Ashley Ruffner
Quito, Ecuador

Ministry Overview: Ashley is the girls' chaplain at the Alliance Academy, an international school in Ecuador's capital. In addition to her evangelism and discipleship ministries among the students, she will also manage summer short term teams sent by Grace Babpist Church to minister with Youth World in Ecuador. Ashley is a member of Grace. "My vision is to be a living example of Jesus Christ through intentionally loving, mentoring, serving, and empowering the youth of Ecuador."

Where she lives: Quito, Ecuador. Ashley will be home this summer from June 21st to August 18th, to raise support and connect with the community here at Grace Baptist. Be sure to seek her out and hear what God is doing in Ecuador!

Prayer Requests: Please pray for wisdom and discernment as Ashley mentors girls at Alliance Academy, and that she would be a good listener and servant in the youth group. Pray for openness as she learns more about the Ecuadorian culture and language.

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Jesus Te Ama!

I used to be a huge critic of passing out tracts and in fact pretty much stayed away from it as a whole, when it came to doing ministry. I know that this WAS (and still is in some parts of the world) a way of sharing the Gospel. I guess I just had never heard a testimony of someone coming to know Christ through a piece of paper, but instead through seeing or experiencing Christ in someone’s life. I am a firm believer of relational ministry… I think it was the model that Christ used. But don’t check out on me here or judge me yet… there is a lesson to the story.

As we know, God will use the experiences in our lives to challenge what we think is right and conform us to His Truth!

Last Saturday, the youth group had planned a day for what they call “evangelism.” I was a little skeptical at first, but prayed and asked God to teach me something new, and with out fail… He did just that. We headed out of the church gate in groups. One was a drama group, another a musical group, and the third a dance group. These are all ministries that are a part of the youth group. We went to the nearest major intersection, that just so happened to be a round-a-bout, and set up shop there. After a few minutes of organization, we went for it. I was with the dance group… no not dancing… but passing out “little books” that said “God’s Promises for You” (but of course in Spanish). I decided to take a look through the book, so I knew what I was passing out! The table of contents had a list of things like this: When you are suffering, When you are impatient, Salvation, His love, His forgiveness, ect. In each section it had a verse that addressed the topic. After that I started to gain a bit more confidence it what I was doing. I thought to my self, “Hmmm… God’s Word never comes back void!” When the first round of cars came to stop at the light, I went to the first car, they rolled down their window, and I said in Spanish, “Hello, good afternoon. I have a gift for you.” Handed them the booklet, and said “Do you know that Jesus loves you?” Looking into their eyes I could see something beyond words, and nothing that I had ever experienced before! There was a quick second of thoughs running through their heads and they spit out an answer. Some would mumble a quick yes, others quickly look away scared to answer. I thought wow… how interesting the responses are that I am receiving… whether with words or  body language. When is the last time you asked someone… “Do you know that Jesus loves you?” and waited for an answer? After about a couple of hours and what seemed like endless amounts of cars, we turned in for the evening.

What impacted me most was realizing that some people may just need that word of encouragement to keep going. And you never know that seed that can be planted with just a few words. Even at a 45 second stop light Jesus’ name can be glorified, contrary to my past thinking.

Something I forgot to mention was a couple of 10 year old (or so) boys I meet on the street that afternoon. (pictured above). When we first arrived on the street corner they were there, in fact that was their corner… the one that they often use to juggle and ask for money. I did not want to impede on their business nor did we want to look like we were asking for money. So I began to talk to them. First to make sure that we were okay taking over the street corner for a bit and secondly to ask them what they knew about Jesus. I asked them if they knew that Jesus loved them… and one said yes… as I probed some more… I asked “how?” He said he had heard someone in the park (probably where he sleeps) tell him that. I explained a little more and tried to continue the conversation. I ended up inviting them to the youth group and told them they were always welcome!

As 1 Corinthians 10:31 says… Do all for the Glory of God! So whether it is passing out tracts, talking to some street boys, working at a Christian school, what ever… do it all for the Glory of God.

I am thankful for this opportunity and know that God was glorified and that seeds were planted!

Ashley

To view Ashley's blog, click here.