Home Sweet Home? (Cultured People, part 2)

As we begin to wind down our time here in Buenos Aires, a lot of people ask us, "Are you excited to go home?"

Well, yes and no. We are excited to see our families. We can't wait to be with our friends. We are excited to worship in English, where we understand all of the nuances of the words we are singing or sharing. We will eat familiar foods and restaurants. We will turn on the TV and watch almost everything in English. Daniel can go to the gym. We can drive our own car. There are a lot of exciting things about returning that we can't wait for!

Sure, we will miss our friends and family here. We will miss speaking Spanish every day, needing to operate in a foreign language in order to survive and thrive. We will miss the public transportation, the beautiful old buildings, going to the grocery store every day, going to Spanish class, etc. We will miss our friends most of all... We are sad to leave, but excited to go back to the States.

Yet what we also realize is that we aren't going home. Not really. Sure, we love the United States, and we are proud to be from there. We aren't Argentines, although we love Argentina. We wouldn't really even be considered truly third cultured, having only been out of the US for a short time.

However, in some ways the US won't really feel like our home.
1. We aren't returning to the same circumstances that we left before: new jobs, new ministry, new city, new state...
2. We have missed a year's worth of culture. Sure, we have watched a few TV shows from the US. We have heard a few songs. We watched some movies from the US. (Actually, we saw more movies here than we probably would have watched in America since we had buy-one-get-one-free coupons!) However, we won't know all the cultural references. We won't know some new slang. There will be new songs on the radio, new shows on television, new references to pop culture that simply don't click with us yet.
3. Some things seem uncomfortable to us: being able to understand all of the conversations going on around us; everyone eating fast food or running from one event to the next; not taking a long time with friends over coffee or a meal; etc.
4. People have moved on with their lives, and so have we. We are not returning as the same people who left. We have grown and changed. We are different than we were before, and we won't be the same. We have been shaped by our experiences here in Buenos Aires, and we won't be certain how to explain it if you bother to ask.

Home Sweet Home? The return will be sweet, but a little bitter. We will realize, in those first few weeks, just how different life is from this moment on. It will be a transition, and it will take time to adjust to our new lives there. With the help of our friends and family, we will be able to transition back and make the States our home again. But this will take time and prayer...

Tomorrow, I will share some of the things that you should and shouldn't say/do to returning missionaries.

Culture(d) People, Part 1

Yesterday, I tried to describe Argentine culture to one of the LST members here. I was struck with the problems and the joys of the people. That is the trick of culture... It just is.

Anthropologists argue that culture is inherently neutral. I doubt that is the case. There is beauty in every culture. In Argentina, we find a number of things beautiful.
1. The greetings people give to one another. Everyone greets everyone else. To not do so is considered an insult, unless it is physically impossible to get around to everyone in the room.
2. The hospitality that friends show. You are truly invited into the lives for life. We are blessed with some truly amazing friendships.
3. The passion that people feel for things they truly believe in. Sometimes this manifests itself in being an hincha of a particular football club (¡VAMOS, RIVER!) Other times, it manifests itself politically, socially, through service, through opinions, through relationships, through beliefs... Yet people are passionate.
4. People keep their friends for life. While it can be hard to build friendships, they are truly loyal to their friends. (Also, see #2.) People here are friends with many of the same people that they went to elementary school with. I would be hard-pressed to name five people I went to elementary school with, yet these are friends that they take on vacation!
5. Some people are earnestly seeking God, which is a blessing.

Are there problems? Of course! We can easily list some. But we won't! (At least, not online! And probably not in conversation either...) We don't wear celeste colored glasses when it comes to Argentina, but we have grown to love the people and enjoy the place. (Celeste is the national color of Argentina, by the way.) We are blessed.

Culture is NOT inherently neutral. Some things are GREAT. Some things are TERRIBLE. Anyone who tells you differently is trying to sell you something. (Or is an anthropologist.)

What do you love about the culture where you are? What do you dislike? How is God working through the culture? Or in spite of the culture? Or around the culture?

We all have a culture. Parts are inherently beautiful; others are difficult or different, terrible or tricky. But we all have it.

One of the challenges that we face is realizing that we are not longer part of our American culture; at least, not entirely. More on this in the next few days.

God bless you, and may you all see your culture through God's eyes.

God is good! More to come tomorrow! However, we just celebrated a lovely dinner with our friends Oscar and Viviana... Thank goodness for these blessings in our lives!

Transitions

Where do we go from here?

   This is an important question in the life of every person. When I (Daniel) was working in campus ministry, this was the question he dealt with most often. What am I going to be when I grow up? What will I do if I fail this class? Now that my relationship with someone has ended, what will I do now? Now that I am graduating, do I have to grow up? And how do I do that? During times of change, it is natural to ask, “Where do I go from here?”

   This question has been really important for us as we begin to wrap up our ministry here in Buenos Aires. We have been blessed by eleven months of great ministry. It has been full of joys and challenges, happiness and disappointment. We have watched some readers grow closer to the LORD; we’ve seen others take steps back or dis-appear entirely. We’ve developed great friendships with people here at the church and within our ministry, yet we also know it is possible that we won’t see any of them again. Where do we go from here? How do we proceed?

   One of the most important things to us is telling people that we are thankful for them. Recently, our Sunday Morning English class studied the passage of the ten leprous men. All ten had been healed, all ten had their lives changed and were infinitely thankful. But only one returned to tell Jesus he was thankful. We were challenged to let people know that we were thankful for them and to be specific. We are so thankful for each of our friends and readers. Each one has taught us so much spiritually, culturally, and personally, and we are truly blessed by our time together.

   Our friends at church have been our second family, accepting us in, inviting us for meals, celebrating Christmas and birthdays with us, traveling with us, laughing with us. They put up with our bad Spanish, and they encourage us when our Spanish improves. They listen as we ramble in a second language and fumble for words. They build us up and encourage us daily. We are blessed by such an amazing family of God.

   We have also been blessed by the Youth Group here at church. (Youth are anywhere from 14 to 35, depending!) We have developed some amazing friendships, and it will be hard to not see these individuals every week (or sometimes every day!) We have traveled with these people, around the city and around the country. We’ve laughed and cried together, encouraged them and been encouraged by them, prayed with them and prayed for them. We’ve watched them grow in their faith, and we’ve rejoiced as some of them have chosen to follow Christ this year.

   So, where do we go from here? As we pack up and head home in two and a half weeks, how do we build on what we already have? How do we continue to help our friends, brothers and sisters, and readers continue to grow from afar? How do we continue growing in our Spanish? How do we keep blessing the church, and being blessed, when we return to the US?

   We have some plans on all of those things. (Check out stories on page 2 about upcoming transitions.) We don’t know what God has in store, but we plan on facing our future with the joy brought on by our present and past. Thanks be to God for our time here in Argentina, and blessings on our future.

 (Published from our Missions Bulletin, June 2012)

Tonight we sat at merienda with our friend (Bibiana) and her family, as well as her parents from Colombia. We are blessed with so many great relationships here, and we are sad that our current time in Buenos Aires is drawing to a close. We were blessed with so many people that we have been ministering to (and, in turn, blessed by.)

Please continue to pray for our readers. Some of their names you know, some you don't. We'll be posting pictures of them in weeks to come. Remember to think of them often; pray for their growth. Pray that God will continue to open their hearts and draw their souls closer to himself.

Thanks for your prayers...

The city across the river: Montevideo

So, I've been falling behind on my initiative. It's been difficult to do with end meetings, spending time with readers, enjoying our last few weeks, helping LST teams, and holding LST parties.  BUt, God is doing amazing things...

Recently, we took a trip with Megan's mom and sister to Montevideo, Uruguay. Montevideo is like Buenos Aires, but on a smaller scale. As friends there tell us, Uruguay built it first (their obelisk, their bookstore, etc), but Buenos Aires builds it bigger and more lavishly.

Uruguay, however, has a hometown feel. The city has about 1.5 million people, but it seems much smaller. The city is built around a natural bay where the Rio de la Plata meets the Atlantic Ocean. It has a number of beaches, and we were able to sit and watch the sun go down over the city.

The cab drivers were all willing to practice their spanish with us, the vendors were very kind and helpful (not at all frustrated by foreigners like they can be in Buenos Aires), and the city exudes a quite charm. If you like the fast-paced, hustle and bustle of large city life, Montevideo is not for you. However, if you like a charming mix of modern and colonial architecture, beautiful artwork, and an unpretentious charming "small town" with all the advantages of a large city, then Montevideo is for you! We enjoyed our time there.

Uruguay is an interesting place. Politically, they tend to be a little more stable. They value democracy, and tend to shy away from radical changes. They intentionally built the separation of church and state into their political ideologies. Interesting, Uruguay is the most atheistic country in South America (and in many places in the world.) Only 60-65% of the people believe in God; many people simply don't worry about God or see how he plays into their daily lives. Soccer is more of a religion than anything else! (The first World Cup was held in Uruguay in 1930 in a stadium in the center of Montevideo.)

Montevideo is in need of more churches. There are a few Churches of Christ in the city, but they tend to not work together or have much relationship together. (We didn't want to dig too deeply into the story.) Most of the churches (like in many place) seem content to just do church and not to be overly involved with their community.

What plans might God have in store for the people of Uruguay? What might God be doing in the city in the future? What stores are waiting to be told?

That is how we want to look at these fields. There is so much work to be done here in South America. Although the statistics claim that "most of the people are Christian," most do not truly know the saving power of Jesus or understand who he is and what difference he can make in their lives. So many are simply caught up in the rituals of baptism/confirmation/eucharist/etc, but rarely (and we do mean RARELY) do they go to mass; confession is rare; men hardly ever step into the church building except when getting married or buried (or when family members are doing the same.) We need to look for ways to connect men to church and make a difference in our community.

I truly believe the fields here are ripe for the harvest. We meet a number of people who are hungering for something more (here is often tends to be later in their young adult life, late-twenties or early thirties.) God does amazing things here, and it has been great to see how God is working.

Pray for those who are working in these fields. Get connected to Great Cities Ministry (formerly Continent of Great Cities, http://www.greatcities.org/, Missions Resource Network (http://www.mrnet.org/). Ask Great Cities for a prayer guide for their missionaries. Or we can give you a list of people that we know are working in South America. Keep these wonderful, beautiful efforts and amazing people in your prayers. Pray for the churches of South America, and pray for those who don't yet know the salvific grace of Jesus.

Feliz Día de Independencia

Today was Argentine Independence Day. (Actually, there are two: Revolution Day on the 25th of May, and Independence Day on the 9th of July.) We celebrated by joining our friends who live in Zarate for a great day together. We were blessed to spend the day with Cinthia and Giovanni, our friends from church.

Tonight, I was working on our Hebrews booklet for our students who have finished all of the LST books, when I was struck with a thought: How amazing is it that we can celebrate our Independence every day? We are liberated from sin; we are free from guilt. Jesus took our sins upon himself, and gave us independence in God's Kingdom. How amazing is God?

Thanks be to God for his deliverance!

More tomorrow! God bless you!

The Beauty of God's Creation

On our second full day at Iguazu National Park, we were blessed by the opportunity to take a long walk to an obscure waterfall.

The Sendero Macuco is a 7 kilometer round-trip hike that starts close to the entrance of the Park. We were the first people to travel on the trail that day, and only encountered 10 people total on our way back to the entrance.

As we began, we hiked in the relative cool of the morning. We were surrounded by the calls of the birds, the sounds of nature, and (sadly) the buzzing of mosquitoes. (Thank goodness for OFF repellent!) We instantly fell in love with the forest and our surroundings.

The area is beautiful, and comprises a 7 kilometer, leisurely walk to a beautiful waterfall. The forest surrounds us throughout the whole journey, and we are amazed by the beauty of the simple scenery. We ran across a number of smaller animals on our trip and a number of beautiful birds. However, Daniel didn't get the opportunity to see a toucan. (Sigh)

If we had quickly walked the trail, we could have finished it in about one hour. However, we practiced "slowing," and spent over two hours enjoying the beauty, watching the waterfall, and taking pictures. We were inspired by the beauty of God's creation. We made friends with a couple of beautiful butterflies as well, who became slightly enamored with our waterbottle!

As we turned back from the beautiful waterfall, we encountered a troop of monkeys hanging out in the trees! Megan was awed, and we spent more than 20 minutes watching the monkeys jumping through the trees, eating, and playing. One even thought we got too close and started gnashing his teeth at Megan!

The beauty of God is all around us. We are amazed at the glory of his creation.

Los cielos cuentan la gloria de Dios,
    el firmamento proclama la obra de sus manos.  
Un día comparte al otro la noticia,
    una noche a la otra se lo hace saber.
Sin palabras, sin lenguaje,
    sin una voz perceptible,  
por toda la tierra resuena su eco,
    ¡sus palabras llegan hasta los confines del mundo!
    Dios ha plantado en los cielos
    un pabellón para el sol.
Y éste, como novio que sale de la cámara nupcial,
    se apresta, cual atleta, a recorrer el camino.
Sale de un extremo de los cielos
    y, en su recorrido, llega al otro extremo,
    sin que nada se libre de su calor.  

(Salmo 19)


The heavens declare the glory of God;
    the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
    night after night they display knowledge.  
There is no speech or language
    where their voice is not heard.
Their voice goes out into all the earth,
    their words to the ends of the world.

In the heavens he has pitched a tent for the sun,
    which is like a bridegroom coming forth from his pavilion,
    like a champion rejoicing to run his course^.

 It rises at one end of the heavens
    and makes its circuit to the other;
    nothing is hidden from its heat.

This is the video from the Sermon on Sunday. We talked about allowing God to fill us instead of filling our lives with the things of the world.

Let me know what you think!

Cómo vos querés

The boat ventured deeper into the waterfall, and I wondered, "Is this what it is like to be overwhelmed by the presence of God?"

One of my students, Gabriel, told me, "You have to take the boat trip at Iguazu! It's the best thing I ever did." We took him at his word, and we signed up as soon as we walked into the park. At 1.45, we gathered with our group for our excursion. We took a long ride through the rainforest as one of the guides gave us a lesson in plants, history, horticulture, and conservation. We arrived at a dock on the river and readied ourselves for the upcoming experience.

The guide told us there were two parts to the excursion. First, the boat would sit outside of both sets of waterfalls to allow us to take pictures. Next, the boats would enter the waterfalls, and we might get "a little wet." (That was the biggest understatement of the year!) As we approached the falls, we were overwhelmed by the sound of the roaring water and the "fog" rolling off of the falls. There was a different perspective from being on top just a few hours before to being underneath the falls now. One was a little more detached: we were awed by the beauty, but we stood at a distance. Now we were truly experiencing the rush, the awesome majesty, and the overpowering wonder of it all. As we entered into the waterfall, we were drenched with water. Megan and I were both wearing our raincoats, yet it made no difference... Regardless of our preparation, we were caught up in the deluge. The falls poured down on top of us, sweeping over the boat and the people within, catching us in their grip before continuing down the river. As we withdrew from the falls, a seeming eternity later (but more realistically only three or so minutes), we couldn't stop smiling and gushing about the experience we had just undertaken.

I wonder if heaven will be kind of like that: caught up in the overwhelming rush of the glory of God. When we stand at a distance from God, we can still be overwhelmed by the beauty and majesty of it all, but we haven't truly experienced God until we get into the midst of him. When we are drenched by his goodness, inundated by his love, swept away by his mercy. When we stand in the midst of God, I think an eternity will only feel like three or four minutes, and we won't be able to stop smiling or gushing about what we are experiencing.

How amazing will it be to stand (or more likely kneel) in the presence of God, overwhelmed by his presence? May we long for that day!

Saying goodbye...

I've never been good at it. I hate saying goodbye, ending a chapter and beginning the next one.

Today we began saying goodbye to our students. We are informing them that we will finish our reading sessions on July 13th. Although we will still be having times of coffee, fellowship, and relationship building, our official work with LST will be drawing to a close.
.
Our goal is to end well, to build continuity between us and the other teams coming for our readers, and between our readers and the church. We want to leave a legacy of people who have drawn closer to God through their time in Bible study.

God has done some amazing things here, and we are sad to be leaving it behind. We want to build a sense of finality with our readers, yet also keeping the expectation of returning. We pray that God will allow us to remain involved in the lives and faith journeys of our friends here.