Traveling

Above is a celebration we drove by in Bolivia (has nothing to do with this post)

First of all, let me say that I am very happy. I was just reminded that I am not going to Haiti on Tuesday. That's right.

Tomorrow morning (Friday) I go to Baradero for a meeting with the Baradero team. On Saturday I have a meeting with people from other provinces, also in Baradero. Then I return home at midnight Saturday night, go to church Sunday morning, then I'm off to the airport Sunday afternoon. Fly all night to Miami. Spend 12 hours at the Miami airport, then a quick flight to the Dominican Republic, arriving Monday night. Then: rest on Tuesday before driving Wednesday to northern Haiti.

I'd forgotten that the tickets to get to the Dominican Republic on Tuesday were prohibitively expensive. And that although it was going to be rough leaving right after another trip (the Saturday meeting was planned months ago), I would still get in some rest. Ahhh....

I'm headed to Haiti to assist my coordinator, Bibiana, during her site visits, training, and assessments. The training sessions are focused now on building capacity in local training teams. There are 29 CHE villages in northern Haiti that are working out how to continue to effect community transformation with the added challenges of refugees from the capital city, Port-au-Prince. I've been there twice before, in 2002 and 2004, during my discernment process to go to the mission field. At the time I was really impressed by the way the CHE tools can work even in such a difficult place.

This trip will also be about discernment for me, but more on that later!

Here I am with an alpaca next to Lake Titicaca in Bolivia.

Visit from my coordinator

My coordinator, Bibiana, came for a site visit a few weeks ago. What a wonderful opportunity to learn from her! Above you see three Brazilians from a group working in Berisso expanding on their vision of community transformation and where they see CHE fitting in with that. One of the challenges of this bright, dedicated group is that almost all of them are studying at university and/or employed, leaving them less time for ministry in the community.

Bibiana is my "coordinator" rather than my "supervisor" since LifeWind has a non-hierarchical organizational structure. In turn I "coordinate" CHE ministry in Argentina, working alongside of (not over) local teams. Here we are listening to Horacio describe his vision and passion for Baradero. A great discussion followed about how CHE and church-planting/growth can actually be one thing (not two) if a vision for holistic transformation, multiplication, and development -- rather than relief -- is adopted by the church. Very exciting!

Above you see Bibiana with the Baradero team: Silvia and Horacio, Nora, Marisa and Alejandro.

A day in the life of Argentina

Silvia (in the brown coat) with her friends in Baradero.

To give a glimpse of a day in the life of Argentina, here are selections from September second's El Clarín newspaper:

• Only 3% of monies hidden outside the country have been declared [since the president called for all Argentines to declare any monies they may have sent outside the country for safe-keeping]
• A woman has been released from prison four years after receiving a life sentence for the death of her five-month-old twins. She was originally accused of having killed them in an Umbanda ritual [a cult]: the girls’ father was an Umbanda priest and their house was used as a temple. The case was reopened and it was decided that the girls’ death may have been accidental.
• The police detained an Argentine Olympic cycling champion who claims he was beaten by police while training with 70 other cyclists on a highway. It is illegal to cycle on the highway but he states that they have no other alternative, “We can’t ride on the frontage roads because our bikes will get stolen. Plus, we have to ride at 50 km/hr.”
• Food and beverages have seen the most inflation according to private sources [INDEC, the official keeper of statistics, has lost all credibility]. The price of vegetables has increased 12.4% in the past month. [The government fixed the price of bread two months ago.]
• Lots of articles about the proposed new media law, which would require radio stations to renew licensure every two years. Clarín states that this law is an attempt on the part of the president to restrain free speech and control the media in a Chavez-like fashion; also that it is directed primarily at media sources that oppose the government and particularly against The Clarín Group.
• Several articles about the tax on agricultural products, the farm protests and strikes that have been taking place on and off for the past year and a half, and the drought.
• England has announced a new governor for the Falkland Islands [which Argentina claims and calls “Las Malvinas”].
• A deficit in the Buenos Aires Province jeopardizes 10,000 feeding centers and school lunch programs for children.
• Argentina has the most expensive technology in all of Latin America: Argentines pay 48% more than Mexicans, 28% more than Peruvians, and 22% more than Chileans for the same products.
• .Lots and lots of articles about soccer!

Kids playing with machetes in Baradero. This house is a half-block from an Umbanda temple.

Baradero

Above you see Silvia, Nora, and me heading across the tracks into the neighborhoods we're working in. I'm going out to Baradero about every other week now, meeting with Horacio and Silvia, the team leaders. On the day this picture was taken we were working on our "spiritual map" of the neighborhoods. We map the houses plus any altars, brothels, and corners where drugs are bought and sold. This map will be used so that the Baradero team can come up with specific prayer strategies.

Above is an altar to "Gauchito Gil," one of the most popular idols in Argentina. This is in the backyard of a family's house.

Here's a typical house in that part of town. There's a lot of trash around since most of the families don't have trash cans inside or bins out front. In the future, when we have "transformational change agents" improving their own houses and teaching their neighbors, having good trash disposal will be one of the points for a "healthy home."

Above, Silvia is knocking on the door of the house of someone known to be a Christian. We were going to ask her for help with our map, but she was bathing the kids. Late afternoon seems to be the time for washing up, so we usually head to the barrios in the mornings.

I love this picture: kumquats in Horacio and Silvia's yard. All of the above pictures were taken by Bonnie Hudlet, a missionary photographer with whom I became friends when she hosted me on a trip I took to Cordoba. She was in Buenos Aires for some other ministry commitments and accompanied Nora and me on our trip to Baradero, graciously taking these photos for our use.

Misiones Province

A few weeks ago I took a trip up to the northeastern province of Misiones. My friends Sara and Eva went to see the famous Iguazu Falls while I got together with a new contact, Ricardo. He is friends with a couple that I work with in Baradero (Buenos Aires Province) since they lived in Misiones for a time. The above picture was taken at a political meeting that I accompanied Ricardo to, a few miles from his home. Elections are coming up next week and a local politician gathered the people from the village seeking their votes.

This photo was obviously taken from inside the car. I love it when people appreciate where they're from, and this was certainly the case here. They said, "Take out your camera, as soon as we go over this hill you have to take a picture!" Pine trees aren't native to the area but in the past few decades have become a popular crop.

Above is the car we hitched a ride on to get to Ricardo's home. Isn't the red dirt beautiful?

A delicious meal with Emilia and Ricardo: chicken with manioc (cassava) and a salad. Emilia apologized that the chicken was so small. You see, it wasn't ready yet for the slaughter but it taunted one of their dogs and got into a fight with it. She tried to save it but it was too far gone, so it became our lunch.

Proof that I got some work done: a meeting isn't complete without sharing mate. We discussed the local area and the possibilities of training Ricardo's contacts with the CHE materials. There is a lot of poverty in the area, although the trick with CHE is that the projects undertaken are the ones the villagers decide on, not the trainers. For example, Ricardo thinks it's bad that everyone has latrines, not flush toilets. He thinks that everyone is satisfied with the latrines, and that's a bad thing. Of course I say the issue isn't the type of toilet, but whether or not hand-washing is done afterwards!

Ricardo and Emilia's grandson showing me the beautiful eggs from their chickens. See the green ones?
Time to head back to the city. How to get there without a car? Wait on the side of the road and hitch. Thankfully a neighbor came along. Tricky thing is that the back of the truck was filled with cow parts, grapefruits, etc.

This is a picture of a chainsaw, grapefruit, and a covered-up cow's head with its horn sticking into my sandal. It was kind of crowded in that truck.

But I still enjoyed the view!

And the company!

Fun facts:

• In Argentina, instead of saying, "every two weeks" one says, "every 15 days."
• A favorite verse for Argentines to quote is the first half of Psalm 92:12: The righteous will flourish like a palm tree. I'd never noticed that one before, is it used here because they actually have palm trees? Why don't we use this one more in California and Arizona, then?

Baradero trip

Yesterday morning I got up, went for an early run (I just have to throw that in here, I never go on early morning runs and I'm so excited!), and hopped on the train to go downtown. I walked to the bus terminal where I met Nora, a member of the Baradero team. We had a great 2 1/2-hour ride to Baradero as we caught up on her family, my trip, and the lessons we'll be doing at our next La Plata training -- I think she's slowly warming up to the idea of facilitating a lesson, stay tuned.

We arrived in Baradero and went right to the church which they're now opening for prayer on Wednesdays from 7 am to 2 pm. The sign above is outside the church at these times, it reads: In this place we pray for Baradero. Bring us your request, today we're praying for you. While we were there a local pizza shop owner that Horacio and Silvia know stopped in with his sister-in-law. Shortly thereafter it was time to close up. After 2 pm everyone is siesta-ing in this town. :-)

The rest of yesterday and today were spent meeting and praying together and visiting with people. This morning Horacio and Silvia had a meeting with town organizers where, to make a long story short, it looks like they will finally be given permission to present the program No more violence in the school system. Woo-hoo!

Nora came back to Buenos Aires last night since it was her son's birthday today. As I came back by myself tonight I read the two newspapers I'd bought yesterday on the way to the bus station. El Clarín, for me, is an exercise in attempting to understand Argentine politics. There are so many different terms bandied about that I think it will take me years to even begin to get it. Then I read Il Corriere della Sera to brush up on my Italian. The first several pages dealt with a presidential divorce scandal and the reaction of the Vatican. Not something I would expect in Italy. An interesting juxtaposition was the story on the apparently new frostiness in the relationship between the Ayatollah Khomeini and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and how that will likely affect the president's political career.

Return to Buenos Aires

One of my last views of San Francisco (off to the right and covered in fog): on our way to Lorena and Gregor's friend Patrick's to play a game before going to the airport.

I got back to Buenos Aires a week ago Friday after six weeks in the States. I want to tell you about my return:

Killer flight, 26 hours from first take-off to last landing, two nights in a row on planes! Yuck! I still don't sleep on planes, and they actually repeated a movie that wasn't worth watching the first time. But I did buy some Peruvian chocolate (see last posting).

Friday:
Got home, watched an episode of Flight of the Conchords (that Lorena and Gregor gave me) and went to bed at 8:30 am.

Woke up to a phone call from Silvia and Horacio (Baradero team). We chatted about the next day's training in La Plata that they were going to help me with. I reviewed what I'd prepared for the next day and found that I had no more work to do on it!

Went for a run and felt so good after the first round that I went again for a total of 6.6 miles, a new record for me (by far!).

Got back to more phone calls from my friends Nora (also on the Baradero team and helping out at the next day's training) and Monica.

Opened my fridge and found the food that Margarita, the woman who cleans my place fortnightly, had prepared. Pears, plums, carrots (some grated already), lettuce (already washed), tomatoes, and milanesas (breaded meat). What a huge blessing!

Saturday:
Took the train to meet Horacio and Silvia who were driving Nora and me to the La Plata training. We shared mate on the drive as we discussed last-minute plans for the day.

Excellent training in La Plata. All of the participants had completed or at least started the assignments from the last session which were to start spiritual maps of their target communities and do a seed project to help out in the neighborhood. Wow!

Here are the participants looking at the collection of resources in our group. The different colors of post-it represent 1) what we like to do with our hands, 2) what we can teach others, 3) what we're passionate about, 4) what we would like to learn if it were available in our neighborhood, and 5) neighborhood groups we are part of. This is an exercise to help them begin to focus on the resources of their communities (Asset-Based Community Development) rather than on what is lacking.

Leading the group in singing, "Build your house on the Rock."

All in all an excellent return to my new home. I felt mimada (cared for, pampered), missed, and I had an excellent team helping with the training, and really lively, active participants at the training.

Three wonderful women: Silvia, Monica, and Nora.

Ridiculously Blessed

The Baradero team two weeks ago, working hard in beautiful late summer surroundings.

I am ridiculously blessed.

In three days I leave for the United States, and although I will be there for nearly six weeks I’ll be in four states. I am ridiculously blessed with friends and family that love me and care about me and are traveling to come see me if I can’t get to them. I will not be on vacation while there, since I will be attending medical conferences and following up by e-mail with people in Argentina and sharing with individuals, small groups, and churches what is going on in Argentina. However, I choose to look at the overwhelming amount of opportunities as a blessing. (Remind me of that if you see me stressed!)

I brought out the camera during our Baradero meeting to take a picture of this hummingbird. Can you find it? It’s green, so it's tricky to spot.

Tonight I sat out on my balcony to decompress after a busy day. I looked at the nearly full moon while Rich Mullins started singing, “Everywhere I go I see you.” I thought, how true, when we open our eyes we see God everywhere. I had been stressed all day and never really stopped to let God move in me, to give God my burdens and take up the easy and light yoke that is offered. Before stepping out on my balcony I did so, and I think that’s why I was able to see God in the moon. The moon in and of itself was stunning, but then a light cover of clouds came over it and the aura created was huge and colorful. I heard a breeze blow through a neighbor’s tree and was delighted with being able to worship God in nature despite being in a city. (Then a truck zoomed by down my cobblestone street and I heard a train in the distance.)

The Baradero team relaxing well after a hard day’s work, enjoying a long after-dinner conversation. I was thinking that night that I am incredibly blessed to be here, where one of the lovely cultural traits is enjoying one another's company for an extended period after a delicious meal.

The next song that came on was Step by Step. The first time I remember hearing this song I was in a rattling van with a bunch of teenagers heading northward in the middle of one of the harshest Minnesota winters. I thought how crazy it was that I had just started to serve God with the youth, and knew that I was over my head and that was where I was supposed to be. “And step by step you lead me, and I will follow you all of my days.” I thought about all of the decisions that I had made in life, both to serve in different ministries as well as times that I had chosen forgiveness and healing over bitterness and anger and how those decisions had opened up huge new vistas in my life each time.

On Saturday in La Plata we had the first of seven modules in the Neighborhood Transformation series for urban areas. In an expansion of the “give a man a fish, teach a man to fish” theme, after learning how to cross a rushing river and teaching others to do so (multiplication) the ones who learn how to cross get the town together to build a formal crossing at the site. This would be like forming a fishing cooperative.

Carlos of the Salvation Army explains to the class his group’s ideas on how to meet the challenge of unemployment/underemployment in the context of relief, individual development, community development and structural change.

Random thoughts

A "palo borracho" in bloom with clouds threatening rain in the background.

Random thoughts:

• I have been tutoring a neighborhood boy in English and in return he's been teaching me soccer (read: playing soccer one-on-one with me in a nearby town square and only scoring when he kicks with his left foot so there's some challenge to it). His great-aunt, whom he lives with, once gave me some plums from her back yard. The other day when I dropped him off she gave me tomatoes stuffed with a cold rice and tuna mixture, and on the side a chicken and potato salad. Very sweet.
  

• Speaking of food, I have now tried both intestine and kidney. I might have been imagining it, but to me the kidney tasted a bit like what I think the end product would taste like.
  

• Several provinces in Argentina are still experiencing a severe drought, some sources saying the worst in 50 years, with an estimated $15 billion in losses this year. Argentine has historically been the third-largest soybean exporter in addition to other important exports. Meanwhile, there are calls for disaster relief aid for the victims of flooding and mudslides in the northern province of Salta last week.

Putting in my two cents in a discussion on re-investing earnings during the manicure training in Baradero. The two girls on either side of me who are waiting to be "models" that day look unimpressed with what I have to say.

Melanie and Barbara, the estheticians who came to train in Baradero, awarding Daniela with her certificate. Daniela told me that day that she plans on earning money doing manicures and also plans to go back to finish high school!

Barb and Melanie in a rose garden in Buenos Aires. We took a few days to see the sights after their hard work in Baradero.

And yes, I accompanied them on their Buenos Aires tours. Some days I sleep on floors and battle bugs and high-90s temps with no ventilation, other days I do this. As Paul wrote to the Philippians some 2000 years ago, "I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. " Tee-hee!

Manicures and Missions?

Some days my job is very unexpected. This week I received a professional manicure as part of my daily tasks! Melanie and Barbara, two licensed Canadian estheticians came to teach manicure skills to women from our target neighborhoods in Baradero with the hopes that they will use them to supplement their family income. I am acting as interpreter and cultural guide. Since the women needed to practice on each other first, I served as a model with the initial teaching. Very fun!

Today we are adding in a lesson on beauty, the kingdom of God, and self-esteem. Tomorrow we will facilitate brainstorming about how to apply these new skills next week (no time to get rusty) and will explain some basic principles of micro-enterprises.

Above are Melanie, Barbara, Horacio and Silvia eating a traditional Argentine barbecue outside, another perk of being here!

Melanie observing her students at work.

Barbara working with Cristina and Silvia.

Marisa, one of our trainers, works with her niece Alejandrina.

Group Dynamics

Beautiful Buenos Aires as seen from a few miles from my apartment.

Recently I met a couple who founded a ministry to people incarcerated in prisons and mental hospitals -- and there is a lot to do! Apparently in Argentina kids can stay with their Moms in prison until they are four years old, but it is a very violent place and the Moms often do not know how to parent, having had poor role models themselves. The HIV rate is 20-40% (depending on the study) in prisons, very different from the rate in the general population, which the CIA World Factbook puts at less than one percent. They showed me a heartbreaking video of the conditions in the psychiatric hospital.

In December our Baradero team had a mini-retreat where we discussed how to work together as a group. One of the techniques we used was the SWOT technique: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats. Very helpful for individuals and groups!

Here's part of our group in Baradero -- they look enthralled at whatever I'm saying, don't they?

Here's what they need -- triple tea from Bolivia -- anise, coca leaves, and chamomile.

Speaking of group dynamics and personalities, I took a test on a friend's blog and it categorized me:

I took the 43 Things Personality Quiz and found out I'm a Spiritual Organized Tree Hugger

Here's the back of the Baradero bus station where I wait to go back to Buenos Aires.

Fliers

When we're not busy playing with kids, we're intensely planning things -- here's Nora serving as the "cebadora," the one who serves mate to keep us going as we plan a vision seminar for the Libertador Church.

And here I am, hard at work under the "winter" sun.

Here are Alejandro and Marisa (she's from Baradero, they've both taken the first two steps of our training and are actively involved in the community) along with Nora and Gaby at our latest planning meeting in Baradero.

In my last post I wrote about a conversation I had with one of the kids in a neighborhood we're working in. Several people responded to that and I'll try to include other similar stories. However, I'm still trying to figure out how and what I can respectfully share about other people's lives since the issues they're dealing with are pretty personal.

Fun fact: I don't have a mail box, so everything comes under my door. Lots of fliers come, too, advertising local shops. This week there was a run on spiritual advertising. Slipped under my door two days ago was a newsletter from the local Catholic parish. Inside there was a pamphlet advertising the "Miraculous Medallion." It said, "Do you need a favor/grace? Pray to Maria for it!" It went on to offer a book about it complete with the bronze medallion for only U$S 5, with phrases such as, "This medallion has already helped many people. It can help you, too!" and "The Mother of God said, 'Everyone who wears on his neck this medallion will receive great favors.'" Underlined was written, "The Miraculous Medallion is a powerful shield against the designs and attacks of the demon. Father Gabriel Amorth, the most famous exorcist in Italy, declares that it's 'a good protection against the devil to wear the Miraculous Medallion.'"

Yesterday there was a flier advertising the ancient art of reading coffee grounds (I thought it was supposed to be tea leaves). For a small fee someone will read coffee grounds for me and give me "the answers and the sense of direction you need." In a free paper I got on the train last week there was an article about the big festival to celebrate Saint Cayetano, the patron saint of bread and work. There was a line 12 blocks long to get into the sanctuary where he is celebrated.

One of the latest sermons I've listened to on-line is about Genesis 11 and 12. Richard Dahlstrom notes that in Samaria, where Abraham lived before he heard God and left for an unknown land, the culture was polytheistic and worshiped the “three Ps”: power, provision, and protection. Dahlstrom notes that those three Ps are still idols in the church today, but don’t have anything to do with real Judeo-Christian faith. He discusses a Simpson’s episode of Protestants vs Catholics where Bart converts to Catholicism which leads to a pastor and a priest playing, “My God can kick your God’s butt,” and contrasts this with the inspiring lives of people who left comfort to follow God and love people: Henri Nouwen, Martin Luther King, Paul Brand.

God’s call to Abraham in Genesis 12 “is a movement from many gods to one, and a movement away from self-preservation to service…. Our obedience to revelation will result in us being a blessing.” Which paradigm will we follow? If we really trust God for our provision and protection we can pour out our lives for others.