Greetings from the Patagonia!
This month has been a month of lots of activity! Our base director Jorge Rios together with the counsel of Pastors here in Puerto Madryn have been working on a large project to send groups of volunteers to Constitución and Aráuco Chile, two of the cities that have been strongly impacted by the recent wave of earthquakes in our sister country. Our goal as a mission and as part of the church here in Puerto Madryn, is to be able to bring donations of food, clothing, medical supplies etc, that have been collected over the past few weeks directly to the people in need. The focus is to get the churches of Puerto Madryn involved in true missions, while bringing the much needed help, materials and consolation to Chile. Our director, with Pastor Samuel Pantoja and Felix Olazabal, a church member, took a short but revealing trip to these two cities in the end of March, and were able to see the true situation that has been caused by the earthquakes, and hear the true cry for help that is in the hearts of the chilean people. From this trip, we´ve put together a video to show a small portion of the photos and footage that the three had collected during their visit, and were able to share it with many of the churches here in Madryn, plus many churches in the bordering towns such as Trelew and Rawson.
A glimpse into the destruction that the earthquakes in Chile have left
After lots of effort, lots of publicity in the radios and around the city, and lots of prayer heart and passion, the first two teams of volunteers (YWAMers and church members alike) will be leaving May 6th to spend 2 weeks distributing donations and extending hands of help and God´s love in Constitución and Aráuco. God has blessed the teams tremendously in this time, as even the round-trip bus tickets have been paid for by the Mayor himself! We know that God has a purpose and a heart for Chile, and we feel that it is a great privilage to be able to extend this type of help to our brothers and sisters in need.
We are also finishing up the 2 month of the March DTS! We´ve seen SO much of God´s love and character in the lives of these students, and are very excited to see the personal growth and life changes that are ocurring in this school. We are now in a time of preperation for the outreach – This school´s destinations are Chile, Dominican Republic, and other provinces here in Argentina, and all three groups are excited and getting ready to see what God wants to do through our lives in these three countries.
June 14th is the beginning date of our next DTS! (Flyer soon to be posted) Our outreach focus for this school is Ecuador, with a second team going to Chile as well! We have a lot of hope in the terrain that God wants to reclaim in these countries, and as well have a lot of expectations for the personal changes that He wants to do in the lives of each and every one of the students that sign up for this school. We want to encourage you – It´s not too late! If you feel God calling you to pursue missions, putting a burden on your heart for Argentina, Ecuador, or Chile, or feel that God has a deeper purpose for you, contact us, we´d be more than happy to send you information, encourage you, and be praying for you from this side. Remember – everything is possible in Jesus Christ our Savior! We´ll be waiting for you in the June DTS!
Blessings,
-YWAM Puerto Madryn
