Category: YWAM

It has been a long time in coming, but finally we have finished building the prayer house. The bathroom area still awaits completion but will be waiting a while. The important thing is that we can now use the house.

For what? Well, obviously for prayer, but also for meetings, counselling, and as a place apart from everything else where you can study and think. Of course, being a House of Prayer, it is prayer that always takes precedence over the other activities.

The House of Prayer finally finished

Looking at the side where the bathroom will be, with the cesspit in the foreground

Inside the Prayer House, looking towards the front door

Inside looking toward the wood heater

Our home-made wood heater that works wonderfully

Carlos Anacondia came to Puerto Madryn to run an evangelistic campaign in the city. It was amazing to see the number of people turning up each night at the location which was quite a long way out of the centre.

Each night he preached on the love of Jesus and each night thousands of people came forward to commit their lives to following Christ.

The poster for the campaign – Jesus loves you

The stage, crowded with people wanting to commit their lives to Christ

People come from all over the region to hear Carlos Anacondia speak about Jesus’ love for them

During worship the people waved banners with the music

Oh the wind. Today is a very windy day with strong gusts lifting up everything that is not tied down. My big bottle of Coke is wobbling precariously on the table beside me as I stare out at the impenetrable clouds of sand and dust moving along with the gusts. It is a good thing that I am on the protected side of our main building.

The dust thrown up on a still day

It is days like today that I realise clearly that I am living in the middle of a desert. A patagonia desert, but one with lots of dust and sand and very little green.

One day when I was travelling in a bus northward, I remember waking up to trees and grass and being astounded at how pretty it was, staring out the window for hours. There is very little green and hardly any grass here where I am living.

But life is not bad. It was just today. When the wind pushed dirt under the door jams and through window gaps. When walking outside meant being covered in dust and dirt whipped up by the wind. It was just today that had me wondering why I was here, in the middle of the desert, on a little YWAM base.

Now the wondering did not remain too long, and another gulp of Coke and some delicious food that was generously placed in front of me soon helped me to forget all of this pondering. Then another gust of wind came. Dust lands in my food. Crunch. Ow. Nasty.

I get up and wander back inside. Here is everyone else, all of us locked inside, as though it was a fierce storm outside. Here is lots of action, people chatting, cooking, laughing, and enjoying life. Here I forget about the wind, forget about my ponderings, and enjoy my food.

I am not here for the weather, nor for the pretty-ness of the place. Each time the wind picks up it helps me to remember. I am here because I believe that this is where God has called me to be.