Charata

We arrived safely to Charata on Wednesday -- however, the trip took longer than expected. Due to a thick fog which covered a great part of northern Argentina, many of the buses were stopped en route and had to wait until the fog cleared. Thus, we arrived at 3pm, instead of 11.30am as planned.

We had the interesting experience of crossing over the Paraguay-Argentina border in the middle of the night. There was much more security than when we entered Paraguay -- at the border all of our suitcases had to be passed thru a scanner, etc. We were stopped numerous times by different customs officials even after we had crossed into Argentina -- this is normal but was a bit weird. The officials get on the bus, and at times ask you to open your carry on items etc. At one point I woke up from my sleep to see them asking Estith to get off the bus. When he got off, he saw that all of our suitcases had been taken off of the bus by the officials and it appeared that they had already opened them and inspected them. However, they made Estith open them again and asked him various questions -- probably because we had more suitcases than anybody else on the bus and were clearly foreigners! The crazy part was that Captain Fernandez had asked us to take some cans of powdered milk to her mother who is the Major here in Charata. So we had 5 big cans of powdered milk in the team bag with the crafts and supplies. Estith had to explain that we were working with children and the milk was for them. Just to be sure, the officials actually opened one of the cans, stuck their finger in and tasted the powder to make sure it was milk! It was of course milk, and the officials allowed Estith to get back on the bus. Everything was just fine, but it is a bit scary to see your husband getting off of the bus in the middle of the night!


At any rate, upon arrival in Charata we found that the people at the church (El Templo La Hermosa) had already gotten started painting the roof of the church. Wednesday was a national holiday so many people had the day off and there were lots of people working. We shared a meal with the people and then got to work sanding and painting along with them. We spent all day yesterday doing the same. We finished last evening and the church really looks nice, both on the inside and the outside. It was nice getting to work alongside the people of the community --it´s obvious that they really care about their church and are more than willing to invest their time in its upkeep. The Major was very pleased with the finished project.

Also, on another note, we became famous yesterday! Haha A reporter from the local TV station came and interviewed us. We did a live radio interview. And a newspaper reporter came and got some quotes and pictures of us. The TV broadcast was on yesterday at noon and again in the evening. The newspaper article comes out on Sunday and will be distributed across the Chaco province! So we´ll be able to buy it in the next town we´re going to, Resistencia! it was crazy because we´ve only been here such a short time for them to intervies us-- but it was neat because we got to talk about Hands On and it´s mission, why we are here, etc!

The Army here has a Clinic, school, and of course the temple as well. They will open a technical school in another month or so, and this is where we are all staying right now. The Major´s husband passed away only a few months ago, and only a year before they were supposed to retire. So the Major is left to run all of these programs on here own. It´s too much for 1 person, but luckily there are quite a few employees who are members of the church and work very hard. We eat all of our meals together with this great team of people. They are so kind and wish we could stay longer. Our stay here is very short -- we will be leaving Saturday at 2am, which means we´ll only be here for about 2 and a half days! But I´m very glad we came, even if it was such a short visit!

Today we did a program at the school which the Army has here. Apparently the school has had problems with the students behavior -- they are often disrespectful and disobedient, so they asked us to prepare a program that dealt with those issues. So we taught a few songs, a prayer in both Spanish and english, and did an interactive drama about Jonah and what happened as a result of his disobedience to God. The kids were great and really enjoyed it. We did the program twice in the morning and once this afternoon. Today we also got a little tour of the city. The Army has a whole neighborhood here -- it´s called Barrio Ulm, and it´s named after a city in Germany that founded the neighborhood. A pastor came from Germany and developed this community and later turned it over to the Army. It´s very nice, adn the people of Ulm, Germany continue to help support the development of this community. Many places are named for the German pastor who began the community and he still comes to visit every year adn sends people from Germany to help out as well.

Tonight we are going to be having Home League, a Children´s Meeting (which they call Hora Feliz or Happy Hour which sounds so strange to all of us!), and then later the men of the church will join us as well. this all starts at 6pm, dinner is thrown in probably around 9pm, and the night goes on until 11pm or later. We are going to play games with the people as well as share the word, testimonies and our dramas, dances and songs. We have a lot of time so they said they want to see everything that we have! It sounds like it´s going to be a lot of fun! Then, there is a man Enrique who is a dance professor here. He knows all of the typical folkloric dances of the gauchos of Argentina. He is going to perform along with his students! I´m so excited to see it! Then at 2am, we will head over to the bus station to catch our overnight bus to Resistencia where we will be for 1 week. So it will be an action-packed and exhausting evening! But it´s exciting to be able to share with all the members of the community! I guess this is a typical Friday for them. They always get together to eat, play and hear the Word -- it´s a very tight knit community.

An interesting fact -- the city, Charata, is named after a bird that lives around here. When it sings, it makes a sound like ¨charatacharata¨

Thank you for your continued prayers adn support! We are so thankful for them. Please continue to pray for our health as we have continued to struggle with colds and stomach issues -- some of us are on our second bout with the above issues, and this can be VERY discouraging. It´s very dry here which makes dehydration a threat, and so I think that has contributed to some of the stomach problems. So I´m trying to push everyone (myself included) to keep hydrated adn drink those fluids! All in all though, the spirit of the team continues to remain high and we press on to fulfill our mission with joy as faithful soldiers of Christ! May God bless each of you! We will do our best to post again when we arrive in Resistencia!

In Him,

Lindsay