an Argentine Christmas

• kids write letters to santa and put them in the branches of their Christmas tree
• it is rare to find a house that has lights on the outside of it
• December 8th is the day that everyone puts their Christmas trees up in their house and they take it down on January 6th
• fruitcake is a huge joke in the U.S.  Here is the most popular thing for Christmas- sold in every single store
• the kids have a week long Christmas ‘vacation bible school’ where they practice their Christmas play and present it the week before Christmas to their parents/the congregation
• people don’t give each other gifts- only a couple things for the kids from Papa Noel (Santa Clause)
• nobody dresses up in nice clothes, since it is so hot- everyone is really causal- the guys all take off their shirts within minutes of getting there
• the big Christmas table is set up outside in the the lawn/on the patio
• it is too hot out (today is was 97 degrees) to have hot food, so all the food we eat is cold- sandwiches,  fruit salad, salads
• almost every store wraps any gift you buy in a plastic bag that has santa or something else Christmas related on it
• they don’t say ‘Feliz Navidad’ here they say “felicidades’ or ‘felices fiestas’
• here they cook an entire pig for the main part of the meal..with the ears being the delicacy people fight over
• at midnight there is a giant cheers, champagne and kisses all around, everyone runs to the street and lights off fireworks for a good half hour
• while the kids are all in the street lighting/watching fireworks, Papa Noel puts a gift under the tree for each person there
• we headed back home around 3am…then when we arrived Papa Noel had put a present under the tree at home for each person to open up…we had more candy and champagne
• on the 25th, no stockings or gifts are opened…everyone sleeps most of the day since we were up all night- we’ll go to our grandparents for a big meal in the afternoon

Moment I want to remember forever: it’s 3am on Christmas Eve, I am riding in the backseat of my host family’s little ‘Scooby Doo van’ that doesn’t go over about 40 mph because it is so broken, all of the windows are down with hot air blowing through, my host sister is asleep in my lap and my host parents and brothers are up talking in Spanish around me, the streets of Argentina are still packed with people running all around celebrating and random fireworks are still going off.  Found myself thinking about where I was at this time last year on Christmas Eve and where I’ll be next year at this time….crazy the places we find ourselves.  This was a moment I will never get back- help me to soak this in God 🙂

Un poco menos turístico

Un poco menos turístico.  A little less touristy.

I just got back from the trip of a lifetime.  And not because of your typical reasons a trip is amazing.  Yes, we saw beautiful sights and ate delicious food…but what was really cool was we were able to do it in a way that really opened my eyes to a side of Peru that I am not sure many have seen.  One of my best friends, Holly, has been volunteering at a program called The Light and Leadership Initiative  in Huaycan, Peru since the end of August. For her last week in Peru, Holly, Amanda (another volunteer Holly met in her program) and I decided we wanted to do the classic, ‘hike Machu Picchu’, but do it in a way that we could 1- spend as little money as possible and 2- experience as much of the actual culture there as possible/try not to get caught up in the pricey, touristy ways. (sidenote- being able to speak/understand Spanish was an extremely helpful blessing in making this possible for us)

A few things we were able to experience:

– For about $2 we ate a 4 course Vegetarian meal at this adorable little restaurant almost every day- the ‘menu’ changed daily and we were able to get to know the owner Karin and her daughter
– We took a ‘combi’ (what they call small buses used like taxis) over to the next town with local kids dressed in their school uniforms as they were getting dropped off at school for the day
– Met a ‘Mystical Medicine Man’ who has Incan ancestors, who showed us some of his rituals with herbs and a giant fire out front of his house
– Hiked to and explored free Incan ruins such as the old buildings in the cliffs of Ollantaytambo, the deep caves where the Incas hid from the Spaniards and the Temple de Sol in Cusco
– Drank tea with the 11-year-old daughter of our hostel owner ($6 a night hostel)
– Ate at a little family owned restaurant for $3 where they had to run to the market next store quick to grab fresh ingredients to make our dinner
– Hiked up Machu Picchu at 4:30am with a Columbian couple we met from our hostel
– Met a store owner and went back to visit him so we could meet his wife and adorable daughters, spent time just hanging out with them in their store- hearing about their lives and playing with their little 1-year-old
– Took the local bus where the towns people would load their big bags of grains and produce to take to sell in a town 4 hours away
– Talked to a taxi driver about what it is like to live in Cusco and heard about his family
– Hiked along old railroad tracks through the mountains with a woman from Sweden and guy from Germany
– Attended a local church service, having to raise my hand when they asked who was here for the first time- everyone starring at and clapping for only blonde girl there ha
– Sat at a bus stop getting to know a woman with 11 kids, hearing about her struggle to find work in this small touristy town
– Took a taxi down some back roads through the mountains, jamming out and singing (well trying to sing) to loud Cumbia and other Latino music
– Heard about how our hostel owner believes in God and misses his congregation from the city he had to move away from
– Met a family who owned horses, the 21-year-old daughter took us on a 2 or 3 hour private tour on horseback through the mountains for $12
– Sat on the top of the mountain, Huayna Picchu, looking down over the most beautiful view of Machu Picchu, surrounded by people and languages from all of the world

***If you’re interested in taking the ‘back roads’ to Machu Picchu someday here is a reference for you http://thanksforthefish.net/machu-picchu-alternative-route/

a Friday night

In the past I have written a little about the youth group that my church San Pablo and my host family’s church, San Juan Evangelista, is trying to really get up and running this year.  Well we’ve had a few really great nights, but the overall theme has kind of been that it’s a difficult time of year to start a new group (right now all the students are ending their school years with exam weeks and heading into summer vacation) and we’re also finding out that there are a lot of logistics to work through due to the fact that it is a youth group shared between two churches.

For our last meeting I sent out the typical Facebook message informing the teens about when and where our group would be this week and on Friday at 6:30 I waited at the church.  Three teens showed up- two sisters and one other guy.  In the past when just 3 or 4 have showed up we’ve played volleyball for a little while, maybe ate a snack or something then headed home early…but this night they all seemed like they really had nothing else going on and wanted to hang out.  So I asked, well what do you guys do on a typical Friday night if you have nothing going on?  Their response…we usually take the bus to McDonald’s.  Perfect, that is what we are going to do.

So we stopped by one of their houses to get money and the four of us went to the bus stop.  Being in such a casual setting they really seemed to open up.  We talked about everything from the breakup the guy was currently going through, to the cute new shoes that one of the girls bought, to the idea of us girls signing up to run a half-marathon together this spring.  We loaded up on ice cream, fries and double cheeseburgers….joking around about the fact that the guy freaked out every time his phone buzzed thinking it was his x-girlfriend and laughing about the fact that eating like this is how we were training for our half-marathon.  It made me realize two things.  One- teens are the same all over the world…it doesn’t matter if you’re from Argentina or the U.S., you’re still going to go through those hard/awkward teen years.  And two- numbers do not matter for this youth group.  These kids just want someone to hang out with, someone new to talk to.

These three teens normally wouldn’t have spent their Friday night together, but this group can create a space for teens to just to have a safe place to hang out- with an ‘adult’ other than their parents.  This experience really challenged me to promise myself that from now on, even if 1 teen shows up, I’m just going to spend the night talking with them, getting to know them and showing them that someone wants to spend time with them for no other reason than just because.

Quote for today

‘Welcome Me into your heart, and the more you sense My presence within you, the more you will feel at home no matter where you may be.’

– Quote from my morning devo- ‘Come Away my Beloved’ by Frances J. Roberts

years and years of faith

The other day I went to a party to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of Hogar Armbruster, a nursing home/assisted living center for seniors, in my town of Jose C. Paz.  Hogar Armbruster is connected to the Lutheran church here and often people from my congregation, San Pablo, go to visit and spend time with the residents.

The party started with a church service that the residents could choose to attend if they wanted.  I ended up sitting next to this older couple…the man was in a wheel chair, you could tell his mind was totally there but he had trouble speaking and controlling his movements and the woman was one-hundered percent ‘with-it’ and wasn’t leaving her husband’s side.  I found myself watching this couple as they got into every song that we sang, they listened intently to the sermon and the readings, and they each repeated by memory the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer.  The pastor placed the Communion bread into the man’s mouth and poured the little cup of wine into his mouth since he couldn’t lift it himself.  They each sat deep in prayer for a few minutes and then the woman reached over to hold her husband’s hand as they prayed together.

It was so moving.  The older I find myself getting, the more I am realizing just how much heartache life is filled with, my friend’s parents have cancer, couples I know are going through the hurt of divorce,  people I meet here are hungry, a mom is raising 8 kids on her own, a young girl is pregnant and the guy has a new girlfriend, a young man can’t find a better paying job to support his mom and siblings…at times I find myself questioning where is God in all this?  How in the world do I keep believing in a God who loves and cares for us as I keep seeing more pain affecting all of those I love around me?  Here was a couple who I am sure has experienced so much pain, has gone through a life that was hard, that has challenged their marriage, that has hurt their family- yet, here they were- still loving each other and still loving their God more than anything.

I feel like there is no other word to describe this but ‘faith’.  After years and years (I would guess they were about 85-years-old) this couple is still chasing after God and having faith that a life of following Him is still what they choose.  I honestly can say that as I near 24-years-old, I have no idea how to have a faith like that.  But it was definitely inspiring and beautiful to see…something I want to strive for.