New Contacts and a New Sister in Christ

A quick update on the goings-on here in Santiago. We continue with Friday night English classes which have yielded some good contacts. Tyler and I are each doing one-on-one LST lessons with two guys, Leandro and Orlando who attend USACH, (Universidad de Santiago de Chile). We have also been able to go to their school and meet for lunch a couple of times to hang out and get to know them better. Amanda has completed LST English lessons with Elizabeth, and has started LST lessons with her friend, Lizbeth. Both of these university girls have been attending the Friday night group English classes. We had a "Cinco de Mayo" celebration in English class the first part of May. We had an English lesson on Mexican history, group translation of the song "La Bamba," and we all took turns hitting a pinata. It was tons of fun!

Translating and singing the song "La Bamba"

Claudio taking his best swing at the pinata.

Lindsey, Perla, and Amanda studying the Bible.

Amanda has also continued to be the silent partner with Lindsey as they study the Bible with Perla, who first came to church after receiving an invitation to the inaugural service. She had two fractured vertebrae in her neck from an accident in a discoteque. The large disco ball fell from the ceiling and landed on her head, thus fracturing her neck. She had been in the halo brace for about 2 months (see above picture), and when it was removed, she began wearing just a neck brace that she could remove. Soon after that, Perla made the decision to be baptized on the 21st, and the entire church was blessed to be able to witness her baptism. Perla’s mom, aunt and several cousins and long-time friends also came that Sunday to see her be baptized and celebrate with her! Perla has an amazing spirit and personality that draws people to her, which we especially saw last Sunday as more than 10 of her friends and family accompanied her to church services.

Our new sister in Christ, Perla! Mauricio helped Jeff with the baptism as Perla had to remove her neck brace to be baptized. Her mother is on the right looking on with a smile.

Francisco, whom we met through the inaugural service has been studying with Rodrigo and me, has done 4 of the 7 lessons and is thinking about his decision to be baptized. We have also been planning a retreat for the Universitarios in June, in an effort to bring the group closer together, as we have several that have just begun studying the Bible or participated a few times but aren’t yet solid members. Nicolas and Felipe, the two young boys that Tyler and I have been studying with have completed the 7 evangelistic lessons, and have both decided they want to be baptized. They have come to Wednesday night class a few times and enjoyed it. God has been incredibly good to us, allowing us to be used in the conversion of several here in Santiago and to learn more about evangelism through the studies we have been involved in. Please continue to be in prayer for each of these new contacts, new Christians, and the university group. Thanks for reading-

--John