From Jessica

CJ and Tara do face paints--the team.

CJ preaches, a typical neighborhood where the puppet show played and Jess and CJ learn how to work the puppets.

The past 3 days have been packed: we put on 8 puppet shows in 7 different places, painted hundreds of faces and made 300 balloon animals, spent 2 nights in police barracks with one working toilet, ate 4 meals a day (breakfast of white bread, lunch with white bread, merienda (tea) with white bread, and dinner around 10 pm), and reached 2000 kids with the message of the gospel. We spent our time in Pergamino (a town about 2 hours away from San Nicolas) with a team of 20 kids from the Hogar that presents a puppet show with music and dancing. Since it's winter break here, the city government of Pergamino had approached a local pastor, Samuel, asking him to put together activities for the kids. Samuel arranged performances for the puppet team and the government gave us free license to share whatever message we wanted.
Each morning, we went to community centers around the city that basically serve as daycares; kids come to the centers for their meals because there is nothing to eat at home. They all loved the puppet shows and clapped, yelled, and danced with the puppets. In the afternoons, the team performed at churches and we painted faces and made balloon animals for the kids afterwards. The kids got really excited about even our messy paintings and balloons that looked like large intestines: simple things bring them so much joy.
Many of the kids we met were enthralled by the fact that we were Americans. One little boy came up and asked me if I knew Nicholas Cage, Spiderman, and Batman because they live in the US. Yesterday, Tara and I went outside to play with some kids and were immediately bombarded with questions about our families surrounded by a semicircle of kids who just stared at us and asked questions.
We were all so exhausted by the third day that we learned to drink mate. It's an herb mix similar to tea but much stronger-- it's drunk through a straw and passed around to everyone. It's pretty potent: one little cup of mate kept CJ going all day.
We've had a lot of practice being flexible the past few days. Everything in Argentina starts at least a 1/2 hour late (Dad- you would fit in well here :)) and starting times are just suggested, so schedules are always subject to change. The Argentines are all really laid-back and patient. They are content to sit and talk for an hour while waiting for church to start, and the whole pace of life here is much slower and more relaxed.
We didn't have specific roles with the puppet program, so we had to play things by ear. We sat and danced with the kids, helped with set up and take down of equipment, spent time with the teenagers from the team, led devotionals in the mornings. Derryn and Claudio preached at two different churches (one was a hip-hop youth service of 250 and the other was a small pentecostal church) and I sang at both despite a few hairy moments due to sound equipment.
We all had a lot of fun together and got to know many of the kids better. Relationships are being built, so please pray for continued opportunities for connecting with the kids.

from Shelley

Wow!!! People have been so open and warm despite the language barrier. Claudio preached and Jessica sang. They both did so well, even though I couldn't understand them (it was in Spanish).
It is amazing to see the joy of God in the hearts of the people down here. They have so little. The Lord has truly shown us a few saints. Life down here is so different from home. We are the fortunate ones to see how God works. Thanks for the prayers from so many people. We can feel your warmth around us.

From Tara...

In the airplane and at the airport...

Arriving at the hotel--Derryn prepares for battle

Wow! That was a long flight, probably the longest some of us have experienced. Praise be to the Lord for getting us here safely! Flying over the Andes at sunrise, was beautiful. The clouds hovered low over the hills and looked like pools of whipped cream. In one of these pools it looked like God had taken a swipe with His finger as if to test the sweetness of the whipped cream. We also watched a magnificent lightning storm through the night.
Customs and immigrations was a breeze and we eventually found Tom Feeney, who took us to San Nicolas. We are staying at the (retired hotel) house of Tito and Blanca, friends of the Feeneys. Its not too cold here, nothing we Oregonians can't handle!
Pray that we get rested up and adjusted to the time change, that we all are patient while letting the Lord work through the language barrier, that we make good connections and relationships with the people here and that each of us remains strong and faithful in our walks with the Lord.

We're at the airport...

There's Shell taking care of last second details last night. And today...we're at the airport waiting for our first flight. We fly to Houston, then from Houston on to Buenos Aires. Our flight to Houston is delayed about an hour, but it works out OK because we had a long enough lay-over in Houston (nice planning Caroline).
Thanks all for your continued prayers (and don't stop)

Ephesians 6:19 NIV (New International Version)

¹⁹Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel,

Pray that for all the members of our team.

Almost on our way...

We are close to our departure. Our plane takes off this Thursday at about noon.

Please pray for:

*Safe travels

*Preparation for the hearts of the many we will encounter

*All the details taken care of (especially the important ones :)

*We are at 94% of our support goal !! Praise for that and keep praying!

We are told we will have wi-fi and will be able to access the Internet. That being the case, we will try to keep you updated via email and we will update this fabulous blog with photos of non-beam-hugging-balloon-making-loving-orphans-face-painting-spreading-the-good-news time.

2 weeks away

Thank you for your many prayers...our time before we leave is very short only 2 weeks away. We, all, are getting excited to see what God has in store for us. Please continue to pray for us, to focus on our preparation and that the distractions here will be few. Pray that hearts will be open to the Gospel and that relationships will be welcome. Also, that our trip will be safe.