New Connections

Though there is much to do for my residency paperwork, I found a little time to begin to look for potential job opportunities for the students of the up and coming vocational school.  I honestly only wanted to look and get a feel for the companies in the neighborhood surrounding La Mision.  I knew there were several in the immediate vacinity of the church, so I ventured out to take a gander.  What I did not expect was to make contact with one of the most well-respected funiture manufacutures in all of Buenos Aires!  And what is even more exciting is that they are interested in the potencial of the vocational school.  

I know it sounds a little crazy but it is true.  Unknowingly I was speaking with the one of company directors who had greeted me at the door and escorted me through their showroom. Noting that I was not a native Argentine (I am assuming because my Spanish was less than perfect) began to ask very direct questions, like, "What was I doing in Argentina?", ect.   After a little introduction about myself and my design background I took a chance and began to explain my vision for the vocational school.  (Even now I am not sure why...I was unprepared and underdressed).  And if that were not enough I told him that I was collabora

ting with a local church in here in Buenos Aires and that we were in partnership with many churches in the US that were helping with the project.  Promptly after this explination he asked if we were evangelicals...to which I said yes, of couse.  Suprisingly enough

he was excited about the school and its potential!  I think he could tell that I was a little taken back at his response, so he explained that there is a real deficinancy of well-trained, ethical workers. At the end of our conversation he stated that he would love to, at my convience, take me on a tour of the manufacturing/fabricating plant.  In all the time I have dreamed and prayed about this vision, I would never have thought that this type of connection would happen so quickly!  Who knows what will come of it?  I just thank the Lord for this rare and encoraging encounter if for nothing else that, once again, it showed me that all things are possible, even things beyond our imangination, when left in God's hands.  So lets expectantly wait and see.  Oh, did I mention that the showroom and factory is located in walking distance from the "villas" we'd be working in?  Now that is amazing!

Take a look...http://www.fontenla-furniture.com/frontend/planta_eng.htm?lang=eng&

S's 3rd Birthday

This past Saturday we celebrated S's 3rd Birthday.  It was even more significant for us as a family because it was the first big celebration here in Argentina.  It is popular here to have children's parties at special places.  Similar to the Sates to like having a party in McDonalds or Chucky Cheese, here they are called "Salons de Fiesta."  We found a place we love that is also a play center and coffee shop that also hosts parties.  It was perfect.  Most of our friends from La Mision  came so it was a great time to get together. Sarah celebrated with her new buddies and the adults hung out.. some adults even played where they weren't supposed to. I posted some pictures.  More will come later due to the fact that our battery was dying so here is just a few. 

Waiting for our friends.

"A" really rather play than take a picture.

"S" hanging out with Maximo

"S" and her new buddy

Cake time!

Trick candles

Even the dads had fun.. until they were reminded of the age limit.

A Home

Our days are currently spent looking through adds and calling real estate agents looking for our permanent home.  We have gone to see three so far.  It is amazing the differences between homes within our price range of the homes.  Well, today we found one we love.  The only problem is we need to have what is called a "guarantee" or what you would say is a cosigner.  This is pretty tricky, and we don't have a dependable one yet.  So we need to pray that somehow we get a person who owns a property in the area we want to rent that has not helped anyone else rent.  All this needs to happen before the property gets rented by someone else and good properties like this one go quickly.

We are at peace because we know God has us where He wants us and will provide the home for us.  The children prayed about it tonight and began to ask some good questions.  K mentioned to Isa and S to pray to see if this is the house God would have for us and Isa asked, "How do we know what God wants if we can't see or hear him?" K answered him sharing how we know through other people, circumstances, prayer, the Word, and sometimes we just know cause of the peace we feel.  Lastly, K said, "We just need to pray so that God would open doors for us to know if this is our new home." And then S prayed, "Jesus, open doors, amen."  Isa prayed, "Jesus open the door to the right place.".... so we are tickled by the evening prayer time and teaching opportunity in the midst of the stress.   We shall see which one is for us.  After moving around and living out of suitcases and boxes since mid-August, we are ready to settle down.  We can't wait to post some pics when we finally move in!

Pics "in Argentina over a month"

Our Car: A Renault Kangoo (we will get a window 

put in.)

The other side, also needs a window.

Our First Sunday: Eber getting ordained

The reading of the Book of Order (FYI, K made the 

cross in the background 6yrs. ago)

Time of prayer

The girls hiding in the pulpit.

A with one of the youth that now has grown up

Isa with another youth that has grown up!

Isa and S with the kids at church for a brunch.

S and a new friend.

S and a friend trying to play the drums.

The Spring Youth Coffee House:

C's old roommate with her son and A

A taking down the decorations.

C and the girls.

The youth drama portraying the work of Christ.

Em saying good bye with S.

In Argentina over a Month

We have now been in Argentina for over a month.  Believe it or not, it is still hard to believe we are here.  Life has been so busy and hectic that we have yet to truly digest the fact that we are here!  Thankfully things are beginning to fall into place.  Let me break it down into categories.

Family Life:

Our days have been just trying to do different things with the children in the midst of all the other things that need to get done.  We have taken them to the parks and the "peloteros."  You got to love it... you can go get a great cup of coffee with a pastry while your kids play on the slides, etc.  It is like having a McD's playplace in restaurants and cafes.  Some restaurants even have a paid person to watch the kids!!! (Unfortunately A is still too young to be left with the supervision).  The weather is getting warmer here, so we have enjoyed the back patio, the parks and going for walks. Of course, TV has been a great help when we absolutely need to get things done and since it is all in Spanish, we see it as a children's language course =).

 

Things are beginning to settle down.  As of two weeks ago we finished the transaction for purchasing a car.  That has been a huge help since we had been using public transportaion with three little ones.   Each bus ride was quite the adventure, and Isaiah loved taking the trains. Regardless, life is much easier now with the car.  For those curious we bought a Renalt Kangoo. I'll try to get a pic up so you can see it.  The second thing that has helped is getting our oldest in school.  It took longer than expected but we finally found a bilingual school somewhat close and that also had vacancies.  When we asked our oldest what he preferred a Christian school or a school that spoke both English and Spanish but they didn't teach about Jesus, he told us he would teach them about Jesus.  I think he is more prepared to minister sometimes than I am! Due to the fact that he freezes in places were only Spanish was spoken we decided on the bilingual school.  So far he is adjusting slowly.  If you can keep this in prayer, it has been difficult on him the most.  School ends the first week of Dec. so this is just a small taste of school for the time being.

Church Life:

Being back at La Mision has been wonderful  though things have changed, the building, the people, etc, the spirit is still the same.  It is such a contagious place.  I can't really describe it other than saying that I am so impacted by how so many of the individuals live the Christian life daily in their communities.  It humbles me and excites me to see some of the youth we discipled years ago, now mature and working, studying and volunteering, all with the desire to serve the Lord.  They now are pouring into the current younger people and it is just an immense blessing to watch!  They coordinated a youth coffee house to celebrate Spring and it was phenominal.  Great music, food, drama, decorations (which my kids kept pulling down)  =).

Our first Sunday back was very moving.  We got to see old friends, and made new ones.  An elder was ordained and deacons were appointed.  It was just neat to see the church plugging ahead.  We have begun to join the church community slowly as we work on all our transitional stuff.  For now we are part of small groups,  supporting exisiting events, and reacquainting ourselves with many members.  Soon we will meet with the session to continue working together on the vocational school and any other area they see our gifts fitting into.  For now, summer is on the way and things will slow down a bit.  It will give us a chance to try to find a home, etc and then come March be able to jump in fully.

That is it for now.  Blessings.  

Creating the Blog

We finally joined the blog world.  Not sure what we are doing, but slowly we will get the hang of it.  Our main desire is to be able to connect with friends, family and supporters who desire to see more in depth into our daily lives here in Argentina.  So enjoy, comment and ask as you experience our new life through this new medium for us.

We thought we'd start with posting some pics from the our travel date:

The Buffalo Airport

Taking a pic with friends.. you may ask where is K ... dealing with the fact that A's ticket was cancelled again.  (We are going to use letters to reference our names since this is a public site)

 

At least someone went to keep him company at the counter!

Friends helped watch the kids:

Mr. C holding S

S enjoying the O's!

Buds till the end.

They may be the youngest in the group, but don't under estimate them!

S took the extra time to ask the engineer some questions.

She is still seeking a better answer =).