We’ve arrived in Buenos Aires. Actually, we got here yesterday morning at 4 am. We made it to our hostel, called “The End of the World” and the desk help ran around frantically trying to find sleeping quarters for us all. Many rooms already had inhabitants, and many of the girls found out later that they were rooming with guys who had long hair. We only had the space reserved for the first “night,” or until 11 am. Scott and I napped until 1 pm and woke up to a knocking… it was the rest of team Nessa, wondering if we were going to grab a bite to eat. They had already left their rooms and told us they had kept our room, for a place to keep our bags until we found a new place to hang our hats.
“The End of the World” is a fitting name, as it is a conglomeration of cultures, countries, and mostly freaks. We’re ok with it. It may not be the cleanest place, and we’ll probably all end up with bed bugs, but for 6 bucks a night you can’t go wrong.
However, yesterday when we left our hostel, we grabbed lunch at the corner cafe. This is the first place I’ve been to that has reminded me the most of Boston… the subway, the haphazard pedestrian traffic patterns (jaywalking), the upscale restaurants, and eclectic dressers/ fashion. At the cafe, we decided to ask the woman next to us if she knew of any good places to visit, any churches in the area, etc… Instead of giving us good info, she instead told us she would take us to get a map. We found out before we left, and before she offered, that it was her 50th birthday. So we bought her birthday lunch.
And she brought us for a LONG walk to find a map (she only intended to go to the corner newpaper stand, but there were no maps for at least 10 blocks). On our way, we ended up in a Christian bookstore, and got directions to a church in the area. Then we finally found a map. We thought she’d grab a bus from there to get back to work (a pediatric sports physician), but she called and played hookey, and took us to a cafe. At the cafe, we took a look at the map, she highlighted sections for us to visit (and areas to stay away from due to the lack of security). We celebrated Anna Maria’s birthday again with cake and coffee, prayed birthday blessing over her, and parted ways.
Last night, we ate dinner at the hostel, then did some worship in the laundry area. We sat on steps and empty paint containers, sang our hearts out, and had a great encounter with some of the hostel residents. Shawna played guitar with our new Uraguayan friend, we continued to sing praise and worship, and had an audience of about 6 people. It was a great night of fellowship. Bob Marley and Hillsongs… both songs of redemption.
We plan to stay at that hostel now, no more searching, we’re home. And as for Anna Maria, we’ve made a friend in Buenos Aires. We’ll be dining with her on Monday night. And maybe someday she’ll rent a room from someone in Boston. We found that the world is miniscule… I refer athletes to a doctor she wants to study under in Boston. How exciting… God works in such awesome ways. Far be it from us to try to understand how He does it. He just knows, He sets up the appointments, and we just walk into them.
And as for the church we visited today… a charismatic baptist church (is that oxymoronic?) with a feeding and clothing program, on the outskirts of town, near the poorest area of Buenos Aires. We ate a free meal there, and then served the homeless who came through the doors. And they ate well, a meal of beef. (I suppose beef is common? The Whopper of Argentina.)
We’ll be back to help on Monday and Wednesday, and we’ll meet with the pastor there to figure out if AIM could have future relations with this church, as they seem to be pretty excited about outreach. Find out what their vision is for missions, if they maintain connections with any missions groups. This church also has a missions school in it, with about 100 students, a satellite of the Baptist Seminary of Buenos Aires. God is pretty cool to have had all these contacts come together in one day.
So, I sit now in a restaurant, waiting for the cat to jump on my lap, reveling in where God has taken us in the last couple of days. Our team dynamics are getting better, doing ministry together, deciding that I want my team to be better than me. And look what God does…
