well, we know that we have a lot to catch you up on over the last couple of months but we also want you stay updated with the current day to day. here's what we've been up to this week and how you can be praying for the ministry....

The 2007 school year starts here the week of March 12 (or 19th for some)...and ends in November. So, we are about to begin our first full (school) year of ministry! The University in La Plata is free for any student, but as a freshman you have to take certain placement tests in order to be accepted to study for some of the majors. All of that is happening right now. The Humanities campus has the most number of students attending (and also the most English speakers).

We spent some time at the beginning of the week planning, praying and gathering materials to help reach out to these freshman - many who are new to the city! The rest of the week we set up a table at the entrance to the building to tell about our ministry, Vida Estudiantil (Campus Crusade's name in South America). We decided as a team that it is really important to get our name out there so that students recognize it and know who we are. Most of the people who set up tables or "promote" anything on campus are political groups who organize big parties and big protests. So...we wanted to distinguish ourselves and give students a much more life-fulfilling option :) Student clubs and organizations are not common here (unless it's a political group), so some people have a hard time understanding what we are.

Praise God that we were able to meet soo many students! Between the 9 of us, we were able to spread out around the campus and talk to students, do surveys about being a freshman at a new place, hand out information on Vida Estudiantil, gather contact information, start our list for English Club and give out the 4 Laws!! I was blown away by how many students approached us to ask questions!!

English Club is a free service we offer, as part of Vida Estudiantil, to help students who are learning, practice conversation. In the past it has proved to be a great way to build friendships and not just share the gospel but share what life is like following Christ. We already, this first week, have more students signed up for English Club than we had come the second half of last year!!!

Also, Praise God for bringing to us 2 Persons of Peace! We met 2 new friends, Gisela and Matt, who are both believers and who go to the same church we go to. ...and they were looking for us on campus! They just moved to La Plata and are trying to get into the program to study English. They heard about Vida Estudiantil somehow and were hoping to find us to get involved. It was a moment of joy and excitement for them and us!!!!!!! and they already have met some new classmates who are not believers and brought them to the table to tell them about Vida and English Club. We are so excited to see how God will use them in this city and on campus!

Please be praying over these next few weeks as we continue to meet new students and reach out to them with Christ's love. Sometimes these campuses seem like such dark places - pray that through the Holy Spirit many would see the light that Jesus is.
Pray also that the students who are believers and already involved in our ministry would step up to join us on campus, sharing with their own peers. We often feel out of place as foreigners and non-students...we want them to see the vision for their campus and to take ownership of this ministry. Pray that they too would be passionate for the lost and would take action, trusting in the Lord.

thank you for your partnership and prayers! we will continue to try to keep you posted

Living again in La Plata! We have had some amazing adventures and experiences, but we are glad to be back to our home in La Plata - to get to stay in the same bed for more than a few days at a time and to see our friends here.

Today is a day of rest and maybe some cleaning for us as we prepare to start work tomorrow for the new 2007 school year (here the school year starts in March and ends in November so it's all in the same calendar year). We have many updates and pictures to share, but we'll start with just a few. Hopefully we can figure out how to upload video also so that you can see firsthand what camp and project were like!

Campamento en el Sur - camp in the south:






we stayed at a Christian boarding school in this very small village, Villa Pehuenia, along the Argentine/Chile border. this camp was much smaller than the first, about 85 students here - more than half were from Chile!












this is Lake Alumine, across the street from the school we stayed at for camp. the water was so cold, but beautiful and super clean (this is Seth - he was one of the few brave ones to swim). Kathryn, from our team was baptized here that week!





Social Project - Mapuche communities










this was our team (2 teams combined) of 22 for the week of project. each team was placed in a different town to reach the Mapuche people. our team stayed in Villa Pehuenia, where we were for camp. the staff and students on this team are awesome - they are on fire for the Lord. we saw them moved by the Spirit in sharing the gospel







this is the bus that drives around the country showing the Jesus Film. it served as transportation for our team during project. this part was often an adventure in itself - most of the roads are unpaved, gravel, very very narrow and windy and often contained obstacles like unstable bridges. this day the bus helped carry one big Mapuche family to the home of another for Bible study and worship time.








this was one Mapuche family that we visited for follow up. One of the daughters, Pilar, accepted Christ last year - Amalia, from our team spent time helping her memorize scripture because she cannot read very well. she is growing in her relationship with the Lord. we spent time talking with them more and praying for them. we were also able to leave them with clothes and food donations.


Visiting with Jen's parents, Bob and Olga








this is the 4 of us at the Cathedral in La Plata. we had a great time with them - we are so thankful they were able to come visit! it was neat to be able to show them around the city - where we live, the grocery place, the sede, the girls and guys' apartments... they also got to meet some of our friends and the students and staff that we work with...it was such a blessing to share that first hand!













Bob and Olga were troopers and did a kayak trip with us in the south - it was so much fun and they did great! the scenery was beautiful!



ok, we'll be in touch with more details on each of these last 4 weeks. thank you for being a part of this chapter in our lives. we miss each of you!