This is our whole team of 14 in La Plata!

Hi all!!

Today is a day of rest!! Yay! This past week and weekend has been full of stuff to do and so it´s very nice to just have a day to listen to a sermon, chat a little, take a nap, post some pictures, and head to church a little later on. Since I haven´t been doing a very good job on keeping y´all updated on daily activity, I´ll do that now.

We had the fun opportunity to go to Uruguay as a group last weekend. Each week we get one free day with which we can do whatever we´d like. We took a bus very early in the morning to Buenos Aires and got on a ferry to take us over to Uruguay. We got to walk around a pretty town called Colonia and enjoy the sights of a new country. It did seem rather similar to Argentina, but it was quiet and peaceful. The group rented motos to ride around the city, but a couple of us decided to stay on foot and so we adventured the city on our own.

Over the week we went to campus every day and talked to students. The time on campus goes by very fast though. One day a week I am discipled by one of our staff members and another day our group had to plan English club.

This past Monday was my birthday, which I enjoyed very much! Our group went out to dinner together and then afterwards had decided to go bowling. Well, once we got back from dinner we discovered that the bowling alley is closed on Monday nights, go figure! So instead we decided to go upstairs and play cards and whatnot. Well, when I got up there my group had decorated and brought a cake for me. :-) It was very cute of them. I also got flowers from my roomie and earrings from Elizabeth. They made it a special day!

Friday I got a very special opportunity to go to Buenos Aires for their weekly meeting. I had asked a week or so ago if it would even be possible, since we have our weekly meeting here in La Plata on Fridays too. The leaders talked it over and figured things out so that I could go. I was SO so excited to get the opportunity to see all of my friends from when I had studied abroad. It meant a lot that they let me go! I ended the evening spending the night in the apartment of Kim and Alexis, two of the girls I became close to while in BA. It was just like I had never left!

Saturday I went to visit Vicky, my host mom from last year, but she was out of town sadly. The one day I came to visit! Hopefully I will get another opportunity to see her. I enjoyed being back in my neighborhood and seeing all of the old places I used to walk by every day. It was a great day!

This is a picture of us dancing at our Friday night meeting in La Plata. We had a very fun dance party!! :-)

Runnin´ the Race

Buen dia!!

Hi everyone! I hope all is well in the USA...it´s going well here in Argentina, although the weather is getting a bit colder. Sad day to know that I´m missing out on the lovely summer weather! But I do enjoy fall (which I missed this past year) so I get to see it here. I am currently at a locutorio, a place to get internet, and trying to upload pictures for everyone, but it´s not working! So, I will definitely do that soon! I know I keep promising it. :-)


Thanks Pastor Dave for your awesome words of encouragement! I too love the verse from Jeremiah 29:11 and have reminded myself of it since arriving here in La Plata. I also am reminded of this verse from 1 Peter 1:6-7 :

In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

I feel like the whole experience of summer project is the process of being refined by fire for me. It´s great and fun and exciting....but it´s also challenging, draining, and a huge learning experience. As our leaders put it, when you´re on a summer project we each come with a big bucket of junk, following along after us. Througout the summer our junk starts to slosh out and get onto everyone else. Our sins become much more evident and we´re put in a position of great growth. It´s hard to ignore change! And, as Pastor put it, it hurts to change our ways sometimes...but so necessary if we´re to continue on the path that God has for us.

Gosh, I´ve been learning SO much! We listened to a sermon on Monday morning (my birthday, whoot whoot!!) that we followed up with a discussion. I ended up in tears, which shows that it impacted me in a great way. It talked about just the absolute need to share our faith no matter who we are, what we´re doing, or where we´re at. It used a great illustration of the Titanic. After the Titanic sunk, there were many people floating in the water in their life jackets, with no one to come rescue them. There were also people in life boats that we´re not even full. The lifeboats didn´t stop to pick up those who were desperate to be saved. The next morning searchers arrived to a sickening scene of hundreds of dead people floating in their life jackets.

Those people didn´t die because the Titanic sank...They instead died because those who were already saved wouldn´t go back for them.

Isn´t that how it works with us? We´re so content in our salvation that we don´t recognize the fact that there are hundreds and thousands of people we see each week heading in the direction of Hell. We have a voice...we can tell the truth. At least if people hear the truth, they can make a choice too, just like we once did.

Anyways, that was a tiny piece of what I´m learning. We´ve also focused a lot on the power of the Holy Spirit and how we need to yield EVERY area of our life to him, even the very difficult areas. This is convicting for me because there are definitely some areas that I need to hand over the reigns on.

Lastly, how I am doing. I´m genuinely joyful and content with being here in La Plata. I get tired easily, but I know a lot of that comes from long spiritual conversations with non-believers (or even those who believe) and pouring yourself out constantly. It´s easy to get discouraged when you have a day where you only have one conversation with a person and they´re not even that interested in what you have to offer. However, it´s teaching me more and more that God does not define success like we do and it´s not MY job to work in the hearts of those who we talk to. He will lift the veil from their faces when the time is right. I get to constantly be a seed planter! Spiritually I am constantly learning and (hopefully) growing. I am developing new friendships and I can´t wait to see where they lead.

Thank you SO much for keeping up-to-date on my experiences and know that ALL of us here appreciate your prayers. Know that you´re helping us over here be the bearers of Good News!!

You can pray for:
BOLDness! Our goal is to share the true gospel and it can be intimidating!
Energy! We are only running this particular race for 3 more weeks and we need God´s strength to keep going.


Ciao!!

Hey everyone!!

Sorry again that it's taking me so long to update you on my trip. They have been keeping us so very busy that I honestly just don't have time to find a computer and spill out my thoughts. That being said, I do thankfully get time every day to sit alone and process what's going on and spend time with God. I know that's important on a trip like this!

I must say, as soon as I stepped off the bus in La Plata, I felt at home once again. The lovely (or not so lovely) smells of the city came wafting back to me and looking around at the buildings made me remember my wonderful time in BA. La Plata is much smaller but is still a fairly big city. The streets, instead of having names, have numbers. The whole city is mapped out in a grid system...so I currently live on the corner of 54 and 10. haha...it makes things much easier, let me tell you!! Only someone VERY directionally challenged could get lost. :-)

I have also absolutely loved getting back in the swing of Spanish. I am among three girls who are fluent on this trip, so I get to do a LOT of translating and helping out. Some of my group members apologize for having to ask things all the time, but I truly love it. I feel even more confident in my Spanish this time and can manage very well. One of my fellow team members actually studied in Argentina a year ago, in a different province, and then the other girl who speaks Spanish well studied in Spain a couple of years ago. They are both great girls :-)

As for the rest of our team, they are great! I have enjoyed getting to know them very well in the past couple of weeks and have enjoyed doing ministry with them. We are composed of a married couple that lead us and another woman leader. Then we have 9 girls and 2 guys. We´re lacking males! But it´s all good.

As far as a typical day..well, we don´t really have those here. haha. It seems like every day is a little bit different. But typically during the week we go to campus from 11:30ish until 3:30 ish. Once there we go around doing a picture survey with students to get them talking about spiritual things, and then hopefully transition into the gospel. We also tell them about Vida Estudiantil, our ¨Crusade¨in argentina, and invite them to English club or our community outreaches. On Friday nights we have our weekly English club and then later the weekly meeting. It´s good to get to see all of the students we´ve met and be able to hang out and chat some more. This weekend we´re going to help out at a soup kitchen and play with kids. We´re also going to uruguay on Sunday, something that I never did when I was studying abroad, so I´m looking forward to that.

I´ve been both encouraged and discouraged going on campus. We meet a lot of the same things we do in the States, like indifference or ¨oh, I´m already a Christian,¨as over 90% of the population has been raised Catholic. But we also see lots of people who are eager to hear more about this faith that has nothing to do with the Church that has been a sad part of past history. We get to share great news and I pray that God works through our weaknesses to make Himself glorified. It´s been a draining, yet great experience! Thank you all so much for your thoughts and prayers, I appreciate it a lot and can see how our team benefits from it!! :-)

I promise I will keep updating...tell me anything that you would like me to update specifically about and I´ll get pictures on here too!

Ciao ciao, May God Bless you all!!

Hola a todos!

Hey all!

Thank you SO much for your prayers! We arrived very safely after some long days of training and a very long day of travel! I must say, the few days before coming, however, were the most stretching and challenging for me. When I arrived to briefing last Sunday I was told that I would be in La Plata for the summer. That is a smaller town about an hour away from Buenos Aires. I automatically got very upset. I wanted to be content with wherever they placed me, but I can't deny my disappointment. I had assumed all along that I would be placed in BA, and just had different expectations. I hadn't been asking God WHERE he wanted me in Argentina, I just knew that he wanted me in the country. I cried a lot...I didn't want to be upset about it, but I didn't know what else to do with my emotions!

However, after meeting my team and having a few days to process the change, I am absolutely convinced that this is where God wants me. I completely thing that I would have been very comfortable in Buenos Aires, with the staff that I know, the students that I know, and the city that I know. I would have stuck with what was comfortable and maybe not learned as much. Here I get to experience a completely new city in Argentina and broaden my heart for this country. As I mentioned before, I love my team and am so convinced that I am with them for a reason. I can't wait to know more about their lives and become forever friends with them!! :-)

We've been so busy, I haven't had any time really to connect to the internet. I will update more later about what I'm learning, but for now I've gotta go!

Love and joy!!

Sarah

I won't be held down

Soo...the nerves started kicking in today.

I started believing the lie that I'm not good enough to do this ministry and kept asking myself, "Why me?" I'm not good at sharing Christ...in fact, I fail to do so on a daily/weekly/monthly basis. I'm just not sure why it's so hard for me to step out in faith and tell people about this Amazing God who loves us and takes care of our every need and desire...the God who saves us daily from the misery of this world.

If the #1most important decision of my life has been to accept Christ into my life and my heart and the #1 thing I can do for others is to tell them about that amazing decision...what am I waiting for??

1 Peter 3:15-16 says:
But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

As long as I am sharing Christ with a gentle, loving attitude, I have nothing to be ashamed of.

Thanks for listening to me ramble...I have had a lot of thoughts cross my mind in the last day. Now I just want to be in Greensboro, meet my team, and get to Argentina! I know my life is going to change this summer. I can't wait to see how!

I would appreciate prayer throughout this next week as we travel to North Carolina and our team gets briefed on our mission for the summer. We will be flying out Wednesday afternoon! Thanks for the love and support!! I'll keep you updated!

AMAZED!!

The only word I can use to describe what I feel for God's provision. He has faithfully provided all $5,100 for this trip to Argentina that I've felt so called to be a part of. FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS y'all!!! I have had over 50 people make donations, so THANK YOU thank you for your support! Even if it was $5, you made a difference towards reaching this goal. Every "little" bit can be used by God! This experience has taught me so much about faith and prayer and what it means to hand the reigns over to God and say "I can't do this, but I know you can."

I've had a few people tell me, "You had faith all along, and I just didn't think it would happen." Well, let me tell you...faith was something that I was lacking in so many instances. I wish I had journaled my doubts so that I could see that, even in my lack of faith, God was and is faithful. Honestly though, I was so scared a lot of the time that if I even admitted that I was struggling with believing the money would come in, God would punish me by not providing it. haha...what a silly thought process, but really.

I think, through it all, the thing I've cherished most is the overwhelming encouragement and support I've received. My church seriously opened it's arms WIDE, took me in, and showed me that they are excited and more than willing to help me accomplish my "calling", whatever it may be. I've seen over $100 come in from poor college students, just like me. My friends, who want to see me follow this passion and be fulfilled. Relatives that I don't even know have sent money, encouraging me to go where God is leading. What a wonderful group of ministry partners I've been blessed with! I cherish each one.

But I do just want to end this by saying "All glory and honor and praise be to God"
HE did this, NOT me. Now it's time to give it back to him through 6 weeks of intensive ministry!
VAMOS!

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers! I'll try to update once more before I leave!

I wanna be a yes girl

So, I should be studying for the first of my 6 finals this week. For that reason, I have decided to kick off the second running of my super-cool, adventur-filled BLOG!!

I would love it if you would join me on my next adventure in Argentina. I will be leaving in TWO WEEKS (May 17th) to spend 6 weeks in Argentina doing full-time ministry. I will either be in Buenos Aires (crossing my fingers) or La Plata, a smaller city about 1 hour away. Either way, I will be growing in my knowledge of God, sharing my faith, encouraging believers, creating new friendships, and having a BLAST while doing it.

Sorry I didn't write over the last five months! Of course I was busy with school and everything life here entails, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't connect to my computer every hour of every day. (Or pretty stinkin' close). I'm pretty much a compulsive email/facebook checker. I'm not sure how much computer time I will get in Argentina though, so that is a main reason why I've got this blog...to keep y'all updated.

So it may seem as if I'm returning to Argentina rather soon after being there for 6 whole months. And you know, that's a valid point, I admit. However, I view Argentina not as an isolated, one-time experience that is done and over with, but instead an experience that has allowed me to view another place on this planet as home. I think I've said this before, but I didn't just visit Argentina as a foreigner tourist on a vacation and I didn't visit Argentina as a scientist with her magnifying glass, analyzing every part of the culture and people in order to bring ground-breaking news back to the U.S. No, I didn't do that. I choose to believe that I became a part of the Argentine culture, allowed it to influence me and change me, seep into my heart and become a part of who I am. I discovered my favorite empanada place, my favorite ice cream flavor, and my favorite park to sit and read. I developed friendships with people that even thousands of miles can't destroy. I became a member of a little family, disfunctional as my own, and became a daughter to an Argentine woman.

All of that is not to say that I've forgotten where my first home is. Or who my true family is. Or who my other friends are. I still have that same favorite restaurant and ice cream flavor here. I have the beaches of Michigan that call me to watch the most beautiful sunsets one could imagine. My passions began here. I've been created here, shaped day in and day out by my experiences in good ol' Michigan.

I have two homes. I'm not sure that there is anything wrong with that, except the desire in my heart to be one place, when my body is in the other. I can never be in both places at once and, therefore, need to take advantage of the opportunities that life provides me to live and love both.

Thank you for bearing with me through that...but it's a struggle sometimes to remember that it's okay to be torn. And to end full-circle, I've been given this amazing opportunity to return to Argentina and I don't want to say no. And beyond not wanting to, I don't think God wants me to either. Staying in His will for my life and following His plan is more important to me than anything. I pray that I am able to prove that statement true in the way that I life my life forevermore.