Painting the Gospel

On one of our recent street evangelism expeditions, a fellow student went with us who does street preaching with paintings. I was fascinated by his presentation of the Gospel using these drawings and the way it got the attention of people on the street. When Marco offered to give workshops on campus to teach us how to do the same presentation, I jumped at the chance to participate!

The first Saturday, we prepared the drawings ahead of time and the second Saturday we completed them as we preached. Here are some photos from our class together:

David went first and did an amazing job!

Alejo takes a turn.

Here is what my prepared painting looked like before I got started. As you can guess, it is meant to capture people's attention!

I wasn't quite ready to preach the whole message in Spanish yet, without having done it first in English, so I preached in English but still used a painting with Spanish words. How's that for good Tex-Mex? :)

I guess in my switching back and forth between the two languages, I misspelled the word at the bottom which is supposed to say, "hombre." Oh well!

Oops! Another misspelled word! Soledad is supposed to have an 'E'...I was going kinda fast.

Our teacher, Marco, explains something to the class.

Jessica paints the word AMOR, which means "love."

Noel's turn.

Cresenciano was very deliberate and thorough in his explanation of the Gospel.

Live and in action! You can see Marco in this picture using a number game to draw a crowd over by the Gold Palace perfume store.

I was amazed at how many people stopped to see what was going on!

Here he is filling in the painting while he preaches.

Addressing the crowd.

Throughout the afternoon, we split up and passed out Gospel tracts. Here I am on the corner handing out million dollar bill tracts like candy. Many people came and asked me for more once they read the message so they could give them to their friends and family!

Crescenciano explains the Gospel to a passerby.

Another Blessed Night with the Bible Study Girls

Yozy always leads us in a time of worship at the beginning of each study. Her talent in music and love for praising the Lord in song is such a blessing!

Natalie, Pao, Charity, Kiara full of smiles and ready for a great study!

The RGBI Girls Bible Study

Tonight we studied the topic of evangelism in Scripture, looking at the Great Commission in all four Gospel accounts as well as Acts and Romans. We had some lively discussions in the process! Next week, we will go over some practical methods for sharing the Gospel and then the girls are ready to hit the streets or head to the mall to share their faith! Their enthusiasm is contagious!

Music from the Andes

The other day in chapel, this group of talented musicians blessed us with the lively music of the Andes! Gotta love the international flavor here!

This particular music group consists of students from Honduras, Mexico, Venezuela, Chile, and Peru.

I hope you enjoy their song as much as I did!

¡Levántate y Brilla!

Here is a video of the puppet show song my drama group did for conversation class a couple weeks ago. We tried to translate the song, "Rise and Shine" (also known as "Arky, Arky") but the Spanish lyrics don't exactly flow as well as the English ones in every case. Nevertheless, we had fun and learned some new words in the process!

More From the Second Winter Concert

I love to hear families make music together!

Concert for the Winter Workers

Back in February, we gave two concerts to the many "Abuelitos" (dear, sweet grandparents in the faith who come here for the winter to volunteer their time and talents) in order to thank them for all the work they have done here at RGBI.

I have had these videos to share for awhile, but today is the first day the internet signal was strong enough to upload it. There are a few times when the videographer zooms in and out during which the sound disappears, so I'm sorry for that, but nevertheless, I hope you enjoy the music!

Is My Niece Cute, or is she CUTE?!

Lights, Camera, Action!

As part of our weekly schoolwork in this second semester of language school, we are responsible for performing dramas of different Bible stories. Usually, this includes writing a script and memorizing it or speaking from notes. We have the freedom to modernize the story, do a puppet show, act like we are teaching a Sunday school class, or whatever creative idea comes to mind. While the dramas are a lot of work, they have been a fun addition to language school and I have learned a lot through these experiences! Loads of pictures from past dramas have been stacking up on my computer, so now that I have a little extra time to share them, I thought I would post them below.

Cain and Abel

(or as we re-named ourselves: Caína and Abelina)

This picture was taken before I "killed" my poor sister, Abelina!

Noah and the Ark

Mr. and Mrs. Noah

One of the towns people.

Poor Noah is suffering from allergies from who knows what animal!

The merchant who sold them animals for the journey.

(Okay...so sometimes we take a few liberties with the story!)

The Life of Moses

For this drama, we did something different and divided it up into six parts with each lady taking a part to perform individually. I chose the first part of the story when Moses is a baby and played the roles of his mother, Miriam, and the Egyptian princess who finds him in the Nile river.

Jada played the adult Moses when he killed the Egyptian and then fled for his life to the desert.

Helen narrated the next part of the story when Moses encountered God at the burning bush.

Erika told her "son" about the 10 plagues God brought upon Egypt.

Erin used her drawing talents to describe the Passover and the exodus out of Egypt. It was very creatively done!

Sarah finished the drama with a jubilant passing through the Red Sea into the Promised Land!

Watching God at Work

One of my greatest joys and passions is watching God work in the hearts and lives of young women to draw them closer to Himself. As the RGBI girls' Bible study has progressed over these past few weeks, I have been privileged to worship, fellowship, and study the living Word with a group of girls who are learning to cultivate intimate relationships with the King of kings and serve Him wholeheartedly. Every Tuesday evening, I return to my dorm room with a heart full of rejoicing at what God is doing in this group!

In one of our recent lessons, we discussed the concept of living with purpose and vision. One of the girls' homework assignments was to write a mission statement for their life that summarizes their life purpose. Their statements were as unique as each girl present and yet central in their focus on the Lord. Here is what they (we) had to say:

"Love God. Love others. Live for God."

~ Charity

"G - give (love, time, etc.)

R - raise up other people in the faith as well as future children God might give me

O - obey God's laws, God's calling, the authorities in my life that He puts in place

W - worship God"

~ Natalie

"How do I want to be remembered?"

(Further details shared: "Jesus Christ went to heaven and is remembered for Who He is. Jim Elliot, Corrie ten Boom, and others are remembered for being servants of the Most High, for their service in God's Kingdom. If I were to die tomorrow, how would I be remembered? Would my little brother remember me as a sister who screamed at him or a sister who served him? Will I be remembered for loving God or loving myself? I try to ask this question to myself every day. It affects my attitudes, my vocational choices, my relationships. I want to be remembered as someone who lives for the Lord.")

~ Yozy

"My mission in life is to keep on doing whatever God wants me to do. To keep learning from Him which I'll never stop doing. To praise Him in everything. To share and reflect to people who are needy of love His love and who He is. I want to be a girl according to God's will, to have a heart of faithfulness, joy, sincerity, love, passion, creativity, and wisdom. To do whatever God wants me to do with my life."

~ Paola

The short version: "To know Christ and to make Him known."

The longer version: "This life God has given me is about HIM. It's about knowing Him intimately, pursuing Him relentlessly, loving Him passionately, trusting Him totally, finding Him faithful to work through me for His glory as His hands and feet to a lost and dying world."

~ Katrina

Aren't these beautiful statements? I am praying that God will allow each one to come true in each girls' life.

In preparation for tomorrow night's study, I came across this powerful, moving video. I had seen it once or twice before but it never ceases to stir within the depths of my soul a longing to be the love of Jesus to the hurting, poor, and needy in our world...no matter the cost. I challenge you to watch it with an open heart, just as I will challenge the girls tomorrow evening. May the Lord find in us willing servants who can truly say, "Here am I, send me."