This weekend, Vida Estudiantil Buenos Aires hosted the annual CCVN retreat. CCVN is a leadership retreat for students and professional who are involved in the movement here in Argentina. The Gringos were warned that this was going to be an exhausting weekend as there would be many students and various classes and activities; all of which would be in Spanish. Although the first night was a little frustrating because of the language barrier, I had an amazing time this weekend! I absolutely loved getting to know the students more and meeting the other students and staff members from La Plata!

We started the retreat Friday night and by the end of the night I was frustrated. I wanted to befriend everyone the way I knew how in the states. I kept thinking I didn't know what to say or how to say what I wanted to say. This all lead to a frustrated me who ended up not talking much. When I got home Friday night, I recognized that my exhaustion from Spanish overload was a huge contributor to my irritation. I also recognized that I could not befriend anyone with a bummer attitude and it is going to take more than my own efforts to learn this language. However, the truth is no matter what the language, people are people. It is not a science. Love em. Again, I surrendered over my attitude and expectations to the Lord, asking him to fill me with his Spirit, let me relax, and wake up with a new attitude. Saturday was wonderful! Even with a full day of evangelism training, talking with friends, and going out to the park to share the Gospel, all in Spanish, it was wonderful! I wasn't tired and was truly just enjoying it. Praise the Lord.

One thing I still can't get over is when we had worship. In Spanish. It was beautiful. I had never worshiped in another language. It was amazing to think of all the other countries worshiping in their native language. It really put into perspective God's presence in the world. There truly are people all over the world who have experienced the abundant love of God and can not help but worship him. It was a small room but our voices were loud.

The Lord is at work here in Argentina. My team and I can not wait to see the Lord continue to work through out this next year! Last week we were assigned the campus we would be working on all year. It is only fitting that I can happily report I am on the ag campus. :) I am pumped! The men's movement is really flourishing here but the women's side of things is in need of leaders. This year we are asking God to raise up 7 women who are on fire for Christ and have a desire to lead on the campus. We are also praying that someone on one of the political Groups, Nuevo Espacio, would accept Christ. The political groups have a lot of power on campus so think of the effect it could have if such a strong natural leader were to begin following Christ. If you all would please join us in praying for the Ag campus's women's movement and salvation of students, especially from Nuevo Espacio, that would be wonderful! God is big my friends and his work goes beyond where our daily lives lead us. Join me in praying for those around the globe and here in Argentina.

Today I literally found myself laughing out loud (in a good way). Today was my first day on campus doing ministry. The school system is different here than most universities in the states. Here public universities are free. You might think that the education would be bad right? Well it is actually better than private schools (college at least). Furthermore, there is no such thing as dorms here. You only go to campus for classes. The University of Buenos Aires, where we are doing ministry, has several different campuses all through out the city. The campuses are specific for each major - law, medicine, agriculture, philosophy, etc. Most campuses have around 30,000 students.

Ok so knowing this, guess what campus I go to today.

Agronomia. Aka - agriculture. I am stoked. The campus is about 30 minutes from where I am in the city. When I stepped off the bus, I saw pasture. This is not your typical campus. I literally walked for ten minutes next to fences of horse, llamas, goats, and ducks. One horse had a buzz cut! No mane. There were maybe 3 buildings that semi looked like classes could be help there. As I was walking around I literally said "I can not wait to take pictures of this". I loved it. It just made me laugh. It was not at all what I was expecting.

As for actual ministry, Morgan and I were able to do solarium with one girl. There is a lot of spiritual activity on this campus which is really neat to see. Most all of the "gen-ed" classes have to be taken on this campus so we get to interact with students that will eventually go to the medicine, law, etc campuses. That is really neat because then the other stinters working on the other campuses meet students who have already had seeds planted. I was told several great stories of how Cru was granted favor on other campuses because of the work on the ag campus.

Hopefully some of this makes since. I just thought me on the ag campus was worth sharing but I really need pictures to accompany this so you can somewhat picture this. I will work on getting pictures up soon!

HOLA!

Tomorrow marks the one week mark in BA (Buenos Aires)! Que lindo! (How great) My mind is constantly in Spanish mode even after such a short period of time. Before I got here, I was told that a lot of sleep was going to be necessary because it is exhausting translating from spanish to english back into spanish. I will attest to this statement - it is truth my friends. Exhausted would be correct. However, I love it! I love the fact that I am actually getting to use Spanish on a daily basis and will one day be good at this language! This might be a good time to mention that my host mom, Inez, does not speak a lick of English. We communicate though and it is great! She tells me all the time to relax and it is not important if I don't understand.

Inez is precious! She is the cutest little thing. She is 72 so she is kind of like my argentine grandma. We live on a really busy street - 6 lanes or 8 if you count the area where cars park/ the crazy drivers here drive in anyway. Seriously, I was warned by Mrs. Uhlig that when you are riding in a car here you would cross your fingers and say ," Lord if this is my time.." and it is true. It is as if the big white lines in the street do not even exist. It cracks me up. I was in a taxi the other night and could not help but laugh and think of Mrs Uhlig. And I am not sure if this is true but so far I have not seen a speed limit sign...

Continuing on the subject of cultural differences, here is a list of the things I have noticed so far:

• They love bread. Bread is a staple at every meal. I swear I do not understand how they are all so small because they eat bread like it was going out of style. Although I would not be able to pass up the bread either when you pass by a bakery in the morning. Smells wonderful. One look in the window of the bakery and you want in.
• Currently it is spring which means shorts in America. Not here. They are still rocking the boots and coats thinking it is cold.
• O I like this one - Bidets. I had never seen one before so when I had my first tour of the house I asked Inez what it was. Our apartment is pretty small mind you - think New York - so why you would waste space with such an object I do not know. I probably don't want to know.
• Turkey is an unknown meat here. There is no such thing. Ham, ham, ham, steak, salami.
• Dog poop=EVERYWHERE. If you dream of being a professional dog walker, this is the place for you! Seriously I have seen so many! As many as 10 dogs at once. I saw a man this morning with a belt on for dog leashes. Priceless. I thought that only existed in the movies.
• On the outsides of the windows there are these cool dark wooden blinds. From the street it gives a really neat look.
• Garages are super neat! Most everyone lives in a apartment here. There is one garage door and a pole with a green and red light on it. When the light turns red, a loud beeping sound warns pedestrians to stop on the sidewalk because a car is about to come out. All the cars for that apartment are kept underground. They just go right over the sidewalk and onto the street.
• It is very italian based. Pizza, ravioli, lasagna, gnocchi, etc. Also, green olives seem to be big. Every slice of pizza has a giant green olive in the middle of it... The spanish they use here, Castillano, has a lot of Italian influences. Chau, buenisimo, etc.
• Everything takes a lot longer here. Lines exist but not everywhere. And where there is a line, it usually moves really slow. Earlier this week when we were trying to set up our phone plans, we went into the same store three days in a row, twice a day for at least an hour and half each time.
• Do not, I repeat, DO NOT cross the street when the pedestrian sign says stop! Buses and cars will literally run you down. There is no concept here of pedestrians having the right of way. They do not stop.
• When I went into the supermercado (super market) I had to get my backpack zip tied while I was shopping. I might add I forgot to take out my wallet before hand... dummy.

Ahh there is so much I don't even know what else. Plus this post has already become pretty long. We have all year though right? haha. right.

This week has really just been a week of me settling in. I started classes on Tuesday and it is going well. (Did you know public universities are free here?! But hard to get into.) My stint team came on Wednesday. They are wonderful! Looking forward to spending the year with them. There are so many things I could go into but I will spare you from reading a novel. I had been trying to blog all week but was having issues logging on. Now that it finally worked I am unleashing the thoughts I had been storing up.

Tune in next week! This could get interesting my friends! As they say here - Chau! (Cha-ow)