BASP '09!

All the Clemson people on BASP in the Plaza de Mayo, a very historical spot in front of the Casa Rosada! (aka Argentina's White House)

Mariela and I enjoying delicious smoothies and milkshakes!

Hey everyone! I hope this very-late post finds you well and enjoying the nice warm South Carolina summer while I suffer in this 40 degree rainy winter weather! (Haha, look back a few posts and you can see I warned you this was coming!) Well, I've been pretty busy lately with all of my professors piling on the work at the VERY LAST MINUTE (this obviously is a favorite pasttime of professors all around the world) so I haven't been doing much lately except attempting to keep my head above water (or above the pile of projects and papers)! However, this last weekend was a WONDERFUL break from it all when I got to go to Buenos Aires once more and visit the Buenos Aires Summer Project (BASP) '09! There are 7 people in BA from Clemson this year and 3 in La Plata! I was the only Clemson Tiger in BA last summer and there were none in La Plata, so the number of Tigers in Argentina this year is really exciting for me!

I even had the opportunity to stay with Mariela, an argentine friend I made last summer, and her family for free! God really worked it all out because, since I was staying with her, I just brought her with me to the weekly Crusade meeting and introduced her to all of my friends on project this year! I'm praying God will do some amazing things as the girls on SP this year build a relationship with her! :)

I stayed really busy the whole weekend! While I was with SP, I got to go to the weekly Crusade meeting (which has grown a lot since last year, praise the Lord!), go on a tour of BA with the team, stop by the local Starbucks with some Clemson girlfriends (last year during project they built the first Starbucks in BA, now there's 10! It's gonna be like the US soon with one on every corner!), go to the STINTers' church Sunday night with the team (I'll explain what STINT is in a sec), and even go to the SP bible study led by my Bible study leader in Clemson! She and another staff guy from Clemson are the directors of the BA project. Also, with Mariela, I got to go on a tour of the Pink House (aka Argentina's White House, except the President doesn't live there), go out with some of her friends, have dinner with her family and friends to celebrate her birthday, have a picnic lunch for her birthday on her campus (the Ag campus--where I did ministry last summer), and do some serious shopping! Sometime during the weekend, I got a little sick because I wasn't getting enough sleep, and I'm still battling a cold, so please pray I'll get over it soon!

So, now, the DL on STINT:

STINT team stands for Short Term International team, which basically is one of the levels of leadership that exists in the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ International. In each country where there is a Crusade movement, there are national staff (people who are from there, live there, and head up the movement) and then there are STINT teams. Usually, the STINT teams are made up of 3 to 6 recent college graduates from the States who raise their own support and commit 1 to 2 years of there lives to help the Crusade ministry in another country around the world. For example, in BA there are 6 STINTers: All of them are 07 graduates--three from NC State, two from UNC, and one from USC. They basically just help out the national staff run and grow the movement by starting up and maintaining English clubs on different college campuses, going out to the campuses to talk with students about Christ, organize the weekly meetings, do outreaches, etc. The reason I'm telling you all this is because I'm considering this after graduating from Clemson. Nothing is for sure of course, but I've just been immensely blessed with so many spiritual mentors in my life and I feel like giving my life 100% to the mission field for at least a year or two after graduation would be a great way to show my appreciation for those gifts, if God so calls me. Again, no one freak out, haha because this is still something I'm just considering and praying about, but I just wanted to let you all know so you can keep me in your prayers as well.

Well, thanks for reading and I'll see you all in 1 month and 2 days!!