When I think of my prayer in the morning, and how the events of the day turned things to what they are now, I am amazed. Some would call it luck, fate, or chance. I would call them wrong. How thankful I am that God hears and answers our prayers. The Prayer I woke up this morning and realised that the only friends I have had since arriving in this place were tourists who kept moving on, and teachers from my courses, who remained as professional friends. When I prayed this morning, I prayed earnestly to God for at least one local friend. Someone that actually lived in this city and that was a local, whom I could call a friend. After praying, I felt God promise me that I would find such a person soon. I did not know when that was and did not expect it would be today. Changing Plans On leaving my hotel I felt that I should turn right. Most of the time I simply turned left and wandered into the heart of the city. Today however I wandered up to the incredibly wide road, Avenida 9th July. My plans had started off rather certain for the day, I knew where I was about to go and what I wanted to do. However, as I reached the Avenida, I felt that this was not what I needed to do today. This then left me without any plans, so instead I simply sat down in the park surrounding the Obelisk and enjoyed the sun. The Obelisk, a very tall white pointy thing for which there is very little reason it exists save to serve as one of the most known sights in Buenos Aires, stands directly in the middle of Avenida 9th July. It is surrounded by a rather large park, around which all 16 lanes of traffic have to curve. It was in this park that I sat, soaking up the sun and pondering upon what exactly I should do next. A walk to a nearby park which I had not yet seen was most uninteresting, and revealed yet one more place lacking in maintenance. Some impressive buidings nearby held my attention for a moment, but I soon found myself wandering back to my side of Avenida 9th July where a local Pizza shop enticed me to stop for lunch. After all, who can refuse an All-You-Can-Eat pizza deal for only $4.90 pesos. While enjoying my pizza, I remembered promise a staff member at my old hostel that I would return to say hello once I had left. It had been two weeks now since leaving, and I had not returned. Realising that I needed to keep my word, I headed straight there. On my way I passed a frenzy of fans gathering to see the last ever show of Bandana, an Argentine pop group. Visiting San Telmo After visiting the hostel, I decided that since I was so close to San Telmo I would wander through there and see some more of this place. San Telmo is the land of arts and crafts and everything old imaginable. Much of what is sold in the markets at San Telmo is considered junk to most other people, although I think they just keep holding onto it until it becomes valuable. Bottles and coins, brass and iron, broken and working, old and new, all could be found here. I had passed through and around the streets and was ready to simply stop and rest. The place I found was against a wall directly in line of sight of a "statue mime", one of those people who stand motionless on a box until someone gives them some money. There seems to be no end to them throughout the city of Buenos Aires, and San Telmo has more than its share. While leaning against the wall, I started staring directly back at this mime, intent on breaking their motionless expression. It was at this moment that I was approached by someone, whom I was about to learn was Victoria, from LIFE Argentina. She paused at first, thinking that I was posing for a photo or something, but seeing her hesitation, I broke my game with the mime and started chatting with her. LIFE Argentina Although our conversation started briefly in Spanish it quickly changed to very good English. It turns out that LIFE Argentina is a non-profit organisation helping underprivileged children in the city and province of Buenos Aires. The first conversation was whether I could help them out financially, but at that point in time I couldn't. From there, things could have stayed as they were. Victoria had gone back to trying to solicit money from other passersby, and I resumed my game with the mime. They probably would have stayed as they were actually, if it were not for the fact that I looked over and saw the table and umbrella of the LIFE stand sitting only a few metres from me. When I looked over I really felt that I should go over and ask more about it. I stayed where I was at first, but then caught sight of this girl being constantly rejected by so many people as she approached them for money to finance the organisation she so believed in. That was all I needed to get me moving, and I wanded over to the stand to find out more about it. So it was that I found out about the details of what they do with the children and how they help them in so many situations. In our conversation I discovered that LIFE itself is not affiliated with any church but is simply a non-profit organisation run by volunteers. In response to my question however, Victoria informed me that she was a Christian, as were others in the organisation. Like Minded People During our conversation I also met her brother, Gabriel, and another girl from LIFE who was also there at the time. Afterwards, we exchanged contact details and will be getting in touch about the next activities of LIFE this week. I expect that I will be getting involved with them over this next week or so, helping out with the kids where I can. How amazing it is to discover like-minded people in the most unexpected places. To think that if I had kept to my original plans I would never have met these great people, nor had the opportunity to help out the kids in Buenos Aires. It is great to know not only locals, but also Christians willing to make a difference in this place. When I think of my prayer in the morning, and how the events of the day turned things to what they are now, I am amazed. Some would call it luck, fate, or chance. I would call them wrong. How thankful I am that God hears and answers our prayers.