March Update

"Seek not to grow in knowledge chiefly for the sake of applause, and to enable you to dispute with others; but seek it for the benefit of your souls." ~ Jonathan Edwards

What a joy to help others grow in their understanding and application of the Gospel - this past month has been filled with opportunities to challenge, counsel, encourage, train and minister to such a wide range of people. We count it a real privilege to be your hands extended to Latin America and beyond.

Answered prayer:

World Assemblies of God Fellowship 2011

Thank you for praying for Gilbert as he traveled to and from India. When he landed in NY one of guards at the immigration stop commented that they were the only plane landing that morning- in the midst of the storm that hit the US, it was God's providence that allowed him to land and make the journey to India.

Highlights:

1. The student ministry breakout session at the WAGF was a two day workshop for two hours each day. We expected 100 per day but to our surprise we had around 500 the first day (since the Indian church pastors who were attending were assigned to our session) and around 200 the second day. It was our hope to connect with world leaders from different countries, but most of them were in meetings during our session so we had a high Indian representation.

In our session our team, pictured to the right (Anita, Jim, Scott, Joyce, John and I) casted a vision for developing university student ministry through their church and implementing the 5 pillars (prayer, evangelism, worship, discipleship and community) to their youth as well.

An interesting note, one of the speakers Ivan Satyavrata mentioned in the Forward session that in a couple of decades, 25% of the international workforce around the world would be Indian, so reaching the Indian student population for Christ will change the world.

2. MEC (Misiones en Conjunto): Gilbert presented two workshops at this missionary gathering: "Conflict Managment and Developing Teams" to help equip the Latin American missionaries working in this part of the world, many of which were Argentine.

One missionary working in the north of India came up to Gilbert after the session asking him to come and teach these two subjects to his group of leaders and pastors, but for a week seminar. His comment, "there is a great need for training in these two areas and we would love to have you come back and teach it to us in October, but with time for reflection and activities to help us learn to apply it."

Open doors. Pray with us about the possibility of returning to India.

3. India Student for Christ Leadership Summit: Following the WAGF congress there was a gathering of the Student for Christ leaders for a 3 day training summit. The commission on student ministries team was teaching these dear brothers and sisters and encouraging them in their work with university students. Gilbert had two workshops at this event as well.

One participant wrote a few days ago a message of thanks for the team:

"I am Jobin Augustine from India. It was a blessing for me to be a part of SFC Summit at Chennai. As I came back Lord helped me to take a step what He has spoken to me through your ministry at Chennai. Thanking you so much for the entire efforts to minister to us and encouraging us to be a torch the light to young lives through Campus ministry.

This is a very very small town, namely MANDLA, where have couple of colleges for higher education. Today Lord helped us to mobilize a Prayer-Walk in main college campus with a professor of the College. It was a Great Blessing to seek the Lord in prayer at the campus.

Thanking You once again for your precious moments with us."

Contacto Universitario training

We want to see a Spiritual Awakening on the University this year and we began with training students in the city of Mendoza.

Friday night was a special session on "Finding your true Vocation" which Virginia taught and all day Saturday we had our CU student training. One of the practical applications of this event was that they begin a habit of prayer walking and evangelism on the campus. In fact, Dallas (our colleague) and Ben (a missionary associate) are walking and evangelizing the campus in Mendoza with these students this week! Pray with us for a great move of God in this city this coming year.

In the coming month we have a few other regional training events, March 12, 19 & 26. Pray with us that new churches would send their representatives to be trained and new groups would begin reaching out to their nearest campuses.

Pre-Field Orientation Argentina Missions Department

Here they are, the 12 Argentine candidates after five intense days of teaching in a Retreat Center in Pilar, ready to go to the mission field.

We taught on themes like: Christian Character; Servant Leadership; Conflict Management; Team Work; Stewardship of Time; Skills for an Excellent Presenter; Reaching and ministering to a Postmodern World; and Ministering Cross Culturally.

Here are a few comments from the candidates:

• "God has spoken so much to my life in these days. I am so thankful for being here. All the classes were very helpful for me." Veronica De la Torre


• "The material covered was very good. I think these classes are going to make a tremendous difference in the way I am going to approach the missionary work." Paola Perez


• "The class on 'Christian Character' was very meaningful to me; I have lots of things to meditate on during my devotionals. I am my own missionary field." Mauro Martinez


• "Thanks so much for sharing not just material but your lives during breaks and meals. Thanks for giving us so many biblical insights and tools to minister more effectively." Alejandra Fioravanti