APRIL 2011

JM IN BA
My Contact Info:
Email: jmskinner87@gmail.com Maling Address: Rio De Janeiro 840, Dept. 4A Capital Federal 1405 Buenos Aires, Argentina Blog: http:// johnmarkonstint.blogspot.com

Prayer Requests
SUMMER PROJECT Summer Project is going to be here from May 16 until June 29. There are many things to prepare for them so pray that all things get done and details get taken care of. JOAQUIN The same guy mentioned in last months letter. One of my best friends down here that doesnt realize his need for a savior. Pray that he would realize that! JOSU The guy that came to know Christ with me on campus I have now started to disciple (see story to the right). Pray for our time together and for his desire to pursue his relationship with Christ

April
During the month of April the Lord decided to bless our STINT team by letting us see some of the fruits of our labor. My teammate Katie and I discussed similar frustrations one Sunday night at church about wanting to see people come to know the Lord through our personal ministry. It is tough sharing the Gospel with people everyday and having almost no one respond positively. After being reassured by 1 Corinthians 15:58 that my labor for the Lord is never in vain, and by a talk that one of my leaders gave on preparing the earth before reaping, I became content with Gods timing, whatever it may be. The very next day on campus Katie shared with a girl named Sofa who came to know the Lord right then. The next day I got to share with a guy named Josu who only had a little time to talk. I was able to share the Gospel with him briey, exchange phone numbers, and leave him with a 4 Spiritual Laws booklet (a very simple explanation of the Gospel) before he had to go. I was planning on sending him an email later on that week. However, less than 30 minutes later he sent me a text message saying that he really enjoyed talking, that he read the booklet and was really interested to know more, and that he would like to get together again soon. Needless to say, I was taken aback because that never happens! I follow up with about everyone that I talk to on campus and rarely, if ever, do I have someone that wants to meet back up again and then actually shows up. We decided to get together the Thursday of that week and I got to go more in depth with him about the Gospel; show him in the Bible what it says about our sin, Christs sacrice, payment, and grace; and our faith that is required for salvation. I also explained to him that by becoming children of God we can have a personal relationship with God. He said he wanted that and accepted Christ with me right there in the cafeteria on campus. It was awesome! Since then we have started meeting weekly for a time of discipleship and also have been hanging out aside from that time. Other campuses saw fruit as well this month as ve people made professions of faith through on campus ministry this month!

Mid Year
April 21 - 24 we STINTers, along with some awesome staff that ew down from the States, went to a ranch just outside the city for our MidYear Retreat. As the name indicates, this retreat marks half of our time here in Argentina, and so the goal of it is to evaluate what has been done in the past seven months, what can be done better in the next seven, and obviously to have some time away from the city and spend time with people from our own culture. I valued this time so much, not only for the constructive criticism we received from our coaches, but also for just having time in nature. It was such a needed break from speaking Spanish and was also relieving to be able to follow and not lead. I didnt know how tiring living in another culture would truly be until I did it, and now I know that it is highly draining. I feel like we really bonded more as a STINT team and am immensely grateful for this time of rest and evaluation. View of the lake at the ranch (estancia) at MidYear.

Meeting Modifactions
This month we have started doing something different with our weekly meetings. If you remember in one of my first newsletters I mentioned how our office (sede), the place where we have our weekly meetings, is not up to building code so we are not allowed to meet there anymore. After having our weekly meetings in various places (hotel ballrooms, apartments, pizzerias, etc), we have now decided to start having them on the different campuses. We feel like this is key to try if we want to see our movement grow. Right now we are on 6 campuses and so having only one weekly meeting that everyone has to come to was less than ideal and not really convenient for a lot of students. Now that we are beginning to have meetings on campuses it cuts down on travel time, allows for a more intimate atmosphere, and enables for more room to grow. With Buenos Aires vision being to have a movement on every campus in the city, this is a necessary step to take in order to achieve that. Weve had about 4 meetings this month and they have been fairly successful. We usually have more non-believers that believers which is a really good thing and we are working on getting a room to have our meetings in as opposed to having them right outside the cafeteria. Pray for these meetings and that they continue to grow and be effective.