September 25: The Life

We had a storm of golf ball sized hail tonight!

People keep telling me that they notice significant improvement in my Spanish - praise God for that. 

I've been having a lot of fun leading worship in both languages. I praise God for how He is using me to introduce some fresh worship music for the church. Many have communicated their appreciation for the music because it has blessed their hearts as they praise the Savior.  

Jonathan from Guatemala is here for two months. He will be my roommate and will be working at Atrevete a Soñar (the children's program) also.  When I'm not working with the kids or at Christ Church, there are always people at the house to sit and chat with. I've been loving the serious conversations as well as the laughs. Andrés' girls treat me like a big brother/jungle gym, so that keeps me busy as well! I'm finding it quite challenging to find time to do the work for the online class I need to take this session! Please pray that I can get a handle on that too! 

Nathan Harley

"We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us..."

2 Corinthians 5:20

September 17: I'm Back

I'm back from Bolivia. I got to see some beautiful places, meet wonderful people and see some more of God's work. I was able to lead worship in Spanish a few times, participate in Andrés' seminar on youth leadership and hang out at a church picnic! Here are some pictures from my trip.

We had to stop over in Buenos Aires, Argentina first.

Uruguay doesn't have Starbucks, so Andrés and I took advantage of the luxury in the Buenos Aires Airport!

Cochabamba, Bolivia

Centro Plaza

Catedral de Cochabamba at Centro Plaza

Inside the Cathedral

Baptist Theological Seminary

The View

Ascending to Christ

Cristo de la Concordia - the largest statue of Christ in the world

Cochabamba from Christ's Point of View

With the Pastor's son, Santiago

September 11: Leaving the Country...Just For a Few Days

Andrés is heading to Bolivia to speak at a youth leadership conference. He asked me last week to go with him - so I am! We fly out today first to Buenos Aires and from there to Santa Cruz, Bolivia. We then have to catch a small plane from there to Cochabamba as the roads between cities in Bolivia are extremely dangerous. I'll be there through Tuesday. It should be a great time to learn more from Andrés and experience another aspect of his ministry. As of yesterday I am leading worship (in Spanish) at the conference! Should be fun! As always I would love your prayers!

A power outage here because of a storm broke my laptop charger, so I will have to wait until we return to try to find and buy a new one. It could have been a lot worse - my computer could have been fried, but God was merciful! 

Working with the kids has been going well! I was helping some with their English homework yesterday. Props to TESL people, it's not that easy. :) Please pray for the salvation of the kids that come! Leading worship at Christ Church has been a mutual blessing! Please pray for them as they pray and plan for new opportunities for growth!

Nathan Harley

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

2 Corinthians 4:18

September 3: Getting in the Groove

It’s been just over two weeks here in Uruguay. My schedule is starting to be more consistent and I am becoming more comfortable with the city, the language, and the people that I interact with. I have a long way to go but I am seeing God’s hand everywhere!

My time is split between two churches. I help with the children’s project at Andrés’ church called "Atreverte a Soñar" (Dare to Dream) each afternoon except Thursday from 1 to 5. The leader of the ministry is German but was born here, so she is fluent in German and Spanish, but speaks no English. The other two helpers are short-termers my age from Germany and speak English well, but limited Spanish. It has been interesting and entertaining interacting with each other and with the kids for this reason! I have been helping the kids with their homework, teaching them some piano and playing with them (I brought them an American football and have been teaching them how to throw it).

On Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings I am at Christ Church (Pastor John’s church) leading worship and helping with older youth. This church is made up of people from all over the world; everyone speaks English, so the Sunday morning service is in English. The dinner/meeting on Wednesday nights is in Spanish, however, as most of the people also speak Spanish. I led worship last Sunday and then Wednesday in Spanish! I’ll be doing that nearly every week working with different musicians to enhance the worship aspect of the services!

Thank you for your prayers! Please continue! Thank God for growing me and performing His works in this nation. Pray, as always, that I improve much more in the language and that I continue to depend completely on Him.

Nathan Harley

“Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.”

Philemon 1:7