The Globalscope Blog

Rally!!

2008-11-04T14:08:00.009-05:00

Juarez, Mexico... going back again!! Our students got so much out of last year's spring break trip that they are already planning for this year's trip. We will be taking students to work with Casas por Cristo where they will build a home for a very needy and deserving family. This partnership gives our students the opportunity to serve and help people in THEIR country. There is already a lot of excitement about trip, however, there is also a lot of money that has to be raised in order to make this happen. Our students know and understand this and THEY planned and implemented their first fundraiser... it was great!

Last Saturday, a holiday in Mexico I might add, 3 of our student leaders decided to host a Rally which ended up being a group scavenger hunt. Each group had a car and was given 2 hours to complete all the items on the list. (and of course each car had to pay to enter the Rally with the first place team winning the grand prize... that's right, Money!) The day was filled with costumes, lots of pictures, hanging out with horses, driving all over town, decorating

cars, getting stuck in traffic, random questions and great bonding.

I did participate in the event which was an absolute blast. All of our student really got into it and there was a lot of fellowship and friendships that developed in the course of the 2 hours everyone spent together in a car. Oh, did I mention there was free food afterwards... that's always a great way to get college students interested in something.

We don't know who is going to Juarez yet, but because 3 students are passionate about it there is already several hundred dollars waiting for them. I can't wait to see what else God lays on these students hearts, to see their creativity come to life, and to experience them taking ownership of such an amazing trip!!

2008-11-04T03:39:00.004-05:00

My name is Raef Chenery. For the last year I have been working at The Grapevine with Globalscope Thailand as their intern. My internship is nearly over and I was asked to share a few departing words about my time here. The following are some of my most memorable experiences in Thailand.

This is a picture taken at The Grapevine one night when we had four of our Thai students participate in a skit version of The Dating Game. It was a very funny night. One of the reasons I love this picture is because the three guys participating in this event are three of my closest friends here in Thailand: Milk, Bank, and Anas. I have spent a lot of time with each of them, and it is going to be very difficult to leave such good friendships behind. The Lord has done a lot in each of their lives.

This picture was taken last Christmas. I love this picture, just because it is a fun picture. I think we were at the airport dropping exchange students off to go home. That was my first Christmas away from home, and I was nervous that it was going to be very difficult. But the staff at Grapevine made me feel like Bangkok was my home, and the Thai students, being concerned for me, gave me extra attention during the holiday season. The holidays ended up being a time of great strength for many of my relationships here in Thailand, and I was grateful for every moment that I spent.

This picture was taken during a Thai holiday called SonKrong (That’s the best I can spell it with English letters). If you step outside, you risk being drenched in water and covered in a weird clay by anyone and everyone on the street. It was so much fun being part of the celebration. Unfortunately my wallet and keys got stolen. All the students came together though and helped me. In the end, a police officer had caught the thief and managed to return my stuff to me. If you don’t know about Bangkok, it is extremely unlikely that I would ever see my wallet again. The day was a blast though and another great opportunity to spend with students. Watching them come together to help me find my wallet was a blessing.

There’s much more I could say about a year with Grapevine, but I will close by just thanking God for every opportunity I have had to be a part of the ministry and the work God is doing through Grapevine in Thailand.

It's Retreat Time!!

2008-10-13T20:37:00.011-05:00

About a week ago we went on our fall retreat to a wonderful resort called "Oaxtepec". This place had at least 5 different pools and oh yes there were diving boards. And not just your normal diving boards: they had spring boards from different heights and a 5 meter and 10 meter platform... talk about a day of fun (and of course lots of people were sore the following days, a few with some nice bruises. Who knew water could hurt that much)!!

So of course you always want a lot of people to come on retreats but there is something to be said about having a small number. We only ended up with 35 people going, but it was truly amazing. The community the entire weekend was unreal. These students created true friendships, there were great questions asked, and lots of good discussions. We even had 6 students come with us who had only come to the Casa Verde the week of the retreat AND they all came back the following week for all our events. They are now regulars and everyone knows who they are.

One student, Raul, told one of our staff members right after the retreat that he doesn't really know what he believes, but that's why he wants to come to the Casa Verde. He is searching for the truth and wants to learn and hear about Jesus. His roommate, who is a Christian, says that in the last 2 weeks he has seen a huge difference in Raul. Raul now wants to read his bible and is starting to change his attitude and behavior. God is truly working in Raul's life right now and it is such a joy to watch and be apart of.

And of course our retreat speaker was fantastic and it was fun to watch our students fall in love with Phil and Merran Tatum. El Pozo was blessed to have Phil and Merran hang out with us for a week before the retreat. This was great for our students because they were able to build friendships early in the week which enabled them to really opened up to these guys and develop respect for them. When we returned from the retreat on Sunday, a few of us were going out to eat and one of the guys on the retreat drove past on the street and yelled out Phil's name out of all of us. Phil, the guy who was only here for one week made a huge impact on the students of El Pozo.

God is doing some pretty amazing stuff right now at El Pozo. Please continue to pray for the ministry and all our 'new' students. Pray that we will be able to build relationships with them and share God's love in a way that makes these guys realize how powerful, mighty, and loving God truly is.

Much Love,

Karen

2008-09-04T00:44:00.001-05:00

“Going Green”.

One of our closest students, Bank, is very serious about the environment. So serious that he single handedly organized a tree planting event on the campus of Thammasat University. Bank eagerly invited The Grapevine to get involved, so we eagerly did. Bank informed us that he had successfully acquired 888 trees to be planted. We were a bit alarmed at that number, but being the go getting, “do it yourself” Americans that we are, we prepared to spend the whole day digging in the dirt. Of course, most Thai people are not as silly as us Americans and would never burden their good friends with the task of planting 888 trees in one day. When we showed up, the grounds crew had already planted all of the trees, our role was to just scrape mulch over the newly planted roots and pose for pictures. Bank had gotten some help in organizing the event and, in spite of the rain that day, it turned into quite a party complete with refreshments, prizes, and about 100 working class Thais. We were the only ones who came prepared to dig holes and plant trees and, as a result, got some interesting “smiles” from everyone else who were dressed for work that day.

This was one of the most exciting things to happen this semester, thanks to our friend Bank. It was also a great culture learning experience for us Americans who usually go into situations thinking, well, just like Americans. We are often taken back, even those of us who have been here for a while, at just how different things really are here. Hanging out with modern, westernized young people sometimes tempts us to forget that we are in a different world. Thank God for Bank, who gave us an opportunity to be reminded that we are guests here and that most people think, and act, very differently than us.

When it comes to our purpose here, it is a challenge to continually work to get our own culture out of the way of the Gospel so that Thais can see more of Jesus and less of our culture. We pray that the Holy Sprit is constantly “translating” our lives into ones that clearly reflect God’s character, even if we look as silly as we did that day. God bless Bank.

-Andy

The boys are back in town... and girls too!

2008-08-28T12:19:00.014-05:00

As I walked in the door at the casa verde my heart was filled with joy to see 2 students hanging out playing x-box, 1 getting help with english homework, 3 helping cook for dinner later in the night, and all the staff running frantically around trying to get ready for En Vivo (bible study). It's a an amazing thing to see the house filled with activity again and God's will being done. Summertime in Puebla is great: everything is more low key and there is a lot of good fellowship with the few students who are in town. But there is just something about the start of a new semester and lots of students back filling the campus house.

Our semester began not quite as planned, but God was in the midst of all it. Our planning time was absolutely crazy with several unplanned trips to the states by staff members for various reasons and Frizz, our member from Chile, getting delayed on returning. But we had a great team retreat to begin the semester and have been super busy ever. We have 2 new interns and 1 exchange student ready to pour themselves into El Pozo.

Our first two weeks of the semester have been filled with parties, bible studies, devotional lunches, leadership night, several trips to the movies, soccer games, and lots of great fellowship. I am continually amazed with the amount of new people who continue to get involved at the Casa Verde. It brings a smile to my face to see all the old and new faces take over the casa verde every Tuesday night and Thursday and see friendships develop.

I can't wait to see what God has in store for El Pozo this semester and to see how the hearts of students are changed.

Thanks for all your prayers and support. Please continue to pray for us and the ministry God has called us to.

Much Love,

Karen

SummerScope

2008-07-25T12:13:00.003-05:00

SUMMERSCOPE

Let me start with what SummerScope is: Every year we pick one week during the summer and invite everyone we know (churches, individuals, youth groups, etc…) to come down to help out at El Pozo and in the community for a week. It’s a great time for lots of work to be done and for others to gain a better understanding of what we do down here in Puebla, Mexico.

Last week we hosted 22 people from 4 different churches and it was INCREDIBLE.

It was incredible to watch the 11 youth and 11 adults work on projects together.

It was incredible to see all the different people from different backgrounds and churches build friendships with one another.

It was incredible to watch our Mexican students work side by side with ‘the gringos’ and to give up their entire week to help improve their ministry.

It was incredible to see the love and thankfulness pour out of one of our students after we installed a much needed bathroom door on their house.

It was incredible to watch 28 people get on an already overcrowded bus and truly experience public transportation.

It was incredible to look at the end result of the week and see the sense of accomplishment in everyone’s eyes.

It was incredible to watch the rain pour down and see our brand new drainage system actual work. (no puddles were formed in the walkway or yard… hurray)

It was incredible to baptized 2 of our Mexican students at the end of week and for everyone down here to experience and participate in such a joyous occasion with us.

It was incredible to see lives changed by people giving up one week of their summer to help others.

It was incredible to see a 65 year old woman shoveling gravel all week.

It was incredible to hear everyone at the end of the week singing a praise song in Spanish that they knew by heart.

It was incredible to see the tears of joy for what had been accomplished and the tears of sadness of having to leave what became so comfortable.

It was incredible see the joy that came at reaching the top of the pyramid and the various reactions to eating the traditional grasshoppers at the top.

It was incredible to see the reactions from people experiencing their first cathedral.

It was incredible to watch our summer interns (who are only here for a month) work so hard.

It was incredible to see God work in and through everyone who participated in SummerScope… it was a truly INCREDIBLE experience for all involved.

2008-07-09T23:35:00.004-05:00

Here are some pics of our 4th of July Party at Grapevine in Bangkok Thailand. We had lots of fun singing patriotic songs, eating funnel cake, spitting watermelon seeds and, of course, shooting off fireworks. Milk bought these fireworks in Chinatown. And it's totally legal to set these off in residential areas.

Globalscope Germany Video

2008-06-30T16:34:00.008-05:00

It's Summer!!

2008-06-25T10:49:00.006-05:00

So I know that it has been a while since GS Puebla has updated everyone, but here is the scoop on what's been going the past 2 months...

END OF THE YEAR

We finished another great semester with our annual End of the Year Banquet. It was night full of great food, remembrance, laughter, superlatives, a visit by spandex man and good-byes!

We had 10 students graduate moving on to bigger adventures.

We said good-bye and thank you to our amazing intern Harold who gave so much of his time and heart to the ministry of El Pozo.

We also said good-bye to our dear teammate Sarah who is going back to school to finish her seminary degree.

And we temporarily said good-bye to our team leaders Nathan and Erin McDade who are now officially on furlough until December!

It was so wonderful to see all these students gather together in fellowship. It's amazing to see God's love pour through them as they interact, support, comfort, laugh, and cry with one another.

MONTH OF MAY

Celebration :

Our semester ended a bit earlier than usual because all the staff headed back to the US (except the Stryker's who were very pregnant) for the annual GloabalScope Celebration in Tybee Island, Georgia. Celebration is a week where all the GS ministries come together for a week to share, brainstorm, and relax. This was my first Celebration and it was a truly amazing time. I am still astonished everyday how similar ALL college students are no matter where you live. They truly are struggling and dealing with the same stuff. I also got to meet and hang out with lots of really cool people who I have heard about for years! I was able to learn so much through this one week spent at the beach in Georgia.

Golf Tournament:

This year we had our annual El Pozo Golf Tournament at the end of May and it was one of the biggest we have ever had. We even had one team dress in costume/uniform this year. Our tournament is growing more and more each year and I think is becoming more fun. It is even great for those who may not be the greatest golfers because yes there is a prize for last place. And you better bring some strong competition for this prize because Heath and I pretty much have it sealed up each year. Heath has won this prize for the last 3 years!! All in all it was a great day of golf, food, fellowship, and praise for God and His amazing love and provision.

SUMER HAS BEGUN...

This year we decided that since we are now 3 years old and have a solid presence on the campus of UDLA that we would actually have events. So every Tuesday we have dinner and a time of fun just hanging out. We've done things from going to a movie to playing Rock Band to having a ping pong tournament. We even have a few small groups going on this summer. I've only been back in Mexico for 3 weeks, but it's cool to see the campus house filled with people each Tuesday when the town is essentially empty.

Stayed tune for more happenings of the summer...

Thanks for all your support and prayers.

Much Love,

Karen

Casas por Cristo

2008-04-04T21:11:00.007-05:00

Casas por Cristo: Juarez, Mexico

So I've been on Juarez trips lots of times before, having experienced four with Georgia Tech CCF, one with Southwest Christian Church, and then an entire summer of Casas when I interned there in 2006 (I'm returning this summer and for the future to work there as well). But to lead a trip from El Pozo...that's never been done before...across Mexico...this was going to be an adventure.

We left Sat. March 15th, the first day of Spring Break here, and return Easter Sunday, the 23rd. After taking off in our 11 passenger van that treated us very nicely, we made it up to Juarez from Puebla in two days, stopping in Torreon along the way. Once in Juarez, we met up that Monday with our friends from GTCCF in Atlanta and built two houses for a couple of families that really needed them. I led the construction of one of the two, and Michael West, a Georgia Southern alum and former El Pozo and Casas intern, led the other. By Wednesday, two more houses stood in Juarez (along with 27 more, actually, a Casas single-week record), and the students at El Pozo had gotten a taste of humbling yourself for others, getting multiple days of good hard work, and roughing it for a bit by sleeping on the hard floor in a church in inner city Juarez and eating foreign food, including the first peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for some of them, if you'd believe it!

On the way back from Juarez, we stopped by the beautiful city of Chihuahua for two days, the magnificent Copper Canyons in the SW corner of Chihuahua state, and the gorgeous city of San Luis Potosi. Some amazing stories came out of the trip, students talking about how this changed their perspective of how the view "necessities" in life, how others live - even in their own country - and even one person, Malena, decided to apply to intern at Casas this summer! THANK YOU SO MUCH to those of you who helped to support the trip; the students already can't wait to go on next year's trip...and that's exactly what we needed, was to get a group of students at El Pozo motivated about it to make it a yearly tradition.

Make sure to check out the video from the trip (in Spanish) online at YouTube! Here's the link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLg4o8ruf1U. Harold

Beach Retreat

2008-03-14T14:58:00.005-05:00

Let me tell you what I love about retreats, especially beach retreats to Veracruz.

I love that we crammed 55 people onto a bus to travel 5 hours together. It is such a great time of bonding and fellowship.

I love that the weather was perfect and we stayed literally right on the beach.

I love that the speakers shared personal stories that our students could relate to and learn from.

I love that college students are crazy and stay up all night long playing games, hanging out, and talking.

I love that we were able to play a game of flamingo football where the girls scored two goals for the boys resulting in the boys winning 4-2.

I love that the sand castle contest theme was inspired by Jack Stryker!

I love that there was a song competition between the girls and guys at the campfire Saturday night. It was so much fun to watch songs being sung between the two groups both in English and Spanish and the competition that arose from it. (the girls did win this!!)

I love that the first student ever baptized at El Pozo was able to baptize another student in the ocean at night... what a joyous occasion.

I love that we didn't have to cook our own food; thank you hotel!

I love that if you walked too close to the pool you would definitely get pushed in!

I love that students who barely knew El Pozo have now found a home and friends.

I love that one student that came with us had no idea what would be going on at the retreat and at first really wasn't that into it. But when given the option he choose to stay with us, make friends, and see what he could learn. (and has come to weekly activities at the campus house)

I love that a student, who is Jewish, now wants to read the bible with one of our exchange students.

I love that we stopped at Costco to eat with 55 people on the way back home. Talk about fun chaos!

I love retreats: the bonding, the fellowship, the way God works in lives of the students, and what they learn about themselves, others, and God. Retreats are great!

Events, Events, Events

2008-02-12T14:53:00.006-05:00

We are only at the beginning of week 2 of February and El Pozo has already had lots of events which means lots of great student hang-out time!

SUPER BOWL...

We held our first ever "Courtney Wilson Knee Memorial Super Bowl Party" this year. (Since Courtney is still back in the states recovering from her knee surgery, she didn't get to join us for one of her favorite forms of outreach: football!) So instead of having the fiesta at the campus house, we packed about 30 people into Becky and Courtney's house for a great night of food, fellowship, and football.

POKER...
This year we are also sending our first group of students to Juarez, Mexico during spring break to work with Casas por Cristo building houses. Harold, our wonderful intern, planned a great night of Poker at a local bar to raise funds for this trip. The tournament had a great turnout, with wonderful prizes, excellent food, and we were able to rasie some money for Casa por Cristo. Our final four players even consited of three ladies and only one guy... with Sarah Cruz winning the big event! We have another tournament planned for next month, so all you guys better bring your 'A' game if you want a shot at winning.

JAZZERCIZE...

Last weekend we had 20 ladies attend our Women's Health and Fitness Day. The afternoon consisted of two great talks about our bodies and how we are uniquely made, a professional fitness instructor led our afternoon in none other than 'Jazzercise', and ended with a very yummy and healthy lunch! The day was fun, fun, fun with lots of great female bonding. (If you've never done Jazzercise before I highly recommend it. It will also bring a good laugh!) We had several ladies really interested in learning more about taking care of their bodies for themselves and focusing on God's great plan for them.

There is lots more going on down here with en vivos, devo lunches, Valentine's Party, and the Beach retreat coming soon. More to come soon with the great things God is doing in Puebla, Mexico. (and hopefully more pictures too, assuming it will allow me to upload them!)

Much Love,
Karen

A quick update from south of the border...

2008-01-23T16:00:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone, so I am now the official GlobablScope Puebla blogger! You can expect to get regular updates keeping you informed on all the great things happening in Puebla, Mexico.

I have included the McDade's last email update which paints a great picture of all that's happened recently... so sit back and enjoy.

This afternoon I’m leaving with a couple of friends for a quick backpacking trip. If all goes well, Sunday at dawn I’ll stand on top of a 17,000-foot mountain and wonder at the power, creativity, and goodness of our God.

But I don’t need the mountain.

Because I also see Him in the continual growth of my teammates.

I see Him in the 90 or 100 faces at our semester kickoff party – many of them the same faces we’ve seen for three years now, many of them brand new to us.

I feel Him in honest and mature conversations with other believers, based in trust.

I watch Him work through my wife as she patiently talks to the outcast kid who would otherwise be sitting off in the corner by himself – or walking out the door.

I see Him smile as He continually pours out inexplicable blessings on Erin and me – from the tiniest, silliest of things, to huge, massive signs of His love and faithfulness. He’s so obviously there in all of it.

I feel His presence at our invitation dinner for 34 student leaders – young people all over the map in terms of their relationships with God, but all fired up about learning, serving, and growing closer to Him. I see the momentum building in each of their lives and I can hardly contain my excitement.

I stand in awe of Him when I hear a girl ask to be put in a different leadership group than her best friends because she knows it will challenge her to grow and reach out more.

I praise Him for giving two of our best student leaders the opportunity to go to Africa this summer with CMF’s REACH internship program and share their love, encouragement, gifts, and beautiful stories of faith in an ever-present God with those affected by or infected with HIV/AIDS.

I hear Him sing in the U2 lyrics playing in the background.

I hear Him whisper when I read Scripture and those “almost Scripture” types of books written by folks like Willard, Foster, Buechner.

I hear Him narrating in the emailed words of some of you, at work in the stories of your lives. I see Him as an artist when I watch “Planet Earth” from the comfort of my couch, without having to hike anywhere.

I even see Him in the way Lucho, our little housecat, somehow always knows when Erin doesn’t feel good and breaks character to snuggle right up to her, soothing her when she needs it most.

And I see Him in this story that just came across the phone lines a few minutes ago: One of our buddies, a student named Samantha, finished up here a couple of months ago and headed off to work at Disney. Now if you know Sammy, this makes perfect sense – constant smile, lots of energy, a joy to be around. In a recent email, she told me she was bringing me some Mickey ears but still hadn’t decided what to get Erin. Well, a little while ago, I learned that Sammy was at GTCCF, in Atlanta, sitting in Rick Harper’s office. She’d gone up from Florida and attended CCF’s weekend retreat (no doubt invited by some former Puebla exchange students), and as a result of her experience, she wants to be baptized. And as an extra treat for those of us down here, she said she wants to wait a short while in order to be baptized here, with the El Pozo community. I’m getting misty-eyed at the thought, knowing that that moment when she comes up out of the water will not only be a seminal moment in her life, but also in the lives of who knows which other young men and women who will be inspired by Sammy’s faithfulness to take another step forward in their own faith journey.

And on and on it goes – light in darkness – truth amid lies – joy alongside pain – Christ at work in this world, here, now. And we get to be a part of it.

Thanks for the part you play, and the ways that that makes it possible for us to play our role here as well.

With love and best wishes for 2008.

Nathan for the McDades

Please continue to pray for the ministry of El Pozo. God is doing amazing things here everyday!!

Karen

La Final!

2007-11-19T12:46:00.000-05:00

Well a lot has happened in the last few months at El Oasis. We are currently in the last week of activities, and looking back, I can’t believe that an entire school year has already passed!

In October, we had a soccer tournament to outreach to new students. It was a great event, with over 80 students present. There were 5 men’s teams, 2 of which were completely new to the El Oasis community. The girls also played, but just for fun! The weather was gorgeous, and we spent the whole day playing, eating and just enjoying each other.

At the beginning of November, we traveled to a city called Los Andes about 2 hours outside of Santiago for our final retreat of the year. Phil and Merran Tatum, who were on staff here from 2002-2006 returned to give the talks at the retreat. They talked about the importance of saving sexual relationships for marriage. The weekend also included a battle of the sexes, which consisted of boys versus girls competitions. The boys were crowned the winners at the end of the weekend, but the girls definitely put up a good fight!

El Oasis is currently raising money to send to the earthquake victims in Peru, and the exchange students came up with an idea called “Donate Your Talents” to help out. It consisted of students performing a talent, such as singing, dancing, juggling, in the streets (very common here in Santiago) and asking people for donations. They chose a spot near a metro station and performed all day long! It was great to see students come out and want to help. We had a variety of talents, and raised over $100!

Please pray for El Oasis as we finish our year here! Thanks! Chau!

The 4th Quarter

2007-09-26T19:45:00.000-05:00

We had an incredible week down here in Chile celebrating the 18th of September which is basically a July 4th type of celebration which lasts the whole week. It was a great chance to hang out with students at their varoius grill outs including a grillout at El Oasis that brought in over eighty students! After that glorious week, we met as a staff to talk about the rest of the semester. We've got about 8 weeks left down here and this will complete the first year of our time being down here as the new staff of El Oasis. We are calling the rest of this year our 4th quarter. It was a great meeting to talk about what kind of legacy we want to leave with the students after this first year. A lot of our year has been spent learning the language and culture, adjusting to the Chilean pace of life, and forming relationships with these students. But in the midst of all of that, we talked about how we want to leave a legacy with these students of them knowing the love we have for them. We want to see students come to know Christ and continue to grow in their faith. In a lot of ways it still feels like we've just begun down here, but I am excited to see how God continues to move in the lives of the students of El Oasis.

Two things we're really pushing in our ministry as the year comes to a close is service and prayer. This Saturday, we're doing our first of several service projects to spend time at a children's home in Santiago, playing with the kids in this poorer area and making improvements on the house. We hope to be able to return every few weeks to build relationships with these kids over time. Along with this service project we're continually looking at creative ways that we can help with the devestation in Peru. Our exchange students have come up with several ideas to raise funds including challenging the students to "donate their talents" or use whatever skills they have to raise money whether it's through playing music in a benefit concert, making arts and crafts to sell, or simply finding businesses who are willing to donate.
We're also challenging our leadership groups to take prayer to a new level at El Oasis throughout the rest of this year. We're using different ideas like an email prayer chain, a box at El Oasis to leave prayer requests, and a monthly fast as ways to motivate our students to pray that we might see God do some amazing things as we finish out our year.

Thanks so much for keeping us down here in your prayers and if you ever get the chance to make it down here for the 18th of September it will definitely be worth your trip!

Springtime in Santiago!

2007-09-11T14:49:00.000-05:00

Springtime has finally come to Santiago! It's hard to believe we are already almost halfway through the semester - time has been flying by!

Last weekend (Aug. 31 - Sept. 2), we took around 50 students to a retreat center about an hour south of Santiago, called Pintué. It was a gorgeous location, complete with a lake, soccer fields, and a volleyball court. We had a great time at our first retreat of the semester, and the theme for the weekend was "grace." Lukas, Mosby, Whitney, Elisabeth and I gave the talks for the weekend, and several team members were able to have great conversations with students throughout the weekend about the idea of God's grace. One of our exchange students told me about a Chilean student who had come up to her before the weekend started, asking her to explain the idea of grace. The amazing thing was that the student didn't even know yet that grace was the theme for the weekend! God was really working in the hearts of our students this weekend, and it was so encouraging to see.

Another thing that was really encouraging recently was that two weeks ago, we had 87 people at our Thursday night Tertulia! We filled the upstairs room in the campus house, and had a great time worshipping God together. Sadly, we just said goodbye to one of our Chilean interns, "Frizz", who is going to Puebla, Mexico for the school year to work with the campus ministry there, El Pozo. We are definitely sad to see him go, as he was a huge help to our ministry and a great friend... but we are so excited to see how God will use his talents and abilities to reach the students in Mexico!

For our Thursday night Bible studies, we usually do cycles of 4 weeks with a common theme, followed by a night that we call "Breakout." This is basically a pause between cycles, and a chance to talk about something completely different. For our breakout night last Thursday, we focused on kids around the world, and our responsibility to do what we can to help them and show them Jesus. We are really excited about the 2 projects we have decided to focus on... the first is volunteering at a children's home here in Santiago, and the second is sponsoring a child in Peru through Compassion International. The recent earthquake in Peru has been in our prayers a lot lately, and we wanted to sponsor a child who had been affected by this disaster. Last week we had our students sign up to make a monthly pledge toward our Compassion child, and we have almost reached our monthly goal already!

And last, but not least.... next week is VERY exciting. In fact, I've been told it's the most exciting week of the year to be in Chile. September 18 is Chile's Independence Day, and basically the entire week is a week of fiestas! I've been seeing signs around the city about a week-long festival, complete with traditional Chilean food and dancing. So on Thursday (Sept. 20), we will be having an asado (cookout) at El Oasis to celebrate. We have a lot of exciting activities coming up, so please keep El Oasis in your prayers as we head into the second half of the semester!

Retreating & Serving

2007-06-18T10:23:00.000-05:00

Hola de Santiago! It has been a busy past few weeks. I arrived in Santiago exactly 3 weeks ago, and have been busy getting the hang of things around El Oasis, as well as working on improving my Spanish. I'm glad to finally be here, and to finish out the semester with the rest of my teammates!

The second weekend in June , we took around 50 students and traveled by bus about 2 hours from Santiago, to a retreat center at El Tabo (the beach). On Friday night, we had dinner and played some games with the students. On Saturday, we had great weather - sunny and warm! We were able to go to the beach and play some football, as well as just hang out with students. We had a "fogata falsa" (false campfire) inside on Saturday night, complete with acoustic music and smores! We also had a time for the students to come up with sketches related to the theme for the weekend, "Transformation", and gave out prizes for the best actors and best sketch. We were blessed to have Doug & Shelly Kallestad as our guest speakers for the weekend. The Kallestads have been planting churches in Chile for 18 years, and they did an incredible job challenging the students to seek transformation through Christ, and to be a part of transforming their communities and the world!

During the month of June, our focus has been on service. For the past couple of weeks, students have been bringing in blankets, clothes, and food. Last weekend, we had the opportunity to go throughout the city and distribute what we had collected to people living on the streets. We were able to talk with several of them, and this was a great chance to serve our community alongside some of our students. In addition, several of our students and team members are going on a 10-day trip in July to southern Chile to help build houses (similar to Habitat for Humanity). This is a great opportunity to get to know some of our students better, and to help build hope and a home for those who have nowhere to go.

Please be in prayer for our team and for El Oasis as we close out the semester! Also be in prayer for Heather, as she prepares to return to the U.S. in a few short weeks. She has been a wonderful help to our team, and we will miss her!

The Tourney and 4-Hour Heavy Metal Church

2007-05-02T23:27:00.000-05:00

What's up once again from the other Hemi! As the days get shorter down here and we move towards winter, we've been spending as much time outside as possible. We celebrated one Friday on campus, grilling sausages and sipping El Oasis' trademark Red Juice (Jugo Rojo!), with a couple of games of futbol on the campus field. We had a solid afternoon and tons of fun, and about 40 showed up that day, including some new acquaintances from Catolica University!

All this, of course, was just preparation - because the following weekend was the real deal. That's right, the Tournament of "Baby Futbol" - a smaller, different version of the real game of soccer (teams of 5, played on cement), but nonetheless one taken very seriously by all the teams who entered in the championship. The afternoon was a huge success, and we went home with a handful of new friends. We will definitely do another tournament this year!

And now for something completely different, we had a local pastor come and speak on a Thursday night during our regular Bible Study (aka Tertulia). Normally that might not sound so special, but one look at Fernando in the picture below will tell you he's anything but a regular guy. In fact, he works with a movement that is directed towards the "urban tribe" youth of Santiago. He shared with us about the mentality of kids involved in gothic circles, about punks, and about neo-nazis, among others, and how Christ wants to give them His love - through us. Our students were blessed with the chance to learn about others and challenged to reach out. A few of us visited the Movement that week and rocked out for 4 hours in a heavy metal worship service.

All in all, things are moving along very well here. We are thankful that God is causing the students to grow, and that He is using everything from leadership groups to Bible Studies to one-on-ones, etc. We are thankful for your prayers and your support! Write us!!

Mes de Deportes!

2007-04-16T17:54:00.000-05:00

Hey Everybody!

Life in Santiago has been exciting and challenging as the new team
continues to adjust to a new culture and language. We are in the
middle of our Mes de Deportes (Sports Month) and are having weekly
activities of soccer, aerobics for the ladies, mini tournaments, etc
to continue to build relationships with the students of El Oasis and
to reach out to the universities. Each week this month at Donce, we will play a sports-related game. The picture below is from playing jump rope this past week. Next month we'll be having our Music and Arts month and we'll finish off the semester with a month of service.

The exchange students did an awesome job putting on the scavenger hunt
in the mall. Teams of students were running around taking pictures
with different signs, people, plants, and using creativity to get more
points. We're excited to see what else the exchange students can
dream up.

It's been awesome to see how God has come through to make this
transition of teams possible. Two of our Chilean interns, Andres and
Kathy have stayed on to work at El Oasis for another year. Heather
Pearce from the original team has stayed on for another semester.
These three have made this transition possible. We appreciate so much
your prayers as we continue to learn the language and culture and
bring El Oasis into all that God has in store for us this year!

- Lukas Fortunato

Greetings from Santiago

2007-04-03T15:03:00.000-05:00

Greetings from Santiago once again! We are continuing the semester here in Chile, and have seen great results from this first month. Our second Bible study was about Jesus’ baptism, and this past week the theme was the resurrection. We performed a short play that included the perspectives of Joseph of Arimathea, the guards, Mary Magdalene, and Peter. The play was followed by a talk in which we encouraged the students to “leave their problems in the tomb” so that they could celebrate their new life in Jesus. We had a party after Bible study to symbolize this celebration. Overall the night was a huge success!

We have also started our devotional dinners on Monday nights (called Donce, pronounced don-say). The theme for the semester is “Youth in the Bible”. We have talked about David (as a boy, of course), Daniel, and Joseph. After dinner and the devotional, we play a game in which the students become very competitive! The winners receive a treat the following week, while the losers have to wash dishes! This past week we played trivia.

Our exchange students are doing really well. They’re continuing to adjust to the culture, and they are learning the language very quickly. This month they are starting bi-weekly activities for the students that they will be in charge of. The first is a scavenger hunt at the mall. We are all looking forward to that.

We would appreciate your prayers for the continuation of the semester!

El Oasis Chile

2007-03-24T10:43:00.000-05:00

Greetings from Santiago, Chile! We have had a very busy and exciting past couple of weeks getting a new team here and ready for the start of the semester. Our first big activity with students was a workday a couple of Saturdays ago in order to fix up the house and get it squeaky clean for the first Bible Study. About 15 students showed up and enjoyed painting, washing down walls, and eating a free lunch. The next activity was that following Thursday, a cookout intended for fellowship and a chance for newcomers to get inside El Oasis and enjoy its fun yet relaxed atmosphere. We had so many people that we had to rewash dishes in order to provide for everyone!

For the past two weeks and the next we planned a number of extra activities so that we could get to know the students better and vice versa. We had game night, movie and a sundae night, a special lunch on Friday and a day of sports on Saturday. They all had a great turnout and a number of newcomers came as well.

And finally, our first Bible Study was Thursday, March 15. Our series for the next four weeks is “New Beginnings”: the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, the new life we are able to have because of His death and resurrection, and the beginning of the church after Christ’s ascension. Mark Jackson gave the first talk on Jesus’ first miracle of turning water into wine. The night went off very well (especially since it was the first Bible Study done by our team) and we were encouraged by the number of people who showed up, about 75 in total.

We have our devotional dinners and leadership groups starting this week and we are so excited to see what the rest of the semester brings!

Flamenco Futbol

2007-03-14T10:06:00.000-05:00

Hello from Salamanca!

We have about 50 of us signed up to spend the weekend together where David and Araceli, a young Christian Spanish couple, will be sharing with us about relationships and God's perspective on the subject. We are really excited about having the two of them share with us, and about our students having the chance to hear what they have to say - especially for a couple of our students in particular who have recently ended tough dating relationships; we are praying that this weekend can be a really powerful time for them to get an idea of how God can and should impact and be at the center of every area of our lives.

We'll also be having our 2nd annual Flamingo Soccer ("Flamenco Futbol") game, where the guys will compete against the girls...but the guys have to be on one foot the entire time. It was a blast last year as the girls won, and the guys are excited about the chance to get some revenge this year.

Please pray with us throughout the weekend that God would continue to work among the ministry here...that we would all have fun and the community here would continue to grow; and more than anything, that all of these students who come this weekend would really think about what role Christ can/does play in their lives, and that they would draw closer to understanding and pursuing a relationship with Him.

Jeremy Lawler
Salamanca, Spain

I love being a girl!

2007-02-22T01:04:00.000-05:00

I love being a girl! Every month at Grapevine we have a girls sleepover called "The Period." It's a great time to eat chocolate, and cry, and watch sappy movies, and talk about issues specific to girls. Our themes have included, "The Mirror" a look at self image, "Uplift and Support" encouraging each other, and "Love and Chocolate."

It's all about the LUV

2007-02-14T09:26:00.000-05:00

Second semester ends in February in Thailand. (March, April, and May are the summer months here.) Since we emphasize Jesus' love at the Grapevine and since February is the month of pink, pink love, it's a great time for a Love Banquet to wrap up the year with our friends at Thammasat U.

Last year was the year of the dog (Chinese calendar), so we had Puppy Love as our theme. This year it's the year of the pig, so we went with "Will you be swine" and "I love you pig time." Is that stupid? Probably, but you can't stop us. Next year is the year of the rat. That might be harder to work with.

Grapevine is a Christian club for students, but you don't have to be Christian to hang out with us. In fact, most of the students at Grapevine are Buddhist. (I always love explaining that to new people. "This is a Christian club, but most of the people are Buddhist.") Our team, a few Thai Christian students, and exchange students live out the Gospel and let our Buddhist friends get a sneak peak of what life in Jesus is like. And they get to have fun while they do it.

The Love Banquet wraps up the year, but the relationships go on. This has been a good year for relationships. Some of our friends have gotten so much closer to Jesus. Others at least know a real live Christian. Pray that God will ferment all that good stuff while they are away over summer.

From GA to Mexico and back again(for a bit)

2007-02-09T13:56:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to check in with all of y'all - we are currently in the US on furlough for a half-year, and have really been enjoying the chance to visit and reconnect with friends, family and supporters. We are currently based in Peachtree City, GA at the fabulous Gronner manse (otherwise known as Angie's parents house :) )

This Sunday Angie and I are going to present/preach/generally get the word out about what Globalscope is and what God has been doing in Puebla - all in an hour at Angie's home church, 1st Presbyterian of Peachtree City. Feel free to drop in! Later this month our sweeping (& ever expanding) tour will take us to the much-ballyhooed CCF Gatlinburg retreat, Washington DC via Fayetteville NC, and perhaps the Dwarf House.

Anyone who has spent much time with me knows my love of a good restaurant, and so any suggestions you all have for unique places to eat on our travels around to see supporters are most welcome. We'll check in again in March, when we will travel out west to visit supporters and friends in Colorado and Utah. The picture is of my dad and Jack playing with a euphonium during a recent visit to NC.

- Matt