Outside the Camp

Maria Silvia in Buenos Aires

 

“Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach”. Hebrews 13:12-13.

God called me to missions when I was 15 years old, when I assisted Operation Mobilization’s camp and I was challenged by the preaching of George Verwer to serve the Lord in Missions. So since that day I thought that God would call me to Africa, or Russia or even another country in Latin America. I was ready for the adventure, I really enjoy discovering new and exotic cultures so I figured that Jesus wanted to take me far away from my home. But as I grew up I didn’t feel any special calling to any existing country, but instead God grew inside of me a deep compassion for people, my own people. I opened my eyes to the needs within my city. I found a great need, not only a huge hunger for a life in abundance spiritually but also a great physical need. After The Great Crisis that crushed Argentina, we began to become more aware of our own needs, needs that the goverment hid through the decades are now hitting us. We have started to see malnourished children, the unemployment rate went from 18% to 25% from one day to the next, hungry people shooting at the groceries stores, the picture was devastating. Thank God the economy in Argentina has grown since 2001 when the economic crisis hit, and little by little we are recovering from the crisis. But you can still feel that people are hopeless in our country, the goverment has failed us, the catholic church has failed us, having built their power by submmiting the natives in the past and only serving the political interest of the current goverment. Our families are failing us. Family used to be a great value of argentinians, but now sin has corrupted our lives and we see as a result fatherless children, single moms, painfull divorces and it is hurting us. I know now that God is calling me to my people, He is calling me to go out of the camp and take his wounds so others can come to His presence and find healing for their souls. He is calling us to go out of the camp and bear his reproach, He is asking us to humble and serve others, He is calling us to work with my people, the language that I speak, the culture that I live, He is asking me if I would go and tell the people from my own city that Jesus has hope for them. 

                                                                                                                        Maria Silvia

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