The Joyful Journey

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Today I am very filled with thanks, and even though I won´t be getting stuffed with turkey and pumpkin pie today, I think I will be okay. I can´t believe this is my first holiday away from home. Makes me really feel like an adult when I begin celebrating holidays away from home. Before I list my thanks, here´s what I did this morning:

Each Thursday morning, the four of us, along with Delbert Erb (our coordinator here) meet with Juan Sieber, who is one of the pastors at the Choele Choel church here. He is Argentine, but born of American missionary parents Floyd and Alicia Sieber. He speaks fluent English, and this morning we worshiped for the first time in English, singing worship songs in English. I hadn´t realized how much I missed singing and worshipping in English. I like the prayer times at the church in Spanish, but it is hard at times to both enter into worship and focus on understanding the language. Praying in my own tongue is most natural, but I pray that with time, praying in Spanish will become natural too. I will need the power of the Holy Spirit for that.
Juan is sharing with us the story of the church here in Argentina, and explaining the partenership that exists between the Choele Choel church and churches in Illinois. This partnership, called Arm in Arm by the churches in IL, has been around for about 10 years, and is bearing fruit. His vision is for a new definition of mission, one that makes mission a two-way road--not only missionaries from the U.S. to Argentina, but also missionaries going from Argentina to the U.S. We have been discussing the need for spiritual revival in the U.S. church. For so many years, the U.S. has been a great mother country in sending out missionaries, but over the years, we have lost the ability to be as mission-focused in our own communities. Part of the challenge the Argentine church has given the Illinois churches is starting church plants. This is a challenge that the Argentine church has taken on, and every month sends groups out from the church to visit new contacts, house churches, established churches, and missionaries who are working in the Patagonia region. A small church plant in Illinois has also started through this partnership, I believe. Talking about mission work, and the need for it in the U.S. excites me. I´ve often thought of mission only as work that you go to a new country to do. What would it mean for the churches in Northern Indiana to make plans to send missionaries to other cities that don´t have any Mennonite churches? I´m not sure what that would look like, and I´m not sure if that is something I may be called to, but it is something to pray over. It excites me to think about what God has in store for my future. I know now that I am called to be a servant for Christ, but how that will be played out in a job or vocation, or where I live, is such a mystery. But, I trust God.

Back to Thanksgiving, and my many reasons for thanks...

I´m thankful for the warm welcome from the youth in the church. Inviting me over to a sleepover, pizza, walks in the plaza, dips in the river, asados (barbeques), and sharing maté. They take interest in my well being, and one lovely girl even gave me an encouraging card that said something about her being grateful I´m here and that she is praying for me. The way the Holy Spirit is moving in and among the youth is so visible in their prayers and their actions.

I´m thankful for the way my RAD group is bonding and supporting one another. We have almost daily contact with each other (classes, church reúniones, visiting each other´s houses for meals), and once a week we meet to talk about how life is going, and pray for each other. We are able to share honestly with each other, and I have found good frienship in each of them. It is so good to be able share this experience with three other people.

I´m thankful for good food. We´ve heard from the two RAD boys in Brazil that they have rice and beans for every meal. I like rice and beans, but appreciate the variety of food here.

I´m thankful for the amazingly big, beautiful night sky. It is so filled with stars it makes me just stare in awe. Wow. Can´t see that in Elkhart, especially not the Southern Cross (constellation).

I´m thankful for God´s call on my life that I have felt tangibly this year, in bringing me to RAD. For feeling secure in the love of Christ this year, secure in the love of friends and family, and learning to love myself as Christ loves me. For the ways God has provided when I have need (I think for example of the financing of this year being provided for abundantly).

And finally, I´m thankful for all the quirks and funny things I´ve experienced so far in Choele...

- the fish seller that goes around in a truck with a loud
speaker. the first time I heard him, I thought it was
political propoganda, or announcements. I still can´t
understand what he says...

-the dusty dogs of all types and sizes that roam the streets
(or sleep in them) like squirrels do in Goshen. They did
amuse me until one really scary German-shephard-like dog
nipped at my behind and scared me half to death.

-learning how to work the toilets, that each seem to have a
different flusher--a pull on the top of one, a button in the
wall, a string you pull down, lever at the back of the toilet---
not understanding them caused some confusion and embarrassment
the first week or so

My list could go on forever (of thanks, and funny things). Thank you to whoever reads this. Thanks for your care, and interest in my life, in me. ¡Díos te bendiga!