wants
to use us.
We would also love for you to prayerfully consider partnering with us
financially so that we can continue the work that the Lord has us here
for. Your investment in the lives of Stanford students sends ripples
around the world!
If
you are interested in giving, you can send a
check to 325 Sharon Park Dr #702, Menlo Park, CA 94025, donate online here, or get in touch with us if you have any questions!
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