The Joyful Journey

¡Hola! Apologies to all for disappearing for months. Figured it was time to fill in some of the gaps of things that have been going on in my life here.

Much of the month of April, the four of us were travelling. We took two weeks of vacation, in which we travelled solos to southern Chile, and then various places in Argentina on the way back. We spent a week in a large fishing city called Puerto Montt, staying with an American missionary family that has lived there for 14 years. They have a small house church that we got to spend two Sundays with, including Easter. A lovely congregation, filled with the Spirit, and working in missionary work with people who live isolated in the mountains. Being in Chile, seeing volcanoes, going on boat rides, the Andes mountains, relaxing...in all it was a wonderful vacation.

Ending our two weeks of vacation, we spent one week with the Mennonite congregation in the city of General Roca, in Argentina. There we were carted around visiting many people of the church (over lunch, matè, dinners, women`s meetings, etc) and also taught English three times for children in a poor neighborhood of the city, where the church runs an afterschool program. I ended the week getting very sick with a flu bug (illness that turned into cold, then bronchitis, which I am just now recovering from...quite ugly). The experience of seeing other Mennonite churches in South America was special: each has their own flavor, expression of worship and ministry, but in each we were welcomed with abundant love, and saw Christ working in each of their communities.

Coming back to Choele after travelling for three weeks was hard at first. The four of us each shared at that point (the end of April) strong desire to be back home home, with family and friends again. It was sort of like, "well, done what we came to do in Argentina, ready to return"-attitude. But, God has profoundly shown me lately that there is a good reason I am to stay here in Argentina until the end of June. God`s plan for us continues here...there is still learning to be done.

As our time here in Choele Choel is coming to an end soon, I am realizing that our being here hasn`t just been an experience for us to take in. We have had an affect on this community, as we have made dear friendships and relationships with people here. From our adopted "families", the neighborhood children we teach English to, neighbors whom we greet daily, the youth group--all these connections hold a piece of our hearts. Although 8 months now seems like a short amount of time, and there are people I wish I would have spent more time with, no matter how short a time we share with people in our lives, connections that are made can have impacts that last a lifetime. And especially when we are part of the body of Christ, we are never really apart.

I see this connection/relationship building as something so important to the spreading of God`s Shalom in the world. Last Friday, the four of us went to a high school class studying the United States in geography, and we answered their questions regarding life and culture in the States. One of their last questions was what we thought the solution to wars and violence in the world was. Since it was public school, I couldn`t exactly share that true peace wouldn`t come until Christ returned. I shared that travelling to other countries like we have done, building real relationships between people of different cultures, and seeing that we are all humans and quite alike, helps correct stereotypes and ignorance, thus helping build peace in the world.

Other sharing we have done recently included giving the "message" at one of the small church meetings in the north zone. Our theme verse was Matt 10:39. Leah and I did a mime, and each of us shared our reflections on the verse, and want it has meant to us throughout our life and especially this year. I was moved by the testimonies of my dear friends, and aware of how real God is. God really has worked in each of our lives, and sitting in the small, cold cabin that we helped build (well, mostly the boys), I was struck by the priviledge I`ve had to love and be loved and worship with God`s children in another part of the world. It may not have been the most polished presentation ever, but it was from our hearts. And we did it in Spanish. Kudo points.

Each day I feel more and more aware of God`s blessings. I feel more connected with the church here, and am receiving more vocal appreciation for our presence. People beginnning to realize we are leaving soon, and are saying how they have seen God in us, and are going to miss us a lot. I certainly am going to miss them--it is annoying how often it happens in life that you don`t realize how much a blessing something is until it is almost gone, or over. Yesterday, a young mother married with one baby died. Her sister and her were involved in a motorcycle accident. We attended the funeral last night and this morning at the cemetery, which was a very moving time of feeling the intense pain in the community. Such tragic loss, and yet the message of praising God and having hope continued. I`m yet again humbled to share in all aspects of life here with this church, including celebrations and times of mourning.

I will stop there for now with the note...but will try to write shorter ones more often here at the end. Got to take advantage of my time to tell the stories as they happen!