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Buenos Aires & La Plata UBF

June 4, 2013

Do You Want to Get Well?

 “When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, ‘Do you want to get well?’” (John 5:6)

The 2013 Argentina Summer Bible Conference was a joint conference hosted by Buenos Aires and La Plata UBF chapters held February 9-12. There were a total of 32 participants. Most of the participants stayed for all four days and received grace and met God personally. The place was a beautiful and enormous Christian camp called “The Sower” (El Sembrador) where we have held previous conferences and where we have many beautiful memories of meeting our Savior Jesus there. On this date, there were Latin American carnival festivals going on but we had a heavenly banquet with the word of God.

I. Go to the Street Corners and Invite to the Banquet Anyone You Find

The sheep that finally came to this conference were ready to hear the word of God because they had sacrificed the carnival festivities to come. At first, we hoped to invite the sheep who were UBA students coming faithfully to the center. But in the end, they rejected our invitation because of their own plans. In summer (January-March), the campus is closed, however, our leaders were not discouraged and went fishing in the plaza near main campus. It was like going to the street corners to invite guests to the wedding banquet of the king’s son. In the plaza we can find all kinds of people: secondary students, skate-board fanatics, couples kissing, homeless people lounging in the sun as well as venders in booths selling leather products, cheap jewelry, watches and other accessories. Msn. Marcos and S. Lorenzo also went to the Engineering School to pass out invitation flyers. M. Juana Moon went to Bahia Blanca (White Bay) 900 km from the capital to invite Nadia and M. Noe (Noah) invited his sister Camilo. Claudia a vendor named Nicolas. And Brother Sergio who was a pillar of Paraguay UBF saw the conference invitation on M Marcos’ Facebook page and came to the conference by airplane. Through this great struggle on the part of our coworkers many new brothers and sisters came to the conference.

II. The Smoldering Wick and the Bruised Reed

Humanly, the sheep who came were really without hope. They suffered from fornication, alcoholism, broken families and drug addiction, etc. They seemed totally lost and forgotten. But God teaches us the value of one precious soul because God gave us His Only Son Jesus Christ on the cross to ransom sinners. The first lecture was based on Genesis 2 by Shs Maria Cho, daughter of M Isaac and Mary Cho (La Plata UBF). She is a capable and intelligent but she fell in love with a handsome Argentine boy and drifted far away from God. However, God did not forget the prayers of her mother and father for their daughter, and she was restored as a new creation in Christ. The second lecture was based on John 5, entitled, “Do You Want to Get Well?” Shs. Claudia served this message and said that our society is full of sick people for various reasons and that Jesus has the power to heal us. She testified to how Jesus healed her from a life of fatalism and fear. She wanted to work as therapist but failed many times. But through serving her message, she repented her dependent hear and complaining spirit; she challenged herself to find a job again and God granted her a good job in a therapy school.

Noe (Noah) lived a hopeless life and could have been a stepfather to many children but God saved him and called him to be a new missionary to Argentina. He preached powerfully the message of God’s love in Jesus Christ who died on the cross and everyone was moved. Sh. Lorenzo (Bolivia UBF) preached on John 4, “I am He.” He was sent to Argentina for spiritual discipline and shared all his sins with coworkers and strangers. He fished and prayed in Argentina for 8 months and God brought German and Ivan to our ministry through S. Lorenzo. M Erendira preached on John17, “Sanctify Them.” After marriage to Noe, M Erendira had to struggle a lot to give up her human dreams and be a missionary to Latin America (Buenos Aires, Argentina). She accepted the word of God through John 17 and her heart was sanctified to be reconciled with God and her husband. M Noe is very solid and stable like a rock and doesn’t act impulsively. M. Erendira is a woman of shepherd heart who feeds many sheep. This new family of faith is so precious! Surely, God united them and will use them greatly! The final lecture was entitled, “But the Gospel Must First Be Preached to the World.” This lecture challenged everyone to preach the gospel.

III. The Climax: The Testimonies of New Stars

Brother Ivan (La Plata) said that he was like Pilate who didn’t know the truth because he loved himself. He is sort of mute; he has a hard time speaking. He says one word and then another word five minutes later, communicating slowly word by word. But his testimony was very clear and organized. All the participants gave a loud applause. Nicolas confessed his addiction to drugs and wants to be healed by Christ. Ivan (Buenos Aires) plays advanced classical guitar. He gave his sincere testimony to God. Mary Sue is a passionate girl but she gave her love to boys and became dirty. However, she made a decision of faith to pour out her heart to God like the woman who broke the jar. Sandra wrote her testimony by faith revealing all her wounds and sins even though her own mother Marta was in the audience. Brs Alonso and Camilo also confessefd their sins. Sister Nadia served duo-drama with S. Lorenzo memorizing everything. She is growing as a Sarah for the University of La Plata. Jorge (La Plata) is timid but he played guitar well and served all praise songs in the conference. Second Gen Joseph Moon was busy serving the conference through praise music, orchestral music and dancing.

IV. Missionaries’ Dance

La Plata missionaries served a praise dance with the theme of Jesus death and resurrection. M. Isaac, M. Mary, M. Juana and M. Juan practiced dance every night in spite of working hard during the day and having prayer meetings, fishing and one to one after work. Our sisters from Buenos Aires served a Jewish Praise Dance and the brothers served Tae-Kwon-Do as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. This was a spiritual and artistic conference. We thank God for giving us this conference. We are especially thankful that in the midst of our preparation and inviting sheep, God gave us his comfort, presence and guidance. Amen.

By Ruth Kim, Buenos Aires UBF