Leaving Argentina

This past week seems like a blur and I cannot believe I am leaving tomorrow! My feelings are conflicted because I feel like a) time went by too fast and there is still so much I want to see in Buenos Aires and b) we have been here a long time because we have crammed so much in such a short amount of time and I am already comfortable here and have a daily routine. It is definitely a weird feeling and I am probably going to be feeling like this for the next four months.

I am going to try and recall the events of the last week: (I'm sorry I don't have any pictures on this blog. The internet connection is not stable enough, but I have uploaded more pictures onto my Facebook page)

Last Saturday, August 21, we took the kids we are working with to the zoo! Some of them were there for a photography class so we had groups and helped them with their assignments of taking pictures. The two kids I was taking care of, Lucia and Zacarias, are two of the most independent individuals I have ever seen in my life. Neither of them would listen to me and they both wanted to go off in seperate direction. I only lost them once haha. It was frustrating, but overall it was fun. One thing I noticed was that the animals looked sad and they looked dirty.

Then on Sunday, August 22, we went to an interesting church with a woman pastor...that's all I have to say about that. After that, we went to El Tigre and had an interesting boat ride with brown/black water, countless amounts of dead fish floating around, and a lot of shipwrecks. I felt like I was in Georgia or some southern state because the river seemed like roads and there were houses right along the river. It was interesting because there were really nice houses right next to abandoned run down houses. I've never seen anything like that, usually nice houses are together and they are separate from the abandoned houses.
That same night, we also had tango lessons in our hostel and it was extremely fun! We learned a lot and got to know each other better.

Thursday, August 26, was the best day ever!! I played hide-and-go-seek with Jack and Naomi (Dr. Norton's children) in the morning. In the afternoon, all the girls went to the park and had a girl's day out where we had an affirmation circle and told one person what we loved about them. When we got to the hostel, all of the guys had a surprise waiting for us. They had a home-cooked meal made for us on a candle lit table with romantic music playing. It was soo sweet! They had salad, rolls, spaghetti, wine, ice cream and hot chocolate. Then Aaron played us a song that he wrote and Sam did the same. We are so blessed to have these guys on this trip with us. That night, we met with the son of Tomas Eloy Martinez (the author of one of the books we are reading). First off, we walked in totally the wrong direction and we had to jump in cabs to meet him on the total opposite side of town and when we got there we tried to talk about his father's book and he had not even read it! Haha. He was also a little tipsy so that was very interesting! Hands down, it was the best day I can ever remember!

On Friday, August 27, we had class inside of the Water Palace!! What an amazing experience! I cannot believe that I get to do this! I am blown away...
And volunteering that day proved to be the last time I would see those kids on this trip :( At first the kids were mean to us, but now we have personal relationships with this children and it was hard to say goodbye. One of the little girls wouldn't leave my side until we got to the bus. I hope they have wonderful lives.
We also had SHOUT that night which is a worship service and it was amazing! I am utterly astounded at how obviously present God is making himself on this trip (as I am going to talk about later) and it was great to just all come together and give him the praise and glory He deserves.

Today, August 28, was a relaxed day off and some friends and I decided to go to San Telmo where we bought souveneirs from vendors, ate a nice lunch, and took pictures by La Casa Rosada (Evita's palace where she gave one of her speeches).

As I stated previously, God is working in our lives and it is so amazing! After we left our meeting with the author's son, a few people were walking back to the hostel and they met these three girls who were a little drunk. They got to talking to them and learned their life stories and one of the girls, Natalia, was saying that she never opens up to people but that she felt comfortable opening up to them because she felt something emanating from them-a good presence. She was saying how because of the trials she has been through it is hard for her to believe in God. Then some of our team gave their testimonies and it broke down her walls. I don't really know all that happened there because I left earlier, but I just know it was awesome. There were so many times that our team could have gone a different way or taken the subway or stayed on the other side of the street, but God obviously directed them to that spot and I think that is just astounding. He put them there for a reason and I believe that He definitely planted a seed in her through us. She also came to SHOUT on Friday night and I know the Holy Spirit was there that night as well. Also, from hearing stories from other team members about the miraculous wonders God has done in their life in order for them to go in this trip is just comforting and it gives us assurance that this is clearly God's will. This past week I have been overwhelmed with God's presence and it makes me want to glorify and worship Him.