Hello all! I hope this finds you well! I'm doing well here in Argentina. We're getting ready to go on another mission trip to Formosa. My dad is bringing a group from the US and we are bringing a small group of people from where I live. We're going to have two doctors and several nurses attend to about 500 patients per day for about 4 days! Some of the team will be doing some painting and I am in charge of evangelism for children. This is a big task and I am a little nervous because I will have to give directions, lead games, and talk to them about God all in Spanish. I'm doing well with Spanish, but I've never talked to a big group like this before and I just don't want to mess up the message or have them not understand me. There could be 100-500 children there each day, so I have my work cut out for me. My dad will be doing maintenance on a water purification system that he installed a couple years ago there. The system primarily runs on solar panels but has back up batteries. A couple weeks ago someone stole the solar panels, so to my understanding the system does not work, unless the batteries can be charged. So we're bringing a charger, but I pray that we can get that working again because that provides clean water to so many people. The group from here is leaving on Wednesday, March 4 to travel the 20 hours north to Formosa. We'll be cleaning, getting food, and getting the facilities ready for the group. My dad's group comes on Friday night. We will be going to Iguazu Falls again, which will be awesome because they're gorgeous! I'm really excited about seeing my dad and some friends and familiar faces from home! We'll be returning on Saturday the 14th.

Last weekend, my friends Stefanie and Elaine and I went to Cordoba to see some friends. Our friends are Nelson and Claudia and they're expecting a baby in five months! Nelson is an accountant and Claudia is a physical therapist/kinesiologist. Cordoba is the second largest city in Argentina, next to Buenos Aires and is about a 10 hour bus ride away. We left on Friday and came back on Monday, so it was a short trip, but we had a great time! Saturday we walked around the city and they showed us some old churches and cathedrals that were being restored as well as government buildings and some places for shopping. Sunday we took a bus about 30 minutes west to where the mountains start! It was really pretty! I was so glad to finally see the mountains, because Argentina's are really pretty, but I had never seen them before. We walked around the touristy parts and bought some souvenirs and then we took a ski lift up on a hill that overlooked the whole city. So we saw the city and the mountains surrounding it! It was beautiful! Our friends are really great people and fun to be with, so we had a great weekend! One thing that was really funny to me is that on the ride there we passed through a section that looked exactly like the Midwest. I felt like I was driving through Illinois, Missouri or Kansas. It was flat and there were a lot of corn fields and farm land.

I'm planning on coming home at the end of April and I'm really looking forward to it! I've really learned a lot here and I've grown in many ways. It has been a really great experience, but I'm ready to move to the next step of my life and see how what I've learned here will impact my life at home. I'm applying to graduate schools for a masters in counseling and planning to move to Colorado, but that depends on a few things. When I get home I need to find a job, and with our economy the way it is, I'm not sure how that will go, but I have hope.

I want to share some verses that I read today:
John 12:42-50
⁴²Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; ⁴³for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

⁴⁴Then Jesus cried out, "When a man believes in me, he does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. ⁴⁵When he looks at me, he sees the one who sent me. ⁴⁶I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

⁴⁷"As for the person who hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him. For I did not come to judge the world, but to save it. ⁴⁸There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day. ⁴⁹For I did not speak of my own accord, but the Father who sent me commanded me what to say and how to say it. ⁵⁰I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say."

Jesus came to save, not to judge. He came to be light and point to the Father. I want to be like Jesus in that the Father commands me what to say and how to say it! I want others to see Him through me. I want to recognize his voice more and more and for him to continue to guide my steps. Without him I can do nothing, he is the strength in my weakness and the love that I live for!

I would really appreciate your prayers for the mission trip and for what I will be doing when I return home! Thank you for your support!

Sending love and hugs:)

PS. You can see more pics of Cordoba here:

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047851&id=69600827&l=af75e

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2047857&id=69600827&l=8b587