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A Prayer For Friends

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.

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YWAM – First Contact

Sunday Morning
It is 10am on Sunday in Buenos Aires. The city is still sleeping. Few peope walk the streets. The roads are quiet and easy to navigate. This quietness stands in sharp contrast with any other day. I am walking, looking, searching. My destination is church. A particular church found via Internet. That was my intention. I arrived. I moved on. The church was not for me.

Now I am in the mall. Low on memory for photos. Time to copy my photos to CD. Bad choice. An Internet shop girl knowing nothing. Join-the-dots teaching. Two hours of frustration. Two CDs. One part dead. Glad to be leaving. Now I wanted to go somewhere. Do something.

Change of Plans
This is where my story starts…

As I considered lying in the sun in Plaza San Martín, I felt impressed to visit the YWAM base in Buenos Aires. So a subway ride and wander through some back streets later and I find myself standing outside a solid steel door at an unmarked house. I am staring at the right street number, but nothing alludes to being in the right place. I have come this far. I press the intercom button.

It does turn out to be YWAM indeed, and it is not long before someone arrives at the door to let me in. I was expecting a small house. What I entered was a large multi-level dwelling containing an area out the back similar to a warehouse. I climb the steep stairs to the first level where those remaining on base are finishing lunch.

Before long I am learning about this base and sharing with them how I got here and my current activites in Buenos Aires. It is refreshing to speak with such vibrant people. I also ask them about the location of a decent church to which they offer to take me in just over an hour. It sounds great so I agree. While I wait, I chat.

Emily, a vivacious Brit, happily regales me with much of the ins and outs of this particular YWAM base. I learn that this is only one part of a bigger base located in the regional suburbs and here contains the disciplines of art, media, counselling and evangelism within its walls.

Richard, another long term YWAMer staying on the base, fills me in on the greater YWAM vision for Buenos Aires. How their focus has moved from small pockets of need to influencing large organisations and government departments that are effecting the whole city.

A Popular Place
It is a little late when we leave, with four of us taking a bus to reach the church. Our destination is the Rey de Reyes church (King of Kings). When we arrive it is 30 minutes late but, as I am about to discover, the service goes for 4 hours so there is still a lot of it left.

The church is packed with people so full that every spare area of the floor is covered in chairs, right to the steps of the stage. People are everywhere. After a slow negotiation to the very front, we are seated with other late-comers.

The whole service was in Spanish and my level of understanding is not yet enough to listen unaided. Fortunately translation was available for me in the form of headphones. Once I put them on, everything made much more sense. My new friends share an earpiece with me, finding it beneficial to listen in on the English version when the porteño (Buenos Aires) dialect of Spanish becomes hard to decipher.

Although four hours long, the time moves quickly. At the end of the service we work our way out onto the street. It was a slow push through a crushing crowd of people. Outside, it becomes obvious that there is another service about to begin. A line of people extending down the block and around the corner until out of sight has formed in anticipation. The sight is astounding.

Only Beginnings
We all head back to the YWAM base, where I farewell my new friends after arranging to meet again on Friday. I leave excited that I have made new friends, and that I now know of a great church here. It was perfect timing for a visit. I have a feeling that I will be seeing a lot more of these guys.

That was YWAM. My first contact.

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A Brief Background

In 1998 when I was working in Cairns Australia, God called me to go to New Zealand. About eight years before that I had seen a short video on a place called Lifeway College* over there. This was now the same place that I believed God was calling me to move to.

At the end of that year I sold up all my gear and bought a one-way ticket to New Zealand. Once at Lifeway College I studied for six months on their core course which was called the CE course. After this I moved onto the college staff. I remained there until leaving four years later.

During my time in New Zealand I had started to plan for a long term stay in the country. It was around this time that God then called me to go to South America. To be sure I understood this was important, He told several other people independently of me that I was going too. When they told me, not knowing anything of what I was thinking at the time, any doubt I may have had, had vanished.

Realising I was leaving my many friends behind and wanting to remain in contact with them, I started RobAbroad, an email list that sends to everyone at once. This way I could tell everyone at once what I was doing regarding leaving for Argentina. It has been a wonderful tool during these days of constant change.

The contents of the emails have now been placed on the internet. Not so everyone in the world can see them, but to make them more accessible to those of my friends who don’t have email but have access to a computer somehow.

In the interests of continuing friendships and maintaining contacts.

Rob.

* The Lifeway College that I knew is now sold to a NZ church and in a very different location. For that reason, I have linked to the original website through the Internet Archive. I have also provided a link to an image capture of the old Lifeway website.

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The Call – Late 2002

Sometime later in 2002 a feeling started to grow inside of me that told me I was leaving soon and should get ready. But leaving to where? Get ready how? I didn’t really know. My decision at that time was to throw away and sell any junk that I was hording and I thought this would be sufficient. Little did I know how much more I would have to do.
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The Call – Early 2002

After wanting to learn a language for a long time I decided to take a language course at University. Having considered German and Japanese first I finally rested on a course that included Spanish, French and German in a combined degree. I thought that by taking this course I could concentrate on the languages I wanted (being part-time) and therefore learn them faster. However this was not to be.

Just after this, I started making plans to visit Japan. My younger brother, Brodie, was living there and during a phone conversation the previous year I had promised him that I would visit. So without the funds to do so I was making good on my promise and looking forward to spending time over there with Brodie and John, our eldest brother, who also decided to join us.

With the feeling that God was going to move me on soon and not knowing where, I considered this trip to be a great opportunity to see what Asia was like in case this was where I would be going. So I made plans to visit China and Thailand on the way back but never made it there. It was too difficult or too expensive to work in with our planned trip, so Japan was it.

After returning home from Japan, my interest in the place had increased dramatically to the point of considering living there. I started looking for opportunities to go. I found none, but was in no rush.

One day as I was driving to work, I was thinking through the money I owed in various areas. As I was praying, I had a distinct feeling of urgency to pay out all of these debts. Although it took a while to start this process, once I became serious with it a strange thing happened. Instead of only wondering if I was moving on and if so then where, I started to get some definite directions about it all, and it happened very quickly too.

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The Call – 2001

Sometime late in the year I got a feeling that God was going to move me on. Sort of a gut feeling that you know something is going to happen but there is no sense of timing or detail to it. So I didn’t know where or when and figured that it would be a fair while away too. Therefore I simply kept these thoughts in mind but kept going with what was in front of me to do. There was no need to dwell on it greatly at the time.

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The Call – 2003

I went to Australia for Christmas and arrived back in New Zealand just in time to celebrate my birthday. To my surprise I was given a ticket to the New Zealand Parachute Music Festival for a present. This is a full weekend of Christian music concerts and speakers which is the largest event of its kind in the southern hemisphere.

Early February, a few weeks after Parachute, I was talking with Lauren, a good friend of mine. During our chat she asked me when I was planning to leave New Zealand. I didn’t know, but felt inspired to give a time even though I didn’t know any. With unusual confidence I told her, “I will be gone before June”.
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