Day of the Student

Today, September 21 is The Day of the Student - or - Student's Day as we would say in English.  It is a holiday here in Argentina & is done in conjunction with Spring Day - 1st day of Spring.  This of course is the opposite of all of our friends in the Northern Hemisphere who are celebrating the beginning of Fall.  Since we are on the bottom side of the planet, we are moving out of winter and into spring, while those of you in the north are leaving summer behind and moving into fall.  What an interesting world we live in. 

Anyways, as I said, it is a holiday here in Argentina.  There is no school but most of the parents still have to work.  Not sure how families sort that out.  : )  This is also sort of a festive week.  Aliana's class had a party yesterday and she came home with a bag of candy and a a balloon.  She was pretty psyched! 
Nate's class will have a party on Friday. 

(The caption of the picture is a saying from Aristotle: 

The true disciple is the one that surpasses the teacher.) 

The International Student's Day is November 17th, but every county chooses their own date.  I think Argentina already celebrated a Spring Day holiday and decided to combine the two. 

Again, did we have this in the United States?  I don't remember celebrating anything like this.  Think of all the cool holidays we missed out on!  Lol. 

Have a great day & God bless -
Paz y amor del Señor  -

Strong Willed

Ha.  Funny how God does things.

I have been working night and day to prepare a teaching series on Authority.  Specifically, it is based on the book "Under Cover" by John Bevere.  The book talks about how there are 2 different types/levels of authority in our lives: 1. The Direct Authority of God & 2.  His Delegated Authorities in our lives.  In fact, Scripture makes it very clear that ALL authority is established by God.

All sin, for instance, simply put, is not following God's directives to us, not staying under the covering of His provision & protection through our obedience to Him.  When we choose a way other than His, we willfully step outside of His covering and are own our own.  It opens us up to all sorts of deception from the enemy of our souls, problems, difficulties, etc.  In short, it is a mess.  The more we do it, the messier it gets.

Sometimes it is so much easier to SAY than to DO.
I have 2 different projects/ desires that I have been working on.
Earlier this week, an authority over me advised me to pull back on 1 of them.
He was doing it for my own good, looking out for my best interest and that of my family.
Then just tonight a different authority shut down the second one.
Neither of them truly came right out and said, "NO" as much as not right now, we'll have to reschedule.  It would be better that way.

But, since it is MY desire, it was hard to catch on that they were gently telling me "No/ Wait."
It is better for me if you just S-P-E-L-L   I-T   O-U-T for me.  : )
I am a pretty direct person and I get it best when people speak directly to me.
Kindly, but direct.

Anyway, funny how God helps us to learn firsthand what He wants us to teach.
I want with all my heart to press forward and push on anyways.
I can do it!  It will be okay!  It's all good!
BUT, the authorities that God has graciously placed over me for my protection and blessing think otherwise.  God gives THEM the grace to match the position He has placed them in.  He has not given ME that grace, because I am NOT in THEIR position.  : )

If I listen and obey, I stay under God's covering of protection and blessing.
If I listen and obey, things will go much easier for me and my family.
If I listen and obey, and "get it" first hand then I can help train others how to do it even when you yearn not to.

If I don't listen and obey - well, it's not going to be pretty.  You get the picture.
Nothing sucks worse than a "Teacher" who only knows how from a book, who does not do it their-self, and has to say to everyone else trying to do it..."Do As I Say, Not As I Do."
Yeah, I don't want to be "That Guy."  lol.

So, as difficult as it is,  I will slow down, pull back, and temporarily redirect my focus and efforts elsewhere - and be ready when I do get the "Green Light" from my authorities over me.  : )

Good night all & God bless -
May we all be good at teaching, and because we actually KNOW it from experience -

Paz, poder, y gracia en el Espiritu Santo -

Copy Books

One of the ways that schools get by more inexpensively here in Argentina than in the US is that - they don't have textbooks, at least not that the schools purchase.  The most common thing is to buy small notebooks (cuadernos) that they call "Copy Books."  They are called that for good reason - the teacher writes the material to be learned on the board and the class copies it down! 

This of course is a struggle if your child does not write anything down!  Then when they go home, there is no text book to look through or study.  If you don't write it down, you don't have it!  Nate has 1 "text book" that he purchased.  Really, it is more of a workbook and covers all of his classes (and I imagine all of Argentina's plan for what a 2nd grade curriculum is) math, language, social & natural sciences, etc.  He also has a couple of homework workbooks.  They are also tied to the curriculum. 

Would it work in the US to not have schools flip the bill for buying all those books & to put it on the students to write it down?  Don't know, but I am sure it would be a lot cheaper.  It might help their writing skills also.

One additional thought - glue is in big demand here.  Why, because if a note needs to be sent home, it is photocopied, passed out to all the students, and they glue it into their notebooks!  This also happens for teaching subjects that have too much material to be written down easily.  So often, there are all sorts of little pictures, maps, images, and short articles that are glued into the notebooks.  Sometimes they are too big to fit, so they have to be folded.  Makes for some funny looking notebooks. 

But, if you are used to it, I guess it just looks normal.  ; )

Good night and God bless -
Paz y amor del Senor -

Spiritual Laws In Effect

Satan is a created being.  He does nothing original.  What he does do is copy everything that God created.  That includes his use of Spiritual Laws. 


I was talking with a pastor here in Jujuy today about the need to get more Argentine Church Planters moving up to join the team in Jujuy.  There are only 4 A/G churches for 700,000 people in the entire province.  Even if you include all protestant churches, I have not been able to find even 31 so far in the capital - the number of different "Barrios"/ neighborhoods that we have here - at about an average of 10,000 per barrio.  Not even 1 church for every 10,000 people!  Incredible! 

Anyway, he was talking about how Jujuy is such a spiritually difficult place.  It is a center for occult activity, animistic religions from the ancestral past of the area, etc.  There is a lot of "brujeria"/ witchcraft here.  He was sharing a recent success story with me about a young lady who recently got into a right relationship with God and God is transforming the entire family.  They are all steeped in witchcraft and occultic practices.  This very girl had done astral projection and other similar occultic practices.  These are not your local high school kids "thinking" they are cool and trying have a little coven.  They are serious and the real deal. 

She talked about how they took very seriously the power of the spiritual realm & how they worked hard at their version of spiritual disciplines, such as fasting and prayer, to grow in their dark side of spiritual power.  The pastor and I talked about how so many Christians are just content to be in God's family, but aren't necessarily taking His Mission seriously.  So many don't LIVE to follow His will, and do His will to advance His Kingdom, His purposes, but rather just want for God to bless them and theirs. 

What the "dark side" has is a cheap copy of the original.  But they tend to take it so much more seriously than most followers of Jesus do.  Somehow we have to ramp it up, to get people focused of God's agenda and being a very active, no, FULLY committed, part of it.  Then we will see true progress being made in reaching the lost and God transforming peoples' hurting and broken lives here in a spiritually dark place like Jujuy. 

I see a lot more fasting & intercession in my future!  : ) 

Good night all & God bless -
Join the team - get serious about being part of God's team & accomplishing His mission...and not just your own -

Paz y poder en el Espiritu de Dios -

I Should Have Known Better : )

I should have known better.  : ) 

I went to my first Quinceanera (Sp?) here in Argentina the other night.  For those of you not familiar with Latin Culture, it is an old school event that still happens today.  Much like the "Sweet 16" Birthday for girls in the US, this is for a girl's 15th birthday party.  Back in the day, it was a "coming out party" for the young ladies.  It was probably a much bigger deal back in the day when life was hard, life spans were short, people grew up fast and got married way earlier than these day. 

Anyway, in some cultures, like in Mexican culture for instance, it is a REALLY big deal.  Some families will spend as much money on it as a wedding!  Some of the girls will even buy wedding gowns to wear for their party!  Yeah.  It's that big.

Being new in Argentina, and this being my first one here, I was not sure just how important it is here.  It was a big deal, although no where near as big as in Mexican Families. 

What I should have known better about was the time frame.  Some things in Latin Culture are very on time - getting to work on time, getting to school on time, starting a church service on time, etc.  But, most social events...well, time is definitely NOT the priority, the event is. 

The event was supposed to start at 8:30 PM.  I was stressing because I was trying to get a bunch of important errands done and help Heather out with some things at home.  I was running "late."  (That is such a North American mindset. : ) - I arrived at the church at 9 pm - a full 1/2 "late."  Well, there were not too many people there.  No one was in a hurry to get started.  I wasn't even sure it was still happening anymore. 

It was.  lol.  It didn't really get started until about 10:30 pm & I ended up being one of the first to leave at about 1 am.  Lol.   Silly me.  I should have known better by now. 

Good Night all
Good bless &...be careful to remember what you should already know by now -

Paz y favor del Padre -

Feliz Dia Del Maestro -

Today, well, September 11th really, is the national day of honoring teachers here in Argentina.  Since the 11th is on a Sunday this year, the celebration fell on a Friday.  It was incredible!

There was not school today, but instead a big assembly for the teachers.  It ran for about 1 1/2 hours.  It was full of the history of National Teachers Day, balloons, music, dramas, poems and more.  There was a lot of clapping, cheering, and presents for the teachers.  It was a big deal! 

How cool to see them honored like that.  They do work really hard and teaching a bunch of wild kids is certainly not the easiest job in the world.  Ha.  I know that from first-hand experience! 

I wondered why it is such a big deal here and not so much in other parts of the world.  I think that it has to do with it's history here.  The day is celebrated on the same day as the memorial of Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (the anniversary of his death). 

Who was he?  He was an early educator here in Argentina.  He had a tremendous passion for education, did a great deal to shape the growth of schools here in the country, AND later became the nation's 7th president.  THAT could have a lot to do with it.  : ) 

While president of Argentina from 1868 to 1874, Sarmiento championed intelligent thought—including education for children and women—and democracy for Latin America. He also took advantage of the opportunity to modernize and develop train systems, a postal system, and a comprehensive education system. He spent many years in ministerial roles on the federal and state levels where he traveled abroad and examined other education systems.

One of those crazy things that happened more often back in the day:
His parents had 15 children!  9 of them died.  He is the only boy who made it to adulthood and lived to be 77.  (He must have been 1 tough old dude)

His influence is still being felt so many years later and he is a highly honored historical figure in Argentina & Chile. 

Happy Argentine Teachers' Appreciation Day everyone!
God bless & have a good one. 

Paz y favor del Senor -

Lessons From My Daughter

I took Aliana with me to church last night.  Heather and the boys were sick (still sick - this is getting very annoying) so they stayed home and went to bed early.  AJ and I had a great time at church!  We got there late and our "usual" seats were taken.  It forced us to sit in a different spot and we got to see things from a slightly different perspective. 

Right as we were walking up to the church a car rolled past and gave us a friendly honk.  Aliana yelled out, "My Friend!"  She hardly knows the girl, but I was happy to see how excited she was to be making connections.  Even with a very limited vocabulary, it does not deter her from trying to play and communicate.  - I have a lot to learn from her.  : ) 

After service we walked home around 10 pm.  Poor little thing.  She was freezing.  I had a light jacket for her but she was still cold.  I told off my windbreaker and wrapped her up in it.   Even though it was late I knew we needed pick something up to eat.  I knew the boys would be asleep but that Heather would be waiting up for us.  I also knew she would be hoping we were bringing home food.  : )

Our gas supply has run out and we haven't been able to get more yet.  Therefore, the only cooking we can do is in the microwave.  Thus, bringing home dinner is a welcome idea to break up our limited options.  Ha. 

I saw that the only place that was open near where we live is a little pizza shop.  Interesting side note about these guys - they sell their pizza by the "meter."  I ordered a 1/2 meter of Hawaiian for us.  : )  - It comes in square cut pieces rather than a round pie.  Different.  I like different. 

Anyways, as we sat and waited for the pizza to cook, Aliana had a dolly out and was telling me, no, educating me, all about babies.  It was quite the lesson!  She was very serious and was a little frustrated with me at first as she thought that I was not taking her lesson as seriously as I should have.  I straightened up and let her teach.  : )

She taught me about how babies can't do anything when they are newly born and we have to take good care of them.  She talked about how we have to be so gentle and careful with them.  She walked me through the proper way to hold them, feed them, watch out for them, etc.  It was quite informative, albeit a little off in places.  Actually, for not having any "baby hours" logged, I was very surprised by how much she knew.  It was fun to watch and listen to.  I suppose that God is already prepping her to be a great mommy one day.  (I hope that day is still a very looooooong ways off though!.) 

It made me think about several things -
- I thought of all the parallels between taking care of a new born baby and taking care of a "new believer." 
- I thought about how she was so serious and dedicated to taking care of her baby and even to "teach" her own daddy how to do it right.  I should have the same willingness to "teach" even when I worry I am not yet an expert in a given area
- I thought about her great attitude and conduct, even though things were not the norm this night, far from it, and how much that messes with me at times.  I hope I can cope and flow as well as she did.
- I thought about what a champ she was to keep doing well, even though it was way past her bedtime and I could see on her face how tired she was.  May I do as well when I am tired and drained.
- Etc, etc. 

When we finally got the pizza and went home, she was rewarded for her great behavior and attitude not only by being able to stay up late eating pizza, while her siblings were in bed, but she got to watch cartoons with us on our bed on mom's computer!  That is big stuff when you are 5!

In the end, when it was time to go to bed, of course, she tried to resist a little - but when it was time for the fun to stop, she went with it and did not ruin the night by not knowing when enough is enough. 

Yes, there are so many things I learn every day from my wonderful, energetic, kind, sweet-hearted little girl. 
I hope that I can put them into effect one day as well as she does. 


Good night all and God bless -
Learn from those around you, even if you "know" more than they do.  : )

Paz y poder en el Espiritu Santo -

Washing Machine Fixed!

About a month ago, our washing machine broke.  No prob.  It's under warranty still.  We bought it from the closest thing we have to a big box store we could find here in Jujuy - "Changomas", it is our version of Walmart here.  We love doing some of our shopping at Changomas.  It is easy, literally, because it has such a massive selection by comparison to other stores here.  It is also easy, emotionally, because it is so familiar.  It doesn't feel so much like shopping in a foreign language and culture and store layout.  It feels much more like shopping at "home."

Anyhow, since it is still under warranty, I returned to Changomas (Walmart) with all my paperwork in hand to see what they would do to fix our washer.  They looked through their records and referred us to a local repair shop in town that they contract repairs for appliances out through.  I was bummed.  I thought they would deal with it directly.  Now I had to track down a new place, talk to new people, try to work things out all over again.  Oh well.  I went to the address...closed for siesta.  Sigh.

It is way across town from us so I had to go back that night to try again.  Thankfully I had a simple and clear conversation with the owner, drew a map of how to find our house, and left him all our contact info.  The very next day one of his employees came out to look at the machine.  As expected, it was a very simple problem - a tiny piece of plastic that was part of the door handle assembly (front loading machine - we had to buy this style to fit in the alcove made for the washer - has a counter over the top of it so a top loader could not function.  lol.) broke and since the door can not properly shut - the machine could not run.

Incredible.  This beautiful and fine functioning machine was brought to it's knees by a teeny, tiny piece of plastic.  I am sure it could not have cost more than a few pennies.  But, without it, the door latch can not catch, so the computer in the machine will not let the washer function...at all.  Argh!  What a frustration!

The repairman said that they did not carry that exact part and would need to order it.  He hoped to have it by the end of the week.  Then he could bring it out and repair it in a jiffy.

A week went by.  ...Then another.  ...I went to visit the shop and the owner immediately recognized me, called me by name (a perk of being just about the only gringo in the area) and let me know they were still waiting for the part to arrive.  Unfortunately, they had no idea when it would arrive.

In the meantime we had to take all our laundry to a service to have it done.  (Coin op's don't hardly exist here.)  So now we had the added work of having to bag up all the laundry for 5 people, ride the bus across town to the closest laundry service, pay someone else to do our laundry, then pay to go pick it up and bring it home.  Argh 2!

The one nice thing - we know the laundry shop people from when we were living in a hotel and hunting for a home to rent when we first came to Jujuy.  It was nice to reconnect and continue building relationship with them.  They are not just workers - they are friends.  We spent a lot of time talking with them, praying for them, witnessing to them as best as we could.  I loved that part of it.

Well, finally, after 1 month - the part arrived from Buenos Aires!  (The only place that almost everything in the country comes from.)  The repairman came out, replaced the part, tested the machine and our beautiful little washer is now up and running again!  - Now we just need to continue to find a way to drop in and keep reaching out to our friends at the laundry service.

It is SO NICE to be able to do our own laundry at home again!  We are working hard on getting linens and everything else that we were holding off on to save money, washed and put back.

Amazing though how a tiny little plastic part can humble such a big, beautiful, intricate machine.
I wonder how many things are like that in our own lives.  How one little thing can bring the rest of our life to a grinding halt.

Jesus said, "It is the little foxes that spoil the vine."
Guard yourself and keep your life running.  Don't let a little thing sideline you for such an extended period of time.

Good night and God bless -
Paz y amor de Dios -

A Month Of Sickness

Hi All -

I am sorry that I have not posted too many on-line journal entries lately.  The family has been pressed down by continual waves of sicknesses for about a month now.

It all started innocently enough.  Just a bit of the usual little sicknesses that go around, especially when you are new to an area.  When we moved from eastern WA to western WA, when we moved from the US to Costa Rica, when we went from Costa Rica to Argentina, from Buenos Aires to Cordoba, from Cordoba to San Salvador de Jujuy - there is always a big adjustment time frame.  It took me several years to get used to the new pollen in western WA - years!  Well, it is no different here now.

When you move to a new place, it can take at least a year or more to build up immunities to all the different germs, viruses, bacteria, etc.  And of course there are the pollens, dusts, smoke, etc, etc  So, getting a little sick, often, is not all that uncommon.  But, to be sick with one thing after another, after another, after another, with basically no break in between...that is not normal, okay, or fun.

I have been doing all I can to get and stay healthy - eating super-healthy, drinking tons of tea, taking vitamins, etc, etc.  I have been praying, quite a bit, and asking for the prayers of others.  I know that many of them have been praying.  And still, the sickness rolls on.  Is it physical?  Surely.  Is it spiritual attack?  Absolutely.

To be sure, God has been kind to us.  For the most part, the illnesses have been more annoying than serious.  I have been able to function, mostly.  The family has been the same way.  Sick, but not really too bad.

But, I am sick of it!  I am more than ready to be over with this.  I need to get back to full speed.  I have so much work to do and I need all of my strength, energy and faculties to get it done.  I need to be over this thing.  I need my family to be over this.  I need to get back to effective work and ministry!

I hope it is sooner than later.  Either way, I AM forging ahead.  It is why we are here.  : )

God bless & good night!
Paz y poder en el Espíritu Santo -

Cultural Difference -

On Monday, Nate's school went down to the local movie theater to watch a documentary movie by Disney on The Big Cats of Africa.  I had a chance to go along to chaperon and help out.  It was an amazing study on the differences between N. American and Argentine (Jujuy at least) cultures. 

The kids started off their day by heading to their home room, roll call, announcements, flag salute, etc.  Then came the time to load up to go.  This is the where the difference really began to show.

Each class lines up outside their room in 2 rows.  One row for the boys, the other for the girls.  I don't ever remember doing that in school in N. America.  I am sure that it was not done so that no one would feel offended at being segregated, different, sexual orientation biases, etc.  : )   

From there we were to march along in good order to the front of the school to load on the buses.  I was expecting "school buses."  Instead we had city transit buses.  Humm?  No prob.  But, unlike school buses and exactly like in city transit, it is ok to cram on waaaaay more people than can possibly fit into the seats.  The extra people get to stand and hold on to rails from the ceiling if they are tall enough, or to hold on to handles across the top of the seats if they are too short for the former.  And cram on we did!  : )

I was expecting at least twice as many buses.  When I got on with the class and realized the bus was already full, I thought it was a mistake and we were going to get off and get on to another, more empty bus.  No such thing was going to happen.  It took me a few seconds to shake off my N. American way of doing things - all I could think about was the potential lawsuits when we got into an accident and the kids packed into the aisles went flying in every direction.  - I quickly got over it and tried to figure out how best to cram in and not squish any of the kids. : )

I was also surprised (should have known better by now) that there did not seem to be any rhyme or reason to which class got onto which bus.  We were all mixed together.  1st and 2nd grades with 5th grades with 7th graders, etc.  Of course, as fate would have it, the older kids arrived first and took all the seats.  Then the rest of us boarded.  A wise teacher made all the older kids get up and give their seats to the smaller students.  It has hard as the aisles were already jammed and in the end it only partly happened.  For example - Nate's 2nd grade class was THRILLED to be able to sit in the back exist area & stand in the aisles so they did not take any of the seats.  : )

Once at the theater, again, it seemed a bit like a free-for-all.  Now, each class did take up their own row and their teachers sat with them, but as far as which row we took - it did not seem there was any organization to it.  It was a school field trip so of course my N. American mindset told me we were there to learn something and not to chow down.  I did not allow Nate to go to the snack stand to buy anything therefore.  Big mistake! Many of the kids loaded up on stuff and had a blast.  By the time I realized it was okay, it was too late as the movie had started.  Nate was not too happy with me. 

When the movie was over we all got lined up and started to leave.  We packed the lobby and tried to stay in our neat little rows.  (Some groups are better at it than others.  Ha.)  We stood there for quite awhile waiting for the buses to pull up front so we could load and go.  But eventually, we were all sent back into the auditorium to sit down and wait.  Something must have gone wrong with the schedule. 

When we all finally went back out again, I was surprised at how long we had to wait for the buses, then how long we had to wait to load, then for how long we had to wait to get moving... etc.  Again, I was in my very time conscience N. American mind set.  But, none of the Argentines seemed impatient in the least! 

Now, I share all this with you not to blast or make fun of Latin Culture, but rather to highlight the differences in the way cultures do things.  One culture is not right and the other one wrong.  Although, I am sure that any N. American who would have been along would have found many things "wrong" with how the trip was done.  I am also just as sure that for a person who grew up in a Latin America who was doing the same trip in the States, would think of just as many things that were done "wrong." 

It IS amazing how much our cultural upbringing shades and shapes us. 
Even though I have trained in, am aware of it, etc. -it is still hard to set aside my home culture's biases.  : )
Just something to think about and be aware of in our constantly shrinking world.  

Good night and God bless -
Paz y poder en el Espiritu Santo : )