"...and by the word of their testimony."

Ok, so we've been meeting a lot of new people, here are some of their stories:

Carolina (La Uni): When we were at the Uni, Sheryl met Carolina...in the bathroom. Henry and I were waiting around in the courtyard, kind of awkwardly, and then Sheryl returns with another girl in tow and a piece of paper with all of her contact information already in hand. Carolina gave us a tour of the architecture department and introduced us (briefly) to at least 10 people that we saw that she knew. She was super friendly and Sheryl got to have a few good conversations with her as she hung out with us every time we've been back to the Uni.

Yazmin (La Uni): Henry knew Yazmin because they had met briefly once and talked a little online. She came to eat with us and Carolina and we all had a great ime laughing and just hanging out. Yazmin is very interested in Christianity and the culture surrounding and the truth that defines it. She has a lot of questions, but she's so open to hear the answers. She's also met back up with us to hang out every time we've been on the campus.

Zuly (La Uni): I don't know much about Zuly, but Sheryl and Brenda met her when we were on campus and they struck up a close friendship. She gave us all free tickets to go see a Sultana (the Monterrey team*) baseball game. We went and got to spend some good time with her and now she's expressed interest in hanging out with us next time she is able.

Daniel (La Uni): Henry and I met Daniel at the end of a semi-discouraging day. As we talked to him, he told us he was already involved in a Christian church in the area and as we talked more, we found out he was one of the leaders of Campus Crusade for Christ on the Uni campus, was considering working full-time as he director and that he knew when we walked up that we were going to evangelize him, because that's how they do it! That would be funny in College Station; in Monterrey, that's crazy. Henry said that was the first active Christian he had met when doing evangelism in 5 years. The thing that is most encouraging about this, however, is the possibilities for the future. There is a growing level of unity between churches; groups that usually don't work together are teaming up like they haven't done in a long time... and now there's a connection for this to happen here? It's beautiful.

Elizabeth (El Tec): We were getting ready to leave Tec campus for the day.. Alex went to go print something and while we were waiting, Javier saw a girl he knew and we stopped to talk for a little while. She said that she was a professional singer and Javier told us that she had the most beautiful voice ever. He kept trying to get her to sing, but she refused. The conversation went on and we talked about lots of different things, but Javier kept asking her to sing and she kept refusing. Finally, he said "If you sing, I'll jump in the fountain over there." and, much to his chagrin; she agreed. She sang, he swam and the friendship was cemented. She's hung out with us each time we went to the Tec and she even came with us to clean up a campgrounds for a retreat she can't come to...

Lulu (El Tec): Jessica and I met Lulu, who was sitting and people-watching on campus. She is a Communications major (whoop) who is looking to switch into either Psychology (hence the people watching) or Industrial Design (talk about different directions). We talked to her and she showed us around campus a little and we got to see where she worked and talked for at least 2 hours (which is crazy for me). She said she'd love to hang out so we got her information to facebook stalk her... Her favorite place in Monterrey is La Fundidora, which is a park-type area that used to be a factory...and which is where we happen to be going on Monday, so we'll get to see her then.
....oh yeah, and after we left Lulu, we ran into Elizabeth again... and she told us that she and Lulu are really close friends.

I truly believe that these 5 girls, out of all our contacts, will definitely join the church here... some of the others might, but these girls are already excited to know us, looking for friends and looking for truth... Daniel won't and i wouldn't want him to leave his ministry, but he may be a key contact for future amazing things in the Church (big picture church) here. The thing that saddens me is that there are no men in the strong contacts we've made. Henry says it's because it's so rare for girls to meet guys here that aren't "machistas," but i think it's because Sheryl is doing a great job connecting with these girls. Culturally, "religion" also seems to be viewed as the woman's part in the family. However, the church here is raising up some amazing men of God that have given him all they are.

Hopefully, I'll put some cool stories about the discipleship in the church up soon, but this weekend we're going to the Mexican version of SCW... I am SO EXCITED ha.

*Monterrey is called "la sultana del norte," "the queen of the north"