We are also excited because this year we will be starting our Center for Student Global Impact. A ministry of our BSM to find creative ways to have a global impact by doing local things. It is amazing to think that you can have an impact on the world by being faithful in serving God in your campus. Just as we did last year, we will continue filled with energy to help people all over the world in God’s name.

We are also working very hard to do the Valley Summer Project again next year. My question is, will you be one of the 20 students that will say yes to dedicate your summer to serve and grow as a disciple of Christ?

As the time for the first day of school approaches, we will be working hard to get ready and welcome you all filled with joy and excitement.

On a different note, I wanted to share a link to an article that talks about the great things that Daniel Armendariz and Fabian did up in New Jersey. The Lords sure used them for his glory. They are back now, but I am sure that what they saw and did for God has changed them forever. Here is the link

Here is the video of Belinda. If you want to see more videos you can check our previous posts.

Throughout the spring semester we began to see how God was opening doors for students.  He was also working in Venezuela preparing the place for us to go.  We no longer doubted but we trusted, knowing that God was going to continue working in our behalf.  I want this blog to stand as a testimony to God who in his great mercy used our lives this summer to serve him. To him be all glory for providing everything we needed and more. For keeping us safe, and for speaking to every one of us in a personal way.

Here is a summary of what happened:

Another thing that I enjoyed was seeing our team serving alongside the Venezuelan youth group. I loved their skits during the evangelistic campaigns, the participation of our team with the worship band, and going out to share Christ in schools. I also loved that our team spoke Spanish. Even though some people there speak very good English, speaking in their first language was awesome. We laughed very hard many times and got to share our hearts without translation with each other.

Here is a video of one of the skits our team did with the youth group in Venezuela:

1. Take some time to pray and realize God’s presence in your life:

Read the following Scriptures

Listen to this song

Now take some time to pray and get your relationship with God back on track.

Let’s move on to the next suggestion:

2. Reflect on who Jesus is…. watch this video:

Let’s move on..

3. Here is a link to an old website of ours that has a few Bible studies for you. At the end of each one, there is a box you can fill in and we will get an e-mail with your reflections. Bible Studies

Studying the gospels…

Not being able to find answers he decided to begin a more thorough reading of the gospels to learn more about Jesus. When he did this, many people from his neighborhood began to join him, the group got so big that they all put their resources together to rent a space so that they could meet every day to read and discuss the gospels. The group kept on growing and for two and a half years they met every night to study the gospels and learn about Jesus. As they knew how, each gave their lives to Jesus and began experiencing transformation in their own lives.

Placing a name to what God had been doing among the group…

One day while listening to the radio, pastor Heding heard an announcement for a training conference for those seeking to minister to others in Jesus’ name. He showed up to his first pastoral training conference without even knowing that he was already a pastor of a church. After sharing his story with a church staff at Iglesia Bautista El Trigal, it became clear that God was working in this group of faithful followers of Jesus. They taught the pastor about Baptism, discipleship, and church. He came to the realization that for 2 ½ years they had been meeting and that now they were ready to become a church and be baptized.

On a beautiful day, the members of Iglesia Bautista el Trigal gathered to witness the baptism of pastor Heiding, as he was baptized, he then turned around and baptized the more than 30 people that had been meeting at a rented space every night to read the gospels. “It was a sight to behold” told me Hugh, the evangelism minister of IB el Trigal.

Being the presence of Christ in their community…

I got to hear this testimony from pastor Heiding, I also got to meet some of the brothers and sisters of the church. They are active servants of Christ. They still meet to read the gospels, and they have a vibrant kids and youth ministry that is reaching an area most people don’t dare go in because of gangs and drug dealing. We heard his vision and saw in his eyes a commitment to be the presence of Christ in his community. He could live anywhere in the city, however, he decided to live I that dangerous neighborhood, working full time at the airport, and working full time as a pastor, reading the Bible every night and teaching it to others as the Holy Spirit leads….. Amen.

The pastor and his wife...

Romans 12:13 calls upon followers of Jesus to “practice hospitality.” It is in doing so that we find a new dimension of sharing in the love of Christ.

During our mission trip we were hosted by families. None of these families were forced to host us, they offered to do so. Every time we thanked them for their hospitality they would remark that they did not want to miss out on the blessing of sharing with brothers and sisters in Christ. Our host families took us under their wings and went to great extents to protect us. They fed us, drove us to places, prayed for us, shared their testimonies, and cried when we left wishing they could have done more for us. It was a blessing.

One interesting thing of all this is how God worked out the placing of each and every one of us in the homes we stayed. We all took gifts for our host families without knowing who they were going to be; it turns out that the gifts we took worked out as if we would have known in advanced who we were going to be staying with. A lady collects bells from different countries, it turns out that the 2 students staying with them each took bells as a gift. Another family loves baseball, the girl staying with them took baseball gifts. Our host family loved candles so one of the team gave the lady candles for her beautiful display. Some would call this a coincidence, however, they thought, and we agree with them, that God in his love had placed each and every one of us in a family that he had prepared for us. There are lots of things that happened while we stayed in our host homes, we got to know the families and they got to know us. We shared, prayed, laughed, and cried together. We pray that God will bless the families that hosted us so lovingly.

Here is a picture of the family that hosted Martha, Jessica, Sharon, and I. We miss them dearly:

Here are pictures of a few of the loving friends we made in Venezuela:

We got up at 4 AM and a church staff made two trips to take us to the airport. Leaving Venezuela is somewhat confusing. This is an airport where you for sure want to be three hours early. You have to stand in line, check in, go to another window and get a ticket stub looking thing, and then stand in line again to pay an approx. $60 dollar exit fee. After that, you have to stand in line to go through immigration to leave the country. Everyone was nice at the airport, so that made our experience smoother.

We ate our last Venezuelan breakfast and then boarded our plane that would take us to Houston and then finally bring us back to McAllen. When we landed we found a quiet place at the airport to make a circle to praise God for the great things he had done among us.

Next week starting Monday we will be sharing a few stories of people or adventures that stood out during this trip. Don’t miss them.

Thanks for all your prayers.

We then headed to the south side of the city to go visit neighboors of a mission there. The people there were very welcoming and opened their humble homes. Some prayed of the sick, others gave a word of encouragement to brothers and sisters, and some shared the gospel with homes that would let us. Our team got to share with a woman that was ready to surrenedered her life to Christ. The sister that took us there told us that they had been praying for her.

We headed back to our homes and then we were taken to a surprise good bye party. It was awesome. There were more than a 100 people there. Everyone was very sweet and loving. They showered us with gifts and made each and every one of us get up on a table to say a few words. It was very meaningful to hear our students share how they have been impacted by God during this trip.

This morning we are all packing and getting ready to head to Caracas for the evenening and then board our plane home early in the monring. Please pray for a safe trip and for alertness as we need to be on top of things every time we travel. Pray for me so that I will be able to lead the team back home.  Thanks for all your prayers. We will be posting more and more stories and pictures as we process them. In the mean time, here is a video of team members serving during Sunday worship at the church:

Please pardon the mistakes on some of our blogs. Time is precious on line so we don´t take time to double check for grammar and spelling. I know you get our drift.

Saturday. Some of the food we prepared to raise funds for the church did not turn out as expected. All the ingredients were the same in name but different in consistency. However, there was the exception, the coca cola cake the team prepared sold out on Saturday and Sunday.

We had the last night of the evangelistic campaign and it went great. Many guests came and the congregation of the church showed up to help and fellowship with one another. The team got to participate in a skit that was a hit.

Here is a video of some of the team members singing:

Sunday was awesome. God works through the pastor of the church in a very special way. He preaches with power and with wisdom. There were more than thirty people that gave their lives to Christ at the end of his message. It was a sight to see.

Sharon and Martha got to sing with the worship band. We also got to say good bye to the church. The people were very thankful and gave us many gifts as they were exiting the church. After church our host families got together to prepare an authentic “parrillada” This is a feast consisting of great conversations while drinking coffee and eating special cuts of meat. It was great.

Today was our one day off and we went to the beach. It was very beautiful. We arrived to a main beach and took a 20 min. boat ride that took us to an island called Playuela. The water was crystal clear, the weather was cool, and the company was great. More than 50 people came with us and we had a blast. We ate fresh seafood, snorkeled, and laughed. We thank God for this blessing.

Tomorrow we go into schools to teach kids Bible lessons and share the gospel, please pray for us, pray for open heart and safety.

I will post pictures when time allows.