Day Two ... SUNDAY!

Well, we just had a really fun time reading the comments friends and family left! Thank you, thank you. We're going to try to give you another summary from each of us about our experiences today. I'll start with what happened after we blogged last night. We got to meet the precious Suarez family who have two daughters -- Rocio and Lucero -- 16 years old and 11 years old, respectively. They were a little shy with us at first, but once Bekah and I decided to make dorks of ourselves and try out our Spanish, they become more experimental with their English. By the end of the night, we had fallen in love with these girls and were making promises to see each other again before we leave. I went to bed last night so excited that, yes, even in another culture, I still LOVE teenagers. And Rocio is really not all that different from my teens at home -- she's into shopping, text messaging, Facebook, etc. No wonder we could understand each other so well. Anyway, please pray for our new friends ... we will hopefully get to see them again tomorrow night and share our faith as the opportunity lends itself.

And now, we'll tell you about today (as chronologically as possible) ...

Chris: So we didn't get up and do our group ru

n/walk/jog because we were just too tired. (We

 actually all decided not to last night.) We got up around 9:30 and got a donut and had a devotion with Ted and Connie. I played with Pebbles, the dog -- that was pretty chill.

Sam: I enjoyed Ted and Connie's insights about their time in the middle east. [We are all agreeing right now.]

Rebekah: Yeah, I really enjoyed hearing Ted's testimony about what led them here to Argentina.

Matt: Around noon, several of us walked to the "chicken place" - meat store - and it smelled,

like, super good. I think the chicken tastes better here. And, no, Mom - there is no Dr Pepper here but the Coke is really good.

Amelia: After lunch, Krissi and I made posters for the skit - we had to translate "Sins Forgiven" and "Free of Charge" into Spanish for the posters. Krissi wrote and I colored while Chris kept trying to take a serious picture of us - but we kept laughing and he didn't like that.

Brendon: When we took the bus to Rawson where the Baptist church is, I slept. We were going to hang out with the "youth group" there which is people from ages 13-30. Brice, Chris, Nolan and I got to go play soccer with a group of them. It was hard because we played on gravel and 

I'm used to grass.

Brice: I scored the winning goal!! (Actually, I kind of hit the ball and was really happy when it went into the goal.)

Nolan: My team would've won if we'd had more time!

Chris: One kid named Christian said he liked Guns N Roses and we were like, "Yeah!" Pretty crazy.

Sam: They tried to make us drink wood chips.

Krissi: Actually, it was called "mate"(pronounced mah-tay) and it was herbs in hot water that you sip through a metal straw that strains the herbs out. I'm pretty sure it was like licking an ash tray (not that I've ever done that before, but I imagine that is what it would taste like!) But it was fun to watch each of us suffer through it -- and we all had to share the same straw. It's the custom. Yep, we shared germs, too.

Emily: I did it first! So I didn't have to drink after anyone!

Rebekah: I had fun talking to Laura and her boyfriend, Axel, who are English-learning students here.

Emily: Yeah, I wear Nolan's ring on my necklace and Laura informed me that here that means I'm looking for a boyfriend. Don't think I'll wear it tomorrow ...

Krissi: After tea and "mate," they brought out a ping-pong table and we taught them how to play Around The World ping-pong with a big group. It was so much fun and a great icebreaker! We were laughing and getting people out like crazy. I think they really enjoyed that one.

Matt: The youth here are pretty much the same as us except they speak a different language.

Chris: But they didn't like roasting marshmallows! I mean, it's just sugar and air.

Brice: But we didn't like their "mate" either.

Krissi: One of the activities was that we made a fire and taught them how to roast marshmallows. We were SHOCKED that most of them didn't think too much of the marshmallows. A few of them really got into it, but the rest were like, "Eh."

Amelia: Connie got all of us together and we each had to choose an Argentine partner. We made the beaded bracelets with the colors that tell the salvation story. We read through it in Spanish. Laura was my partner and I got to learn more about her working through that. She speaks pretty good English.

Krissi: My partner was Tania and she cracked me up! She loves to laugh and talk, even when I don't understand her. She decided that she should make my bracelet and I should make hers. So, we each made a bracelet with the charm we picked out and then tied it on each other's wrist. Then, we kissed on the cheek and took a picture. I will cherish this bracelet because she made it for 

me ... what a sweetheart! We also sat together during the worship service and I wish I could see her again, but I'm not sure that will happen before we meet in heaven.

Nolan: I have to say, I've never been kissed so much in my life! But it's all good ... so, during the worship service, we got to perform a skit to the Spanish version of "Everything I Do" by Bryan Adams. In the skit, I play Jesus and I "wash" people's sins away. I didn't know how people would react to it until I could see their faces.

Teri: During the service, the music was awesome! A lot of the songs were recognizable - like "How Great Thou Art" and "The Old Rugged Cross" and "Celebrate Jesus" and "God Will Make A Way" -- after that, we moved onto the kids' skit and I watched the people as the skit was going on. At the end of the skit, so many of them were wiping tears from their face. It was just awesome.

Krissi: I enjoyed listening to them read the Bible in Spanish - I knew enough words that I could follow along in my own Bible (Tania would help me decipher what book and chapter, though). The whole service was RICH in Scripture reading. Read Psalm 47 this week -- that was one of the ones they read aloud during the worship music.

Sam: They called me up onstage at one point and asked me to share a little bit about our group and our purpose. I talked about our "think glocally" vision (with Grady translating) and when I wasn't sure what else to say, I said the one thing I had just learned in Spanish - "Dios de bendiga!" and everyone laughed and clapped. (It means "God bless you" and they apparently REALLY appreciate when we attempt to use their language.)

Krissi: Yeah, but then you need to tell them how you REALLY messed up the language AFTER the service.

Sam: [sighing] I was trying to ask a girl what her name was [which is "Como te llamas?"] Instead I said, "Te amo" which means "I love you." Good thing Tania was there to correct my mistake. It was definitely ... awkward.

Connie: I know that the church really enjoyed having yall there. It was fun to see it all come together today.

Ted: I just want to say goodnight and God bless! [It's about 12:30am at this point. Ted is tired.]

So, we didn't have dinner until 11:30 tonight and it was fabulous pizza with extra stringy cheese. Mmmm. We look forward to another awesome day tomorrow. Thank you again for checking in and for the prayers and comments. We love hearing from home.