First Work & Witness team July 4-11, 2008

I left on Wednesday the 2nd to get ready for the team. I went with Graciela R. who was our cook for the week. We met up with the pastors and superintendent in Bragado, which is about three hours away from Pilar. The pastors are Alberto and his wife, also named Graciela. Alberto pastors the Bragado church and Graciela pastors the Alberti church, where we worked. We stayed in the district center in Bragado. Nilda is the Superintendent and her son lives on and takes care of the property. It has beds, showers, a kitchen, and a big meeting room. Graciela and I made all the beds, bought all the food, and prepared food for the week. We were there for two and a half days before the group came, so that whole time I was speaking Spanish. It was great to be with Alberto, Graciela, Graciela, Nilda, and her son because it forced me to speak Spanish and it really helped me practice listening! They were all really great at helping me to understand and teaching me the proper way to say things! Those two and a half days seemed like a week! It was great to get to spend that time with them! It felt like we were starting to form a family! They helped make me more Argentine- being on their schedule, eating at their meal times, drinking mate and speaking their language (well, trying to)! The town of Bragado is like a small country town. It is a very cute little town. It has a plaza, or town square, a couple of schools, and a little downtown with lots of shops. Graciela and I went all over town when we were buying food. We went to several butchers, several fruit and vegetable stores, and several other stores. It was neat to get to see that side of the town, the real working people selling their produce! One thing that amazed me about the town is that the streets were lined with these gorgeous trees that looked like Birch to me. I have several pictures of them, so you can see!

The group came on Friday, July 4th. We decorated a cake for them and I decorated the main meeting room with red, white, and blue balloons and ribbon. It was weird being away from home on the 4th. There was no barbecue or fireworks, and it was about 35-45 degrees. It was nice to get to be with other people from the States, though! We stuccoed the Alberti church and later in the week helped to put in windows. There was a group of Argentines working with us because they are the experts at finishing the stucco. We did the first parts and then they finished. We also did VBS (Vacation Bible School) and played soccer with the kids three days. We had a lot of kids show up for both of those! The group brought gifts to hand out to the kids each day, which made them keep coming! There were several kids who gave their lives to the Lord and decided to start living in obedience to God! Praise the Lord! One day, some of us went to a nursing home and visited the elderly! There were several that were over 100 years old and still looking great! Before going to the home, we visited a lady from the church who had been bed-ridden for a while. I think they said her arm had been paralysed for three months. Just a few of us went in. We saw this sweet old lady about 90 in her bed. She was beautiful! Her eyes were just beeming! She was so excited to see us! We talked to her for a little bit, prayed with her and kissed her goodbye! We gave her a little gift bag that had a little stuffed animal and she absolutely loved it! She liked that she had a little companion. On this trip I met several people who were 90 and over and I was so amazed how healthy they were! I met a man that lived next to the Alberti church who is going to be 90 in August. He was walking with a three legged cane and a regular cane. He told me that even though he's not in the best of shape, he still is loving his life! He says that he has joy and is happy! He invited me and two other people from the group to have mate with him! He had me go in his house and get it. I was very humbled by his living conditions and the fact that he trusted me to go in his house. It was really cute though because he had several trophies on his wall and later I found out that they were from bowling! He also pulled out his wallet to show us his driver's license and then he pulled out a US one hundred dollar bill! He was so proud of it!

These are some of the boys that we played soccer with! They were all little soccer studs! This one on the right is Ruban! He's 12 and he's so amazing!

On Thursday we went to an Estancia, which is like an Argentine ranch with Argentine cowboys called Gauchos. We rode horses, got a tour of the ranch, watched a cowboy show, and ate lunch. Lunch was an all you can eat Argentine lunch! Lots of meat! I finally got the Argentine steak that I've been waiting for! During lunch, there was music and dancing from each region of Argentina! It was fun to see the different outfits and different dances from each part! At the end they pulled people out of the audience to dance with them and I got picked twice! It was fun!
On Friday, the team went to Buenos Aires! I stayed behind, though, because we have a rule here that you can't be in a vehicle alone with a person of the opposite sex and I would have been with Carlos on the way back from taking the group to the airport. I was okay with it, though, because I understand the rule and I respect it. It was kind of nice, too, because I wasn't feeling well. I was completely exhausted and my body hurt. Because I didn't go, I was able to sleep and relax! After sleeping and relaxing yesterday and today, I feel a lot better.

I was able to practice Spanish a lot on this trip. I helped translate conversations here and there. I still have a lot to learn, but it's nice to make a little progress! Thank you so much for your prayers and support! I have truly felt God taking care of me and being my strength in this time of weakness!