...here's a bit of potpouri to catch you up...
this was in Cordoba at the student leaders' retreat. these 2 girls are from Tucuman, in the North - they are both leaders in the Campus Crusade movement at their university. they were very sweet and patient with me as we tried to get to know eachother, speaking spanish. they asked really great questions about marriage and God's calling in our lives. i was encouraged to hear their stories and their vision for Argentina.
this was the night we celebrated my (Jen's) birthday. Kyle and Fabbie made me a delicious banana cake with icing! natalie made a strawberry cake and chocolate chip cookies (with chocolate from the states!) too...they were so good!! we had friends over and just hung out on the balcony and inside - it was a fun time. they were so sweet to bake for me :)
this is where we currently have our Vida Estudiantil (Campus Crusade) meetings - it's the church at the Salvation Army. we meet here Tuesday nights to pray and Thursday nights for our weekly meetings (set up similar to young life club, geared towards outreach).
please be praying for this as we are seeking to rent a more personal space that better suits the needs of the ministry (here they call this place a "sede"). today we looked at a possible building - it would need a lot of time and energy put in to clean and repair it, but it would be ours to use whenever we needed it. one of the problems with the space we use now is that we pay by the hour so we are limited in when and how often we can be there. this other location has room to grow into and great potential for meeting needs for outreach and also providing a place for students to gather at any time during the week. please pray for wisdom in making this decision and that we could negotiate a reasonable offer.
for those who are curious about whether Argentines really eat a lot of meat(beef) or not...yes, they do! this is a picture of the famous "asado". there's really no literal translation for it, but the closest is barbeque - only you can't think of BBQ the way we eat it in the states. it's just different here. their grill is called a "parilla" - this is Meeker (one of the guys on the old team) tending to the meat. at this asado we had "choripan" (sausage in bread, as a sandwich) instead of beef because it is easier and cheaper when cooking for large groups. we had about 60 students that day to play soccer, eat asado and meet other students. the purpose was to challenge them to become more involved in Vida Estudiantil
ok, we're signing off for now but we'll be back soon with more from the front lines...and stay tuned for our next prayer letter in the next few days.
we miss you friends and family!
