That’s right, we finally made it back to the states!
It would be great to start out by telling you the stories of people that I met and what all I encountered along the way, but I am not going to do that in this blog. I am going to try and accomplish what is usually hard for a guy to do. I want to express some emotions about the trip and being back so let me know if this works.
Traveling by plane is a great way to travel fast, but as for my body it doesn’t like it too much. I have a little bit of nausea. It wasn’t bad, just the take offs and landings. Once there we took an old bus to get to the orphanage. It was a rugged bus. That didn’t bother me but the fact that all the vehicles ran on diesel didn’t help my lungs. If you understand that I am stubborn and resilient than these things don’t get to me. Now we arrive at the Hogar De Ninos Refugio Del Rey aka The King’s Refuge Kids Home. We were greeted with kids that were excited to see us. I had the same feelings back. I was ready to have fun and be a big brother to these kids. During the course of 2 weeks there I did just that. Some of the young boys were hanging off me and the girls were having fun with me. I was had mixed emotions. I knew that this time was only a fraction of the trip and that there are 5 more weeks ahead, but I also knew that these kids need older “brother” to be there.
Like a guy can so easily do, I compartmentalized that time and looked forward to Mendoza. This base that I would be helping was 5 years old but the ministries that help build it have been in process for a couple decades. My group was only there a couple days and we were off to stay in El Campo. What is El Campo? At first we didn’t know that term. We knew it as the desert, but the word desert is a word of curse. The people that have been doing the ministry know the people that live there and they all call it El Campo. So what does it mean? In English terms it means country side, but that doesn’t translate correct so we left it as El Campo. The people there are very hospitable. I have not witnessed that volume of welcomeness by anyone in the states. The best I have encountered is the phrase “make yourself at home,” and unless I really know the people I don’t transition to that mode easy. We got to meet several families and each time was a huge blessing. Back at the base we developed friendships with some of the DTSers. They had great hearts and all had boldness to share Jesus. Many of them made impressions on me. There were former drug dealers, who radically had their hearts changed, and others that are funny, others that traveled lots and others that were the sweetest people ever. I look forward to meeting them all again.
I think the last thing I will comment on is how the “tourist” time went. I was able to take in some history before the whole trip ever started but so much more about individual cities came from the locals. I was able to encounter spiritual strongholds in cities and understand some of why Argentina is the way it is today. They have so much influence of other cultures but little of there own ancestry. It was amazing to see how they lived and what type of things transform their culture. I expect God to continue moving and shaking through that place as he has already started.
