Turning the page...

The whole group at Ekklesia!

The whole group of Clemson students and our professors at the cabin

The Clemson sign we made from the part of a tree tunk to leave in the cabin, with all the others made by other groups who have stayed there. Look at how perfect the holes were for the tiger paw!

Holly, Meghan, and I with our favorite prof--Cande (love her)

In the cabin--I'm so glad Holly goes to Clemson :)

I can't believe I'm really writing my very last blog! When I look back at my first post, it seems like I started this whole journey ages ago! But at the same time, I can't believe it's over because it's flown by so quickly! I'm so excited to see all of you again and catch up soon! I'm gonna miss everyone here SO much though.

So, as of Thursday night, I am completely done with classes and I got all As! Yay! Praise Jesus! Now, I just have to write a 10-page paper in Spanish about my experience here for a 3-hr class credit in Clemson :P

Let's see, what's been going on lately: This past Friday, all the Clemson students and our professors spent the night in a cabin in a nearby town and, there, the students presented their expositions, which is combined with the 10-page paper to make up the grade for the 3-hr class credit. It was SO much fun! We talked, laughed, and cried as we said goodbye. Our teachers have meant so much to our lives here--I'm gonna miss them so much. It was so cool, because in the expositions, our group touched on every type of art: I acted, Kevan wrote and sang a song (hilarious!), Holly wrote and read a story, Anna made a piece of art (out of the bottom half of an old door...incredible), and Jack drew cartoons of the things here he's gonna miss. Plus, Jess and Chip did things with technology: Jess made a website promoting this study abroad program (it's amazing, check it out: http://www.tyiko.com/) and Chip made a video to promote the program as well--he's really good with that kind of stuff. Everyone did such a good job!

For my exposition, I acted like I was waiting for a colectivo (the public bus transportation here) and talking to a person at the bus stop about my experience here. As I searched in my bag for a bus coin, I pulled out things that reminded me of different parts of the trip, talked about them, and what I learned through the experience--all in Spanish! Everyone laughed at my jokes (whew!) and I had a great time with it! Doing forensics (speech and debate) in high school finally paid off! :) We had a delicious asado and stayed up until 4:30AM (all the professors too!) singing Argentine folklore songs we learned in our culture class and playing bongos and guitars!

Saturday I went to the Paseo de las Artes (the local art fair--incredible stuff) for the last time and picked up the last of my gifts, then headed over to my last Ekklesia--the Bible study I go to with Commission International, a missions organization here. After the Bible study we ordered empanadas (like always) then headed over to an awesome place called "Un Lugar", which means "A Place"--pretty vague, huh? There's absolutely NO sign or anything on the front to show that inside is a bar, so you have to already know it's there--so piola! (aka, cool) We stayed there until 4:30AM (very normal haha), talking, laughing, and making jokes, like we always do! The group is having a goodbye party for Kevan and I Friday, so I'll get to see all of them one last time--man, I'm gonna miss them so much.

Yesterday was sort of a bummer because two nights ago I stayed up ALL night making 50 CDs of a slideshow (with music, pics, and videos) that my friend Meghan and I made (it's 30 minutes long!) to give to everyone in our group, and when I gave them out and people tried them, none of them worked. The two of us spent $30 USD each on everything, so it wasn't a huge loss in money, but it was still so disappointing. We fixed the problem now, and I'm gonna try to get the slideshow to as many people as I can tonight at a birthday party! :) I don't want our time and hard work to go to waste! It's tough though because a lot of the students left last night, so that's why yesterday we all got together and watched it...at least we were able to show it to the group, because we hooked up my laptop for the presentation. Pray we figure out how to get it on facebook, youtube, or a blog so everyone can see it and share it with their families around the world! It's really great! If you want to see it after I get back, let me know!

Well, I guess the only thing left to say is keep praying for me as I wrap up this week with my friends and family and that I'll be a shining light for Christ as we say our goodbyes. This morning I was able to talk about marriage with my sister here who's pregnant and is planning on living with her boyfriend in the apartment that I live in now (it's off to the side of the family's house). I got to give her a pamplet from my US mom that's in Spanish about how living together is not a good idea and why marriage is more than just "a piece of paper". Pray she'll read it and want to talk to me about it later this week. Also, tomorrow night, my church Bible study is having a goodbye party for me and all 3 of my sisters are coming too! We're gonna watch Fireproof (if you haven't seen it, you need to!), which gives a clear presentation of the Gospel. Pray the hearts of my sisters will be open to the truth of the message. I love all of you so much and I really appreciate all of you who have kept up with my blog and have prayed me through this journey in my life. I'll be flying home alone (pray about that!) this Sunday and my flight from Córdoba leaves at 4:30am! Again, I love you all and I'll see you soon! Hasta pronto!

Pics!

All of the Clemson students who are in the Geography class together plus one of our Argentine friends from that class (the one girl who's not dressed up)

Jessica and I at the goodbye party/tango presentation

Our delicious breakfast of bread, jam, coffee, and juice that was delivered to our room each morning at the lodge where we stayed during our trip to the Northwest of Argentina...us girls were pretty stoked about this benefit at the lodge :)

One night at dinner

Chillin at the lodge...such a tough life...

The lodge...SOOO beautiful

Yeah, we took a bus up this high...we got pretty close to the cliffs a few times...pretty scary

At the salt mine (salina)!

In front of one of the many colorful mountains

Two weeks and some change

Hey everyone! Can you believe I'll be home in 2 weeks and a few days?? Crazy!! I can't wait to see everyone and catch up! I seriously cannot believe I've been gone for 5 months...it seems more like 5 weeks! This time has flown by and now it's almost gone. I'm going to miss my friends and family here so much. But it'll be nice to get back to warm weather! :)

Well, recently I've just been busy wrapping up all my classes and getting ready for our before-finals-tests that are this week! I have a presentation tomorrow, an exam Wednesday, another exam Thursday, and two quizzes next Thursday! After that, I'm home free! Well, except for the portfolio I have to make about my trip for a 3-hour class credit at Clemson! It shouldn't be too hard! It's basically an easy A for a 3-hour independent study class! I'm up for that!

The weekend before last, I went to the Saturday night Bible study (amazing, as always) with Commission International (headed up by the Fulfer family), spent time with the international students at a friend's house, and then went downtown with some Argentine friends. There, I met the new exchange students at UBP who are here for only 5 weeks. So little! I'm really glad I came for longer! I know after 5 weeks here, I still had A LOT to learn! It is really strange to hear English being spoken on campus by these new students tho! :) Now our group can't mumble things to each other in English without worrying about anyone around us understanding! Haha, joking, joking...

Nothing really exciting happens during the weeks here so I'll skip to the next weekend :)

This past Saturday we had our long-awaited tango presentation for all of the other exchange students, professors, and Argentine families. My family couldn't come, but most of the other students' families could. The presentation went really well. It was part of a huge goodbye party for us, even though we still had 3 more weeks! We ate locro (not my fav) and empanadas (my fav), sang songs and danced dances that we learned in our Culture class, and some of the students played drums that they made themselves this semester! Everyone in the tango presentation had to wear all black and white, so all the girls had their nice black dresses on and the guys had the "white-dress-shirt/black-slacks" look going on.

Check out the video of us dancing at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcV-TPdVMac

After the goodbye party, I went to the Saturday Bible study but it was especially exciting this week because was at a new location--the house the Fulfers are renting as a bi-lingual house for exchange and Argentine students studying in Córdoba! Right now, Leigh and Tim, two college students from the States, are living there and helping the Fulfer's out in their mission efforts for 2 months! When in the States, the Fulfers advertise this opportunity at Christian conferences for college students and they've had several kids come help them out over the 3 years they've been here. Another guy who's come the past two summers, Kevin, will be here in a couple weeks. Both Kevin and Tim go to North Greenville, so we have a lot of friends in common! Leigh is from Texas A&M and really has a heart for missions--she's really sweet :) The house is awesome though! It's huge and really old with so much character! It's one of those places that makes you want to take a lot of artsy photos--at least it did that for me :) After talking with Leigh and Tim for a while, we had Ekklesia, the name for the Bible study, and then we ate an asado until 1am! From there, a group of 9 guys and 4 girls went to Caserrato for some delicious ice cream and we ate there and talked until 3:30am! Only in Argentina can you hang out in an ice cream shop until 4 in the morning with no problems! I know in Greenville, my friends and I are always ticked that Starbucks on Woodruff Rd. kicks everyone out around 10 or 11...that's never a problem here!

Then, yesterday I went to church, heard a great sermon by Pastor Sam, and hung out with Laura, the Fulfers, Tim, and Leigh a little more! When I got home, I got the huge blessing of being able to talk a little about spiritual things with my family because my mom just got back from a Logosophy conference. She mentioned how one of the things she learned was that we need to examine all of our thoughts and actions to see the motive we have behind them. I piped in and said that this idea is in the Bible--as Christians we're commanded to "take every thought captive"! We also talked a little about homosexuality and how God loves the person, but hates the sin. I talked about how it's just like any other sin, but we as humans dismiss these other sins as "not as bad". For example, God looks at a person who gossips all the time the same way. Whether it's a gossiper or a homosexual, we as Christians should love them completely just as God does, however, we should not condone the sin they are living in. Please pray that spiritual topics will come up again in the conversations I have with my family these last two weeks.

A few days ago, I got to talk for a while with one of my sisters about what she believed. She said she believed only through Jesus can we reach God (probably coming from her Catholic influence), but that she believes all religions call the same God different names, and that one thing might be true for one person, but not true for someone else. It seemed to me that she's a little confused. She also said that we can get to heaven by doing good things. I shared Ephesians 2:8-9 with her and told her how I am aware that there are other religions in the world, but that doesn't mean I believe they're other versions of the truth. I told her that the Gospel isn't MY truth, but it's GOD'S truth from His Word. She acted like she'd never heard that before. Please pray that we'll be able to continue this conversation. She was really interested in talking about spirtual things and open to hear what I had to say. Praise God for this!

Also, I just realized I never mentioned the trip we made at the beginning of May to the Northwest of Argentina! We had a blast! It was organized by Alejandro, the director of the Clemson-Córdoba program here, so technically it was for the Clemson students, but to make it cheap enough for us to stay 3 days instead of 2, he invited all the other exchange students to come too! To sum it up, we saw a bunch of breathtaking mountains, visited the third largest salt mine in the world (CRAZY!), stayed in a beautiful lodge, and sang 24/7 in the bus all the Argentine folklore songs we learned in our culture class, with our professors playing a guitar and drums! Oh yeah, I forgot to mention our professors came too! Alejandro decided to bring them instead of our student tutors, and I'm so glad he did! We really got to know them a lot better as we spent time together outside the classroom.

Thanks for reading! I covet your prayers as I complete exams, quizzes, and presentations this week and next! At least I exempted all of my finals! Chau!

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!!

The grand tour of the amazing downtown Cordoba

Family reunion Cordoba-style

Eating italian with friends from church!

Introducing my Argentine family to the amazingness of smores!

The parents relaxing after having lunch at my Argentine family's house in the country

Yes, we visited the local Walmart and McDonalds: Cordoba's own US corner :)

Eating an asado (BBQ) for Sunday lunch with the whole fam

Dad showing off his amazing marshmellow-cooking skills when we made smores haha

Eating at "El Arrabal" with both sets of parents!

Me and dad overlooking downtown Cordoba

At one of the beautiful parks downtown

Eating mom's homemade spaghetti the first night

My sisters and I enjoying smores

Mom and Dad come to visit!

Whew! I am so sorry I haven't updated in so long! My life has been crazy! Last week and the week before were midterms, (Priase God, I got 9s and 10s on all of them!) so I was pretty much constantly studying for those, preparing two projects, and getting ready for my mom and dad to come to visit! We had a great time! Read below:



Wednesday I picked them up at the airport at about 12pm. I couldn't believe it was really them when I saw them for the first time! It was like I was dreaming! Right when they got to the house, we had empanadas for lunch--it's safe to say that they are pretty big empanada fans now! That night, my mom made her home-made spaghetti and sweet tea for the whole fam and it was delicious! We also had salad--though that may not sound like a big deal, it was. Here, salads consist of lettuce and tomato with oil on it--pretty different from our salads in the States. My parents brought Ranch and Thousand Island dressing and my Argentine family couldn't get enough of it! They also loved the spaghetti, but weren't too sure about the sweet tea. They couldn't believe it when we told them a lot of people in the southern part of the States drink it every night for dinner! :)

Thursday I had a huge presentation due for my geography class, so a lot of that day was spent hanging out with my parents on campus, introducing them to professors and friends, and leaving them in the computer lab to practice my presentation. :) I think it went pretty well though! Also, I got my midterm back for that class, my hardest one, and I got a 9 out of 10! I was so excited!!

Friday I gave them the grand tour of the city of Córdoba, and man did we do a lot! We went to a café for some delicious Argentine pastries and coffee for breakfast; ate lunch at one of the most famous restaurants in Córdoba to try the famous Argentine dish, locro (basically it's corn chowder with cow intestines--wasn't our favorite, but at least we can say we tried it); and went to all the important monuments, parks, and locations in the city. On our way back home, we even stopped by the one Walmart in Córdoba--it really does feel like you've stepped back into the States when you walk in the door! That night we took my Argentine parents out to El Arrabal for a tango show and dinner! Even though they're from Córdoba, they had never been, so it was a great way to thank them for letting my parents stay in their home and for taking care of me here. My US parents loved it too! It was such a great taste of the tradition of tango, a very important influence in the Argentine culture today!

Saturday was a completely different change of pace as my Argentine parents drove us out to the country surrounding the city, so that my parents could get the feel of that part of the culture as well. We ate lunch at my Argentine family's country home, which was so gorgeous and relaxing. Then we toured around the grounds of a local bed and breakfast that has a gorgeous restaurant and several beautiful log cabins spread out in the woods. We saw horses, donkeys, and even llamas! From there we took a car-tour through the small, but beautiful town of Alta Gracia, somewhere I had already been, and ended our journey in the town of Villa General Belgrano, a small, touristy village started by German immigrants who moved to Argentina after WWII. We ate chocolate and ice cream there and even bought me some new tennis shoes, something I needed very badly, considering I used my other ones to walk 45 min one-way to school almost every day! That night we ordered some good ol' Argentine pizza, which both of my parents loved!

Sunday we had an asado, or an Argentine BBQ, (so delicious!) with my entire extended Argentine family. They went all out--this asado included pork, beef, and chicken! Of course, it was Mother's Day in the States, but Mother's Day in Argentina isn't until October 17th, so my Argentine mom wasn't expecting anything! My mom brought from the States some lotions for my sisters, a card and a present for my Argentine mom, and a web cam for the whole family, so I gave those to them after we ate. My Argentine mom started tearing up when she read the card! (It was funny because Mom just got a Spanish Mother's Day card in the States and had no idea what it said haha, but it eneded up being fine!) I also got to express (in Spanish) my thankfulness to God for my real mom who is such a great example of a true lover of Christ in my life. I told everyone how she is so unselfish, loving everyone with the love of Christ, and that when I am a mom one day, I want to be just like her. My little speech had one of my cousin's crying! :) It was neat to be able to express my love for my mom on Mother's Day while talking about Christ in her life at the same time. Ater lunch, we headed off to go downtown to shop at the feria there. I bought a few gifts for friends as well as a Mother's Day present for mom, and mom got a few things to take back for family as well. Afterwards, my parents got to come with me to my church and meet my pastor and some other people there who have made a difference in my life here. After that, we went out to eat with some of my Christian friends here and with the missionaries who work with Commission International, a group in which I've gotten involved here.

Monday my parents got to come with me to campus and get a taste of that part of my life here. We had lomitos for lunch (which my dad loved, comparing it to some type of burger at Waffle House that also has ham, lettuce, tomato and egg on it) and then they came to my Spanish and tango classes as well. My tango teachers even did a demonstration for them after class. They were just as good as the dancers at El Arrabal for sure! That night my mom made chicken fingers, macaroni & cheese, green beans, and sweet tea--a good ol' southern meal! Everyone loved it! Afterwards we had smores, which was a lot of fun. It was so much fun to see my Argentine family's look of shock as they saw and tasted marshmellows for the first time!

Tuesday morning we went to a shopping mall, with the intent of buying an unofficial Argentine soccer jersey for Brandon, my brother, (as opposed to the official ones that cost 100 US dollars) but we couldn't find one, so we just walked around and enjoyed the last of our time together. My Argentine mom took them to the airport that afternoon and their plane took off around 4pm.

It was hard to say goodbye, but I know I'll see them in 6 weeks! I don't know what I'm going to do when I have to leave my Argentine family, not knowing if I'll ever see them again. At least they have a webcam now, so I'll be able to talk with them that way!

I'll post pictures soon!! Chau!!

Whew! I'm done!

Hello to you all, from a very relieved, but exhausted study abroad student! I just finished my last mid-term about 30 minutes ago, and I am so happy! I haven't gotten much sleep these past few days though, so I can't wait to get in my bed tonight! This has been a very busy week as I've studied for my 3 mid-terms, worked on a project for my hardest class (Geography), conducted an interview for another project due next week, prepared for my first day at my volunteer job (which is tomorrow), and made plans for my parents when they come visit me next week! Please pray for tomorrow that everything will go smoothly with the kids with whom I'm volunteering. I want to have fun with them, but I want to be able to teach them something too :) The ages range from 5-12, so it's very hard to plan activities that are engaging for kids of all of those ages!

Also, I met three Argentine girls in my Geography class (my main connection to the Argentine world haha) and I'm doing this huge project with them. They are really sweet and have been so patient with me as I'm trying to keep up and not be an obstacle to them! Pray as I get to know them more that God would present the opportunity to share my faith with them. Usually, it's just as easy as, "So what kind of music do you like?"--"Well I like country music, broadway music, and christian music too."--"Oh, so you're a Christian...like Catholic or Protestant?" And when I tell them I'm protestant, they almost always want to know what I believe and what the difference between Protestantism and Catholicism is. Please pray that I'll be able to share what I believe as well as show them by my actions that those beliefs make a difference in my day-to-day life.

Thursday until Sunday, the Clemson group has an official trip to Northern Argentina, and a bunch of the other exchange students and our professors are going to! Pray for safety as Dengue, a disease carried by mosquitos, has been a problem in the area recently. We'll all be wearing lots of Off spray!!

Thanks again for checking my blog to see what's going on in my life here! Until next post!

Mendoza--where it's at

Here are some pictures from Mendoza! Enjoy!


Just across the Chilean border with the nation's flag

In the middle of the Andes Mountains on the Chile-Argentina border--so breathtaking :)

Getting ready to jump of this mountain and go paragliding!

In the air!

Sitting, floating 100s of feet above the ground! Crazy!

All 4 girls at one of the vineyards, underground where the wine is fermented

**I WROTE THE FOLLOWING A WEEK AGO, BUT I'VE JUST NOW HAD TIME TO UPLOAD THE PICS...SORRY!**

Hello everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Easter with your family and friends! I know I did! We didn't have school Thursday and I never have classes on Fridays (yes!) so I went to Mendoza, Argentina, only a 9-hour bus ride away, to spend Semana Santa there with three of my exchange student friends. We toured vineyards, an olive factory, and a chocolate (yum!) and liquor factory; we went paragliding (so fun!!); and we traveled into the Andes Mountains to see some famous locations and even went to the Chilean border!

Paragliding was so much fun! I was a little nervous at first, but the ride in the 4x4 up to the top of the mountain was a lot scarier than the actual flight! We got pretty close to the edge at times! I just prayed the whole way that we wouldn't roll down the mountain! Once at the top of the mountain, they strapped us onto the paragliding kites and each of us were attached to one man who was our guide! Then they told us to just run of the top of the mountain into thin air! That was the scariest part! But you immediately go up because the wind catches underneath the kite and it's all so incredibly amazing from there! It was so calming, except for when I looked down! I couldn't believe I was just sitting there, floating 100s of feet above the ground! At the end, my guide asked me if I liked roller coasters and he pulled on one side of the kite and we took a spinning dive towards the earth! It was pretty much like sky diving! SO exhilerating! When he stopped I asked if we could do it again, so I got to do it twice! Haha :) The landing was so smooth too! We just walked right onto the ground! It cost $55 US, but we were in the air for about 20 minutes, so it was worth it!

So, we traveled to Mendoza through the night Wednesday, did the wine, olive, and chocolate tours Thursday, went paragliding Friday, and then took a trip through the Andes Saturday! The landscape was breathtaking. We went to a famous point at the top of one of the mountains, called Cristo Redentor, where we took pictures on the Chilean border! It was freezing up there! We also saw the tallest mountain in the Andes, Aconcagua, and we visited Puente de Inca, where there is a massive bridge that was built by the Incas so that their princess could cross over the river there. Overall, we had a wonderful time. It was relaxing, yet we took advantage of the trip and did a lot of things in while we were there :)

We came back Saturday night, so I had all day Sunday to do some things I wanted to do in Córdoba. The best part of the day was when I got to skype with my ENTIRE extended family on my mom's side because they were all in Greenville for Easter! My grandparents were shocked to say the least when they saw me on the computer via skype! :) I even got to bless the food and thank God for all the people there and for the difference they've made in my life. What a blessing! Then I went to Córdoba's yearly international fair that was closing after Sunday! I was so glad I got to go! I bought things from various parts of Argentina, Colombia, Peru, and even Senegal, Africa! Rocky Creek, my home church in Greenville, is partnered with missionaries in Senegal, so it was so neat to be able to buy something from there!

Then, that night, I was able to go to my home church here for Easter. It was such a sweet time of fellowship as we shared in the Lord's Supper and Pastor Sam preached on the relation between Easter and the Lord's Supper. I am absolutely in love with the people in that body of believers!

Well, I have one midterm that is due Thursday, two next week, and one the week after that! Please keep me in your prayers!

Oh yeah! And I have two praises! One is that my parents are definitely coming to visit me May 6th-12th! I'm so excited! Also, I just found out that I got a Travel Grant from Clemson to help pay for my study abroad costs this semester! God is so good!

**THE FOLLOWING IS AN UPDATE FROM THIS PAST WEEK!**

So, I guess the biggest news is...the trip is halfway over!! Can you believe it?? Thursday marked 10 weeks since I arrived! That's a long time! It really doesn't feel like I've been here that long, time is flying!

Thursday we had an international fair for the students at UBP (the university I attend here) and it was great! Holly (another girl from Clemson) and I made about 200 snickerdoodles as the representative food from the United States! :) Everyone loved them though! There were several different stands set up, representing the different countries where the international students at UBP are from. I sat at the Clemson stand for a while and answered a lot of questions about the university and the exchange program there. The students couldn't believe how huge Clemson was! I hope more students from UBP decide to study in Clemson, because right now, per year, only 20 UBP students study in Clemson and 200 Clemson students study in UBP! That ratio is not fair to Clemson, so if it doesn't change soon, the program might be terminated. Hopefully this fair gave the UBP students the information they're looking for so that they'll want to come to the amazing Clemson, SC soon!

Also, keep me in your prayers about what I'm going to be doing this summer when I get back. I just found out that Jackson-Dawson can't use me as an intern this summer, so I'll be looking for something else to do. It'll be especially hard to do this from Argentina, and I don't want this to add a bunch of stress to my life here, so really pray that I'll find a job or/and be able to help out a few of my parents' friends who have their own marketing businesses in Greenville.

Again, thanks so much for your prayers! Keep them up! This week and next week are midterms so pray for the stress levels here! :) Adios!

6 things that our Argentine friends really should know...

For your entertainment :)

Six pieces of information that have yet to reach our friends here in Argentina:

1) A person having one foot on the city bus does not give the driver the permission to gun it (so scary!)
2) You really don't have to walk around with a unibrow...it's actually a very solvable problem
3) We would all appreciate it if you mothers would at least TRY to cover up while nursing in public
4) It's probably healthy to occasionally attempt to return from going out with your friends before 6 am every weekend...lack of sleep will catch up with you eventually...
5) Fruit does NOT equal dessert. I don't know who started that lie here, but it's not true...
6) Drinking Coke like it's water might be nice now, but you can't keep it up your whole life...your body will hate you...

So, nothing much has happened since my last post, so I thought I'd throw in that list for your enjoyment :) Classes were pretty normal last week, nothing too special! We did have a four-day weekend though, which was really nice! I went downtown to an Argentine friend's apartment Saturday to work on a project and it was a lot of fun! It's really cool because here there is a section of downtown Córdoba where all of these skyscraper apartment buildings are, where most of the hundreds of thousands of college students here live! Therefore, that part of downtown is always covered with students! Lots of fun!

Last week, my Argentine cousin, her husband, and two little girls (3 and 5) came to visit and that was a lot of fun! We had 15 people total for dinner two nights in a row! I had so much fun interacting with the two girls, especially the older one, since she's learning English in school and thought it was so cool that I spoke English :)

This weekend I'm pretty sure I'm going to Mendoza, which is about a 6 hour bus ride away! I'm really excited! I'm sure I'll have a lot to tell you about that trip! I hope you and your family have a wonderful Easter! Chau!

Centro Crecer y la marcha de 24 de marzo

Here are some pictures from the march we went to last Tuesday. Very interesting!

See the communist symbol on the flag? There are a lot of communists in Argentina.


Me with two of my friends from Germany
Anyone recognize the name Evita in the background?---"Don't cry for me Argentina"


Not sure what these young people were protesting specifically...


A group of young people were dressed up and dancing in the march







This is a video from Centro Crecer, my home church in Córdoba! Anyone recognize the tune of this song??

Ferias are my favorite!!

Hola todos! Espero que todo esté bien con ustedes y sus familias y amigos! (Just thought I'd throw that in there to get you practicing your Español!)

This past week FLEW by! With every week that passes, the realization that this whole trip is going to be over before I know it becomes more and more real in my mind. It's scary! I'm enjoying it so much here and I don't want it all to fly by before I know it!

So, I guess one of the biggest pieces of news is that I'm going to drop my history class because 1) I don't need the credit and 2) I want to have more time to get involved with my church here and to do a volunteer job with Anna, one of the girls from Clemson! I'm so excited! This idea was actually started last year by my friend from Clemson's Campus Crusade, Abby, and I'm so excited to continue it! What will happen is once a week Anna and I will go to a place that helps underprivileged kids by giving them many things they need, one of which is academic help. Some people come and volunteer their time as tutors to help the kids with their homework, and we could do that too, but what we're going to do is actually plans lessons and activities that correlate with different Spanish stories (for example a kids version of Don Quijote) to teach these children to love to read. I think their ages range from around 6 to 12 and Abby told me they are so sweet! I can't wait to start! It's going to be so much fun to do this with Anna too, instead of doing it solo!

Let's see, yesterday the group of exchange students (which has grown from about 14 to like 30 now) went to the local city of Alta Gracia, to tour the house of Che Guevara there. If you do not know who he was, he was a friend of Fidel Castro and a huge Communist leader in Cuba and in many of locations in South America. Many people are communists here and still worship his ideals. This is because the people here feel as though democracy has failed them, so they think the only other place they can turn is communism. Very sad. Anyway, after that, we went to a lake nearby and had a picnic, shopped, and played fútbol (soccer). It was a beautiful day! Please pray for one of the girls in my group though. I talked with her on the trip and she is having a really hard time with an illness she's been fighting since before she came to Argentina, but now it's gotten a lot worse. Please pray that the doctors here will figure out what is wrong and that she will not be stressed about it.

Tonight, I went to the feria downtown with sometime American and Argentine friends from my geography class! I loved it! I'm a sucker for handmade anything! Everything there is so beautiful! After that, I went to church where we talked about the meaning of baptism and then baptized around 10 people! Very exciting! I´ll put up a video of my church soon! That place is such a God-send. I love those people :) Tonight, I also found out about a college group in my church that goes to a park downtown every Saturday and plays sports with whomever is around, aiming to get into spiritual conversations with them! I'm so excited about going! I'm hoping to go next Saturday! We didn't have school Tuesday because of a holiday (look at next paragraph for details) and there's some holiday this Thursday, so I have a 4-day weekend next weekend and then the weekend after that is called Semana Santa (Holy Week) and so I'll have another 4-day weekend then too! Lots of time off school! I like this place! :) My classes haven't been too tough yet, but midterms are at the end of April (time is flying!) so I'm sure it'll get a little more challenging as we get closer to those.

So, Tuesday, March 24th, was sort of a day of sadness, as Argentina remembered the day that the Dirty War started in their country on March 24, 1976. This day is dedicated to the 30,000 people who were abducted, tortured, and most of whom were killed by the military government at the time. There was a march downtown for it and our culture professor invited all of us to come and participate so I did! Very interesting! There were all sorts of political groups represented, as well as different social activist groups. The news stations said there was a total of 20,000 people there! I'll put up pictures soon! The coolest part was, at the end of it, one of the main news stations in Córdoba interviewed me and one of my friends from Germany about what we thought about all of it! We didn't make it on TV the next day, (my family and I watched!) but it was still a neat experience! I talked about how I thought it was great that high school students were so involved and concerned with politics here. There were a lot of high school students in the march! The voting age is 17 here, which is high school age, so that might contribute a little.

I had an asado today with my parents, one of my sisters and her boyfriend, my mom's sister and her daughter with her boyfriend, plus my mom's mom! Lots of people! I just can't get over how good their meat is here! I always get so excited when Sunday rolls around because we almost alwasy have family asados for lunch! My family is so amazing. I have been able to get to know them even better recently as I can understand SO much more of their Spanish now than when I first got here and had the "deer in the headlights" look on my face when they talked to me :) I am really blessed to have such a big family, because many of the exchange students live with one or two people. There are definitely advantages with smaller families too, but with more people in my family, I have a lot more opportunities to practice my Spanish with them as well as listen to them speed talk to each other, as I try to keep up!

Well, I think that's all for now! Thanks for reading! God bless you!

Bringing the South to Córdoba!

Happy Primer Día de Otoño! (First Day of Fall!) Yep, fall has officially started here in Córdoba even though it was a balmy 33 degrees today! (In Celsius of course!) I'm still have a wonderful time (shocker!) and enjoying getting to know my new classmates! Before coming here, I didn't think I'd have the opportunity to meet people from Canada, Japan, Germany, Austria, Colombia, and Brazil, in addition to Argentines! The new exchange students are a lot of fun and I've really enjoying hanging out with them and practicing our Spanish together! The nice thing with the Japanese girls is that there is no temptation to speak English because they can't! So the only way we can communicate is through Spanish!

Last night I had my second argentine geography class (it's a thriller, let me tell ya...) and we worked in groups, so I and some others exchange students got to meet a few really nice argentines in there! We've exchanged cell phone numbers already and we're planning on going to hang out Sunday downtown at an art fair, where there are vendors who sell a bunch of amazing handmade treasures, like jewelry, clothes, purses, pottery, etc.! The argentine people are so open and friendly! It's so easy to make friends with them!

I know you're just dying to know where the title for this post came from, so let me tell you: I made a good ol' southern apple pie for my family a few nights ago and they loved it!! I had so much fun making it and my family couldn't say enough good things about it! My mom here definitely wants the recipe! My parents from the US are coming down to visit at the beginning of May and my family here and I are already making a list of food that they want my parents to bring and for my mom to cook here! Some of the things on our list are fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, smores, spaghetti, and tollhouse chocolate chip cookies...yum! Can you believe that they've never had any of these things?? I can't wait!

MY APPLE PIE! YUM!

So, yesterday, my first female cousin on my dad's side of the family was born in Virginia so I have been so antsy ever since then to meet her via webcam! My parents got my aunt and uncle a webcam, so I've talked with and seen them a few times already, but now I can't wait to meet the new addition to their family! Her name is Margaret Roxburgh, she was born at 3am weighing in at 9lbs. 1 oz., 22 in. long! She's so beautiful!

ROXY!

Please pray for me as I try to work out what I'm doing for the rest of the summer when I get back to the States. I'm really hoping that I'll be able to do some type of an internship with Jackson-Dawson Marketing Solutions, a marketing firm in Greenville where I helped out for a few weeks in January before I came here. I loved the people and the work environment there, and I learned so much! I'm hoping that I'll be able to work with them again when I get back. I'm not sure how I'll be able to find anything else from Córdoba, so please pray it works out!

Well, I guess I'd better go! I'm meeting some of the exchange students tonight at a girl's house to make dinner! I have to buy broccoli and garlic! I can't wait! Chau!

Video!

Here's a picture and a short video from our tango class that I promised to post forever ago! Sorry!!



Our brave men trying their best to dance ;)

It takes two to tango!!

Pictures!!

I'm so sorry I haven't put up any fun pictures or videos lately! They just take so long to load! Here are some pictures from our trip to Buenos Aires! Enjoy!!




When I went to Buenos Aires, I got to see some of my friends from last summer when I went there with Campus Crusade for Christ for 5 weeks

All the girls from Clemson in front of an art museum in Buenos Aires

In La Boca, a very famous and tourist-y part of BA

The whole group in front of the Casa Rosada, in Plaza de Mayo, two very important places in the political history of Argentina

Jumping right into UBP

Hey everyone! Happy Belated Woman's Day to all my female blog followers! Yesterday, Argentina celebrated it's annual Woman's Day and guess what? There's no such thing as Man's Day! Haha! From what I understood from my family, they only have Woman's Day to celebrate the rights that women now enjoy, such as voting. Men never went through discrimination like that, so they don't get their own special day :)

I'm so sorry it's been so long since I last wrote! I had my final exam for my intensive class on Thursday and I went to Buenos Aires with the group from Clemson this past weekend, so I stayed REALLY busy! I did well on my final exam though and got placed into the more advanced Spanish course! I'm taking the spanish language class I just mentioned, a spanish literature class, a beginner marketing class, a geography class, an argentine history class, an argentine culture class, and my tango class as my one cultural experience. I may end up dropping some of them though. Today was the first day of class. This morning I had my marketing class and this afternoon and I had my spanish languge and spanish literature class. I already took this beginner marketing class in Clemson, but I want to learn the terms and ideas of marketing in Spanish, so hopefully it won't be too hard and it'll work out! My marketing and geography classes are my only classes that are with argentine sudents. The others are made up of only exchange sudents. Speaking of, a few new exchange students arrived from Austria, Japan, Colombia, Germany, and Brazil this past week and are taking some classes with us. I'm excited to get to know them. I hope our group works hard to include them--we're all so close already because we've been here for a month, so the new students might feel out of the loop. I'm so glad I came a month before! My dad in Cordoba told me last night that he was really impressed at how much my Spanish has improved!

So, I went to Buenos Aires with the group from Clemson this weekend and we had a blast! We went on a lot of tours of museums and around the city, as well as taking a boat ride down a river in one of the beautiful suburbs! We also went to a tango show and it was incredible! A lot of what we saw I didn't see last summer, so that was good! I got to see 8 of my friends from summer project with Campus Crusade for Christ last summer, which I was really excited about! I want to go back to BA once the summer project for this summer get to BA in mid-May, because a lot of my friends from Clemson are going! I don't have any classes on Friday, so when I have a Monday off, I can spend my 4-day weekend in BA!

My friend Laura is in another study abroad program in Cordoba and they took their students to BA last weekend too! We had no idea that the other's group was there until we saw each other at the tango show! It caught me off-guard to say the least! Sunday morning, Laura and I had breakfast in a resturant in BA and then walked around the Obelisco, a very famus monument in BA, staying close to my hotel, and prayed. It was such a wonderful gift to have that Christian fellowship and group prayer with such a strong believer. I thank God so much for her.

I think that's it! Shoot me an email (bbagwel@clemson.edu) or catch me on skype if you want to talk!

Getting adjusted...

Hola mis amigos y familia! I hope you're enjoying your cold winter while I lay out everyday in 90 degree weather down here! (Haha don't worry, it'll change to winter here and I'll be missing SC's beautiful summer and then you'll be the lucky ones)

So, I guess the biggest news I have is that my package arrived! My mom sent it almost 3 weeks ago and the post office here is supposed to tell my family when a package arrives for our house, but they didn't! (thanks a lot!) So I've been worrying that it's lost the whole time and it was just waiting at the post office! The most important thing in there was my computer cord, so now that I have that I can use my computer to talk on skype! My skype name is berkeley.bagwell (the advantages of having a weird name...) so search for me so we can see and hear each other for free! Yesterday our class time changed from 9am-12pm to 2:30pm-6pm, so besides 11:30am-3pm Greenville time, I should be able to talk! Shoot me a message on facebook or send me an email (bbagwel@clemson.edu) and let me know when you can talk!

So the past two Sundays I went to an incredible church called Centro Crecer in downtown Córdoba and I love it! The pastor, Sam Masters, is a missionary from the States, so his sermons in Spanish are a lot easier to understand than if he was a native Spanish speaker. I met the college pastor the first Sunday I went, and this last Sunday I met with him, another guy in my group (Kevan), two girls in another study abroad group here, and an Argentine female student for a prayer and praise & worship time before the service, which doesn't start until 8pm! I loved it! It was so great to hear that these students have a heart for missions like I do. Hopefully it will become a weekly thing! Pray for more college guys to join our group for Kevan!

We had our second tango class yesterday and, pretty much, the boys hate it and the girls love it! Haha...shocker! Also, we have horseback riding lessons every Wednesday and, since I slept through the first lessons two weeks ago, this past week was my first time every riding a horse! I didn't like it at all! My stomach and legs hurt the whole time! We're going horseback riding in the mountains tomorrow, so that should be interesting! But I really like tango--I think I'm going to continue taking tango lessons throughout the rest of the semester and then do some type of volunteer work for my other cultural experience. I'll post some short videos soon of us in the tango class this week! They're pretty funny!

Friday we had our midterm for the intensive Spanish course that we're taking this month and we got them back yesterday. It wasn't very hard, and, overall, the teacher said our class did very well, so that's encouraging! I can definitely hear a progress in my Spanish-speaking abilities, which is exciting! Earlier tonight, I talked with my family about the US education system and I communicated my thoughts a lot easier and more quickly than I would have 3 weeks ago! I can't believe this is the 3rd week! It's going by so fast!

Last night, I skyped with my parents and they got to see and talk with my family here (I had to translate a little)! My Córdobes family said that my parents were welcome to stay here when they come to visit at the beginning of May! My mom said she would fix some meals from the US to thank them! I'm really excited about that!

Saturday, the group from UBP (the university I'm studying at) took a 1 1/2-hour bus ride to Jesús María, where we toured an estancia used by the Jesuits, the group of people we studied last week. At the praise & worship meeting Sunday, the two girls from the group studying in Córdoba's national university told me that it was really cool that on Saturdays we tour the places that we study about the week before. I'm not sure if they get to do that. I feel so fortunate to be in such a great, experienced program and to have Alejandro, the person in charge of the Clemson program, here to help me whenever I need it.

After the tour, we ate hamburgers (with ham on them!) and choripan, a classic Argentine dish. Then we went to a gym and played frisbee, volleyball, and basketball, which was so much fun! I didn't realize how much I missed sports! (Brandon, my brother, would be so proud!)

Thanks so much for reading and remember--look for me on skype now!

Singing on the way to Villa Maria

Here´s a video from the trip to Villa Maria! When we got there, we all had a blast listening to folklore, rock, and tango bands in a huge stadium with 12,000 other people!

And the classes begin...

Hello devoted blog followers! I hope this post finds you doing well and enjoying Valentine´s Day with those you love! This past week was a great first week of classes for the UBP exchange students! I can already see huge improvements in my Spanish-speaking abilities and in some of my classmates´ as well! For this month, we meet every weekday from 9:00am to 12:30pm for an intensive Spanish language and Argentina culture class and, so far, it hasn´t been too stressful! I was a little worried when I saw the word ¨intensive¨ but they know how to teach us a lot of material without stressing us out! :)

So, Monday, after the first day of class, in which we learned how to use the word ¨vos¨ that Argentine´s use instead of ¨tu,¨ we took a Spanish placement exam. Exciting news! I got the highest score in the class! Thank you Jesus! :) So, what they usually do is split up the class into two groups, advanced and beginner, after looking at the test scores. However, even though a few people got really high scores and a few people got really low scores, most of the class seem to fall somewhere in the middle, so they decided not to split us up. Therefore, all 14 of us are in the same class every day! I hope it will work out and that some people won´t feel lost because we´re going too fast or that others won´t get mad because we´re going too slow!

So, anyway, Tuesday and Thursday we learned more about the Spanish language and practiced speaking to each other. Everyone´s definitely getting more comfortable making mistakes and speaking out in class. Our teacher is really patient and encouraging too. Wednesday, we had our first Argentina culture class with our other professor and we learned all about gauchos, which are like Argentine cowboys, who played a big role in Argentina´s history. What I have loved most about this program is that we´ve incorporated things we learn in class to the trips we take as a group. Tuesday, we took a tour around downtown Córdoba, visiting the Jesuit University (the first university in Argentina), Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, and some other famous locations and monuments around the downtown area. Except for the Jesuit University, the entire tour was led by our Argentina culture professor, so the next day in his class, before we started our discussion on gauchos, we discussed what we had learned the day before.

Yesterday, our Spanish language class was really like a culture class as we studied famous mysteries and myths in Córdoba´s history. We studied the most famous ghost in the history of Córdoba, ¨La Pelada de la Cañada,¨ another mythical ghost named ¨La Mujer del Angelito,¨ and Córdoba´s mythical werewolves. It was really interesting! Then, after class yesterday, we took another trip to downtown Córdoba to get our student visas and then we took a ¨ghost tour!¨ I´m pretty sure they have something like this in Williamsburg, VA too, but there are tour guides here that take groups around to different old buildings and locations in the city where ghosts supposedly used to visit and they tell you the ghosts´ stories. The tour was in Spanish, but studying about these same ghosts that day in class really helped us as we tried to keep up with the tour guide´s speed talking!

Before the tour yesterday, we attended a tourism presentation on the city of Córdoba with another U.S. group that is studying this semester at Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Before I left the States, my mom introduced me to a Christian girl from USC who was studying abroad this semester in Cordoba at the national university. When I heard that another group was there from the States, I thought, ¨Wouldn´t that be so funny if this was Laura´s group?¨ And, guess what? It was! Laura and I only talked over the phone in the States so I was so glad to finally get to meet her! She is involved with Navigators at USC and one of the guys in my group is in Navigators at Clemson. They both went to the Navigators´ fall conference this past year, so they had already met! She visited a church last Sunday in downtown Cordoba and really liked it, so that´s where I´m going to go tomorrow! I´m so excited! I´m really missing Christian fellowship right now!

Well, I´d better run! Our group is taking another trip tonight to Villa Maria for its annual ¨Festival Nacional de Peñas¨ and we have to interview people there about the festival, then write a paper on it for Monday!

HAPPY VALENTINE´S DAY!!

Eating asados, speaking Spanish, adjusting to life in Cordoba, swimming with the fam, meeting new people, and having a blast!

Today, it was a nice 90 degrees outside and I got to lay out by the pool and swim with my family! I feel so at home with my family and, being a people-person, I love having so many people around. With two parents and three sisters, two of which have boyfriends, there are always plenty of people with whom I can converse in Spanish!

Yesterday was the orientation at Universidad Blas Pascal and I had a lot of fun getting to know the other exchange students. About ten students are from Clemson, two girls from Canada, two girls from Germany, one guy from Rhode Island, and one guy from Nebraska. We were given good advice to help us adjust to life in Cordoba, learned about our health insurance plans and our class schedule this month, had a BBQ (or ¨asado¨) for lunch (Argentine asados are known for being the best beacuse of their delicious meat), given a tour of the campus, and played some fun Argentine games. We also met the tutors the program gives us to help us adapt to life in Cordoba. There is one tutor for every two exchange students. Mine is Gaby and she seems great! The campus is very nice, since it is a private university. They have free WiFi on campus and a nice-sized computer lab with very up-to-date technology!

Last night, the UBP exchange students went out as a group to Nueva Cordoba and had a great time! The picture is of me and two other girls from Clemson, Anna and Holly, before we met up with everyone else. It was a great opportunity to get to know the other students and our tutors.

Well, I guess that´s it! Look for my next update! :) Hasta luego!

I´m here!

I can´t believe I´m finally here! I had a great flight and I am definitely glad that I flew here with Anna, my friend that is participating in this Clemson study abroad program with me. I slept probably 3 hours total on all of the different flights, so when I got in around 2:30am Greenville time (5:30am Cordoba time) I was exhausted! My host parents were waiting at the airport to take me to their house when I arrived. They are so sweet! They have 3 daughters who are in their late teens and early twenties. The mother´s mother lives here too! I drank mate and talked with the mom, two of the daughters, and the grandmother earlier today. They are so sweet. The middle daughter studied for a year in New York, so she can speak English pretty well, which helps a lot. But overall, I have not spoken much English today, which is good! I have learned so much already! I am living in an apartment that they have as a part of their beautiful home! It is SO hot here, but they have a swimming pool and I can´t wait to use it!

I am so blessed because my family has Internet in their home, which I´ve heard is not common. I´ll be on Skype today around 4:15pm Greenville time to chat. I can´t chat for long though because I forgot my computer charger, so my mom sent it as priority mail yesterday after she got back from the Charlotte airport where she dropped me off. Pray that it gets here quickly!

This Monday, I and the rest of the Clemson group will begin an intensive spanish course that will meet M-F from 9am to 12:30pm! The first day, we´ll be taking an exam to determine how advanced we are in the Spanish language. Please pray that the test results will correctly evaluate my abilities! Tuesday, we´re taking a tour of the city of Cordoba, which I am very excited about! Every Wednesday and Thursday we´re taking horseback riding lessons and every Monday (except for this coming Monday) we´ll take tango lessons! Then, March 5th we are taking a group trip to Buenos Aires (where I will see my friends that I made last summer!>>see http://www.berkeleyinba.blogspot.com/ for more details about that trip) And then from March to June I will be taking 6 Spanish courses at Universidad Blas Pascal, which is about a 30-minute walk from my house. Pray for safety as I walk there and back everyday! Thanks for reading! I´ll update soon!

Thanks for reading!

I'm so excited you are interested in reading and watching the updates on my experiences in Córdoba, Argentina as I study Spanish there through the Clemson University Córdoba Center! I am living in Córdoba from February 5th to June 28th! Please pray for me as I, along with the other believers on this trip, look for a church family. I have many contacts for different churches and they may too, so pray that God would guide and direct my heart to the church He wants me to be a part of while I'm there! Muchas gracias!