You may be asking I wonder what Calli is doing this month, or you may not have wondered at all, but I thought I should share a little recap of our month in Argentina and what God has been doing and teaching me!
So, back it up a little…After leaving Santiago, Chile, my squad all met in Valparaiso, Chile for a few days for debrief. Debrief was a time of rejuvenating, meeting with the whole squad, sharing stories, and reflecting on what God had done the previous month. Our squad mentor and coaches joined us in Valparaiso and for a little bit in Argentina to pour into us and walk with us through the journey God has taken us through. During debrief we worshipped, we shared things that were on our hearts, we walked around town evangelizing and praying for people, and of course we enjoyed our few days at the beach. Debrief was a good time to reflect on the previous month in Chile and also to focus in on what God was teaching me.
After leaving debrief, we had about an eight-hour bus ride to Mendoza Argentina! This month we have been staying at a YWAM base and partnering with them in ministry. It is also all squad month so my whole squad is here in Argentina. Instead of our team of seven there are 48 of us. It has been such a joy spending time with other teams, building relationships with other squad mates, and hearing stories about what the Lord is doing through the whole squad. YWAM, stands for Youth with a Mission, which is a Christian missions organization and discipleship school/organization, that has bases all over the world! While being here ministry has looked very different. We have raked leaves, prayed over the community and missions center, done Zumba with locals, evangelized at a local park and was used to share the gospel and lead a man to Christ, decorated and helped prepare for a wedding (we then totally crashed the wedding and danced till 4 am!! 😀 ), and met a lot of people in the city and prayed for them as well. Ministry has looked a lot different this month, we are serving and partnering with YWAM in whatever way they need. The Lord is teaching me how to serve with an open heart and to simply serve with the intentions of glorifying God, no matter if the service seems mundane or not. While the Lord has been teaching me this, He has also been teaching me what it means to be known by Christ, to have confidence in my identity as His daughter, what it looks like to renounce my past and to walk in freedom, and since being with the whole squad He has been showing me the power and freedom in vulnerability.
While our service has been meaningful and has not gone unnoticed and God has used us to lead someone to salvation and to pray over many people, the Lord has been working a lot in me personally this month. I believe this month was much needed in preparing me and my team for what God has in store for the following months. He has rid me of many things that I did not know I was holding on to. He has also healed me from hurts that I did not know were still affecting me. We have about a week left in Argentina and then we will head to Apolos, Bolivia.
Please pray for us as we finish our time in Argentina, that the Lord’s will, will be done here and that we will be able to leave here knowing that we gave everything we had for the sake of glorifying God and sharing the gospel. Please pray for our following month in Bolivia. We will be working with several villages along the amazon basin. There are many dangers along this region. This next month is expected to stretch my team emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Please pray that our hearts are focused on Christ. That He is our strength and that He will lead us to the people that He wants us to minister to. Please pray for safety and protection, and ultimately just pray that the Lord’s will is done and that He is glorified and exalted in everything that we do!!
Thank you sooooooooo much for taking time to read about what the Lord is doing here in Argentina and through my journey on the world race!! It truly means sooo much to me. I pray that these blogs will bless you and will draw people closer to Christ. Know that you are loved very much and His desire is for us to know Him deeper and deeper!!!
P.S. Argentina is beautiful! Very similar to Chile in the way the culture is and the landscape! Again, the mountains surrounding the city are SO beautiful! They are known for their wines, meats, and mountains. The people are very giving and friendly. They drink a lot of “mate” here. Mate is a hot drink similar to tea. They drink it in “mate cups”, often using a metal straw with a filter at the end. The cultural thing to do here is to share a cup of mate. They will pass a glass of mate around a group of people, filling the cup up with more water each time someone finishes. Sharing straws is expected and touching the straw or wiping the straw off would be seen often as offensive. I LOVE MATE!
Meet Marlin, he is one of our ministry hosts here at YWAM! My team has gotten the pleasure of working with him a lot here and we just love him very much!
