A People that God didn’t forget
Val Ponce de Leon is our executive assistant and recently traveled to Salta to work with our Amigos por Siempre program. As this month's guest story, she shares how Amigos por Siempre is impacting both the children of the region and those working to bring them the Gospel.
No heat, no air conditioning, no cell service, no wifi, no roads, no bank, no grocery store, no doctor, no church. A place that is oblivious to the outside world and the outside world is oblivious to it.
Depending on your personality, that description either sounds like the worst vacation you’ll ever have, or possibly an ideal one. But for many people, it’s not a vacation - it’s life. In the mountains of western Salta, thousands of people live entirely isolated from the world, where shop owners, doctors, and even Catholic priests have no interest to reach. Despite being in the most religious province of Argentina, these people have no local congregation of ANY denomination. The only public building you will see is the local school.
It’s a boarding school since residents live so spread out that it would be difficult to bring the kids every day; better for them to just live there. It’s a detention center for teachers since the state sends the most problematic teachers to work in the middle of nowhere for a year or two as punishment. Unexpectedly, it has some of the most cheerful students you’ll ever see, since they have no other pastime other than school, and therefore enjoy it fully.
This region, forgotten by society, is not forgotten by God. He has faithfully opened doors for the gospel to spread through the mountains with the APS program. Over the last three years, as we have delivered Bibles to students and trained the teachers to use the curriculum, it has allowed us to speak with local families as well. In fact, at this point, I feel it’s safe to say that APS has become more than a Bible curriculum for kids; it’s a gateway into isolated communities.
On my first trip, besides praying that I wouldn’t suddenly get appendicitis (no doctors, remember?), I assumed that I would be overwhelmed with pity for these people. I was shocked to find that they were perfectly happy in their tiny corner of the world and generally open to letting us strangers visit and share the Bible with them. I got to experience first-hand how God’s Kingdom is made of all types of lifestyles: urban or rural, technological or electricity-free.
While it was clear to see how accepting they were of our visit, it was equally apparent that they had no idea of what the Bible said. Compared to evangelism efforts in the rest of Argentina, where people have heard of Jesus through the Catholic church, our conversations had to start with the most basic theology: Who is God, who is Jesus, etc. Almost every household in the region heard the full gospel during our trip, and many invited us to return day after day. No house was left without a copy of the Bible.
Back at school, where the APS project began, we were thrilled by how much the kids loved their own illustrated copies of the Bible. Teachers explained to us, “We can’t get them to focus on math or language because they want to study the Bible all day!” Parents told us, “My children read the Bible late into the night using a candle, and then they share the stories they’ve learned with the younger kids.”
The law that gave Crecer access to schools was overturned by the Argentine Supreme Court this year. But God’s Kingdom does not depend on local laws. Shortly after the repeal, a Salteño principal called us for a meeting. There, he presented us with permission forms from parents, allowing us to teach the Bible in the school with or without the law! In August, a new APS project will begin in Tolar Grande, Salta. This means a whole new community of people will hear the gospel, and their children will learn the Bible every week in their school!
If you would like to be a part of spreading God’s Kingdom to an area of the world most people have forgotten, but one that He has had in mind since the beginning, I’d invite you to click here. You can also read Amber’s version of the story HERE.