El Tres de Enero (The third of Janurary)

Yesterday, Domingo (Sunday) we attended the Iglesia (Church) for services, which are at 10:30ish in the morning and 7:30ish at night.  In Argentina time is much less strict as a rule, not like in America where being late is a social inconvenience or error, but rather showing up early or ON TIME is RUDE.  Shocking!!  But I digress, the services were all in Spanish, but the elder who taught (Pastor is on a needed vacation) put up the verses and bullet points on both languages.  We sang “How Deep the Fathers Love for Us,” in English, and “Eres Mi Forteleza (You are my strength),” in Spanish for both services.  Outside of Dave, none of us are singers, but the congregation responded to our songs with remarkable positivity.  God transformed our voices into a harmony that we didn’t detect as we sang.  I believe that God opened their ears the worship of our hearts.  For lunch we were able to eat and talk with members of the church, and we exchanged testimonies, prayed for the workers here.  One of the ladies was discouraged because she saw one of the teens she had worked with for years, reaching into the trash to find food.  What a great analogy for when believers seek out sin, digging for trash when we are given the best food.  At night we had dinner with the young teens and early twenties of the church and were able to be encouraging and be encouraged again.

Today the team took the barrio jovenes (young teens, up to about 20) on a river rafting expidition.  There were about 15 jovenes, and for most of them this would be their first time going on a rafting trip.  There was alot of excitement and nervousness over the "Dangerous" activity of rafting.  It produced an odd paradox in my mind, that these young people are living in the danger of the barrio where violence and crime is rampant, but these class 3 rapids (swells up to 4 feet with moderate river speed) made them nervous.  Our goal was to establish relationships with the young people in order for a bible study/camp tomorrow to be more productive.  The language barrier was more difficult today, as the verbiage of the barrio is much more slang, making it difficult for even the native speakers and translators to understand.  Pray for us that we can overcome the barriers more productively tomorrow and reach these hearts.

h these hearts.

So much more, but so little battery.
John F.

Blog of saturday to follow