This morning at 7am we had another SIMP meeting with Juan one more time before he goes to the States. We had a time of worship and prayer and discussion. Then at 10am Nathan and I walked to the West zone to help the youth pick up trash. This is a really great thing that the youth are doing to help keep their town litter free. After that Nathan and I walked a little ways further until we got to the town sign. We took pictures there and walked home. This evening we went to Juan and Ami's house to be a part of a going away party for some of the youth who are going away to college, David included who will be spending six months in the States. We had an asado of chorisos and a time of worship with the youth.
2-1-09 Day 65
Today we left early for Chimpay. This is a town thirty minutues away where an outreach ministry is happening. They had esculita for the children there. We helped with that in the morning. There were about 20 children that came. It was exhausting but very fun. This evening at 7pm all of the zones met in the central church building for a time of worship, sharing, hearing the Word and communion together. After that Nathan and Jacob and I took Emmanuel out for pizza.
2-2-09 Day 66
This morning we started English classes again. This week Elizabeth is in charge of planning the lessons and I am helping her out. We had Josias, Nazarena, Abril, Mariana, & Marianela show up today. Today they learned different feelings in English and a simple greeting "Hi, how are you....I am fine." Nathan worked at the North zone again today. We are falling into a routine of him working at the North zone and I teaching the English class in the morning. It's wonderful to have some constructive things to do. I have a feeling that these last couple of weeks are going to be busy ones for us. This afternoon at 4:30pm while Nathan was working at the North zone, I went with Elizabeth to the West zone. We sanded down walls to get them ready to repaint. We did this for an hour or so and then went to Vero's house for torta and cafe. It was nice to be invited back to her house and her 2 1/2 year old son Valentine is so very cute and fun to be with.
2-3-09 Day 67
This morning we had Nazarena, Josias, Mariana, and Marianela in the English class. Today we didn't learn any new vocabulary but reviewed what they already knew. At noon Nathan and I and Jacob and Elizabeth ate lunch with Delbert and Frieda. This afternoon at 4:30pm Elizabeth and I again went to the West zone. We repainted all of the inside part of the church building. I left to walk home about 8:30pm and they still had about an hour left to finish painting. When I got home I took a shower quick and then Nathan and I walked to this restaurant on the outskirts of town. It took us about 50 min. to walk there but it was so worth it, the food was excellent. We took a taxi back home after supper and got home about 12am.
2-4-09 Day 68
Today we had Nazarena, Josias, Abril, Mariana, and Marianela come to the English class. We learned how to say fruits in English and then we ate them. The children really loved this. Nathan again worked at the North zone all day today. He came home about 8:15pm quickly took a shower and then we walked to the south zone for their wednesday night service. After the service we went to the bus station to see Vero off. She is spending three months in the States and we can't wait to see her again when we get back home. Her bus came about 11:30pm, we waved goodbye and then walked home.
2-5-09 Day 69
Today we had Nazarena, Josias, Mariana, and Marianela in the English class. We learned how to say family members in English and the different rooms in the house. Then the children drew their families in their house. This afternoon we went to the chacra. We visited Ami awhile and then went to Pablo and Claudia's house. There we had pizza for supper with them and prayed and worshipped together. After that we talked about what we are going to do in Chimpay on saturday.
2-6-09 Day 70
Today is the last day for the English class. Nazarena, Josias, Abril, Mariana, and Marianela we there. We reviewed all that we learned in the last two weeks. The children were sad to hear this was the last day. I think they really enjoyed learning English. Today was Nathan's last day to work at the North zone building as well. This evening we went to Luis and Vero's house along with Jacob and Elizabeth. They invited us over for supper. We stayed there until about 11:30pm and then Vero took us home. Some days it seems like we don't have many things to do however, each day we encounter new experiences and a new challenge to try to communicate.
2-7-09 Day 71
At 8:30 am this morning Pablo and Claudia picked us up in the combie to travel to Chimpay. When we got there the guys headed to the place where they are building a church building and us girls stayed at the building that they are using now to have Escuelita for the children. There were about 10 kids that came today, so not as many as last Sunday but we had a wonderful time with them. Elizabeth and I were even able to teach them some English including Ephesians 5:1 and the songs "Yes Jesus loves me" & "Praise ye the Lord". When we arrived back in Choele they dropped us off at Ezekiel's house. We had lunch with him and his family for his birthday celebration. This evening Nathan and I met Hector and his wife and their two twin baby girls at the bowling alley. Hector had been working with Nathan at the north zone church building so that's how he met him. We bowled one game and had pizza together and Nathan and Hector played pool while Belen and I held thier baby girls. It was a lot of fun!!! We left there at about 12:30am and on our way home we saw people we knew from the North zone at the Heladeria so we chatted with them for awhile. We arrived home at 1:30am very tired but thrilled for all of the interaction we had.
2-8-09 Day 72
This morning we walked to the West zone church building for their Sunday morning service. There were 8 people there and we mostly prayed together and talked for awhile. After that we went to have lunch with Ami at their house. We spent the afternoon there and then at 4:30pm Marcelo took a group of us to the monument in Choele. It is said that this is where some Indians fought a battle. This evening at 7pm we went to the central church building for the reunion of all the zones. We had a time of worship and Delbert preached from Eph 1. This was Nathan and my last time to be in a reunion with all of the zones on a Sunday evening so we were able to say a few words of thanks and show our powerpoint of Galesburg. After that Frieda took Nathan to the hospital because he thought he might have an ear infection, his ear has been hurting him all week. While he was gone Elizabeth and I talked together. When Nathan got home all 3 of us went to get icecream together. Good News.......Nathan's ear was a little red, but nothing major.
2-9-09 Day 73
This morning we got ready and packed our bags. At 12:30pm our bus left for Sierra Grande. We are spending a week there with Miguel and Angela (missionaries here) and their 2 boys with the demolition of some walls. This will allow for more room when they have their church meetings. We arrived in Sierra Grande at 6pm and did just a little bit of work in the evening. We ate pizza at 10:30pm and went to bed soon after that.
2-10-09 Day 74
Today we started our work full force. In the morning we cleaned some brush up and then got to work demolishing walls. Nathan called it an Archeological dig because we had to take each brick down one at a time to save as many bricks as possible. My job was to scoop up the demolished bricks and wheelbarrow it all into a big pile. We had calones for lunch and then took a siesta. This afternoon the guys did more work demolishing the walls and I hung out with Angela and the boys. Each day here will be a new opportunity to learn more Spanish and Miguel and Angela are very good teachers. They both don't know much English but they use good hand gestures and repeat words or phrases and talk slowly so we can understand.
2-11-09 Day 75
We again today torn down more walls and more cement. I also helped Angela clean up brush in the yard and learned how to make empanadas. We had already been with them two other times so it's really great to be with them again for a whole week.
2-12-09 Day 76
Today Miguel had to go somewhere in the morning so Nathan and I finished demolishing the walls and cleaned up the debris. For lunch we had yukies. I'm excited to know how to make all of these new kinds of foods. In the afternoon we went to la playa (the beach) about 25 kilometers away. It was so wonderful. We got home about 8pm took a shower quick and then went to the sierra (a tall mountain overlooking the town). The view was amazing along with the magnificent sunset.
2-13-09 Day 77
This morning Miguel went somewhere again to do some work and Nathan and I cleaned up some more brush in the yard. In the afternoon we played with their 2 boys Joel and Miguease and then Nathan and Miguel went to go buy the pump to pump water for Los Berros. Los Berros is a mission site out in the desert of the Patagonia. This is where Miguel and Angela lived as missionaries for two years before they moved to Sierra Grande. Our home church congregation had given us money above and beyond what our expenses were so the extra money went towards buying this pump. It's hard to get water in Los Berros, so this pump will be very beneficial in having good access to clean water. This evening we were able to visit with the lady who showed us her baby winaco the last time we came to Sierra Grande. It was good to visit with her again.
2-14-09 Day 78
Early this morning we left for Los Berros which is a two hour ride on a dusty dirt road. We stopped along the way to talk to some people who lived along the way......a town of about 20 people total. Then when we got to Los Berros Nathan and Miguel worked on putting the water pump in the church building there and I helped Angela make lunch. This afternoon Nathan and I got to ride one of Chola's horses through the Patagonia desert. It was by far one of our most exciting things we have done here. We both were loving it. This evening we went to visit the Mapoochi Indian people that live in the desert in Los Berros. This is the closest I've been to such remote people. Their houses were built out of cement and they eat mostly meat and bread. They truely live off the land. We bought a hunk of winaco meat from them that was hanging up outside where they had recently killed it. The hunk of meat was swarming with flies. No big deal for them though. We brought it back and cooked it on the asado. While we were doing that and enjoying the beautiful stars at night of the Patagonia desert, we heard Angela scream. We quickly ran over to see what was wrong. A tranchula spider was crawling for the inside of the church building. It was fuzzy and jumping about and as big as your hand. Of course, Nathan had to catch it for a pet. Ugh, it was the biggest spider I have ever seen. I guess scorpions and spiders are the kinds of insects that can survive the harshness of the Patagonia desert land.
2-15-09 Day 79
This morning at 10am we had a church meeting here in Los Berros. It consisted of 3 older people, Miguel and Angela, & Nathan and I. We sang songs and then Miguel preached from Luke. This afternoon we went around and visited different people and talked with them awhile. Nathan and Miguel let the tranchula spider go today. Angela and I wanted them to burn it up in the fire and kill it, but they let it go instead. We then ate supper with Chola and her family and went to bed a little earlier than usual. This weekend we have mostly survived on meat and bread, since that is what the Mapoochi Indian people eat here......I'm ready for something more to eat.
2-16-09 Day 80
This morning we got up early, packed our things and said goodbye to Chola and her family and then headed out of Los Berros. We drove on a bumpy dirt road for an hour and then stopped at a ghost town for awhile. This town used to be a mining town but when there was no more coal to mine people moved on. It was neat to see different houses that had been abandoned and the different things that were left behind. We then traveled another hour and arrived in Las Grutas about noon. There we were going to catch a bus back to Choele. The bus we got didn't leave until 1:40am, so we spent more than 12 hours in Las Grutas. We ate lunch and then played awhile at the beach. It was a little cold but very very fun. We then went to Angela's aunt's house to take a shower and rest for awhile. This evening we went back in town to walk the streets and see the different shops in town. The town was very busy at night with different artisan booths. This town reminds me of Keywest, FL. The land of love and hippies!!! After that we went back to the bus station to wait on our bus, but they said ti was running an hour late so we went back into town and got some iceream, saw the moon against the ocean/beach.......such a beautiful sight, and Nathan got to ride a mechanical bull. What a full day!!!! We then went back to the bus station and the bus got there about 3am. We said our goodbyes and thank you's to Miguel and Angela and left
2-17-09 Day 81
We arrived back in Choele at 6:30am. Exhausted but happy! We slept until 10am or so and then went to have lunch at Delbert and Frieda's house. This evening we went to Darwin to the church meeting there and then we ate supper at Gabriel and Maria Jose's house. We didn't leave there until 2:30am but it was a great time of visiting.
2-18-09 Day 82
Today we did more visiting with people. At noon we had lunch with Humberto and Monica at their chacra. It's so beautiful there and we enjoyed eating with them and visiting in the afternoon. We then went home about 5pm and had a short time until we went to Roberto and Claudia's house for supper at 7pm. He is the pastor at the south zone and had gone to college at Hesston College and they both knew English fairly well. It was so wonderful to talk to them about Kingdom things here in Argentina and in the States. That evening we walked to the North zone for their church reunion. We said goodbye to many people there and I was able to see how much work Nathan and the crew got done on the church building.
2-19-09 Day 83
This morning I wasn't feeling very good so I slept most of the morning and started packing up our things. This afternoon we went to Billy's house to drink mate with him and then we went to Juan and Ami's house to hang out for awhile. We then had supper with Pablo and Vero and Jorge and Angelica at their chacra. We talked to them for quite some time and left about 11pm
2-20-09 Day 84
Today is our last day in Choele and we are sad to leave but content that we had three months to be here. Today we packed up all of our things in the morning and had lunch with Ami this afternoon. Our bus leaves at 9:30pm tonight for Buenos Aires. We will spend a couple of days there with Heriberto and Cathy and then return back to the States next wednesday evening. Until we get home I hope you all are doing well.
Blessings to all of you!
Nate and Jen
