What a time this has been! Just the sight of 2200 students from all over South America is electrifying as they worship God and learn about what is going on in the world and the place that God has for them. I couldn’t do an update last night because the Internet in my hotel was down.  It was 0130 before I got to the room and I wasn’t about to try to figure it out.

The days have been packed solid and they have been hot, hot, hot! I’ve been getting to the sleep about 0130 to 0230 each night and up no later than 0700. A thunderstorm blew up in this morning and helped to break the oppressive heat a bit. We were all thankful for that. Our team of students are doing great, but it has sure been a stretch for most of them. As true servants they have spent the past couple of days cleaning restrooms and sleeping on the floor body-to-body with 2200 of their new best friends it’s been fun to see hem interact and deal with the normal cultural barriers.

Here are a few random highlights since I last wrote:

• Ryan represented us in the CIMA talent show last night with a very cool rap. In fact, for a few minutes he was the coolest dude around. He did a fabulous job. Tonight, he is going to rap again with the other students on our team with an original CIMA rap he wrote on the Buquebus the other day. He’s a real rock star.
• Speaking of rock stars, I felt like one when I checked into my hotel here. Upon seeing me, the bell captain ran over, called me by name and asked if he could have his picture taken with me. Someone had given him a copy of my Directions book and he mistakenly thought I must be important.
• The night before last I went to dinner at 0030 (Yes, the 30 minutes after midnight. That’s the culture here where restaurants don’t open until 8:30 or 9:00 in the evening) with my Peruvian friend Ruben who has worked with us in video for years. When walked in the door and he asked for a table for two. The hostess looked very confused and said, “you want a table for two?”  When we insisted, she explained the problem. I had on a loose-fitting white shirt and a black bag in my hand.  They had just called for medical doctor for a sick patron and were amazed I got there so quickly. When she saw me with the white shirt and black bag she just knew I was the doctor.
• Yesterday afternoon I was waiting for a friend who was going to share a taxi to the evening event when a man nursing a beer by himself in the hotel lobby bar saw me and called for me to come over. He saw the CIMA bag in my hand and wanted to know what that was. He is a tour guide and had seen advertisements all over the city for CIMA. I gave him a rough idea of what it was, but he wanted to know more. He commented that those he had run into that had the CIMA identifications were different – respectful was the word he used. That led to a conversation about religion, faith, eternal life,  Jesus, God and churches that lasted almost an hour.
• A German mission executive and I have been sharing taxis in the morning. Today, a taxi driver who had taken him two days earlier called for him and we let him take us. My German friend had noticed a Bible on the front seat of his taxi and that started a very interesting conversation about his life. He is extremely thirsty for knowledge of God and the Bible. He has a Master’s degree in neuro-linguistics but is a taxi driver. He studied in Tokyo and married a Japanese woman who some years ago had a relationship with a priest that resulted in her divorce from the taxi driver. Now, as a divorced man, he feels estranged from his Catholic church. (Sadly, I have to say that we sometimes have been guilty of making divorced people feel a bit like lepers. This is not to condone divorce, but simply to say we have to learn to better minister to people in less than ideal circumstances).  My German friend does not speak Spanish and the taxi driver’s English is a bit rough. So, when I hopped into the cab this morning he began pouring his heart out in Spanish. Very interesting and sincere man. I plan to give him a couple of my books tomorrow morning when he comes for us. When we got to the fairgrounds this morning he wouldn’t take our money. He insisted that was his tithe.

My job has been to open the day with everyone in the large hall, students, pastors, leaders, staff, volunteers, etc. I have been teaching from the book of Titus on the process of making disciples. A professional actor from Buenos Aires has been working with me doing some wild improv comedy to illustrate the main point of the message each morning. That’s been interesting to say the least! Following my teaching, everyone breaks into small groups to discuss and apply.  Also today, I taught a workshop for pastors. Remember Melo, the scripture transporter? He is here for a couple of days and it’s been good to see him. He will soon take a group of Latin Americans to transport some of the scriptures we assembled in October.

In past days and on Face Book I have mentioned how you can see the services in live, streaming video each night. Some of you have been able to connect while others have been challenged. I’m sorry that I really can’t give any more specific advice since I can’t see your computer. There services are in Spanish anyway, but I just thought it might be fun to look in on what we are experiencing here. I’ll report back when I can.