Exciting start

Dear Friends and family,
Our first day here in argentina went very well. we arrived at the airport at 6 am local time and began our trip through customs where we were met by out local contacts Eduardo Buldain (local church planter), David Santander (translater and local pastor) and Esteban Montllau (Word of Life Argentina Finance and Sport Ministry Director). As we were waiting for the bus which was running a little late, Pastor James realized that in the hurry to help his family off the plane he forgot a carry on bag in one of the overhead compartments. He and Eduardo had to ask some of the Airline people what to do and all they could say was wait an hour while they check. So, while they waited at the airport, the rest of the group headed to the hotel in Canuelas for some desayuno (breakfast). things went just fine and we were able to get all 31 bags that we brought loaded up in the vans and over to the hotel. As we were finishing breakfast we heard the great news that Pastor James was able to get his bag and had made it safely to the hotel as well. It was a really good thing too, because that just happened to be the carry on bag containing 2 laptop computers that her was bringing for Eduardo from a friend of his in the states that donated them for the church planting ministry. Gloria de Dios.

It was a very calm day for most of the morning and afternoon. After enjoying a good breakfast of pastries and coffee we checked into the hotel and went for a walk of the neighborhood. by the time we returned it was almost time for lunch. There is a restaurant across the street from the hotel called the ´¨five brothers¨ which would be our first taste of Argentine food. it was great!! They served us steak, chicken and fries for lunch. It was plenty and sure hit the spot after all that travel.

After lunch Eduardo and David gave us some introductions to the work we will be doing for the first 5 days of our ministry. We were able to talk with them, ask questions and meet their families. They are very nice gentlemen and servants of God. They treat us very hospitable and you can just tell they love the Lord. Once that was over th team had a chance to rest (which really means go for a walk to try the local ice cream shop). Wow, Wow, wow....their ´´helado´´is amazing. the group really enjoyed that walk and talked about it all day long.

In the evening, the bus picked us up and we headed along with many others to the church of ORO VERDE. This is the church we will work with most of the week here in canuelas. it is about 30 minnutes from the hotel by bus and is located in a very poor neighborhood. At the church we had our first program. We began by hosting a compassion ministry for 7 pastors and their families. We brought many items of clothing for them and were able to distrubute to them as they had need. not a single item was left on a table!!!!! no joke!! They were very excited about our gift and warmly welcomed the generosity of the team and Boca Raton Community Church. Following this we joined them in a time of worship in a full house (125 people). it was a great time of praise and worship followed by the introduction of our team, a skit we would do for them (doctors office) and then preaching from pastor james. We closed the service with another worship service. they really like to sing. i think we sang more songs at the end then at the beginning, like 6 or 7 songs all in spanish of course.

We returned to the hotel by about 10: 30 pm for dinner at the same restaurant. This time we had MILANESAS which is similar to country fried steak, but better. what a great late meal. When dinner was over around 11:30 we had some debriefing time then headed to bed. Our wake up call is 7:30 am so i better go.

Please know we are grateful for your prayers and are really excited to be serving the Lord here in Argentina.

Please leave us some comments if you can.

Our prayer requests for today are: Tanya, Matt M and pastor james to get well as they are sick, team unity with the argentine people, strength, wisd0m, energy and the opportunity to share christ with as many as possible on Saturday (our first full day of ministry). Thanks for praying...