The Pomares                                 August 2015 Dear friends, We send you our warmest greetings!  We are excited to tell you a little bit about what happened at our conference in Panama two weeks ago, which was held for students and missionaries from all over Latin America and the Caribbean. But before we tell you about it, we would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your prayers and financial support which enabled our whole family to attend.  This conference is critically important for the future of our ministry in Mexico and for all our neighboring countries, too.  It was quite an adventure from beginning to end! Our children, especially Leah, were very happy to meet so many new people and have such an incredible time with other missionary children who were their same age.  Ian’s favorite part of the trip was getting to fly in the airplane and getting a chance to swim in the hotel pool.  Every time we walked by it, he wanted to get in! A total of 96 of us went from Mexico: 60 students, the Mexico missionary team, and our families.  There were a total of 1,300 students at the conference from 38 countries, and about 400 missionaries. There were a lot of different activities, lectures, workshops, prayer times, small groups, an afternoon of evangelizing in the city, tourism, invitations to join missionary projects, times of fellowship, and so much more.  Without a doubt, the students had a great time! One of our prayers was for the students from Mexico to take ownership of the vision of starting student-led movements.  We know that God wants to use them to reach their friends and their university for Christ. For Liz and I, one of our favorite parts of the conference were the times where all the students and missionaries from each country could meet.  We got to listen as the Mexican students shared about what God is speaking into their lives.  It was wonderful to hear them say things like, “I want to start a movement at my university,” “I want to be a full-time missionary for Vida Estudiantil (CRU),” “I am going to move to a new university and start a movement there,” “I want to commit my life more fully to God,” “I didn’t know how much power I had to help introduce my friends to Christ,” and many other statements like this!  For me, it was a moment where I realized that all my hard work has paid off.  We have prayed a lot for God to work in the students’ lives, so that He will raise up a new generation of student leaders who believe in what God is doing to reach their universities. Our other favorite part was the morning of the last day of the event, when the students received a challenge to commit themselves to God and take an honest look at where they were in their walk with Him.  Many students made that commitment to be more intentional about their spiritual growth, and others accepted the call to start a movement at their university.  Still others signed up to serve for three months, for a year, or full-time.  More than 800 students expressed a commitment to God in one of these areas.  We, the missionaries, had the privilege of praying for these students, asking that God will help them put into action whatever He spoke to their hearts.   We will end by sharing a few photos from the conference.  And if you have Facebook, you can see many more by going to the following link: https://www.facebook.com/So1oLAC/photos_stream We returned home with an incredible joy when we saw how God was speaking into our lives and into the lives of the student participants.  The challenge now will be to carry out the appropriate follow-up to support the students in the commitments they made.  We will need to keep working in order to see more students come to know Jesus, to grow in their faith, and to continue multiplying and reaching their friends for Christ. Thank you all again for partnering with us to reach these university students with the message of the gospel.  Your prayers and financial support are very precious to us as we continue in the work to which God has called us. Prayer requests: That we will be able to follow up adequately with the students according to what God did at the conference. That the students continue to step out in faith as they work to reach their university for Christ. That in the years to come, God will raise up a generation of students leaders who will make a difference at Mexico’s universities. Luis, Liz,Leah, & Ian Pomares " The Gospel for every student, A movement for every campus, Leaders for every nation"   Make a donation to our ministry: Online: https://give.cru.org/give/View/2805380 Check: Make your check payable to 'Cru' and attach a post-it note with "Luis  & Elizabeth Pomares" account # 2805380, please do not write anything in the for / memo line. The check should be mailed to CRU, PO Box 628222 Orlando, FL 32862-8222. Blog: http://luisandelizabethpomares.blogspot.mx/