A morning in the life of...

A morning in the life of Liz. Actually, my pastor has asked me to film "A Day in the Life of", but the really good days are when I'm traveling and I'm still unsure of how to do that with a videocamera, since everyone here says I will get knifed for it, at least in the city. I'll come up with a safe way to do it, though, and if you go to Epic you'll see the results some day!

Anyway, my mornings start out with a caffeinated beverage, either mate cocido (tea bags of mate) or coffee. Most Argentines heat milk for coffee (not for tea) and so above you see me pouring the milk into my pot on the stove. You can also see a box of matches on the back of the stove -- no pilot lights on the stoves here.

Looking down my stairs to see the mail that came in this morning. It's a bill. Many companies pay workers to distribute the bills rather than send them through the mail, you can see that this one doesn't have an envelope.

The wonderful rocking chair I got in Nicaragua, where I read the Bible and pray in the mornings. With coffee and breakfast, of course. And a blanket since it's still chilly!

Trees outside my window. The one in the foreground is a Chinaberry tree which is very common here. The berries are now falling off and you can see them on my balcony below. The flowering tree seen above is my neighbor's, isn't it stunning?

And, last but not least: since I agree with the philosopher D. Zoolander that there is more to life than being really, really, really, ridiculously good-looking, below are my feet in my freaky-looking Vibrams! Off for a run!

I haven't taken pictures of the train station yet. It's conveniently located only six blocks from my apartment, and drops me off just one block from my church. They've been kind enough to let me use an office at church, which is very helpful for days I'm not traveling. I find it's much easier to concentrate away from home.
Today I'm working on a presentation I'll be giving on Saturday. I've been invited to speak about my ministry at the 33rd anniversary celebration of the Brethren Church's Women's Missionary Committee (CoMFe). Now, I'm neither Argentine nor Brethren, but my supervisor is and last year I met some CoMFe members with her. The work I do in Argentina is ecumenical and I do work with some Brethren missionaries. Actually, the church I attend here in Buenos Aires, although now independent, has Brethren roots.

Encouragement

Soccer in the Delta -- can you find the ball? Click on the image to make it bigger.

The day I was commissioned at my home church they gave me a book filled with pages of encouraging notes from the congregation. I brought this with me to Argentina, and last week on a day I was discouraged I opened it and read some of the notes. One anonymous note said, "We will be praying for you every day. You are not alone. Psalm 115." What does Psalm 115 say?

Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

This is not about me, but about something much bigger and beyond me.

O Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. The LORD has remembered us; he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel, he will bless the house of Aaron, he will bless those who fear the LORD, both the small and the great.

I've been reading the Bible chronologically this year, and so have recently read about how trustworthy God is to keep the plans and promises that God has made, rescuing the Israelites from Egypt and providing for them in the desert. God alone is our help and our shield, not the people we work with or organizations or anything else we want to trust in.

The heavens are the LORD's heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man.

God has allowed us time on the earth in part to work for justice for all people and peace with God and harmony with our neighbor and with the earth. I have a purpose and a call, as we all do.

Today at the Libertador Church the history of their work in Baradero and the work for holistic community transformation was announced. The bulletin cover says, "Come on over to Baradero and help us..." which was what was asked of the church in 1999. The cover goes on to say: Today we begin to live together a faith experience. God is challenging the Libertador Church to look for the lost and needy. And then it quotes Romans 10: 14-15, "But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?" We prayed over Silvia and Horacio as they begin their year seeking to move to Baradero full-time to bring lasting change the people in that area. I get to walk alongside them in this process. What a privilege, and what perfect timing for me to be here!

Samila at the feeding center in the Delta

Martin, who was seated next to Samila

Baradero 1

I spent last weekend in the city of Baradero, which has about 35,000 inhabitants and is located 150 km from Buenos Aires. I went there with Horacio and Silvia, the couple from the Libertador church that plans to move there full-time in March. During the past year they have gone there every weekend to help with a feeding center for children, and Horacio has become the pastor of a small church there. We arrived Friday afternoon and had an outdoor meeting with the three women that run the feeding center. Below in the photo are Silvia (her side to the camera), Ines, Marisa, and Cristina.

In this photo you can see Alejandro, who is also helping in the community. You can also see the house that Silvia and Horacio have been renting there.
Ah, such a life of contrasts. The house had musty mattresses that felt like they were rolling me off the bed, we had to empty a bucket into the toilet to flush it, there a few gigant-o spiders and a multitude of different beetle species (that were apparently even more numerous before Silvia's Raid was put to use the last few weekends, also thankfully no tarantulas which she has seen there before) but look at how and where we ate! Lovely! Horacio made a delicious asado. Please note that my glass is not full of wine, it's part wine but mostly sparkling water. I have also decided there is a definite advantage to an uncomfortable bed -- no matter how tired I am in the morning my back won't let me stay in bed, so I am not tempted to linger. :-)

Baradero

Tonight I had supper with Horacio and Silvia, a couple that I mentioned previously that hope to move to the urban slum of Baradero. They have been going there with the Libertador church for a few years to do relief work. There is a feeding center for children on the weekends (they can eat at school during the week). They are also working on growing a church there that had 7 people and now has 25. They are very excited to move there full-time, because they want to really get to know the people and facilitate lasting changes. Also, the difficulty going there only on the weekends is that most of the men are drunk by mid-day on Saturday, all the way through Sunday night. So the main activities are with the women and children.

Lasting change, true transformation is the hope we have for the people of Baradero. One of Silvia's friends there was a woman who was working as a prostitute but had received some microenterprise training through Horacio and Silvia. She started to sell churros (a type of doughnut), but it was difficult for the community to accept that she had changed her business. Within the last two months she has gone back to drug use and prostitution. Please pray.

We are going to Baradero tomorrow (Friday) through Sunday. Please pray that we will meet people who are motivated for change and that we will understand what the next steps are to be. Please pray that hope will come to this community.

La Celula

I haven't been blogging much because too much has been happening! I have lots of great things to say, though, but I won't do so tonight since it's already almost 1 am. You'll see why at the bottom.

Today I got together with Sara, a woman that I met here in September. I met her because decades ago she worked in Kenya and got to know Stan, the founder of the CHE program, who was also working in Kenya at the time. She's been interested in CHE ever since. Stan came down here in September to teach the urban version of CHE, she connected with him, and so she and I met. Confused yet?

Anyway, Sara's husband works with the US Embassy, and she is the first non-Argentine I've hung out with here. I find I have to make that clear not only because a lot of missionaries seem to work with Americans or other non-nationals a lot, but also because a lot of people here have American-sounding names! She showed me how the local train system works, and it turns out that it is perfect for my neighborhood -- there is a station six blocks from my apartment, and the end of the line is downtown Buenos Aires. It was pretty hot so we went to the end of the line, she pointed me in the direction of some famous sites, walked through a park, and essentially just got back on the train.

Guess where we ate lunch? Chinatown! I didn't know there was such a thing here. Excellent.

Tonight I went to my friends' (Bill and Annie) cell group, which is what they call the community groups or house groups at the Libertador church. I will be affiliated with the Libertador church as this is the church sending the couple full-time to the slum of Baradero, where the church has been working for years. This group knows my supervisor, and when she is in town they pray over her. Guess what? They said they will do the same for me.

They had me speak a little about why I am here and my journey, then they laid hands on me and prayed for me. They all offered to help me with anything that I should need. I am just amazed at this path that is laid out for me.

So, why is it 1 am? The celula finished at 11:00, and tonight they met at a location much further away. So, I got home after midnight. They didn't seem to shocked at the time -- have I mentioned that things are later here? :-)