Dominican Republic Here I Come!!!

Dear friends,

Tomorrow (Oct 31st) my team and I along with two Panamanian staff workers and 8 Panamanian students are flying to the Dominican Republic on a 10 day missions trip! This will be the first time that Campus Crusade for Christ in Panama sends a group of students overseas on a mission trip. We are excited for how historic and significant this is for Panama. Our desire is that the Panamanian students will take ownership and learn how to run a mission trip so they can do their own projects in the future. It has been amazing seeing these students take leaps of faith. For many this is their first mission experience and the first time they've had to raise support. It has been challenging but God has faithfully provided for them.

Although our time in Dominican will be short, it will be very intense. We will be focusing on the main university in Santo Domingo, the capital of Dominican. Apparently it is one of the biggest and oldest universities of Latin America. The reason we are going to Dominican Republic is because although they have many Crusade churches they don't really have a university ministry. There is only one staff worker at the university and very few students involved in the movement. Our desire is to go alongside them and help them out by basically starting a campus ministry. We will focus on evangelism, follow up, starting up a weekly meeting as well as showing the Jesus film in other parts of the country. Even though our schedule is jam packed and we won't have a lot of free time we are all thrilled at this opportunity that we have to go and share God's love with the Dominican Republic people.

Please pray for everyone who is going on the trip;

1) That God would unite us all
2) For strength and good rest
3) For a safe trip (we leave at 4:00pm and arrive in Dominican at 12:00am)
4) That we are all being filled with the Holy Spirit
5) That we will be bold in proclaiming God's message

Thank you so much in advance for your prayers. I can't wait to come back and tell you all about it. We return to Panama November 9th.

In his grip,

Raquel

A divine appointment.

Normally Tuesday mornings we the STINT team have a meeting with the Panamanian staff, but today there was no such meeting so we were able to be on campus all day. I have to admit campus ministry has been a lot harder than I thought it was going to be and very different than how it was on Project, although I knew that it would be. It seems that a lot of the students that my partner Derek and I have talked to have not been interested in having a personal relationship with God or getting involved with the ministry. But I have been reminded lately that we need to continue to be faithful and continue to sow even when we don't see immediate results.

Today was an encouraging day. Lindsey, Karina and I went sharing together for over an hour. We were praying that God would led us to two or three girls that we could talk with, but got rejected four times in a row. We didn't let that discourage us and finally we came across a girl named Yisa who not only said we could talk with her about spiritual things, but was also genuinely interested in conversing with us. As we were discussing what a personal relationship with God looks like her friend Idalises came up to us and shortly after Yisa's boyfriend Joel joined the group. It was pretty awesome as our conversation ranged from the importance of spending time with God, to whether Evangelicals should date Catholics, to Postmodernism in Canada, etc. We spent over an hour speaking with these students but it didn't feel like it because they were so eager in hearing what we had to say and expressing what was on their hearts. It was also cool how we had been praying to come across a group and just when we had given up on that God surprised us!

Please keep these three students in your prayers. We plan on meeting with them next Tuesday for lunch so we can cast the vision of Vida Estudiantil (Campus for Christ), and challenge them to get involved in a Bible Study and take steps of faith. It was a wonderful gift to meet them and so amazing how we could spend over an hour on a university bench talking about our awesome God!

Love in Christ,

Raquel

He loves me and that's enough.

There have been times on STINT when I have felt lonely or craved to talk with people that know me really well (like my best friends back in Canada), or just wanted to cry on someone's shoulder. I knew I was going to experience moments of loneliness and I remember telling a friend that those moments I was going to embrace because they were going to draw me more to Jesus.

Lately, I have been reminded of God's unconditional love. People fail us, we fail people but God's love is steady, unfailing and unchanging. I feel so loved by Him and I know that it isn't because of anything I've done, which makes it all the more amazing! My friend Emily sent me the verse:

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. – Romans 5:8

She pointed out a very good point. There have been many heros in movies and in real life that have died to save people. Yet a hero always dies to save good people. But Christ died for people who were full of sin and didn't deserve to be saved. Jesus hates sin, but loves the sinner. His love is incredible and enough for me.

The following song has been on my heart a lot recently. Here it is: (Writer's note: I was going to translate this song into English but I'm not feeling so great so I translate it another day).

De Tal Manera Me Amo
por Jesus Adrian Romero

De tal manera me amó que su vida no escatimó
hasta el final El se entregó y a la muerte fue porque me amó
De tal manera me amó que no hay forma en que podré pagar
el precio de su grande amor pero toda mi alma quiero dar.

Coro
Por su amor yo viviré, de su amor yo cantaré
con mi Jesús caminaré porque El me amó a mi
Por su amor yo viviré, de su amor yo cantaré
con mi Jesús caminaré porque El murió por mi
le seguiré     (se repite todo)

I have never experienced love like His.  I know that he loves
me just that way I am and his love for me will never change
and that gives me comfort and peace.  The fact that
He first loved me makes me want to praise Him all the more.

It is my desire that you will long to experience His great love.

Love in Christ,

Raquel

God is good...all the time.

As many of you know I came to Panama for the first time on summer project (i.e. mission trip) in May of 2007. I remember one night in particular, it was towards the end of our campus cycle and we the Canadians were having a barbecue with the Panamanians at our hotel. I was feeling very broken, frustrated, and discouraged as there was a lot of internal questioning going on inside of me. I went to the washroom inside the hotel and started bawling my eyes out in one of the stalls. And then all of a sudden God brought to my mind Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

I began to repeat it over and over again in my head, clinging to it and claiming it as my own. I remember saying to God "Lord, I'm really hurting right now, but you say that you have good plans for me and I'm choosing to believe you." I prayed and told him that even though I still felt broken I was going to trust him with my future and my life. This verse became my verse for the rest of the year.

If there's something that I know about God is that he's good. If I could describe how God has been towards me my whole life it's good. In fact I tend to say God is good a lot, but that's because I really believe it. I have tasted and seen his goodness and to say otherwise would be an absolute lie. I want my tombstone to say two things: Raquel walked on water, and God is good... all the time.

Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8

May you delight in his goodness today.

All my love,

Raquel

Newsletter on the way....

Hello everyone,

First of all, I'm sorry for not having updated my blog in more than a week. These last two weeks have been crazy as the team and I have been taking a theology course called Christology, as well as going to campus. I feel like a university student again, having to do homework, write tests, a final paper and having to prepare for our final exam on Friday. haha! Please keep me in your prayers as I'm feeling very exhausted. It's been an interesting course and it's really a great opportunity to be taking it.

On another note, I already wrote my newsletter for September. If you're on my support team you should be getting it in the mail within a few days. If you're not on my support team but would like a copy feel free to send me an email at rockingraquel@hotmail.com Thank you for your interest, prayers, love and support! I am forever grateful!

In Him,

Raquel