Man, I am so tired! I am exhausted and have a fairly big headache. I would love to just go to sleep...BUT, I know I need to get back into the rhythm of doing my online journaling. So...here was my day. : )
It was a late night last night. After church I didn't get to bed until 1 am. So, when my alarm went off at 5 am...it was hard to get up. I almost fell asleep in the shower. : )
I managed to get cleaned up, get dressed, kiss the fam goodbye (in their sleep) and walk out to the bus stop. Noooooo! I JUST missed the bus. I had to wait another 15-20 minutes for the next one. I rode it across town and walked the last several blocks to the out of town bus terminal. I checked to see who had the first bus out, bought my ticket, and jumped on. I was so tired I fell asleep. Thankfully God woke me up in the right town and I got off the bus. Otherwise I might have ended up in Bolivia and had to take a different bus back. ha!
Once in town I had no idea where to go. I had accidentally deleted a text with the address of the place we were meeting. I texted a couple of people and did not hear back. I walked around and prayed for a bit regarding what I should do next. I looked for other pastors who might be coming in on a bus in order to follow them. No such luck.
I was marveling at the fact that I was so at peace. A few months ago I would have been pretty nervous and stressed out - all alone in a strange place, don't know anyone, am lost, don't know what to do, can hardly understand people, etc. Now, I was totally at ease. I relaxed, prayed, watched and waited. Finally I felt the best thing to do was to strike out on my own and start asking for directions. Most people did not know where the place was and I got some mixed signals. I prayed and started walking in the direction I felt led by God to go in. I wondered about it at first, but then found myself in the right place. Yea God!
The meeting went great, as always. These pastors truly love God and love each other. They are a tight knit group who truly care for one another. They always ask about people when they don't show up and express their love and concerns for them. It is pretty cool. They love to chat, hang out, and socialize. Fun for them, hard for me.
I am still learning the language and the culture so these times are exhausting mentally and physically. I have to focus all my energy on listening to each person, giving them answers that make sense, etc. I am always studying the culture, trying to learn all those subtle little things that one inherently has picked up in their own culture. It is also mentally exhausting. It has to be done carefully so that you don't just sit back and watch without interacting (a huge no-no in Argentine culture) and so that you don't seem like a crazy stalker. lol.
We had a good time of drinking mate as everyone arrived and swatting away flies. They were EVERYWHERE! I have never seen so many flies. Turns out the area has a sugar cane factory and all that juicy sugary processing mess is like heaven to flies. I had to keep moving them away from my drink and my food plate.
Once everyone had arrived and had a chance to catch up we had a great service. This is an important time for these guys to be ministered to, instead of having to minister to others. Great times of refreshing. Missionary Ralph Hiatt brought an AWESOME message on how as humans we are always looking to make ourselves bigger, better, more famous, etc. BUT that Jesus LEFT all that behind to come to earth and model being a servant for us. Ouch! So flies in the face of our human nature!
After a fantastic time of prayer around the altar, we moved things around and had lunch. Mountains of meat - that is usually what an Argentine lunch is, and was today as well. Yum, yum! There was also some veggies, but mostly meat. : )
I was struggling to focus and stay awake after lunch. It was so hard to listen, concentrate and give good answers. Finally people started leaving so I took my leave as well. I caught the first bus home - totally fell sleep. I must be a bit under the weather as I sweat profusely in my sleep! I feel bad for the next person who has to sit in that seat on the bus. Wow!
As I arrived in Jujuy I was welcome by a big storm rolling in. It was raining. ...Have I ever told you how much I hate the rain. ...I walked through it for about a mile, no umbrella. As it got worse I had to sneak along the store fronts to stay dry; drier; dry as possible. I finally ducked into the mall (one of the only places open since today is a holiday) to stay dry and to run a couple of errands. Then, it really started to pour! The wind picked up and parts of buildings were flying off. I was happy to get inside!
I got my errands finished, got a bite to eat and waited outside to flag a cab. Getting a cab in the rain is not easy. Thankfully, after not too long a cab stopped to drop someone off. I was able to catch it and start home. - So weird seeing the streets filled with moving water - they looked like streams instead of streets.
Finally, made it home and got to spend some time with the fam. What a nice relief to a long day. Need to get sleep as tomorrow (Tuesday) is the biggest day of the week in my schedule.
Good night all.
God bless you and do cool things in and through you -
Paz, poder, bendiciones -
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