Travel

Yet another stunning scene in Villa Giardino, Cordoba Province.

Wow, has this been a month of travel! I leave tomorrow morning for a weekend in Rosario, the third largest city in Argentina. I will be checking out possibilities for a program there and hanging out with Ayelen, a young woman that came to our training last September.

On Monday evening I leave for the Latin American Regional Council in Miami, Florida. In addition to LifeWind's staff from Latin America and the Caribbean there will be people from the different NGOs with which we work. I'm looking forward to it! However, I still don't have my return flight booked, through a series of circumstances. I am still considering going to the Cleveland, Ohio area afterwards to speak with some churches, but the opportunities there are still not concrete.

Today I met with some Brazilians that have started a project in an urban area called Berisso, which is 40 km from Buenos Aires. Yet again, I've met a group of people who have great ideas and are working in a barrio with a desire to do sustainable, holistic work but lack structure. We've already set a date for a Vision Seminar with them! The vision seminar is the first step towards starting a CHE program. It is usually a three-hour seminar with people from various local groups, NGOs, and churches who are interested in or already working in the surrounding area. Out of this vision seminar will hopefully develop a group who will take the Training of Training course (TOT).

Silvia (from Baradero) and Nora (from the Libertador Church who also goes to Baradero to volunteer) and I met at the downtown train station. We each came from three different train lines and then took the subway for our meeting with the group working in Berisso. It was my first time on the subway here. I really think I need the excuse of some visitors in order to do some serious scoping of the city!

Recently I've written a lot about my challenges. One of the things I've really enjoyed about this new job has been the slower pace. Because I travel so much, I have a lot of time to reflect. In addition, because Buenos Aires is so large even a trip within the city can take all day. For example, I was gone for six hours for a 2 1/2 hour meeting. This may not sound like fun to you, but one of my on-going struggles has been trying to squeeze too much into my day. I had already improved drastically from the mid-90s, when every possible minute had a meeting, class, volunteer activity, or one of my two or three jobs penciled in, but I still was not living the way I desired. Here I find it's just impossible to do too much, so I just can't! (Of course, as I write this it's 11:45 pm and my internet connection just started working, so I really could send those expense reports now....)

Traveling Again

Lucrecia and her mother, Doña Lidia, make fried empanadas the night after the training in Burela, Salta.

Well, I've been delayed in posting -- I have had a lot to catch up on after my travels. I just counted, and in this 50-day stretch I'll be staying away from home 25 of the nights, so I thought I would post the rest of my itinerary! This is actually a great agenda for my second - third month in the country, since making contacts and networking are very important parts of my job.

March 12 - 14, Wednesday - Friday
Evangelismo Cono Sur
Maximo Paz (province of Buenos Aires)
10 - 20 people get together to share our different visions of how to bring the good news of peace with God and harmony with our brothers and sisters to the southern "cone" of South America.

March 27 - 30, Thursday to Monday
How to Include Children and Adolescents Conference
Villa Giardino (Cordoba province)
Three days of meetings with various NGOs, including Compassion International, about how to work with marginalized children and adolescents. I'm just an attendee/networker at this one -- nice and relaxing!

April 4 - 6, Friday to Sunday
Rosario (third largest city in Argentina, in the province of Santa Fe)
I'm going there to meet with various individuals who are considering starting a CHE program in their city.

April 7 - 15, Monday to the following Tuesday (including travel)
Latin America Regional Council
Miami, Florida
LifeWind's Latin American missionaries (of whom I believe only two of us are American?) yearly meeting. Miami was chosen because it is very close for most of the attendees since the majority of the Western Hemisphere's programs are in the Caribbean and Central America.

April 15 and beyond
Anybody's guess! Just kidding. However, I don't have a return flight booked yet. I'm still considering flying to Cleveland, Ohio, since I'll be relatively close and my father and stepmother's church recently agreed to provide some financial support even though I have not met with their missions committee. I will be checking out flights to see if this is feasible.

Itinerary

This is a photo taken on my brother-in-law's birthday. The dish on the left was described as "Sesame Flatbread: Big, Yeast-raised, Gorgeous Replacement for Rice."

Phew! I've just been working on learning the process of accounting at this new job. I'm making progress, but it's all very new for me.

Quick note on my itinerary for the near future:

• Friday, January 11 I go back to Arizona
• Thursday, January 24 I leave for Argentina!
  

Lots of people have asked about how long I plan to stay in Argentina. The answer is that I don't know. I have thought about doing this type of work for over a decade, and really hope that this is what I will do for the long-term, say the next 20 or 30 years. That said, my faith leads me to be flexible, following the blowing of the Spirit! I have said it before, but my life has never been boring! :)

I actually have a ticket to come back to the US in April for a conference in Miami. It's a meeting of all of LifeWind's people who are in Latin America. I'm so glad this will be happening so soon after I start. I have already gotten to meet several people involved in Latin America at the trainings I attended in September in Buenos Aires.

I will also need to come back for continuing medical education to keep up my US medical license. This will likely be every two years, possibly every three, and will be to different cities.

On the road again

At a market in Argentina -- "I'll have no problem decorating my home there!" she thought gleefully.

My movers (paid for by my last job!) are here right now, and then I'll head off on a loooong road trip:

Monday and Tuesday: Phoenix, Arizona to Austin, Texas

Wednesday (and Thursday?): hang out with my brother Matthew, his wife Michelle, and my two nephews William and Alexander.

Thursday and Friday (or Friday and Saturday?): Austin, Texas to St. Paul, Minnesota

I'm actually looking forward to the drive -- and I don't usually like driving at all. I got some books on CD from the library: my little Florence, Arizona library told me that I can renew them by phone while I'm gone as long as I didn't take super-popular ones -- it's great to be at a small place. I'm also really looking forward to seeing my brother's family, which I couldn't have done without driving.

My time in Minnesota will be spent support-raising, relationship-building, going through and documenting what's in the boxes I'm storing, and my usual work of: house-selling, plans for Argentina, preparing paperwork for my visa, and miscellaneous office work. I'm also planning on taking a few days of vacation!

More Travels
On Monday, January 7 I fly from Minnesota to Berkeley, California for a final confab with my sister Lorena and brother-in-law Gregor. I have some work items with them (ordering printer cartridges and other electronics supplies, figuring some things out with my new computer) but we'll also hopefully take a few days off. The last two times I've seen them it's seemed like non-stop work from morning till night (when they helped me move out of my house and when we were at our mom's).

Then I fly to Phoenix on Friday, January 11 -- Bruce and Peachy are going to pick me up from the airport and we'll hang out. I'll have nearly two weeks here in Arizona before moving to Argentina. I hope to leave on Thursday, January 24, but I need to make sure that my friend (with the keys to the apartment!) will be in town before booking the flight. January's the biggest vacation month down there.

Travel

The below photo is the government building in the city of Tucuman. We stayed overnight in that city on our way to Burela, Salta. It has nothing to do with the post, but I thought it was pretty.

Tonight there is a meeting of a group of volunteers from the church Iglesia Jesucristo Rey that have been going to hospitals to talk with people on hospice. They already had a meeting scheduled for tonight but changed the time so that I could join them. They plan to each share what they have been doing in the hospital, and then want me to give them advice!

Now, those who know me know I love teaching and advice-giving :) but it is difficult to adequately do so with such limited information as I have about the hospital system here. For example, some members of the group already mentioned to me that some of the patients don´t have any family members to bring them food -- that is a problem that doesn´t occur in the US where the meals are part of the hospital bill. I had the opportunity on my first full day here to be with an OB/gyn physician at a maternity hospital -- very different.

After the church meeting I will come back to the Lopez´house briefly for the end of the first meeting of the newly formed/forming board of directors for ¨Comunidades Vivas,¨ or Living Communities, which is what LifeWind will be called in Argentina. Marcelo is in the process of getting official non-profit status for Living Communities in this country. The name was officially approved by the government this week. He is now working on getting tax-deductible status for all donations. Stan Rowland, the founder of the CHE concept, just arrived in Cordoba this afternoon and will be speaking to the board.

Tonight my bus for Buenos Aires leaves at 11:15 pm. The Urban Training of Trainers (TOT) will be Monday - Friday next week, and I fly back to Phoenix overnight on Saturday. I´m excited for the training as my supervisor, Bibiana, will be there in addition to Stan Rowland. I´m sure I will have great learning opportunities next week! After nearly 24 hours of traveling, Stan arrived in time for tea. Over tea he taught me so much about urban CHE, the relationship LifeWind has with Food for the Hungry and Harvest International both in Bolivia and Phoenix -- he´s a born teacher.

I arrive in Phoenix Sunday morning, 9/30, and some super-great friends will have brought my car to the airport so I can drive to San Diego that day for continuing medical education. Jenny and her family will be there for the conference and I will stay with my stepsister Karina.

I may not have e-mail access until October 5 or so.

More Travel Plans

Look at those girls -- they're sure going somewhere! Grace (3) and Kate (1) just came to visit me from Michigan.

I forgot! My Mom wants my entire itinerary. :) I skipped two trips in the last post.

• Argentina -- September 5 - 30.

I will visit three cities that LifeWind has begun activity in to determine where to live: Cordoba, Buenos Aires, and Rosario. I will also look for an apartment, visit the current CHE programs, and attend an urban "TOT1" (Training of Trainers, first step). I have taken a TOT1 already as part of the acceptance process with LifeWind, but this one will have an urban focus. It will be facilitated by Bibiana MacLeod and Stan Rowland. Bibiana is the Regional Coordinator for the Caribbean and South America for LifeWind, and although she lives in the Dominican Republic she will be my direct supervisor. Stan Rowland is the author of the CHE program, now used by development and mission agencies throughout the world.

• San Diego -- September 30 - October 4

That's right, I get off the plane after an overnight flight from Argentina and drive to San Diego for the American Osteopathic Association National Convention. This course will provide needed continuing medical education credit and I will be able to stay with my stepsister Karina. I'm also trying to convince my friend Jenny (and possibly her family) to attend the conference, like we did last year in Las Vegas.

The pictures above are of Jenny's kids, so you can see why I would want to see them (although hitting the town with Jenny sounds like fun, too). They are also great travelers, so they fit with the theme of this post!

Travel Plans

As I've been reading about missions and preparing for the work, a consistent theme is "relationships." Missions is relational -- both the work on the field and the preparation of a support team. I really want to get to know more people at my church, since they will be my main body of support. Our church is just over two years old, and while I've been involved as a Sunday School teacher for most of that time and am in a community group, that isn't much time in our culture to really get to know people. I have just started to go around to all of the community groups to meet folks and let them know ways in which they can partner with me, which I've really enjoyed.

Also, in the spirit of building relationships, I've planned some trips!

• Minnesota from June 16 - 24


• San Diego, CA -- some weekend in June or early July


• Berkeley, CA -- July 13 - 18

The official reason for the California trip is to go to LifeWind's headquarters in Modesto, where they will take DNA samples in case I am kidnapped (okay, also to meet the staff).

I am also thinking of a road trip prior to moving to Argentina. This plan will only work well if my father agrees to either buy or sell my car (ahem!). The agenda would be:

• TEXAS: brother Matthew, sister-in-law Michelle, and nephews Will and Alexander. I haven't gotten to meet Alexander yet -- he's in the photo above, adorable at only a few days of age.


• MINNESOTA: friends and family


• CHICAGO: Mark and Julie


• MICHIGAN: Jenny, Ken, and their children Grace and Kate, Jenny's mom Kathy


• CLEVELAND: Mom (including the help I've promised for years on her house), Dad and Beverly

The only trick is that I can't figure out how to make the above work while leaving no later than early January but spending Christmas in Minnesota. I have geographical issues. Help, anyone?