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.