A Whole New World

Well, I just survived my first week in Argentina! It was filled with lots of new experiences, new words, and new people. To the left is the view from the plane window; beautiful and symbolic of the beginning of my time in a new mission field.

My first thought after coming off the plane into Buenos Aires for our connecting flight to Cordoba...tengo frio! I can kiss the beachwear good-bye, because it will be all scarves and mittens from here on out haha! Thank the Lord that I packed lots of layers. Its supposed to get colder throughout the time I am here; kind of comparable to going from December to February in the states, so pray that I can bear the cooler temperatures and be thankful for the small heaters we have throughout our house here.

Since being in Cordoba, we have done a lot of work on the house that me and my teammate, Timothy, are staying. Its going to be a bilingual house where local Argentine students and other short-term missionaries coming from the states can live and have community in a safe place. We took a tour of the city this past Friday by foot and in a McDonald's city tour bus. We defninitely played the part of a typical tourist that day, just shy of a fanny pack and matching hats. There is beautiful architecture here built by monks way back in the day. We walked through one cathedral and I was in awe of how much detail was put into all the lavish decorations and wall design in the church. Going on the tour helped me understand more of the city layout and where things were located. It defnitely has the big city feel with so many people and cars buzzing around.

Saturday, some people from the church came to the house to paint and help get the place looking put together. Later that afternoon, we played some serious Ultimate Frisbee! I loved getting to run around and have fun with some of the university students that are also involved with the church. I am going to be a pro-frisbee player when I return with all this practice! That night we had an asado ( an Argentine bbq) and a time of worship and a message. You can really tell that this little church is a family and is growing greatly. It was a blessing to be apart of that time, eventhough I could only pick up a few words here and there haha. Me and Timothy went out with some of those people for ice cream afterwards and didn't get into bed till like 4am and that is very typical of weekend nights. The time in which they do dinner, 9 or 10 at night, has taken some getting used to for sure. Merienda time is usually from 4-6pm and that is when people will drink mate (kind of a herbal tea hot drink) and have cookies or crackers; this has been a blessing so I don't starve by the time dinner rolls around.

We start Spanish classes on Monday and will have a fairly busy schedule set up for the week, including time with conversation partners and various other meetings. Things are starting to pick up here and I am excited to see the Lord form some great relationships with the people here. It has been a hard transition these first few days into this new culture, but I am starting to feel more and more comfortable as time goes on. Thanks for all the prayers and I will try to keep everyone as up to date as possible over the next 7 weeks!