Life in a different culture
With a free day, we all get off to a lazy start. This is also partly due to the very late night we had last night while welcoming in the new year. By the time we eat lunch, it is past 2pm, and we have a new commitment awaiting us. We had all agreed to work with a small group of around 20 children in a distant suburb of Bariloche where the people live very humbly.
Some of the children who gathered together for a photo.
New Year’s Eve is a time to celebrate with friends and family. We left our church location this morning to come and spend the time here in the YWAM base in Bariloche, with friends. This had a secondary benefit of allowing the pastor and his family to get together without worrying about us being present during a family time. We were both happy with the decision.
Setting off firecrackers to celebrate the new year.
Today we climb a mountain. The idea was to reach the top, but after a late night last night, and with a very late start to the day, our chances were diminishing rapidly. Add to this a very large group of people, and you start moving quite slowly, according to the abilities of the weaker members. This is not a problem, it is just that with the time we had available to us, getting to the top was now looking very unlikely.
Our outreach team (LtoR: Tabita, Guillermina, Gabriela, Karley, Leonor, Miguel, me)
Today I wake with one eye stuck closed. After washing it with water and heading to the doctors I am informed that it is conjunctivitis, a common ailment here often contracted through dust entering the eye. Unfortunately, all of the pharmacies are too far away to get the needed eye drops, so I continue the day without them, washing my eye in cold tea as a home remedy to help for a while.
Our day, upon reaching the church, is to help prepare lots of food for what will be a church party to celebrate the end of 2009 and the beginning of a new year. Three of our team head out with the pastor to a neighbouring city of Bariloche, called Dina Huapi, to visit with families related to the church, while the other four remain in the kitchen to help with the food preparation for what is expected to be a very big party tonight.
The pastor with his son, me in the middle, and Miguel and Gabriela on the right.
Our second day is quite different, and we spend the morning building brick walls, cooking bread and gnocchi for lunch. All of us get to do something that we have not done before, and have fun doing it too. After lunch we then put on multiple layers of jackets for the cold and the rain that has arrived, and head out to go to a distant neighbourhood to share with the people about Jesus.
Once we have knocked on every door, or actually clapped loudly at every yard entrance (you can’t enter normally because of the fierce dogs kept in the yards), we then arrive at the house of believers where they hold a church service every week. It is here that we do a couple of skits for them, before Karley (Canada) and Tabita (Romania) lead worship. I share a reflection on who God really is, based on Revelation chapter 4 and we then bid our friends good bye and return for dinner in the church.
Building a brick wall to separate the kitchen from the dining area.
On the 26th of December, Boxing Day, we gathered our team together and heading off on an 18 hour bus journey from Puerto Madryn to Bariloche. Upon arriving in Bariloche, we head out to the church with which we will be working for the next week. Our outreaches tend to be organised per week more than anything. Our goal is to help, serve, teach, and be an asset wherever and whenever we can during this time.
This first day was filled with getting to know different people, being introduced to the church and its members, and being allocated our home for the week. Miguel and I stay with Luis, in his small home, while the girls head out on the bus to a much larger house. After settling in, we all return to the church for the last service of 2009.
Taking advantage of the bus ride to catch up on some sleep after the Christmas celebrations.
In Argentina, it is the night before Christmas that is celebrated. Everybody gets together to enjoy the night with a large meal and times of reflection until midnight when we all take hold of our glass and toast to Christmas and celebrate this day. When the next day comes, most are either sleeping, or spend the day at the beach. Our Christmas celebrations in the YWAM Base in Puerto Madryn followed this pattern exactly.
Everybody outside at the tables, ready for Christmas dinner.
It was a sunny day that I decided to head out to the hills around our YWAM base in the Quintas, an area outside of Puerto Madryn city. Here are some photos that show just where the Quintas are located and some of the environs around this city that I have called home for almost four years.
Looking north down one of the main highways to Puerto Madryn city.
Every year our YWAM base now hosts a football (soccer) championship between all of the churches of Puerto Madryn. Last year our YWAM team achieved third place. This year we did not even make a position, but it was a fun game and we all had a lot of fun. Here are some photos of the day…
Announcing the winners of the Championship.
That is a rather unusual sounding exclamation, but it is exactly what happened to one of our workers here in YWAM Puerto Madryn. Actually, finding a scorpion at all is rather uncommon here, so when he found one underneath his pillow we were all quite concerned. However, in my four years of living here this was the first scorpion that I had ever seen, either inside or outside of the base.
Por Juan-Pablo however, was not so convinced. While he had been sleeping, he pushed a hand underneath his pillow. Suddenly something moved, causing him to withdraw his hand quickly. Thinking it was something unusual (for this area) such as a cockroach, he raised up his pillow to brush it away. It was only then that he realised the danger that had been awaiting him. A scorpion (see photos) was hidden underneath.