Parque Carpenter and Bus Ride

After our five and half hour lay over in Georgia, we finally boarded our flight to Argentina. The flight was mostly uneventful and lasted 9 hours. At customs our bag of materials for vacation bible school was almost confiscated. After a brief interrogation they decided foam materials and construction paper weren´t going to do their country any harm. We were met at the Airport in Buenos Aires by Captain Willie de Jesus. And immediately went to the Salvation Army´s Parque Carpenter. We shared a room with a team of 5 girls from the Western Territoy who were going to southern Argentina for their missions trip this summer. After settling in, we prepared for our first open air (inside) with the Western Team. We went to Del Viso, a brand new corps where we met Majors Ramos. It was a very powerful experience. Ashley gave her testimony, Lily and Leilani sang a duet, all of us did a choreodrama, we did a dance, and Estith gave the message. There was a group of young boys at the meeting who the Major told us were gang members. When he first arrived at the church, he would find them sitting on the front steps drinking coke mixed with alcohol. Slowly he has developed relationships with them and it was really nice to share the gospel with them.

The next morning we did some handy work. We sanded down rusty doorways and repainted them. After that we had lunch with the Territorial Commanders, Colonels Nuesch. The Majors Villaroel took great care of us at Parque Carpenter and we were very well fed.

That afternoon we left on an overnight bus for Asuncion, Paraguay. It was an 18 hour bus ride with comfy seats that folded into beds, stewards with good food, and aVERY small bathroom. Lily was traumatized by the bathroom experience. She came out yelling down the aisle that her arms touched the walls. At 9 am we walked across the Argentina-Paraguay border where we reloaded the bus and continued our journey.

As you can see we have been traveling a lot which is why we haven´t been able to update the blog until now. Stay tuned for pictures and Paraguay updates.