Dont question my fanhood in front of the ladies..

In my previous post I told you that I was about to have to select one of the two main teams in Buenos Aires, River or Boca.  Friday (the 22nd) was my deadline and I chose to pledge my fanhood for the time that I am here to the Boca Juniors.  Despite what many people may think, much thought went into this decision.  I researched both teams, and basically just like Boca's story more...or dislike River's. Boca was started by five Italian immigrants in the heart of the barrio named La Boca.  Boca is said to be the team of the working class in Buenos Aires and its stadium is located in one of the poorer neighborhoods in BA.  On the contrary, River is know as the "millionaires."  Back in the 30's they paid an unheard of sum of gold to "steal" a player from the team in Tigre, which earned them this nickname.  This is sort of ironic because when Lionel Messi (maybe you've heard of him) was up and coming, he had a growth hormone deficiency and River would not sign him because they wouldn't pay for his medical bills.  This is why he plays for Barcelona now, instead of in his home country.  I kind of think of River as the equivalent of the New York Yankees here...and I hate the Yankees.  So these are a few reasons why I chose Boca, in case any of you are interested.  Obviously my affinity to Boca is not that strong but I was literally forced to choose one of these teams so now I am officially a Boca fan.

Highlights

Hello friends!

I realize it's been a while since I have posted and I apologize, but then again if any of you were following my blog when I was in Spain then you probably expected this b/c it dwindled extremely.  It has been a busy past few weeks in several aspects.  I'll touch on some of the important stuff.  

• We now have internet and a refrigerator!  We just recently got them both in the same week (week of the 10-16) and are so excited now and I honestly feel like I'm living like a king now.  It's amazing what you realize you take for granted when you suddenly dont have it anymore.  But now I'm super thankful for both of these things.  
• We (the new STINTers) all finished up our language classes the 15th of October.  This is so great because now we are able to spend a lot more time on campus evangelizing.  Now my schedule is getting more fixed too so I can find times to do other things (like this blog) and if any of you know me then you know that I like to know when I am going to have downtime.  This extra time on campus is not only good because we get to share the gospel more, but it is also good in the fact that we are preparing ourselves to take over the reigns when the old STINTers leave on November 1st.  Two (Kim and Alexis) will be gone for good :(  and two (Cari and Jessica) will return at the beginning of January with the new STINTers (Garrett and Colea). 
• I got a haircut. 
• Our Day with the Lord for this month was the 19th.  For those of you who dont know, we take one day each month to spend completely with the Lord.  You can do whatever it is that you feel like brings you closer to God.  For me, it is being completely alone and being in the Word.  So thats what I did for most of the day and it was great.  Usually I feel closest to God when I'm reading the Bible in nature (i.e. while deer hunting) but because that is not an option here I like to go to the park to read.  However, I did not go to the park this particular day because I was very content with my apartment for some reason.  Anyways, the point of the day is to spend it totally with the Lord and that's what I did.  I also got to listen to some podcasts.  J.D. Shaw, the pastor at Adaton Baptist Church in Starkville, is one of my favorites so I got to catch up on what he is preaching on and also listened to one from Mark Driscoll on the Holy Spirit.  It was a great day and I'm already looking forward to next month's. 
• The Dawgs are 5-2!
• I've been trying out different churches here and I've narrowed it down to two that I really like.  One is called El Madero and one Centro Cristiano Palermo.  They are both great and very similar. El Madero has a Bible study before the actual service each time in which the congregation is broken into small groups and discuss what was supposed to be read for that week.  I really like that aspect of it.  I also like CCP because it is very small and the community there seems great.  It also has an English service (more of a round table discussion seeing as there are only about 10 people there) on Sunday mornings.  I cant decide which one I want to commit to but am praying about it and I'm sure whichever one I choose will really benefit me.
• Speaking of making important decisions, I am about to pledge my fanhood to one of the two main soccer clubs here in Buenos Aires... River Plate, or Boca Juniors.  I do not lie when I say this is an important decision.  The rivalry among these two teams is very heated and so I am making my decision carefully, by reading up on the history of each to have a good reason for picking whichever one.  The date of my decision will be the 22nd of October and I'm lucky they haven't forced me to choose before now.  My director actually called me this morning (the 21st) and said (in Spanish of course), "John, you have a very important decision to make tomorrow."  Not knowing what he was referring to I was kind of frightened at this, especially since the last meeting we had was about some other serious decisions.  He said, "this is YOUR decision and I hope you are praying over it."  Finally I asked him what it was and he said, "You must choose which team your are going to support tomorrow, River or Boca."  Remember he was extremely serious the whole time so this was a very funny phone conversation.  I started laughing and told him I would pray very hard about it and let him know.  I know which one I'm going to choose but havent let anyone else know yet.  I will let you readers know soon enough too, and my reasons for picking whomever.
• The Lord has been teaching me so much over these first six weeks but the biggest thing has been humility and if you have talked to me since I've been here you will probably already know this.  I feel like when I got here I was ready to hit the ground running and get off to a real quick start.  God had some other plans.  He humbled me in many ways, breaking down my pride, ego, and confidence in my own abilities.  He did this through several ways.  I got sick the first day I was here, reminding me that God owns me, all of me, including my stomach.  I also felt helpless in ministry for a while: a) because of the language barrier and b) because of the fact that ministry is different down here.  Not everyone says they believe in God like in Mississippi so the strategy is a little different.  I also was very humbled in the fact that although I am a "leader" of this team, I had little to no idea what was going on.  Essentially, I had to have my hand held by the girls that have been here for a year or two and be shown what to do.  I have no trouble learning from others at all and am so glad that the girls are here to help me adjust and teach me things, but as a guy and a "leader" I felt so inadequate and almost ashamed to have to ask the girls how to do something.  I felt as if I should already know.  I see that this is silly now, because I havent been here near as long as they have, but it really did make me feel inadequate.  So after God stripped me of my pride and confidence in my own abilities, I felt like I could do nothing on my own and was so broken.  I then realized that I COULD do nothing on my own, and this is how it is supposed to be.  I am nothing without God.  Then I HAD to go to him for help and pray everyday for wisdom, and that the Spirit would fill me and guide me throughout the day in my decision making, my language, and everything that I was going to do that day.  Needless to say, there  was a huge change in how I approached things, and my attitude in general.  After being broken down, feeling totally inadequate, and having to ask the Spirit for guidance and to work through me, I started doing so much better.  I realize now that I do nothing on my own but it is the Spirit who is within me that does good and in that I have total confidence.  I am now confident going out and doing ministry, even though my language is well shy of great, even though I am inexperienced, I am realizing that nothing limits the Spirit.  If I rely on myself again, I fully expect failure; but when I ask for the Spirit's help and ask just to be a vessel for God, I know there is nothing that can stand in my way...I mean God's way.    

Well thats about it for now.  Until next time, Peace, Love, and Mississppi State.

JM