Dec 2006

Last night I read this verse, which really spoke to me:
"Ask and it will be given to you; searh and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks recieves, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knock, the door will be opened." (Luke 11:9-10)

I am asking these days for God's spirit to fill me, to lift my spirits (and those of our whole team), to return to me my motivation to study spanish and practice it more, to find my purpose in being here and more ways to serve. To fill me with love, Christ's love, so that I can give and recieve love freely. I don't want my time to pass here without notice, without a change in my life. Hmm. I think things just feel harder too around Christmas time. I'm missing family, friends, church, and traditions. Today, us RADers cooked ourselves a Christmas dinner (chicken, mashed potatoe casserole, creamed corn, salad, apple crisp), and decorated the little Christmas tree Frieda and Delbert left in their house while they spend a month in Canada and the U.S. It was fun, but I think it left us all a bit melancholy and homesick.

Even though I feel like I am going through a dry spell in my spiritual and emotional life right now, I continue to hold onto the hope that God has a purpose for me being here, and that it will be revealed to me. Adjusting to living in a new culture and building meaningful relationships in a new community (moreover in a different language) takes time. We've been here about 2 months. I need to give myself grace. Can't expect to be perfect at Spanish and have best friends here yet. But, God is still working in my life, and here. I feel like I am so close to God, but that my soul is covered with a blanket. I can sense that God is calling me to be in closer relationship, I sense that the Spirit is ready to fill me, I'm just not sure what I need to do to reach that place. It is at the times that I don't feel like I can pray or don't have the motivation to spend time with God each day that I most need to. Pray for the ability to pray.

Amidst my feelings of laziness, frustration, and sadness, I still give thanks. I have good health. My family here loves me--there have been moments where I have been able to share more personally how I'm doing and talk about faith matters with Clara and Marcos, which has been a blessing. Our RAD team gets along very well, and we support each other. We meet each week to pray for each other, and soon I am going to start leading us in a study of an essay by Susan Classen ("A Spirituality of Service: Freely Give, Freely Receive"). I am able to understand more of the sermons, and I think more of Castellano in general, although it is so hard to gauge how much I am learning.

Two weeks ago, the four of us RADers traveled along with 12 people from the church on a viaje misionero into the campo, the brush desert surrounding most of Choele Choel. Their we visited two small pueblos (villages), meeting and visiting people in the town the church has built relationships with, and worshipping with them. I saw the beauty and power of God working even in the most isolated places on the Earth. What a wonderful time it was to see more of Argentina, practice spanish (5 hours in a bus on dirt roads, laughing, singing, playing cards), and worship with growing Christians who have hardly any wordly possessions yet depend on God and hunger for Christ in their lives. On the return to Choele from the desert, we stopped in a town where the church doesn't know many people. We broke off into groups and just began greeting people. Along with two other women, I was invited into the home of a woman to share juice. My first real "mission" experience. Just showing the love of Christ through building friendships. Next month we will visit the same villages to continue to strengthen bonds, and support the small circle of believers and seekers. There is so much for me to learn from these missionaries and the people in the villages. I look forward to these monthly experiences.

Sorry for the awfully long blog, and for being so silent for so long on this blog. I've been quite lazy, and I apologize. I think of you all, my beloveds, fondly and often, and hope that the peace of Christ is bestowed on you all this Christmas. While snow brings a "silent night" in Northern Indiana, this Christmas will be brought in with fireworks (as is tradition here). Blessings, and Merry Christmas!

"Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink." John 7:37-38

Christ truly is the living water--whenever I am thirsty, He satisfies my soul. When I am dry of energy, patience or joy, God calls me back to the river. All I need to do is believe and drink.

This past weekend, I was renewed in many ways. On Friday, Delbert and Frieda took Leah and I on a 2 1/2 hr drive to General Roca, a city of about 80,0000 people. There we visited Piroli (I think that was his name), the pastor who helped start the first mennonite church there. We also went to the city´s poorest neighborhood, where all the street were dirt, and the houses small cement constructions. The Choele church has sent a missionary couple to live in that neighborhood, I think. The lady, along with another woman, run a tutoring program for niños. Frieda needed to visit, because she coordinates such church initiatives. This program, which has only been running for about 6 months or so, has about 20 kids who attend. Leah and I got the chance to help teach multiplication (in Spanish!), and see how God is ministering through this program. It is so much help for these kids, most of whom have parents that are separated, working and not at home much, and often don´t get enough food at home. We must pray that the church in Gnrl. Roca will get more involved with this initiative and that there will be sufficient funds so that the children can be fed at the school. At the end of the month, it gets hard to buy enough bread and dulce for them.
On our drive home that night, back to Choele, I was admiring the gorgeous night sky, when I suddenly heard my mom´s singing voice. In shock, I asked Frieda what CD it was, but soon realized it was Prairie Street´s music team CD from 2001. I started crying. For the next hour, I spent a blissful time in prayer, tears, and worship. It was such a gift to feel so close to home in Spirit, even as it was the first time I really realized how far away from home I was.
The next morning, Saturday, as I went jogging on the small island in the middle of the river, the familiar songs kept cycling through my mind. I belted out the familiar tunes (after making sure I was alone on the island ) As I dipped my feet in the Argentine Rio Negro, I sang "As I went down to the river to pray." God is so great. I was so thrist for God, and physically coming to the river was powerful. That night, at the youth reunion in the small yellow chapel, we sang "No hay nadie como tú"---"there is no one like you". I felt at that moment God´s hand blessing me and the whole gathering of believers. I continue to see the Spirit moving in our lives here (and I include the RAD team in the church here).
Times I´ve experienced God this week:
-memorizing the Lord´s prayer in Spanish--"El Padre Nuestro"
-talking on the phone for the first time with my family on Saturday
-Clara (host-mom) sharing with me the history of her family, and how she came to faith
-all the times I share maté with friends, and new acquaintances, and am welcomed and loved here. I love that in Argentina it is culturally acceptable to just stop by a friend´s house unannounced to visit--relationships take priority over "things"
-the first real rainy days at the beginning of this week reminded me very much of home. But, rain is rare here. That´s okay. I like the heat of summer (isn´t there a blizzard right now back in Indiana?)
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the immense love of God, and the water of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
In love,
Andrea