Later that night, I was thinking about that encounter and I remembered the time that I overcame my fear of roller coasters as a little kid.  At Six Flags Over Georgia, I had only been on the Mine Train, the lesser of the roller coasters, and the one most kid friendly, until my Dad forced me to go on the Ninja with him. For me, as a child, that was terrifying, and quite a jump. I didn’t take the next step up to the Scream Machine or Georgia Cyclone, but instead jumped over those to the looping, head-bashing Ninja.  I didn’t have much of a say in the matter, but I’m sure that I wanted to be brave for my Dad, and he was going along with me so I wasn’t as scared.  I loved it and have not been afraid of roller coasters since.

The boy entered the cave, got his picture taken and promptly jetted back out on to the safe side of the river.  He was not injured. His father was with him to protect him and make sure that nothing happened to him.  I know that there are ways in which God the Father is telling me to “take courage, I am with you.”  Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t.  I hope to have the faith to take those steps and the trust to realize that he is always with me.

This occurred one Saturday this month, on a day trip that I was able to go on with a group of students and friends a bus ride outside of the city.  It has been good to reconnect with the students after getting back in town.  Tonight I will be able to connect with a lot more as we are having one of our summer “Tertulia Lite” Bible studies.  We are watching a video and discussing about fully living our lives Today.  Things are coming together for our mission trip to Peru in early February.  One of the students had a connection with an airline and was able to get us a discount on flights.  This will save us over 2 days, more like 60 hours riding in a bus.  We are very thankful to God for this good news.  Another recent happening is that one of the student’s of El Oasis has created summer classes of English, basketball, theater, and music in the nearby boys’ home using other students from El Oasis as the teachers.  Last night we taught English, and by teach English, I mostly mean that we tried to keep them from hitting and kicking each other for about an hour.  These boys need friends, love, discipline, and consistency in their lives.  More than anything the student that created this project realized that these boys don’t just need a day of service here and there throughout the year, but the consistency of role models who will be there for them as they grow up.

Teaching English in boys' home

Click here to view the embedded video.

The first song in the slideshow is actually a band with El Oasis alumni! The band is called Carnada.

I’ll be around the Atlanta area from December 12th until January 5th before heading back to Santiago.  I’d love to be able to share more about this year with you in person, grab a coffee, and spend time together while I’m in the states.  The photo featured in this update is of all of the guys in our end of the year banquet, BAFA. It was a great time to celebrate the year together and look back over all that God has done in this ministry in the past year.  I look forward to seeing you!

One of the great parts is that several newer people went on the trip and we were able to get to know them a lot better.  Trips like these are also great because they can lead to some deeper conversations.  One new guy, Juan, shared with me about his search for faith and attempt to “ganar” or “win” his salvation, but how he feels that he hasn’t reached it yet.  I hope to have more conversations with him, and I hope that his experience in El Oasis will help him to really meet God and learn about His abundant, overwhelming, underserving grace that he showed for us in his Son.  A grace that can’t be earned.

The crew with Señora Rita, the lady that lets us pass through her land to go camping.

Below is a video about a Text To Give campaign to raise support for all of the Globalscope ministries.  Today is the last day of the campaign. It’s a simple way to make a big difference in college students lives and was created and directed towards those of us who have been involved in college ministry and want to be able to make that life changing experience available to people all around the world. I’m really thankful to be able to be a part of it.  Please keep us in your prayers tomorrow.  We are finishing up the school year with our very last Bible Study!

Click here to view the embedded video.

It has been a busy couple of weeks.  We are trying to work hard to wrap up the semester with lots of energy and momentum before going in to the Christmas break.  This pas Sunday, a discipleship group organized a day to help out at a boy’s home nearby.  The kids are crazy but lots of fun and I know that it means a lot for them to have the positive influence of a group of El Oasis students who want to hang out with them.

This is our Retreat of the Sexes.  Each year we invite a speaker to speak to the students about sexuality and relationships.  Never an easy topic, but a much needed topic to address with college students.  Throughout the weekend we will have different activities to create competitions between the sexes, like a girls vs. guys soccer game, where the guys play on one leg.  It is a ton of fun and the students are really competitive which makes it interesting.  I took this picture above, this morning when the three taxis filled with groceries arrived at the house.  It takes a lot of food to feed 86 people for a weekend.   God has already begun to provide for a new van to be able make these trips easier.  More info on that project HERE.

Please join us in prayer for this weekend.

• For the students that are on the fence about coming to be able to go.
• For God to speak through Cecilia who is going to give the message.
• For two students, Pipe and Eduardo, that are going to be baptized on Sunday morning (pictures below).
• For the students to make commitments to sexual purity, to receive healing, to open up about abuses, to grow closer as a community, to come to know Jesus as their savior.

Eduardo (far left) will be baptized on Sunday!  He organized a Saturday for us to hike up one of the hills in Santiago, where I took this photo.

Pipe, on the left practicing his English with a Café a lo Gringo game,  will also be baptized on Sunday!

Thanks for praying for the retreat!  It was a really great weekend.  Above is a picture of a student walking out to be baptized in the ocean Saturday afternoon.  I will be sending out an email soon describing in more detail the wekend.

• For safe trip and smooth logistics
• For new people to feel a part of the community
• For those that will be baptized to be able to mark this weekend as a big change in their lives
• For the message of the speaker to impact us and move us spiritually

We are so excited about the students that have come to us with the desire to get baptized in the past weeks.  We have been able to study the Bible with them in preparation for this weekend and thank God for their decisions.

I can’t wait to share more with you when we get back.

Staff member Greg reading scripture at last year’s Beach Retreat just before Maxi (right) was baptized on the beach.  You’ve heard me talk about Maxi and how incredible his attitude, faith, and strength have been this year despite difficulties.  I look forward to sharing more stories like his.

Sergio showed me around the igloos and told me how the kids in the area just roam around the streets all day long with nothing to do.  Most of them come from the projects which are located right next to the church and the igloos.  He said that he hears stories from the kids that basically just make him want to cry.  It is a very difficult place to grow up and drugs are a big problem there. In another part of town where they reach out to the kids, the people from the church are actually protected by the drug dealers in the neighborhood.  The dealers like what the people are doing.  They like that they are a source of light in their children’s lives.

A group of students from El Oasis helped paint the igloos early last year.  Since then, the project has had a hard time getting off the ground in part due to vandalism and people stealing stuff.   Sergio’s computer and camera were stolen from him in the igloos.  A mac book pro and a Canon 40D.  Basically his way of making a living was taken from him.  What’s hard is that he knows that the same kids that he is investing all of his time in, one of them took it.  He said that he could have let it bother him and turn his back on the project, but he just loves the kids too much.  I honestly couldn’t believe his attitude.  It was inspiring.  We went for a walk in the projects and talked to a few people.  They love what the church is doing in their neighborhood.

Despite the set backs and difficulties the group opened up the igloos to the kids a few weeks ago and it has been a big hit.  Already there are up to 50 kids that come and spend time in the igloos, skate ramp, and soccer field that are located next to the church.  There is  a gate that opens up directly from the igloos into the neighborhood where the kids come from.  The dream is that they would be able to keep the gate open so that the kids could come in at any time, but it’s just not possible at this point.  There has been graffiti, windows stolen, wood stolen, etc.   They open up the igloos from 6pm to 9pm Mondays through Fridays.  Right now the igloos don’t have electricity, which is something that they want to fix before the winter months when it gets darker much earlier.

He was telling me that they have resources but lack people to help run the igloos.  Usually they only have one teacher in the evenings.  The idea is that each igloo has someone teaching photography, arts and crafts, English, or some other activity to positively impact these children.   My purpose for meeting with Sergio was to see how El Oasis can be more involved with the project there.  I’m excited because it’s an awesome opportunity to get students involved with being a positive influence in these kids lives.   For example he mentioned that we could set up a soccer championship with us from El Oasis playing against the kids, and losing obviously, or a day of theater where we put on a play with the kids.  I don’t exactly what it will look like or how often that we will be able to be involved, but I’ve talked to a few students about it already and I know that they interested.

Sergio and another friend of mine are also involved in a group called Los Intocables, the untouchables, that are involved in reaching out to kids like these, people in prisons, and basically the people that are forgotten and not reached out to.   They base their name on the scripture from Mark 1:40 where Jesus reached out and touched a man with leprosy to heal him.  I love it.

The summer semester and Tertulia Lites have been going great. The interns have started their year of work already and had a week of training last week. We will be having meetings this coming week as a team to plan out Bible studies, devotional dinners, and events for the semester. Please pray for how we might be able to be involved with the igloo project in Maipú as we plan for the year. Thanks!

Philip