My soccer buddy Ezequiel.I was in La Plata yesterday, accompanying a team of Brazilian missionaries that have started implementing the CHE principles. They told me about a little five-year-old boy, Dylan, that comes to play at their church plant/soccer field. The other day he said, "I need help setting up a house." When asked why, he said, "I need to move out on my own. My Dad doesn't love me." A few minutes later he poked his head in at the window of the house we were meeting in, which is next to the church and where the young married couple Reberson and Aryany live. He hung out with us for most of the rest of the meeting, alternating standing next to the two men in the meeting. Five years old.
Infections with the influenza A (H1N1) virus are overwhelming the medical system in Argentina. In the southern hemisphere it is also winter, and therefore also the typical flu season with A (H1N1) added on top. Some hospitals have stopped all elective surgeries, and one hospital has been designated exclusively for flu cases. The majority of the cases have been in Buenos Aires.
Big elections are coming up on Sunday, although not presidential. In my cell group we prayed for peace on Monday, as chaos is predicted depending on the outcome. See this story in the BBC news. It is also predicted that schools, churches, malls, and movie theaters will close after the elections due to the flu outbreak.
Senator Sanford's affair is big news in Argentina since his partner in crime is Argentine. Here's how yesterday's paper categorized South Carolina, "More than 90% of the inhabitants of the state are Protestant, in large part Evangelical. They live austere lives, normally arising at dawn -- in one of the e-mails Sanford says he gets up at 4:30 am - they go to church and pray before they eat."
So, when people ask me about Argentine culture, I hem and haw. How to explain things? How to know if after only a year and a half I even understand things here? When getting up early in the morning automatically means "austerity", how can we be sure we're even speaking the same language?
The view from my balcony at sunset, nice and autumnal.
