This past weekend was not only Memorial Day but also marked my last month here in Argentina. What?! 

Where did the time go? I remember at different points thinking, "I just wish it was May already so I would be going home soon." And now here we are practically in June. My grandpa has this saying that just like a toilet paper roll, the time goes faster and faster as you reach the end. Well I know I am no where near the end, shoot I just turned 21, but I can definitely see the truth in this. Every year, the older I get, the faster the time seems to go. 

After being here this long, I have been around to experience political, economic, and social changes. When I arrived in September empanadas, the staple argentine go-to food, was 5 pesos and if you were lucky 4. Now the are more than 6 or 7 pesos! Inflation is not cool. Currently the inflation and exchange rate of the peso to the dollar isn't even accurate. The dollar is super important to argentine life. All big purchases, technology, homes, rent, etc are paid in dollars. Starting around January, President Christina implemented strong economic protectionist policies. Strengthening over the months, the argentines currently find themselves in an unstable environment politically, economically, and socially. What started out as a restriction on the amount of dollars one could obtain has now turned into an all out dollar blockade. Details on the matter are quite extensive so I will skip to the point. 

We, as american citizens, are beyond blessed. Yes our country has issues, politically, economically, socially and all the rest. I know. So many citizens of other countries look to the US and practically idolize it. I will be honest, this irritates the heck out of me. In my experience here, some many argentines seem to think that nothing bad could happen in the "good ol' US of A". When we both know that is far from the truth. But the more I thought about it and really tried to put myself in their shoes, in my cases the Argentine's, we are better off. No our country isn't perfect and we have our own mound of problems; but when I think about permanently living here in Argentina, where the government could take your money from the bank at any point (happened twice to the woman I live with), not allow you to withdraw foreign currency (even when you are abroad because that much control exists) or where the police are bribed and the government functions on a whole other level of corruption that we as US citizens do not know, I have to realize american citizens are blessed. 

One night as I was walking back to my apartment, the Lord really opened my eyes to see that no matter how much it irritates me to hear people's idolized thoughts of America, the truth remains that if I were them I might be idolizing it too. It is not to negate our country's problems. In fact it is just the opposite. The United States of America is still the land of the free. A place where I can walk the street without fear. A country where our criminal justice system is trustworthy and our elected officials have laws and rules that they abide by. I know there are exceptions. In the middle of my walk home, I realized I want it to stay that way and I started to pray. Over the years I have heard that we should pray for our government officials and our country. However, the number of times I actually did that would probably fill one hand. I didn't see the importance. 

The Lord is the most powerful of all the universe. He can do anything. He loves, better yet longs to hear our prayers. Our government is no less important to him. I can't control people and their actions. I can't change our government. But the Lord can. 

Praise the Lord for the blessing it is to live in the US. It is a huge blessing that I all too often take for granted. But don't just stop there. 

Pray with a sincere heart for our government. It is never to late for the Lord to work. 

Pray for those currently in office, whether believer or not, that they would truly be for the people and not their own interests. 

Pray that those christian brothers and sisters in office would stand firm for the Lord and make decisions that reflect him. That the Holy Spirit would strengthen them in an environment extremely tempting and challenging. 

Pray that the Spirit would prepare future government leaders and they would obey the Lord's call to dive into the battle that is politics. 

We who are in Christ are all missionaries. We have been called to all ends of the earth to spread the good news we have in Christ. All ends of the earth includes the realm of politics. We have a blessing living in the US and equally an obligation to pray for it to stay or even improve its current state. How beautiful and powerful would it be if we, as a body of believers, lifted up our nation to the Lord.  

Well apparently the Lord wanted to tell me something. Last weekend Vida (cru) had a weekend student retreat in the near by city of La Plata. Our students and staff from Buenos Aires got together with the students and staff in La Plata for a weekend together to grow in the word, prayer, evangelism, and more. The first two days of the retreat I found myself serving in the kitchen the whole time. Even when I wasn't signed up to help cook I was in the kitchen. By the second night, I started asking myself why I wasn't participating more in the workshops and such. I could. The other STINTers were serving but were also participating. But why wasn't I wanting to be in the workshops? The Lord whispered that I should look at fear. For me it is easier to be in the kitchen with other english speaking gringos rather than having to work to engage in spanish conversation. It is easier to do something that doesn't require much thought and be in a safe place where the Lord can't convict me of anything. However, next day I stayed out of the kitchen trying to listen to the Lord.

Apparently it needs to sink in a little more because today he spoke again. I hide behind service. Think about it - how many times do we say "Everything is good just keeping busy." I don't know about you but I get tired of hearing that word. We are all busy. But why do we keep so busy? For me, part of the reason is that it is easier to hide behind doing something rather than facing the problem, having to come to God asking him to walk me through my sin. All this "busyness" keeps us from acknowledging our true thirst for love, friendships, truth and thus thirst for the Lord. I heard this devotional a few weeks ago about Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38-42.

³⁸ As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feetlistening to what he said. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
⁴¹ “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things,⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” 


Martha is so distracted by her service that she doesn't even take the time to sit at the feet of Jesus. She is missing out on just being with him, spending time together, and learning from him. Although small, there are tons of messages packed in this passage. Hearing this passage was the first time the Lord started signaling my service filled life. The Lord asks us to serve and some people are given gifts of service. However for me, my service was stemming from something else, a heart issue that needed to be addressed. I find myself being a Martha, hiding behind my service, "just keeping busy" so I don't have to actually see where Jesus truly wants me. It is hard to do nothing and just be in the presence of the Lord, listening and enjoying his presence. But I am tired of hiding in the service and being busy because it is easy. I want true freedom. And as backwards as it may seem, true freedom comes in Christ. For me it is a big step of faith to drop the busy service where I am comfortable and sit at the feet of Christ as he directs my path. But the Lord has called and I am taking the step. 

Over the past couple of weeks I have been wrestling with materialism. What it means, what it looks like, is it bad to desire good things or as christians are we not supposed to to have "excess" like fancy cars, nice clothes, a vacation home, money to travel or whatever you want. So this is a post just to throw out what has been tossing around in my head. During my time here in Argentina I have obviously lived very differently from what I do in the states. Ok maybe not as different as I would if I was living in Japan or Sudan but it has been very different. I have gone with without and I am surviving. In fact, I am loving it!

There are still those moments when I think "man I could get there quicker if I had a car." Or "clean floors would be amazing." Or "how great would it be to go shopping so I don't have to wear the same clothes over and over." So all of this has got me thinking what is the balance with materialism.

Lets face it, we have a huge consumeristic society in america. I am part of that society. I am just trying to think about what the Lord says in regards to materialism and how that affects what my desires should be. So here are some of my thoughts after a few weeks of reading and praying:

- the Lord DESIRES to richly bless us. 

That is his desire to bless his children. I am not talking prosperity gospel. He blesses in his own way. Most of his blessing is in the eternal perspective but equally he blesses us now. He knows what it good for us. Sometimes what is good is being without.

- it is ok to have a nice car. 

It doesn't have to be the car but lets just imagine here. If I have the money to buy a nice car, but have a car that works just fine, shouldn't I use that money on something else that would glorify the Lord? It could be giving to charity, buying something for someone else or sponsoring a missionary. Well I could do all of those things. Those aren't bad things but neither is buying a nice car if your heart is in the right place. If I am giving to the Lord first what is his and he has continued to bless me above that financially then it equally pleases him just to bless me. (i.e. me buying the car.) If my heart is seeking his will first, if my priorities are in line with his and I am daily striving to walk with him, then I can trust the wisdom and discernment he has given me to spend the money, that is his to begin with but has freely given to me, to buy the "extras".

- ultimately our first priority is in the Lord.
When it comes down to it, this shouldn't even be a question I am having. The Lord has told us his will that we should live in communion with him, in harmony the way he originally designed the world. Until that day arrives we are to "go make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 28:19) This is where our hearts should lie. Having a heart focused on making disciples will take my heart away from material desires (well not completely because we are sinners after all. But it will make it easier to fill ourselves with truth and get back on the right track).

- the great balance of life.
The reason I struggle in wanting more material things is because I am a broken person. We are all broken and living in a world that is not the way it was created to be. One huge thing I am learning here is balance. There is balance in everything in life. Everything! In our brokenness, or sin, we have lost the ability to keep things balanced. We are either planners or procrastinators. Saving everything thing because you never know when you might need it or using it all up at once to meet the immediate demand. All good or all bad. Only the Lord is the master at the balancing act. He is love and justice. He is peace and war. I could go on a whole other rant with this but I will stick with this - my lack of balance has me thinking it is all or nothing. I can either have nice things or I can't as a Christian. It is black or white. The concept of there being a middle ground is hard to fathom much less define. But one does exist. That is what we are all searching for.

So the question is, what is the balance with materialism? Well I think it is personal. Every person has there own limits as to what the Lord knows they can handle. Materialism too has its limits as some find themselves stumbling over having material desires more than others. Remember balance. Our ultimate priority is serving the Lord. So if material things are keeping us from this then we need to look at our scale to see what needs to be let go. Taking the time to search my own heart, see what my motives are for the stuff, and seeking truth in scripture and in prayer about what the Lord says about materialism is something we should all individually do. Materialism isn't going anywhere therefore the way we approach it makes a world of difference.

" Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death." Proverbs 11:4