Week 2 & still alive.

So far so good, I'm able to keep up with myself!

B.A-town

We went to downtown Buenos Aires, Saturday. It was really fun. We started out in the tourist plaza place, where all the government building are. Their "white-house" is actually pink because back in the days, they used milk and beef blood to have waterproof paint. One of their presidents even went through this gorey rampage killing all the natives... and he used their blood one year (with milk) SICK. Anyway... after that we went to this restaurant called Siga la Vaca (litterally Follow the Cow) where there was a MEAT buffet. The fat old chef would put meat on a grill (any (ANY) kind of meat.. intestine, gorge, ribs, ...) and grill it over fire. bueenno (for those who love meat. HA.) After that... we headed to Walmart for 3 effing hours! It was good, I was able to get a bunch practical (and unpractical) stuff for quite cheap. The Walmart wasn't that different from North American Walmarts. Maybe a bit smaller, but still quite interesting. The alcohol section was ginormous. I don't remember quite well, but I don't think we even have wine in our Walmart.

Routine, routine, routine

This week, we've started the regular routine: orientation is over. A normal day consists of :

6:30 - Wake up

7:00 - Breakfast

8:00/10:00 - Class

10:20/11:00 - Chapel

11:30 - Class

1:00 - Lunch

2:30/3:45 - Study Hall

4:15/6:00 - Work or sports

7:00 - Supper

8:30/9:45 - Study Hall

10:00- In rooms + lights out at 10:30

Classes, Work & Sports

Spanish classes are good. It's still quite easy, but at least it's fun! We do grammar, and vocab and games! Somehow, you learn a lot more in the commedor (dining hall) and in the cuarto (dorm) than in the clase. Our teacher is really nice though. Her name is Sylvia and she's really down to earth, but her English is quite limited. I think that it's just an advantage because it makes you have to learn to listen & understand faster.

We've also had an evangelisation class everyday this past week. They're showing us to use the "evangecube" as a method to share the gospel on the street with basically anyone. It's interesting. We're going to have the chance to try it out Monday when we all go out into BA for "Dia de la Primavera" (Spring Day). No one has school and all get drunk and high to celebrate spring. I'm guessing that it's kinda like our June 24th.

The whole student body has to participate in a sport and a work assignment twice a week. My sport is handball, Wednesday, they had this whole welcoming "let's-get-to-know-the-new-English-girls" time. It was nice bonding time. So sports Wednesdays and Fridays sports... and Tuesdays, Thursdays are work. My job is gardening. It may sound a little lame, but it's better than cleaning toilets. Plus, during the summer, I'll be working out in the sun, getting a nice little taaan, it'll be good.

alright. The end for this week!

New post after Monday. Street Evangelism for the first time... in a drunk crowd. It'll be good!

p.s: Pictures are up on FB.

It's been a week.

Hola friends!

Weather
I have arrived safe and sound in Argentina. It is so nice here, except for the weather. Supposedly, last week was beautiful weather, but since we arrived, it has rained basically every single day. It’s spring in Argentina… so I suppose that this is normal. People say the weather will be getting better and better, warmer and warmer. Hopefully.

Arrival & PBB
What better way to start a letter than by talking about the weather! Ok. Now for the real deal.
After about 14h of plane I arrived in the country. Got to the airport and had to find the people with the Word Of Life (WOL) sign. No luck. I stood there for about 30 minutes waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Finally a girl came up to me and was like: “ Are you American? ” (phhht!) anyway, it was the right person (without a sign). A couple of the PBB (Programa Biblica Bilingue) were already there. I recongized a boy from the plane. The other PBB’s are nice. A couple of the boys are hilarious and others try to be. The girls are girls… and are really nice too. I got to know 3 of them pretty good. We’re a good bunch.

Monte & Palabra de Vida
We got to Monte (about 45 minutes from B.A) and went to a restaurant! Good steak was served… and for me to say it was good steak, it was really, really good steak (I’ve always disliked steak). Then, with tummies reaaal full, we went back to the BI where we got installed.
I met the chicas in my cuarto. We are 7: Lavinia (24, from Romania), Melissa (19 or 20 from Colombia), Celesta (20-ish, from Argentina), Lisa (21-ish, from USA), Teresa (20-ish, from I don’t remember where) and Émilie (20, from Montreal). The hardest thing for me was the language. Surpriiisee. No, but seriously. I felt so lame: I wanted reaaaaaal hard to communicate but couldn’t as much as I wanted to. That’s the hardest part. But things are going better… I’ve decided to be like what the heck and just talk “Spanish” even though it doesn’t make any sense. Surprisingly enough, latinos look at me with confused eyes when I do so and say: “Hablas español?”. I’m like oooh no buddy! Just a little. But it’s really encouraging.

Orientation
Slowly, we are getting used to the routine here. We're still in orientation week, so no Spanish classes until tomorrow or Friday. Orientation-ing is starting to get old. But if we didn't have it... we wouldn't be orientated... right?!

U.M.E

Every Wednesday night there is this thing called U.M.E. Basically it's a whole 2 hours or so taken to pray for different countries. Every student picks a country (Argentina, Gaza, Asia, Chilie, Mexico, Italy are a few) and commits himself to pray for it. Then, during UME they have a special presentation, some songs and a prayer time... It's really great

Show Infantil

Tonight, there's going to be a musically theatre presentation or something. It's an outreach for the kids of Monte. They will be able to hear about the Gospel and see a pretty cool show at the same time (seriously, I saw a bit of it... it will be amazing!)

That's basically it for now.
I think I'll try updating once a week or so.

Much love.

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Prayer Requests

1. LANGUAGE. All that's need to be said. I've been put into the beginners class... but I'm hoping to be able to move up to the intermediate asap. (There are only 2 classes)
2. Purpose. That I may see it. For real and intensly.
   

New post, 5 months later... and 3 days away from goodbye

As I start writing this post once more, I'm trying to remember what happened in these 5 months since the last post. It seems as though it's been such a long time... but at the same time, time has flown by!
I did have a little trouble, that was quite frustrating, with my passport and birth certificate, but that was handled and everything is fine now. I got an awesoe deal on my plane ticket and will be coming back for Christmas! My boss at my job even said she'd probably have work for me for the month of December. Financially, that'll help a lot. I was able to earn enough money to pay the school fees and -praise the Lord- I even have more than I expected I would. I went on a crazy missions trip to Senegal and came back alive and matured.
But now, as my room is a total mess, toiletteries and clothing all over the place, I can't help but wonder what's coming up next. Where will I be at this time next Sunday? What will I have learned (already!), who will I have met, where will I be sleeping/eating/showering, etc!
I guess this is the part where God comes and tells me :

" Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? " (Matt. 6:26)

So why worry?
Friday, I had my official bye bye party at home. I had invited a bunch of people to come and just hang out.... Lot's of them would say : "How are you feeling? Are you scared? Are you stressed?" Being my strong, mighty self, I would answer that I was fine, excited and just too busy getting ready to really stop and think about it. And then, that night, I dreamt that I was in Argentina... and I had forgotten a bunch of stuff. I guess at that point, I realized how real this departure is and how scared I could be. But I still feel fine. He's in control.

I'm going to finish off with a quote I found in a bunch of papers as I was cleaning my very messy desk (that, hence, didn't stay organized for long)

"It's a great comfort to know that nothing new in our experience will be a surprise to the Lord our God."

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Prayer Requests

1. I will be traveling alone for about 24 hours. That God may protect me in the airports, that I do not miss any flight and that my luggage doesn't get lost in the mayhem that airports can be.
2. Adaptation. That I may feel at home on the campus and find good friends quickly.
3. Language. That learning Spanish may flow and not be an obstacle.
4. Financial. That the Lord may continue to provide throughout the year.

much needed UPDATE

SO! I haven't written in waay too long.

But basically, I'm not the type to blabber all about every single thing going through my mind, every single day. That being said... MAJOR event today!

I received an email confirming my pre-acceptance to WOL Bible School in Argentina!

"That means we have received all your forms for the First Phase of the Application Process to the Bilingual Bible Program of the Word of Life Argentina Bible Institute. It is my pleasure to inform that you are among those who are PRE - ACCEPTED FOR THE B.A.S.E. - COURSE, 2009 - 2010. This means you should make definite plans and we are counting on you to be with us. " and "We are anticipating a great year and we are looking forward to having you with us." were said amongst other information.

I'm really excited, but it hasn't all sunk in yet. Maybe because it's still at the preacceptance phase. It's preaccepted as in I still have to send in some technical information (school transcripts, medical insurance number, details...)

God is good, finally I have more of an idea as to where I'm headed!

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Prayer requests

1. That God may keep opening doors, or shutting others so that I know where I'm headed
2. That God may provide financially. I'm still a couple thousand $ short, but I know He will make a way for me to raise enough money, and even more (if it's His will)
3. That I start preparing effectively, and not forget to do anything before September 2009 arrives.
4. My combination of school and work. It's starting to drain me. Pray that God shows me what decisions to make about it.

LOVE

2009

Here's a little something I wrote a few days ago. Thought I'd insert it, since it's a good chunk of the process.

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01/06/09

So we’re driving on the 95 somewhere in Maryland… or the state above it. It’s dark, I need to pee, my feet are freezing. Forget sleeping: the thoughts just keep rolling through my mind. Other than because of the enormous lack of things to do, I think this is, in part, due to the situation I find myself in. The year 2009 began just 6 days ago, but for me it’s about to begin tomorrow when we get back to Quebec: to real life. Vacationing in Florida will be over, I’ll be back to the life I left behind three weeks ago.

New Years Eve it hit me. I had no clue whatsoever where I would be in a year from then. It’s quite a scary thought. I have NO IDEA where God will have led me on December 31st 2009. I guess this is where “Trust in the Lord” comes in handy. So true. Back to the point, where will I be? Right now, of course, I have more than one option before me. Which path to choose? How to be sure it’s the right one? Basically, it comes down to Bible School… somewhere.

First off, why spend a year at Bible School instead of going straight to University? Conviction. I believe God is asking me to put aside at least one year among the 60 + some that I will live to be completely immersed in studying His Word. I know that through this year, I will be challenged beyond measure, I will learn so much in so little time, I will grow, step by step, into the person God wants me to be. I want to go to a bible school to learn more about Him, to learn more about myself, to concentrate on my faith, on why I believe and what I believe on a much deeper level. I want my mind to grasp a little more how enormous and almighty the God I want to serve is. I want to learn effectively to be able to share effectively. I want to take this step of faith, not because someone is making me take it, but because I want to take it and so does He. I want the foundations of my adult life to be deep in His Word, in His promises for me.

In one sentence: I want to be closer to Him, for real, for life.

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So now the question is: where do I go? Since the time I first started thinking about Bible School, I think I've changed my mind at least 15 times. So far, I've considered schools in Brazil, Australia, Canada, USA, Hungary, Italy, Argentina, each time being certain that I would go there. Now I realize that I don't have time to change my mind anymore: I have to get the application process started! I'm still weighing the differences between Hungary and Argentina.

Until two days ago, I really wasn't sure. I wanted to wait and see if I'd have my Spanish 102 class during the winter semester. I had told myself that if I had it, I'd go, for sure, to Argentina. Taking the second class in Cegep would become an extra motivation for the Argentinian option since half of the year there will be taught in Spanish. When I didn't get it scheduled on my time table, I was really disappointed. Basically, thinking over it, I realized that I was holding on to that possibility as an excuse to make up my mind once and for all. I think that, deep down, I really do want to go to Argentina after all. It may be a little more expensive than Hungary (and that's a subject of prayer for me!), but I think I'd enjoy the school there more.

I'm giving myself another week or two to pray about it and make my decision. Then, we'll start the application process. Ahhh Exciting!

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Prayer requests

• That God may show me where exactly He wants me to be next fall.
• Financial aspect of it all is a faith stretcher : As I've decided to put this summer aside to go to Africa on a Missions trip with JET, I need to accumulate a little more money in a little less time. God will provide.

This is the first post I will ever publish on a blog. Savour the moment.

So I guess I'm starting this Blog thing a little prematurely. My initial idea was to keep a blog while I'm at Bible school, starting in September 2009. But I think I'm too excited with the idea of having one... so why not start now?!

Basically, I'll be keeping track of the process of the whole adventure of the preparation of going to Bible School, from the beginning to the end. Hopefully, I'll get the hang of posting stuff up here regularly...

I like the idea of this Blog thing. It'll let me keep people in the know once I'm gone... and feed the curiosity of others before I go. Plus, looking back, it'll probably be really funny to read... once I see how the whole project goes!

Modest beginning, but exciting all the same. If I may say so myself.