Argentina Part 1: Overview

Writer's block - The condition of being unable to think of what to write or how to proceed with writing.

I tried to write this blogpost the other day, but I couldn't think of what to write or where to start. I tried by telling every little detail of what I did in Argentina. After pondering what to write for the past 5 days I realize it isn't possible to write everything down at once when talking about Argentina. Last night we had a sharing time to talk about each mission trip. There I realized it won't be possible for me to do justice in a blogpost about what happened. We talked for 4 and a half hours last night and in my opinion and much of the other Kaleo's opininons, we only got to hear a small fraction of what happened in India, Vancouver, Mexico, and Argentina. There are so many good stories to write down and to think about. After 5 days of being back I am still remembering things that have happened. It's a lot like talking about what has happened this year in Kaleo. There is so much to talk about that it is hard to know where to start or to know what stories to share. In this post I will try to give an overview of what I did down in Argentina, but know that there is so much more going on behind the stories. Don't think of this as a cheap way out of telling the story, but a small story of what actual happened. I'm not going to say the specific time slots of each story, but understand that the trip started on March 7 and ended on March 22. Here is my best attempt at explaining not only the story, but my heart as I was in Argentina.

Ready or not we left for Argentina on March 7th. I hadn't really thought enough about the trip or did enough to get myself ready for this trip. At Kaleo there is so much going on that it was hard to think that I was indeed flying to Buenos Aires. Much like my last mission trip I stepped with other into what seems like the unknown. After 30+ hours of travel we finally arrived and were greeted with warm weather and some of the family we were going to be staying with. Our leader, Melissa Holland, set up a trip with her sister and brother in law who is the current head of Youth For Christ America. So from that we knew we were going to be working alongside Youth For Christ in Argentina. The big thing that we had to plan for was a retreat that would be happening the first weekend we where there. We planned a little bit for it while in Canada but the planning really started the Thursday we were there. The first day was getting settled in and getting acquainted with the Rendel family. We went for a walk through Argentina and I still couldn't fathom that we were in fact in South America.

The next day we spent the day planning what would take part at the retreat we were going be putting on. We were going to be working with ALLOY, which is a youth group for third culture kids in Argentina. We had planned a kingdom theme and were going along with that for our weekend. We got a lot of stuff planned and planned on Friday as well. It was hard to plan because we weren't exactly sure where we were going. So on Friday at 4 a whole bunch of kids showed up and in an hour or so we loaded up a bus and were headed to the camp ground for our retreat. It was pretty crazy if you ask me. For one, I didn't know how this retreat was going to look like or end up being. I was a little terrified if you ask me. Anyways it ended up being a gong show at first, but after playing our night game, Capture the Canadian, it transformed into a smooth transition. It felt as though the gong show I thought was going happen was actually going be a pretty significant weekend for a not only the kids, but us leaders as well. I really felt that they opened up there arms and really accepted us as family. We built a lot of relationships and the weekend went so well. I will talk more about that after this overview. It was sad to have the weekend end, but that wasn't the end of the bond we made with those kids that weekend. We got back on sunday and then we went to go see a South American soccer game (so intense!) and then went to go watch Jordy, the rendals son, play hockey... Well inline hockey, which was still funny to me to have hockey in Argentina. Who knew.

Then on monday we worked at a place called Conviven, which is a drop in centre kind of thing that teaches skills such as photography and provides a place for kids for a day camp or something like that. It is in a pretty poor end of town so it was good to see that and to serve in this way. We took on the job of painting the computer room, which took two days. It wasn't a big room but it was a tricky room with all the wiring and what not. I got a little high of the paint fumes but nonetheless we did a pretty good job of painting the room. Tuesday was our day off and so we travelled the city of Buenos Aires. There is a pretty huge contrast in terms of the rich and the poor in Argentina so we saw that on our tour of the city. It was one of those "Were in Argentina!" kinda of days. It was good to tour around and to know a lot about the city. At night we went to go see Jordy's recital and go for Asado, which is all you can eat meat! Argentine's are known for their beef so we got to witness and taste it. So amazing.

On Wednesday we went to go look at a camp which was 45 minutes away, but because of Argentine traffic (13 million people) it took us a mere 6 hours of travel there and back. There was a lot of potential for the camp so it was good for us to go see it and it gives Youth For Christ something to ponder. The camp wasn't doing so well so we went there to support their ministry and to pray that something would change. We also went to a Starbucks (it's seriously going take over the world....) in South America! I really did miss Timmy's though. Thursday we went back to Conviven. Friday we stayed at the Rendals and planned what we were going to do for the Alloy youth group happening that night and for what we were going do at Conviven on Saturday. We planned sort of a debrief for Alloy to remember what happened at the retreat and continued to build relationships within the group. We made a slideshow and it was incredible to watch it with the friends we made on that retreat. I could go on and on about it, but I'll save that for part 2 of this blog post. Saturday we helped out with a day camp at Conviven for the kids that showed up there. We took some Alloy kids with us and they really helped us out because all the kids spoke spanish and well... you get the idea. They were phenominal at it and made it easier for us to talk to the kids. It was a blast, but I wish I could have learned spanish so that I could have related more to the kids. Saturday night we were invited for a bbq with some of the people we got to know at the retreat. It was a great way to end the week as we were trying to plan something with the Alloy kids all week.

Sunday came around really fast. It was the last day we were there and it was a sad day. It didn't feel like the last day, but unfortunately it was. It was sad to say goodbye to the friends we met on saturday. I don't know if I will ever see them again. Sunday we went to a spanish church where I learned nothing haha. Then we went out for lunch and headed home to go pack and finish saying goodbyes. We left Argentina on sunday night and I arrived back at home/camp after another 30+ hours.

This is my feeble attempt at sharing what went on in Argentina. There is so much more to talk about in which I will try to share in my next post that I will put up shortly. God did amazing things in Argentina and it was sweet to witness it while working with Youth For Christ. It was an amazing two weeks that I got to spend down in Argentina.