discouragement turns to encouragement

[here's a reflection before an update of my time in Chile]

(written a couple weeks ago)

the more time I spent on the Juan Gomez Millas campus here in Santiago, the more I see how lost the students of this university are.

every day I experience more and more of what Satan is doing in the lives of these kids.

two weeks ago, I met a boy and half an hour later I was sitting across from him as his friend had him roll his marijuana.

last week, I met someone who asked me what I like to drink and when I answered “water” he replied “Water? With vodka? Or what?”

earlier this week, I watched the upperclassmen tie the freshmen to a rope, take their shoes, cut up their clothes, douse them in paint, vinegar, and mustard, make them roll through a mud pile and then one of rotten garbage, and then send them out to the streets to beg for money to buy their shoes back.

i talked to a boy who told me this was a terrible experience as a freshman but he’s looking forward to doing it to the current “mechones" in a few days.

there have been many times in the past two weeks that have made me question what good I can do here and doubt the supreme power of God.

i’ve wondered why i’m studying in the philosophy department

i’ve wondered why i’m on the most run-down campus of this University

i’ve wondered what one little gringa can do 

i’ve wondered how I can effectively communicate in a language that i thought i knew (but actually don’t)

and the list goes on.

But God has been listening and has encouragement for me!

Alyssa, the philosophy department is the most lost department at the University

Alyssa, these are the students that are looking for answers to their questions

Alyssa, who sent you to Chile? I did. Do you know who I am? GOD.

Alyssa, I am the one with the plan, the power, the love, the energy, and the will to reach these students

Alyssa, I will meet you where you are and use your Spanish as it is

Alyssa, you can do all things through Christ who gives you strength (Philippians 4:13)

and while remembering these things, God is using me and showing me how he’s working in this environment:

in a two hour timespan, we shared the Gospel with four students

we met a boy named Hector who is looking for somewhere to fit in

we met Camilla who defended her faith in front of her anti-Christian friends

we met Karen who willingly listened and let us pray for her

in all of my God-centered conversations, Spanish has not been an issue

the lectures that I have the attention span to listen to are the sermons at church and God is using those to grow my relationship with him and to build up my Spanish vocabulary to further his kingdom

we are starting a “missional community” time that will meet every tuesday for two hours to share lunch, talk, and love one another

the Lord has big plans for this lost campus, and those plans include me. when I am weak and turn to God, he reminds me of what he’s revealed to me.

He reminds me that 

Christ is enough for me.

I need to trust in the Lord with all my might and lean not on my own understanding

He has given me gifts and will use them in his great plan

He knows how to speak Spanish

He has given me his Holy Spirit that will work through me for Him so that others can have the joy of knowing Christ.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love-not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

1 John 4:9-12