Upheaval

We are coming to love our newly adopted culture and country. As we spend more time here we get a feel for what the people are like, what their struggles are, and how the whole moral environment has been changing the last few years. In a way, they are not too different from us. Except, perhaps that the changes are more recent. Many seem concerned about the downward turn in both their economy (which has happened numerous times before) and in their values. But in the area of values nobody seems to know what to do.

"I don't believe in anything, but I'm happy."

In Buenos Aires there seems to be quite a growing culture of agnosticism and even atheism in some cases. God can use our ministry to reach out to people at such a key time. In the midst of such cultural, political, and economic upheaval, people seem ready to seek for answers in a world that offers precious few, and the ones they do offer leave us empty.

And no matter how hard our hearts, there is always someone God is working in. I’ve been getting to know a guy who sells produce at one of the local stores close to our apartment. We started talking about what it is we do here and why. He started telling me about his own spiritual journey and belief system. He said that he has tried out several religious systems and doesn’t like certain elements of all of them. So, he has taken some of the elements from them that he likes and told me that he believes that what is important is your faith and how it motivates you.

I started talking to him a little bit about those systems and told him that there is something Christianity has that all of those other systems do not: a God of love who made us in His image. While we wrapped up the conversation he stated that he would like to get a coffee with me some day. Please pray for him. From what he said it sounds like somebody had done him damage in the midst of his spiritual seeking. His name is Ariel, a poetic name for Jerusalem.