Argentina

Here is my week late update on our trip to Argentina. First, some explanation of why we went:

Our church, 2nd Presbyterian Church in Memphis, has a long standing partnership with the Presbyterian church in Argentina, specifically La Mision. La Mision is located in the Barrio Flores of Buenos Aires, the largest city in Argentina. Barrio Flores is a mixture of poor and middle class homes, and it has the reputation of being the place in BA to get drugs. When we asked Marcelo, the pastor, why he decided to plant his church in this neighborhood, he stated that everyone told him that a church would not grow there and his ministry would not survive. For anyone who knows Marcelo Robles, that was his invitation to plant the church. God is doing amazing work through La Mision. We met so many people who had amazing life changes (mainly spiritual, but also physical) after visiting this church. I was humbled that every story started with, "and then my friend, _____, invited me to La Mision..." When was the last time I invited a friend to church?

A large ministry of La Mision is reaching out to the poor in BA. There are three barrios they specifically target: Las Palomas, Parque Rojas, and one I don't remember the name! I probably also butchered those spellings. Don't judge me...I don't know Spanish. Everlides is the resident social worker for the church, and she goes out to these barrios everyday to check on the soup kitchens and also to make house calls and see if there are any needs the church can meet for the people. She has a beautiful relationship with the residents of these barrios.

Parque Rojas is where the "under the bridge" community relocated after the fire in early 2007. When we visited last summer, it was a community of clean, white, single story rows. Granted it looked like the equivalent of an American mini-storage business, but it was the government housing BA had provided the community. Since the government knew how much La Mision gave to the community, they gave La Mision and entire block of the new housing space to use as a soup kitchen. This year, two main things had changed: 1) the homes are now built up on with scrap wood, cardboard, etc. to make little porches in front of the buildings, and 2) the soup kitchen is brightly painted! The soup kitchen feeds breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner to approximately 200 people a day, Monday-Friday. La Mision pays for the food 4 days, and the government pays 1 day. The food is prepared and served by members of the community and also La Mision church members. The government is building* a group of 5-story apartments for the community to eventually move into. * It is actually being built by members of the third barrio that I can't remember the name, and it won't be completed for another 3 years. This means that the 'temporary' government housing will be for 4-5 years.

In Las Palomas, the soup kitchen that Crossroads and M101 jointly built last year is doing very well, and feeds 80 children a day. Norma and her family (can't remember her husband's name) live in the house attached to the soup kitchen, and she runs it. They also have cell groups at the soup kitchen throughout the week. Cell groups are the backbone of the church. They are small groups that meet daily throughout the city, and they are the places in which God is worshiped, people get to know one another better, and non-Christians are invited to learn about the church in a loving, non-threatening way.

The other barrio (apologies again...ask someone else from our team - they can probably remember it) is built literally on a garbage dump. It is on a hillside and there is one main path off of which all the houses are built. Let me explain how these houses are made. There are some that are made out of cardboard, particle board, sheet metal, etc. Others are built out of red brick, although I don't remember seeing any rebar sticking out of the tops of the roofs (like I saw when I built walls in Mexico as a teen). The rebar stabilizes the brick. There are no foundations to the homes, and they are unstable. The families are pretty much squatters and get their electricity from tapping into the city's lines. Sewage is not open like it is in the slums I saw in Nairobi, but it is not as well kept as we are used to. I say that to give you an idea of the poverty these folks live in. Despite that, they keep there homes very nicely, are the sweetest people you will ever meet in your life, and the children play outside. In all of the barrios where we worked, I was so happy to see the children playing in the streets, running around, and being kids. In my Memphis neighborhood you rarely see children playing outside. I ran past a Boy Scout troop playing ultimate frisbee on the lawn of a church a while back...that is the extent that kids play outside communally in my neighborhood.

So why did Jonathan and I go for a second time? Last year was a whirlwind and we were kind of in shock most of the time, so we wanted to go back and try to have a more settled experience. Thanks to semi-following a budget and a raise I received this year, we were financially able to go. We want to use our resources and skills to serve, and we also knew that by going we would grow. We can go! Our church teaches us to be missional Christians, and you can do that by praying, giving, and going. If you have the ability to go, then go! I must admit that the week before we left, Jonathan and I were discussing short term missions, and whether it is worth it. Would it be better to give that money to a career missionary than to spend it on a week's trip? Would it be better for only first timers to go on short term trips, and for second timers to just stay at home and encourage others to go? Well, after being down there for a second time, I definitely feel that multiple short term missions trips are worth it! I was surprised at how easy it was to pick up relationships formed last year, and we were told over and over and over again by the members at La Mision that they were encouraged to continue striving in their work for God simply by us making the trip down there.

Alright, now for the actually trip details:

Members of our group: Tim Jewitt, Paige Householder, Joseph and Mandy Inger, Brian and Leslie Poole, McKee and Courtney Humphreys, Jon and Caedmon (age 7) Becker, and of course the Hulgans

Other 2PC folks already in BA: Mary Wilkes Harris, Lizzie Wilson, Frank Jemison, and Georgia Lackey

Our wonderful Argentine friends: Petti, Ceci, Ariel, Eber, Everlides, Mariciela

Friday, 6/27: Fly out from Memphis. Our original flight was canceled, we were put on an earlier flight that was actually delayed so much that it left an hour after our original flight was to leave, we had to change airports in NYC, and then our flight to BA was delayed. Ah, the airline industry : )

Saturday, 6/28: Arrive in BA! We were welcomed at the airport by Bill Martin and Marcelo, which was a lot of fun. We worked around the church most of day doing cleaning and light painting. I went to Las Palomas with Jon, Tim, and Petti to pass out information about the church and advertise that the church would be cleaning up the neighborhood on Monday. In the evening, we headed to the city center to have dinner at a food court with some university students. We got to meet two students who had just recently started their involvement with the church, and Courtney shared her testimony.

Sunday, 6/29: Morning worship at La Mision! A great service, and thankfully Jon preached (translated into Spanish) so we were able to follow the sermon. We were able to meet with some of our friends from last year. Here are Gisella, Millie and Leo:

Sunday afternoon we went to a market with gauchos! I had my first empanada of the trip at the market : ) I like this market because it is mostly Argentines there, and it is not super touristy. Jonathan picked up a cup for mate, and I purchased a woven bag.

Jonathan thought it was funny to take a picture of me looking half asleep. Wait, I was half asleep :)


We went to a very nice buffet restaurant for dinner Sunday night, and we began our week of eating way too much. We also enjoyed our first glass of Malbec of the trip!

Petti and Ceci

McKee and Courtney

Monday, 6/30: We spent the morning cleaning up the main streets in Las Palomas. There are piles and piles and piles of trash, because many folks make their living by reselling items they find in the trash. It was good work, and the neighborhood did look much nicer when we were finished. The time was also an opportunity to show that the church cares about the neighborhood and its residents. In the afternoon, Leslie, Brian and I went to Parque Rojas and helped get dinner ready at the soup kitchen. Leslie and I grated A LOT of carrots, and Brian chopped up an unknown vegetable/fruit thing...we still don't know what it was. Leslie and I both escaped the grating with all of our fingers intact, although she did need suffer a small flesh wound.

Tuesday, 7/1: I can't really remember what I did in the morning...something probably involving painting. Jonathan and the rest of the guys went out to the third barrio and moved a mound of sand. In the afternoon, we went back to the barrio, praised the boys for their expert sand movement, and put on a children's festival.

Frank and Nathan
* The kid was laughing and giggling the entire week,
but of course he would not smile for my picture!

Folks practicing for a skit (that actually was preempted by clowns)
From the left and going in a clockwise circle:
Jonathan, Petti (semi-hidden), Tim, McKee, Mandy, and Brian

Oh yes, getting silly before the festival!

Dancing for the kids!
From the left: Anna, Leslie, Courtney, me, Katelyn (an American student from Georgia), little Caedmon, and Paige

We went out to an amazing pizza place Tuesday night for dinner! We rode the subway into the city, rode the bus back because it was so late. Some vandalism was done to the church Tuesday evening, but it happened while we were all gone, and nothing was significantly damaged. The incident was a reminder, though, that not all of the neighbors like what the church is doing. We were encouraged, though, that La Mision is able to be a bright light for God in the neighborhood despite having enemies.

Wednesday, 7/2: Jonathan and I spent the entire day at Parque Rojas. We spent the morning adding to the painting on the soup kitchen.

Paige, Mary Wilkes, and Petti

And in the afternoon, we put on another children's festival.

Frank becoming a clown

Kids eagerly waiting for us to finish setting up so they could come in!

Thursday, 7/3: We spent the day working around the church: cleaning, painting, etc. Georgia and Joseph led the way by painting beautiful murals in the children's section of the church. I did not get any pictures, but I'm sure you can get some from the other team members. We went to a tango show Thursday evening, and I ate a very large steak!

Friday, 7/4: This was our tourist day. Jonathan and I had breakfast with Claudia, the lady with whom we stayed last year. We had a great time with her catching up and looking at pictures of her daughter's 15th birthday bash. The group headed out to the city center and we got a tour of the main sights. There was a farmers strike going on due to a proposed tax being levied, and we witnessed just a few protesters. Apparently the protests have been much worse at other times during the summer. We stopped at a marketplace near the port and bought a beautiful photo that I need to get framed. The buildings are very colorful, because when the immigrants settled the area, they used left over paint from their ships. The tradition has held.

We had our farewells at La Mision, and a small contingent came with us to the airport.

Ari and Jonathan

And then it was "goodbye BA!" ...or so we thought...

After 5 hours on the plane on the runway, the flight was cancelled and we headed back to the city. We did get to sleep in and enjoy the city one last day.

"The 9th of July" Avenue

The Obelisk
You may be able to make out Jonathan, Brian, Tim and Leslie at the bottom

We finally headed out on July 5th and made it back safely on the 6th.

What a long post! Thanks for getting through it : ) It was a great trip, and I'm so glad we went. Hopefully we'll get to go again!