Clau´s Adventures!!!

2008-04-25T13:56:00.005-04:30

Leader retreat
On January 11-12 we had our leader retreat in Merida. We had all our leaders from Maracaibo, San Cristobal, Merida and Santa Barbara, our goal was to share some time together, train them but also have fun.

We had some staff encouraging the leaders and teaching them about our philosophy of ministry based on John:15, passage that encourage us to remain in him, to love each other and to witness his love.

We also talked about team work, which I really learned from, Yanina Cubillan taught us about Exodus 18, she reminded us that within a team we need to have our task clear for the whole team, a common purpose and motivation, but also we need to listen to advises as Moses did when Jethro tried to help him, being humble is something important within a team, nobody is ready in the task if somebody of the team have not finished yet and of course the main advice, a good communication.

We did not always studied , we also practice what we learn so we dis some exercises to make sure we understood everything really well ( of course we had fun!!)

2007-11-07T21:25:00.000-04:00

El Vigia:

Our church "Nueva Vida" (New Life), invited us to share and spend some time with the college students in their ministry. We spent a Saturday together and had a really good time.

We not only talked about ministry, but we also got to know the students from different towns around Mérida. I would like you to see some picture because they speak more than words:

Here we have Sarita and Ivan having their first Sancocho (a traditional soup from Venezuela with lots of vegetables and meat). Ivan doesn´t speak Spanish very well but he pronounces the word Sancocho perfectly!!

We also had a worship time. It wasn´t planned or prepared but it was so beautiful. Everybody who wanted to sing or play any instrument had the freedom to do it. In the picture we have Adrian with the drums.

To conclude we had some time for sports. Everybody enjoyed it a lot. They played volleyball or soccer. It was so exciting for me to see young people that could enjoy the time together that much, and also remember the reason we were there, Jesus.

By the way, El Vigia, is the place outside of town where we spent the day. Some people from the church own a beautiful house there and really enjoy having people from the church have fun there!!!

2007-11-07T11:37:00.000-04:00

Living in a tribe:

That´s what I think when we are all in the dining room together or we all go out. I live in a tribe!! We are six and sometimes if the bus is crowded we cannot fit in the same bus. We don´t all fit in the kitchen either and if we add some good friends to the number things get even funnier. Sometimes when go out we look like a school field trip!!

I am not complaining, it is really fun. Each person in this tribe has a special ability or something like that and they are still learning more. Let´s take a look at the members of this tribe:

First we have Eben Allen a.k.a. Ebencito(little Eben), the rock. He is our cochroach killer, our dictionary (English-English and English-Spanish), bodyguard, sound effects man "paw!! push!! slam!!", and he is our fix-it man too. He eats like ten people and has a lot of stories to tell.

Eben is excited to have his Bible study. He seems like the kind of guy that knows a lot of things about the Bible, that we have no idea.

Ok next, we have Ivan Bucher. He can really manage the only word that he knows in Spanish, "si". At least he can let you know if he agrees or not with something and that is very helpful to the ministry. He can pronounce the "r" really well, which he learned watching our president Hugo Chavéz on TV. He is learning Spanish really fast. When he came here he knew nothing about Spanish.

Ivan is a man with passion for sharing his life experiences with other men. Ivan is a really funny guy and kind. He likes to cook; his special dish is mantaraya (Manta Ray) with mayonaise. When you eat it, it makes your mouth fall asleep. :(

Now we have Amanda, but I call her Amandarina. She is the kind of girl that gives peace to you when you talk to her. She is also pretty funny. She is always available to help. She loves coffee and drinks it in industrial quanties, as does Ivan!!

Amanda loves to spend time with the Lord and she is always learning something new about Him. She really likes to pray and is always taking care of us.

Then we have Sarah or Sarita (little Sarah). She is a sweet, beautiful girl. She speaks Spanish really well but with an accent from Spain, so I make fun of her sometimes. She loves nature and volleyball, but I think she doesn´t know or maybe forgot how to play. hahaha

Sarita is kind and she always trying to learn something about God and ministry.

Also, we have Chelsea Hasenfplug, but her last name is kind of dificult to pronounce so I call her Chelsea Rrrrosa. This girl loves cats.

She was pretty involved with Vida Estudiantil in the USA so she knows really well how ministry works. She came to Merida before with a summer project and she already knows some students. She also speaks Spanish although she says she doesn´t.

Chelsea is always learning slang in Spanish, so she surprises me sometimes and I have to ask where she learned those crazy things!!

Well now me, I am the Venezuelan in this team so I teach some important things to my team, like how cook arepas and platanos (traditional dishes). I make them laugh sometimes with my English mistakes (some of them are inappropriate, which is embarassing for me!!).

Ok now you know my tribe. I want to let you know that this a really fun adventure for me and I feel really blessed.

2007-09-20T13:44:00.000-04:00

I am back!!!!!

After spending my summer in my city Maracaibo, I came
back to Mérida on September 13th to receive my new stint team.

The students were excited to meet the new team and they joined me at the airport, but due to the weather the team came to another airport.
This new team is going to have six people, that means a bigger team, we´ll see what happens!!!!. In order of the picture we have Ivan, Sarah, Eben, Amanda, Chelsea and me.

Our activities in campus has not started yet, we are going to start on October the 1st so meanwhile, we are praying, planning, getting used to the city and some of us learning Spanish.

Please join us in prayer:

That God would guide our planning.

For Wisdom.
For the health of the team.
That they can communicate in Spanish.

2007-02-17T13:23:00.000-04:00

Our leaders:

Last February 13th we had a special meeting with our student leaders, who were committed to help us this past semester.
Well the students leaders are the ones who help us with some decisions, they also give new ideas for ministry.
We meet once a week with them, and this group is also a place were they can grow in leadership and also learn how ministry works, etc.

So now, that their commitment is over, our idea is to challenge them to move forward by leading a Bible study and doing discipleship. Some of these leaders are staying on the team with us, so that they can teach the new students joining this team. So in this special meeting we thanked all of them and encouraged them, we played some games and had fun.

Kelly Maldonado:

One of these leaders is Kelly Maldonado, who I talked to let her know that we wanted to encourage her to lead a Bible study and continue with the discipleship with the girls that she had. We really would prefer her to stay in the team working closer with us.

As I was explaining to her our ideas about her, she told me that the idea of leaving the team made her sad, but she really wants to help the ministry and that she doesn´t need to be on the team to do so, ¨I learned a lot on this team so I want others to learn too,¨ she said. Amazing!! She told me that she was going to be available to help us.

Besides that she shared with me about the discipleship that she is having with two girls. This was kind of funny because sometimes when she wanted to encourage them from the Bible but she couldn´t find the book in the Bible and the girls usually said is before this or that book.
She also told me "God is great," when these girls asked me a question that I have never thought about, He gives the answer to me so I can help them!!
I really love these girls she continued, and more than being a discipler she wants to be their friend, ¨I am just learning how to do that. I have no clue how to do it but I am trusting God for that,¨ she concluded.
Personally Kelly encourages me to trust God and share with other girls His love, I am so happy to see a girl loving and trusting in this way, I just can praise the Lord for her!!

2007-01-23T23:54:00.000-04:00

This month:

This month our ministry is focusing more on prayer, getting closer to God and having an intimate relationship with him. To do this we are having a weekly prayer time with the students. Our goal is that God can speak to us as a movement and guide our path. We are also praying that our students will make God the number 1 priority in their life.

We also are preparing ourselves for the annual national conference, ¨Solo Uno¨ (only one). This conference is based on Psalms 27:4

¨One thing I ask from the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.¨

The aim of this conference is to go back to our first love: God, to enjoy devotional times and to have a hungry heart for the Lord.
At this conference we will have students from all over our country so we are really excited about this. I would really like for you to join us in prayer. Here are some prayer request:

Our ministry:

That God unify our hearts
That God will guide our decisions
That God give us wisdom
That God break our hearts and give us a desire for his word and his will
That God prepare our students´ hearts for the conference, so they can be open to hear his voice
That we can have 50 students from Mérida at the conference
That God provide students with ideas to raise financial support to go to the conference.

2007-01-23T22:16:00.000-04:00

Did I mention that I went to "Los Llanos" ?

Well , yes I did, during this past Christmas vacation. Los llanos is a beautiful place to see God´s creation!!!

It was so fun to be there, surrounded by wonderful views that made you thank the Lord for the privilege of being there (except the frogs!!)

While we were there we saw Anacondas

(a huge snake),

Caimanes (a type of crocodile)

to fish Pirañas (well I didn´t fish,

I was frustated because

they were faster that me).

As well, we saw a lot of beautiful birds.

We had a New Year´s party there and they have their own way to party(even when its my country. They played joporo there and we danced, I really tried!!) However, it was so difficult to dance, even harder than salsa.
It was amazing for me to hear people

say: "Let´s play this song, who´s playing the maracas?"

(maracas is a traditional instrument,

like a raddle).

Well just enjoy the pictures!!!!!

Emily and me with our little friends

from "Los llanos" they are so cute

2007-01-21T23:47:00.000-04:00

December:

When we came back from Maracaibo we had Christmas decoration in our place!!!!!
Instead using words, I will show you some pictures...

2007-01-21T17:31:00.000-04:00

QUICK UPDATE!!

November:
On november we had our annual retreat. It was called " Conexion 90 degrees", this name was due to the vertical relationship that we have with the Lord and how this relationship affect our relationship with other people.
This was a great opportunity to see our student leaders work with us and commited in every detail like worship, program, sound system free time,etc.

The speaker was Deivi Bracho, the coordinator from other city (San Cristobal). He is a really fun person and he always gives good illustrations to each talk even the names of the talks were funny " The Glory of the conexion", " Enjoy the Glory of the conexion", " The language of the conexion" and " How to connect with other people", I think he is funny.
We really had fun at this retreat and God touch our hearts during the talks and the worship time.

There were 45 students who attended the retreat wich was great. It was an answer to a prayer because be hhad been praying that God motivated the students to go.

On November we also traveled as a team to Maracaibo( my city) to have some planning meetings for this new year, one of thoses plans is our annual national conference. This conference is going to be on April 4-8.

In Maracaibo we also had a Thanksgiving time with all the staff (Venezuelans and Americans), it was so beautiful. It was my first Thanksgiving!!!

2006-11-18T13:01:00.000-04:00

Who´s teaching?
More adventures!!!
I was calling some contacts that I had when I came in july, and one of those people was a girl named Teresa, I talked to her and we agreed to meet the next day at the humanidades cafetin.

We have been sharing our faith in college a lot but one of our goals is that students go through follow-up so they can grow in their faith ( follow-up is where students learn the basic aspect of being Christians).
For our first meeting I was hoping that she would recognise my face because I did not remember hers. She did not recognise me and I had to call her, when I finally met with her she thanked me for calling her and that She wanted to know more about God.

After talking to her a while, I realized that I had not shared the gospel with her. I had only prayed for one exam, so I pulled out my four spiritual laws , but her friends came and they did not let me explain. They were distracting Teresa and suddenly She said " she is talking about something very important to me please do not interrupt" I was excited to hear that!!!. So we started through the four spiritual laws and at the part that says that Jesus is the only way she said "the person who doesn´t receive Jesus won´t have eternal life,right?" I almost fell off the chair!!! " you´re right", I added. "How I can receive him?" she asked to me. By opening your heart to him I said " this isn´t the only time that we are meeting, right? I would like to meet with you to learn more about God", My heart was beating so hard!!!!

She received Jesus and we made another meeting, God really amanzed me that day as ususal.
We had met twice and since I am leaving town for two weeks, she is going to meet with one of my disciples, Angela!!!

2006-10-10T20:54:00.000-04:00

WOW!!!!!
Yes like that was the first meeting. There were like 40 students there, the meeting was just to welcome the students and the new semester. There was a skit so fun, where bryon and emily played like Merida´s people, Amber and Sam like Maracuchos(my town) and me and Angie played like Americans!!!lol.I don´t know how we had too much fun that day.
Some of the people we had shared the gospel that week were there. We also knew a boy called Gabriel, I couldn´t talk to him but he had a special smile of happiness in his face,he studies and he works in a circus too, so at the end of the meeting he showed us a little of his juggling, I was a four year old child, I gave to him a cookie that I had in my purse, I couldn´t close my mouth.
when we came back home( the team)we were thinking about circus, we though Christian life is like a circus,we have to trust God through life as we were walking on a rope or if we are perfoming something in a hight place, but we are not trusting ourselves!!!

2006-10-04T10:36:00.000-04:00

A beautiful week!!!!!
Last week it has been a very beautilful week, we start sharing our faith in Campus, God made amazing things we have 15 prayers and a few of them are interested in follow up, some of them are afraid of follow up but still praying for them.
Also this week we start meeting with the students leaders of the movement to plan some activities, we divided some responsabilities and we are working together on that, the goal is to challenge them to do, to use their gifths,to love the ministry and the most important to trush GOD.
I´m in charge of our montly outreach with José Javier (aka JJ), I´m so excited about this I really love to do this!!! and JJ is more excited than me, he has been wondering wich places in his campus are available on october 25th. Our plan for that day is to show a short video about GOD´s love and information about Vida Estudiantil, also involve a lot some friends on that.

The big new is that today October the 4th is our first weekly meeting!!!!! I´ll tell you what happenned!!!
Please pray for:

God guide us all way!!!!!!
The students that made a decission could have a follow up.
For wisdom in ours plans.
That our weekly meeting can be a way to grow for the students.
For the first outreach this octobre 25th in Ciencias or Arquitectura.
My finances

Thanks for praying

Knowing Merida

2006-09-17T22:42:00.000-04:00

I just moved to Mérida two weeks ago to begin Vida Estudiantil ministry here.
I´m just knowing the city, it is pretty and quiet. The weather is the thing that I like the most because I´m coming from the hottest city in Venezuela (Maracaibo) and Merida has cool weather, well I really thought I was going to freeze here but it didn´t happen.
At the beginnig I was bored because I didn´t know the city at all and I have no friends to hang out but our team leaders sent us to some mark places in a map, we had to ask everybody to get the places, this crazy adventure helped us to know how to get to some important places and to figure out how Merida´s people is.
Also our team is crazy, imagine Venezuelans speaking english and the and Americans trying spanish, I have been in troubles with bad words a few times, now I can laught about it but before I was really embarrased!!!
Those last weeks we were praying at campus because classes have not started yet, so we made some praying walk to God prepares the way for the semester. And last week we went to share and to ask people their opinion about God and their expeciences too, so I meet Eduvina and we start to ask her about God and she started to talk about all religion she knew about and suddenly said " every people comes to talk to me with a booklet or a bible at that point I thought it was not a good idea to show her the four spiritual laws, so we started to make questions. " If you die now and God ask you why do I have to let you enter in my heaven?" Emily asked ,and she answer that she could come in because everybody is son of GOD, then I asked what about criminals are they children of GOD too? She answered that yes they were but she did not know how it worked for them, so Emily asked again " What is the diference between a son of God and the creation of GOD? Eduvina looked really confused but she finally said " creation can not choose where is it and the children of God can choose" so we add," can we decide be a child of God?"t she did not what to answer and she said that she was confused with that question, with a real desire to take out the bible and clarify the theme we decided to go, and meet her again in our weekly meeting,but suddenly she said "you are very differen because you do not push people to make decisions" With a big smile and thiking we won´t push you but God can do amazing things throught you!!! I said bye.
Please pray for people like Eduvina that God give to them hungry and thirst for him everyday.