I could have told you this would happen

To the three people out there who actually follow this blog, I am sorry for the absence, but like the title of this post reads, "I could have told you this would happen."  In fact, I think I did mention it in one of my earlier posts.  It's not that I don't have interesting things to say or time to say them, it's just that the idea of putting my thoughts and/or experiences into words on the internet doesn't thrill me in the slightest.  But nonetheless, here is another post (or brief summary) of what has gone on in the past few months.

STAFF RETREAT

A staff retreat for all of the Campus Crusade staff in Argentina was held in Cordoba for a week, beginning on the 27th of December.  It was truly a great time to get to know "the others" (any Lost fans out there?) and learn about the other movements around the country.  During this week the staff all took a brief seminary course...in spanish obviously.  I can't say that I understood all of this, but I did understand some of it.  But I don't know that I would've understood all of it even if it had been in English honestly.  It was a great week and very encouraging to meet leaders in Christ from around the country.

SUMMER CAMP

The following week (Jan 3 - Jan 9) we held our annual camp.  It was at the same place that the retreat was so that was very convenient.  This is a camp for believers in the universities (and there is a high school part too) to come together and learn more about how to have an impact in their area of influence.  This was such a great time!   I met so many people from around Argentina and other countries that are passionate about sharing their faith and being soldiers for Christ.  There were about 300 students there in total.  In the middle of the week, we put our desires into practice and went out into the communities and did door to door evangelism.  Over 120 people accepted Christ the day we did that!  This camp was such a blessing for me.  To compare it to something in the States, I would have to say it is like a mini CCC Christmas conference, but a week long.

MAPUCHE PROJECT

Proyecto Mapuche is something that Vida Estudiantil Argentina has been doing the last few years in which we send people to different communities of Mapuche Indians to live there for 2 weeks and spread the gospel.  I got placed on a team of 8 in Lago Rosario.  This was my favorite thing  that I have done down here so far!  The community that we stayed in was such a gorgeous place; a lake, at the foot of the Patagonia Andes mountains, where lived solely the Mapuche Indian people.   This was great for me not only in the fact of bringing the gospel to people who needed to hear it, but to be out of the city and in nature really recharged me.  The city definitely takes its toll on me daily and this was something that I really needed.  Not to mention the fact that my team was amazing!

VACATION

After being in intense environments for the month of January, we had a much needed vacation.  We (myself, Tiffany, Katie, Garrett) took this time to travel to the south of Argentina.  We went to the cities of Calafate and Ushuaia.  I can't begin to put into words the beauty that these places beheld, you would just have to google search them yourself, or look on my facebook album.  This vacation was truly extraordinary.  What made the vacation even more special was the fact that one of my friends, Glenn, got to come with us.  He had some vacation time and money saved up from his job and decided to spend it down here with me.  It was great!

PLANNING AND PARENTS

After vacation was over we were back planning for the school year to come.  We would be in the headquarters 4 days a week looking at strategies, planning events, pursuing contacts, etc.  This was kind of a flexible time however, so my parents got to come visit me!  My boss Charly was kind enough to let me skip out on some of the "less necessary" meetings and spend time with them and it was such a blessing to have them here and show them my life down here.  I think they enjoyed it just as much as I did!

CAMPUS

Campus time has started back up now and it is great to be back.  I really love going to the agronomy campus and have made a lot of contacts there.  We are blessed to be in good standing with the administration and the main political party on campus.  Sometime it is hard for us to have a time of prayer before we begin our day because people we know always want to come talk to us, but I think this is a good problem to have.  We are praying for a few things on the agronomy campus this year that we would like to see:

-that the student Christians that we know would step up and start sharing their faith with us
-that God would raise up 7 student Christian leaders on campus this year to sustain the movement
-that someone in the political group "Nuevo Espacio" would come to Christ (they have a lot of influence on campus)
-that an administrator (Tano, Damien, or Esteban) would come to know Christ

If yall could pray for these things as well, that would be awesome.  I hope these things happen this year as it would be great to see fruit, but I know that as long as I keep sewing the seed that is all I can do.




Well that is a brief (very brief) summary of what has been going on down here in the southern hemisphere.  I hope all is well in the States.

Until next time (who knows when that will be!),
JM

Hace tiempo

Hello friends.  Yes I know that it has been a long time since I have updated this blog so here is a quick update on what I've been up to these past few weeks and what is in store for the weeks to come.

The week after the Tigre trip is the week that classes officially ended in the universities and exams started (the week of November 19th).  Henceforth that was my last full week on campus here until school starts back up again in late February.  Because I will not be on campus for a while I am now working in our headquarters (called the sede) doing whatever needs to be done, and believe me there is plenty.  Before I get to that, let me tell you about how we celebrated Thanksgiving down here.

Thanksgiving here in Argentina was great.  We STINTers decided to invite a lot of our Argentine friends/contacts over to the girls apartment and cook a traditional Thanksgiving meal for everyone.  Originally, we decided to buy chickens instead of turkey because we didn't think we would be able to find a turkey.  However, we did end up finding a turkey the day before so we did chicken and turkey.  We started cooking Wednesday night and cooked all day Thursday as well.  We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade on the internet as we cooked.  We also had sweet potato casserole, sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, green bean casserole, mac and cheese, dressing (or stuffing), baked apples, and brownies.  We had about 25 people there and it was more than enough food.  We are really building some great relationships with the Argentines and are learning how important relationships are to them.  I feel like this Thanksgiving dinner was a great ministry.  After celebrating in BA on Thanksgiving Day, we went to La Plata to celebrate with a fellow STINT team for the weekend.  It was great to be with other "gringos" and share how the Lord has been working in each of our cities and all that we were Thankful for.

Since then, like I said, I have been working in our sede doing whatever needs to be done.  This time of year is very busy because we are preparing things for our annual summer camp.  This is not a camp for children, but it is a camp for college aged kids.  Specifically for believers who want to learn how to have a better relationship with Christ, how to make disciples, how to make a difference in their area of influence, and/or how to share their faith.  People from all over South America come and I am super excited for it.  However, as you can imagine, there is plenty of work to be done to prepare for this so that is basically what I am doing now.  This includes everything from going and speaking at churches to promote camp, to making the actual decorations for it.  Basically anything our boss (Charly) tells us to do, is what we are doing right now.  This will continue until we get off for Christmas (not sure exactly when that will be yet).

After Christmas, on Christmas night in fact, we are headed to Cordoba, Argentina for a staff retreat which begins on the 26th.  This will include most all of the CCC staff in Argentina.  That will last until the 31st and we will have 2 days off until camp starts on the 3rd.  Camp is in Cordoba as well.  Camp will last from the 3rd to the 9th.  After camp we are off to the Patagonia region of Argentina for our yearly project with the Mapuche people.  The Mapuche are an indigenous tribe of people in Argentina who inhabit about 46 communities.  One of the communities has running water.  We will be with them for 12 days doing miscellaneous things for them.  This could include building things, bringing them donated clothes, etc.  There will also be doctors and orthodontists with us to help them with their medical needs.  Most importantly, we will be bringing the Gospel to them.  I am very excited about this trip.  After staff retreat, camp, and the Mapuche project, we will have a much needed vacation period.

Well that is basically what I've been up to and what I will be up to for the next few weeks.  I hope I can post another update on the things that are going on down here before I leave for Cordoba, but if not, be on the lookout for updates on all that goes on after I return.

The wonderful thing about Tigre, is that Tigre's a wonderful thing...

The team that went

During the weekend of the 12th -14th Vida Estudiantil sponsored a service project trip to a place called Tigre.  Tigre is a town based on the edge of the river delta of the Río Paraná.  It is a maze of tributaries  which makes a lot of islands and perfectly preserved wilderness.  In fact, the only way to get around, and to and from town, is by boat.  Boats bring groceries up and down the river and shuttle people to and from town about 6 times a day.  The team that went to Tigre consisted of us STINTers (Katie, Tiffany, Ben and I),  some Argentine students, and some of the Argentine leaders in our movement.  In all there were about 15 people that went and it was such a great time.

Our project consisted of painting an elementary school in one of the islands and we also brought clothes that we had collected for the children.  This community is very poor and the kids that attend this school do not have much at all.  In fact sometimes, the only meal they get is at the school, so it was great to get to help them in whatever way we could.  Not only was this trip great because we got to help the less fortunate, but it was great for me because it was a much needed escape from the city.  To get to the school it took about 3 and a half hours in a boat going at a little over no-wake speed.  This may sound miserable to some, and it was to some of the people with us, but this was honestly my favorite part of the trip.  I had been missing nature a lot since being in the city so this was perfect for me.  The weather was nice too, so just cruising in the boat and looking at undisturbed, perfect nature was awesome.

Learning Truco

View from the boat

  When we arrived at the school we immediately got to work scraping and painting.  We took a break around dinner time and realized that we had actually forgotten some of the food we were supposed to bring.  Because the only food comes by boat the next day, I immediately started thinking how it was deer season in the States and if I only had my rifle... unfortunately I didn´t.  No worries though, because everything worked out in the end.  We had to take a little bit smaller rations than normal, but everyone had more than enough.  After dinner, my friend Richard and I braved the river and went for a little swim.  I figured it couldn´t be any worse than the Tallahatchie, and I´ve swam in it a couple of times.  After that we played a few team building games, had a devotion and were free until we wanted to go to bed.  I ended up learning a typical Argentine card game called truco (trick), which my friends Richard, Maru, and Osvaldo taught me. 

Drinking mate taking a break

One of the shuttle boats

 The next day we got up really early and finished the job, making sure to catch our boat back in to town at 2.  Then another 3 and a half hour boat ride (which I thoroughly enjoyed again) and we were back at the train station, ready to head back into BA.  It was such a great weekend and a real blessing to be helping others and be in nature too.  I really hope the new paint job puts a smile on the kid´s faces and that they enjoy the clothes as well.  




JM

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

Ahoy Mate!

Let me take a minute and tell all of you about one of my favorite things in this country...mate.  Mate (pronounced MAH-tay) is a drink sort of similar to tea.  It is a very social drink (not alcoholic, for all you baptists who just gasped) and almost always is included when friends get together.  It is served in a gourd usually, which is called the mate.  The actual leaves are called yerba (SHER-ba), meaning herb.  So the full term is yerba mate, but is usually shortened to mate.  You drink it with a straw, called a bombilla (bome-BEESH-a).
This is how it usually goes down, germ freaks beware.  There is one gourd, one bombilla, and one server.  The server pours the yerba into the mate, shakes it a few times to get the dust out, places the bombilla in the yerba and down to the bottom of the mate, then pours a few drops of very hot water onto the yerba until it becomes saturated.  The server then sips it down.  The server always takes the first "hit" of the mate because it is the strongest.  He then pours more water on the yerba and passes it to the next person and they sip it down.  When they are finished they give it back to the server and he pours more water on it and hands it to the next person.  This goes on until everyone has had their fill of mate, or until the leaves lose their flavor.  You can also add a sprinkle of sugar on the yerba before you add the hot water each time, but I prefer it without.  In summer months, it is made with cold juice (or what they call juice...more like tang really).
This drink was made popular by the poor people in Argentina because it has appetite suppressants in it so they would drink it when they were hungry.  It also has stimulants in it, the main one being caffeine (cafeina), but in mate is called mateina.  The coolest thing to me about this is the fact that EVERYONE takes it EVERYWHERE.  Anytime I am on campus, at a park, or just out, there are always groups of friends sitting around drinking mate.  I'd say about 8 out of 10 students always have a thermos on them.  It seems as if having mate on you is as much of a necessity as clothes themselves...or maybe more so considering the lack of clothing on some people.  Anyways, I definitely plan on bringing the tradition of mate back to the states with me.  So my friends who are terrified of drinking after people (I am not going to name names, but you know who you are) will just have to get over it and experience the delightfulness that is mate.

JM

Meet my Stint team

Ben...pondering

Ben Anderson-  A first year STINTer, Ben is a graduate from East Carolina University where he got his undergrad in chemistry, and master's in economics.  By the end of our time as roommates together, I feel like I will know more about ECU football than 80% of it's graduates.

Teeefany

KatieKat

Tiffany Holland-  Tiff, also a rookie, went to UT Martin and got her degree in Music and Psychology.  She got her master's from Middle Tennessee State.  She also spent some time as a professional Telephone Pictionary player. 

Katie Williamson-  Katie is from Niceville, FL and went to Florida State.  She majored in Spanish there with an emphasis in funny youtube videos.  This is also Katie's first year to STINT. 

Did I mention Jessica could grow a mean 'stache?

Jessica Ward-  Jessica went to North Carolina State and majored in Math Education.  She will be returning for a second year this year and I will be leading alongside her.  I have been dubbed as the guy version of her...seeing as she is awesome/hilarious, I'll take it. 

Cari

Cari Walsh-  Cari is a Clemson grad and will be returning for a second STINT year this year.  Her spanish is crazy good and she has a secret dreadlock, which is awesome.  We also share a passion for the Office.  

Oh, hey Garrett

Garrett Bounds-  Garrett will finish up his degree in Mechanical Engineering at Clemson in December.   He truly bleeds Clemson orange and I am excited to see how the mix of Maroon, Orange, and Purple will light up our apartment. He will be joining the team in early January and I anxiously await his arrival.  

Colea

Colea Henderson-  Colea is finishing up at UNC Greensboro this fall in Instrumental Music Education and will be "climbin through our windows" (inside joke) with Garrett in early January.  This semester she is student teaching so lets keep her in our prayers. 

Delicate

Kimberly White-  Kim, or "delicate" as I have recently christened her, is a graduate of South Carolina and got a degree in Exercise Science.  She will finish up her 2nd year this year and head back to the States on November 1st.  She will be sorely missed. 

Alexis

Alexis Joffe-  Alexis is  a graduate of North Carolina where she got her degree in Journalism and Mass Communication.  Because she is a journalism major, I am self-conscious about writing this for fear that she will find mistakes in it...not that she would say anything.  She is also finishing up her 2nd year in BA leaves us with big shoes to fill.




Welp, there is my team.  I hope this gives you a little preview as to who they are, but just so you know, they are all great.  Thanks for reading and  more to come soon.

JM