Orellana, Peru June 24-July 2
The Amazon River in Peru. What can we say? It was absolutely incredible! Even that, though, doesn’t begin to capture just how amazing the trip was. From taking our baths in the river (literally) to giving candy away to little kids and seeing their faces light up to being able to share the good news of Jesus Christ with people who haven’t had the chance to hear it before…we really were “pioneering.”
We had a great team, too. How cool is it that a group of people who didn’t know each other can, after only 10 days, feel like one big happy family? Its amazing how God can use such a brief time to change a group of people. I am one of those who can’t wait to get back home and unashamedly share my stories and my faith with my friends!
All in all, God definitely did some amazing things in Orellana. And I can’t wait for our peruvian reunion.
East Asia-June 7-18
Greetings from East Asia!
There are many beautiful things in East Asia, but most beautiful of all are the people. This project has been incredible for us as a team to simply have had the opportunity to make new friends and to see God at work among them. Time and again we had conversations or met people where it was obvious that God had been at work in their hearts long before we ever arrived. It is just amazing that He allows to be a part of what He is doing across the world!
Its times like this that the Matthew 9:37 truly comes alive – “the harvest is plentiful yet the workers are few.”
God Bless,
再见
Dakar, Senegal – June 12-24, 2010
Hello from Senegal!!! We have had the chance to continually see what an awesome God our God is!
Our team was divided into 3 crews; “Fas,” “Muus,” and “Bey.” These are Wolof names that mean horse, cat and goat, but we didn’t know what they meant until after we had started our ministry. Project coordinators Matt and Cindy made us ask Senegalese people what these words meant. All the crews got to work with street children at a center as well as meet students and share at a local high school. We couldn’t help but fall in love with all of them more and more each day.
Through it all we saw just how incredible God is and continued to be amazed at what He allowed us to be a part of! ”Jamm ak Jamm friends.”
http://iwcsenegal2010.blogspot.com/
Seville, Spain – June 19-26
We had a wonderful time “loving like crazy” here in Seville, Spain. There was a total of 47 people serving in several different types of ministries throughout the city: using Solariums (a pre-evangelism tool), serving at Family Fairs, doing Bible distribution, teaching ESL, and working in gardens.
Here is a “God story” from one of our participants:
Today we used Solariums as a way start spiritual conversations with students at the University of Seville. Everyone we talked to were open and friendly to talk about their lives. Once we took the time to ask questions and understand these students, we realized that they had spiritual and emotional needs. They shared with us some of their problems and we were able to pray with them. I believe this tool has helped me understand the importance of listening to others in order to meet them where they are and to be better able to serve them. I pray that the people we talked to will continue to be open to a God that is bigger than all of their problems and needs. This has been a great experience for me!
Canta 1, Peru Project, June 18-25, 2010
The first of four IWC projects this year in Peru has sent word of many blessings and great results.
It has been a full and awesome ride. We have taken the crazy, amazing love of our great God and reflected it to the people here. We have taken the gospel to 8 villages that are less than 2% evangelized. (That is like 3 believers out of 450 people in most of the villages!) You can imagine what an encouragement that is to the believers here. This week we’ve seen over 400 pairs of reading glasses distributed, 35 teacher bags given out filled with teaching supplies, 60+ ESL/Bible stories told to children in classes, a daily radio show done at 11am involving our students singing and preaching (even Pastor Brian today), worship services each evening, and other ministries that have seen over 50 people across 5 mountain villages give their lives to Christ ! (Derek)
Johannesburg project, June 8-19, 2010
IWC participants in Johannesburg, South Africa were surprised to face frigid winter temperatures but delighted to still be able to minister to hundreds of children in soccer clinics. They were also able to evangelize with some of the spectatots attending the World soccer matches in the area.
Here’s a video clip about the ministry of the project.
Check out this IWC blog entry of one of our field workers.
Read more about the events of the project here.
IWC sponsored two spring break projects to the massive city of Sao Paulo. Students from Georgia, South Carolina, and Deleware were able to come alongside the work of Zoe Church to reach out to Brazilian college students and others. They engaged in coffee house minstry, campus evangelism, church outreach fellowships, and even a “hug ministry.”
As soon as we got to Sao Paulo, our only directions were, ”Just go make relationships and love these people.” As the week went on, we were continually encouraged to make these relationships and pray over the many people we came into contact with. There were so many people in the city that it almost felt like a battle to go out… (Mary-Kate)
We gave out free hugs and so many people were in such need of a confirmation that someone cared and WAS paying attention…I learned to love like crazy and to show them more with my words than my actions. (Courtney)
Not only were we giving away free hugs, but we also had T-shirts on over our own clothes that we could give away when we mest someone in need. We were living out the gospel in a completely new way. We were giving the shirts off our own backs. (Ansley)
Here’s a gallery of some scenes from the two projects.
IWCers at the Braila project have ministered in five different villages, putting floors in two different Roma (Gypsy) churches, putting up murals in a small children’s room at one church, and holding numerous children’s Bible clubs outdoors. 
They played soccer with the youth in the evenings and shared testimonies and songs about Christ.
“We are swamped with children from the moment we arrive in the villages, and it is already difficult to think of saying goodbye tomorrow evening”
The nightly worship times were very moving as participants heard from Pastor Ben who endured persecution during Communism but refused to denounce his faith.
Read more about the project on this blog.
Even if you are not a soccer fan, it will be hard to miss the frenzy of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa this summer. IWC has a project in Johannesburg with students working in Soweto using soccer clinics as a way to reach out to children and youth in the township. IWC crews will also be ministering around nearby soccer stadiums to prayerwalk, share, and meet people from around the world.
Pray for the efforts to strengthen the work in Soweto and for opportunities to witness to internationals, especially those from unreached people groups, during the World Cup.
