slumber parties and fiestas and lessons learned.

'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God...But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.'
I had read that passage a bunch of times before. It's part of the Beatitudes according to St. Luke, and the first half is one of Jesus' most famous quotes. But yesterday morning was the first time I've read through those verses with a group of people who live on the street. The words became much more real to me in that particular Bible study. We read 'blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied', and one of the guys commented on being denied bread from a local panaderia time and time again. We read 'bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you' and they reacted with shock, claiming that it doesn't make sense to let people walk all over you if you already feel taken advantage of as it is. I listened as they talked about what it even looks like to treat one another in a different way, 'do to others as you would have them do to you', rich and poor alike. Looking at Christianity and at Jesus' teachings down here, alongside people who aren't able to give their children baths and who work begging change for a living, definitely puts this message in a different light. I'm learning a lot down here so far...for now more questions than answers, but when I have some more words I'll for sure try to share all my thoughts with you all.

Tuesday and Wednesday was the bimonthly 'Encuentro', where Walter picks up a group of people from the train station and brings them to the church, where we eat dinner, watch movies, play games, sleep, and have a group discussion the next morning over yerba mate before lunch. This time, around 13 or so people came, mostly guys and girls in their late teens, with three toddlers in tow. It's so good to be able to get to know them all better. One of the highlights was definitely seeing the little girls take baths, and watching them play without the dirt and muck of the streets. Those kids don't have very much stuff, just one dirty Barbie backpack full of plastic spoons and toy dinnerware between the three of them, but they certainly have plenty of energy...None of them went to bed before 12 or 1am.

The Friday before, the church had a fiesta at Pastor Juan Jose's house, a sort of outreach to prepare for a young adult retreat that's happening this weekend where people can come and get to know each other. Now I've been to church parties in the states--there's some line dancing (if it's southpoint), some talking and laughing, and it's over at 11, at the latest. This party started at 11, and we weren't done until 5:30 in the morning. The people here don't sleep! And they don't stop dancing. Cumbia, salsa, quarteto, I dunno what else they danced but it was a lot. Afterwards, a bunch of us sat in a circle and played guitar, sang, and talked until the pastor went to bed at 5:30. The culture here seems to put a lot of value on conversations and spending time relating to people, talking to one another. I love it.

More tidbits about Argentina... So far I've learned that a lot of young people here really seem to like rock music, and all of their favorite songs sound like stuff from the 80s. I've learned that the Argentinean version of scattergories is the BOMB--it's called TuttiFrutti, and all you need is a pen and paper; I've also learned that they're not as receptive when I aim for 'creativity points' and that I'm much less talented at scattergories in castellano. I've learned that 'piola' means cool, 'laburo' means work (they mix Spanish with Italian a lot), and morocha (which is apparently my name now at the train station) means brown person. I've learned that the police officers don't do much--we went to a cafe for some meat after a morningtime meeting, and we played guitar and sang with a group of about 8 police officers for like 2 hours. I'm including a picture.

The time here is definitely full of more than just parties, though. Teaching English is going really well; a lot of the kids at the villa are very smart, and are picking up the language a lot quicker than I'd expected. Meeting with Nico, Margi and my tutor, is also pretty amazing--he's a graduate student in theology, but he knows everything there is to know about latin american history, and he's got us reading and discussing a good 50-odd pages in Spanish every week, about poverty and the church and the nation. It's making me use my brain, and it feels like school again, which is great because I really do love homework. Megan and I are now officially taking cooking lessons from Christian (who still works selling diarios at Retiro but also lives at the church) in exchange for one-on-one English tutoring. I now know how to make 'fideo con tuco' (read: spaghetti with sauce, haha), and he now knows how to say 'I like to cook with Tina'. Among other things.

For those of you who are praying:

Pray for the church retreat this weekend. A few of the kids from the train station are going to be there, and the theme is on Inclusion. Pray that we can build some solid relationships there, be a support to the people leading the retreat, and that people can really contribute to what is said and what we learn. Most of the people going never go to church, so pray also that we can learn from them, and that the church can be practicing what it's preaching and helping people move from feeling marginalized to being included.

Pray for opportunities to use music! I've started bringing my guitar around sometimes, and everywhere I've went it's turned into a jam session. At the villa and the train station so far, I've just been getting to know people so I haven't brough it, but I might start soon. I think good things can come from it, so pray for that por favor.

Christian is going to get an operation sometime soon on his throat--He almost drowned a few months ago, and has this tube in his throat that they're going to take out I'm not sure when, but he's pretty nervous about it, so pray in advance that it goes well.

For open eyes, and humbleness always.

THANKS for reading :) I'mma try to put some pictures now...

ciao