Halfway there

Our third week is progressing pretty well. We've had some of the best conversations so far, and readers are inviting us to outings like crazy. We originally planned to travel again this weekend, but because we have so many readers that we want to spend time with while we're here, we decided to stay in Cordoba this weekend. I have been able to have some wonderful conversations with some of my readers, about my faith, their faith, history, politics, music, whatever else. Everyone I have met has been very friendly and hospitable. The food is delicious. The weather is cold (but maybe that's a blessing--it seems to be heating up in Memphis quite a bit).

Argentina is a beautiful place, and Cordoba is a busy city full of kind people. I will be very sad to leave, and I will miss the friends I've made here. For now, I'm going to enjoy my last two and a half weeks of bus-riding, slow-speaking, confusion-filled, meat-eating, people-loving fun.

Sorry again for the lack of updates. We stay pretty busy, and besides that, our internet goes in and out. Also, the internet isn't the greatest for uploading photos, but as soon as we're in the States, we'll have lots of pictures to share!

P.S. Please pray for our team and readers constantly. Today, you can specifically pray for Lauren, who isn't feeling well and took the day off to rest, and Terrence, who is transitioning back into life at home. Thanks everyone! We love you.

-Brandon

Week 4

Here, Jarrod.

Hey everyone! Sorry it's been so long since we updated. We've been slacking a little bit. It's been a crazy week.

We sent Terrence to the airport on Sunday, and he will be home TODAY! We're so thankful he made it home safely. And Terrence- no one is wearing your grandpa's hat home. It's either staying in Argentina, or shoved in a bag.

The great news is that they have fixed the plumbing at the church now! David, a member of the church, has been working for a week now to get everything finished.

Also, we've all been really encouraged by getting to know our readers. We realized that the best parts of our day are when we're reading with them. We have had some people drop out, but that's normal and we're hoping a phone call or two will bring them back. We've been invited by several readers to do things with their friend outside of sessions! Hopefully we'll get some concrete plans with them soon, and start learning more about them.

We have been so blessed by this trip, and to have such wonderful people here to take care of us. But, admittedly, We miss you, Memphis!

Tara

Faith Moment

I know it has been a couple of days since I sent out a report about what I am doing with LST. Where to begin?

I will start by sharing an experience I had with one of my readers. Last week, during our normal reading session, I noticed the lesson was on the Parable of the Lost Son in Luke 15. This parable is one of my favorites because the story of the lost son is also the story of my life and my walk with Christ. I explain this to my reader and right before I could ask him to read the parable, he turn the table on me and ask me to read.

Surprise, because the reader usually loves to read, I read the parable and then share my walk with Christ with him. When I had finished he share his story with me. Before that session was over a door was open to a friendship between two people with one goal, Christ.

I thank God for allowing me to be here, to share my life, and to turn around and hear other people’s stories. This week is my last week here. It seems like my trip just started and now it must end. Pray for my team as they shift my readers into their schedules. Pray for me as I have to say goodbye to people I have grown to love and care about in just three weeks.

Terrence

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7

Well, Matthew never locked a door in Argentina!

See, when you lock a door here, you use a key from the inside and outside- so you can actually lock yourself in a room or building. So, if you put the key in and it doesn't unlock, you're stuck. We found that out tonight.

Lauren and I went to go get something from the store for dinner, and when we got to the door there was a woman there for a meeting (on tuesday nights from 7-9 a weight watchers group meets in the building). She had a key and was trying to unlock the door. When her key didn't work, we tried ours from the inside- still didn't work. We started to panic a little. We were locked in, with one reader, and no other way out. I called Susana, our neighbor down the street. She tried the key but it still didn't work. So I called Nune and managed to communicate in broken spanish that the lock on the door was broken. She seemed to understand right away and came over. Once she got here, she put her key in and it unlocked immediately!

She thought it was hilarious, and Susana was very grateful to help. I don't know what we would have done without them. Well...yes I do. The four of us would be stuck in a church building with Javier- Terrence's reader.

We did learn that the locks here are finicky and they sometimes do that. Also, that God has gives us wonderful resources here. Gracias, Dios!

Tara

Edit: Fun fact about Susana: She has a little stray dog that follows her everywhere. It follows her to the church and sits outside until she comes back. It's not her dog, though. It just follows her. Also, apparently South America is Stray Dog Land. There are dogs everywhere!

-Brandon

Second Week

I figured it was time for you guys to hear something from me instead of everyone else. My experience here in Argentina has been rewarding on so many levels. Just sitting and hearing our readers' stories of faith, life, and family is amazing. What's even more amazing is that they are open to hearing our stories of faith and about our relationships with God. I thank God for allowing them to have an open mind and allowing a friendship to develop between us. I have to admit that I wasn't sure how the trip was going to work out, but I believe that God was working on this trip long before we started the journey. Every day I can't wait to get back to the church to spend more time with my readers.

This week we are adding more readers because of the non stop effort of Nune and the team to pass out flyers around the city. Many of these new readers will be students from two universities in Cordoba. We will also have our first party for our readers this Thursday. The reason we have parties is to connect our readers with the church members here in Cordoba. I ask that you pray with us that our party will start to build a bridge between the members of the Church and the readers.

Well That all I have to say about that. (lol)

Terrence

Here's a fun game.
Try to explain these words in English using only simpler words-
Holy...... ("God- like" is not acceptable, our readers don't understand that either.)
Kingdom..... (Can't use the word "rule.")
Carefully..... (Be careful to not slam your Iphone on the ground when pantomiming this word...)
Engaged.... (Every single one of my readers asked what this was.)
Okay so those words are pretty simple, you can probably draw something, look up the Spanish equivalent, or find some other synonym that your reader will understand. Now try these-
Would
Will (As in, I will come.)
Happenings
There
Until

That's been my day today. But besides the communication confusion, I have had some great conversations with my readers. One of my readers, Daniela is a doctor who speaks in almost fluent English. My session with her was more like a bible study with a friend. I learned as much from her as she (hopefully) learned from me! Another, Nair, spoke almost no English at all. That was interesting to say the least, but she was able to communicate that she has three pet turtles! One of the most interesting conversations I have had so far was with Noelia. She, after about 15 minutes of just talking and a little reading, blatantly asked me about my faith and what church was all about. I was kind of surprised but pretty excited about this. She told me that she has a lot of doubts, so if you all could pray for all of our readers, but especially for my reader Noelia. She is so sweet and a great woman!

Continue to pray for our team! We are having a great time!

Lauren

More pictures!

Las gentes de Cordoba (the people of Cordoba)

There's Jacquie, our missionary, who is from the U.S. She is a year or so from retirement. She lives in a town about two hours south of Cordoba, where she has a small bed and breakfast that she runs. She stays half of the week there, and half of the week with Nune in Cordoba so she can work with the church. She's wonderful--she got us a better exchange rate for our money and has been an excellent translator and guide. She's showing us around so that we can manage on our own while she's gone for three weeks. She's taking us to the bed and breakfast this weekend because it will be the last time all 5 of us will be together (she won't get back until after Terrence leaves).

Nune is a lady a little older than Jacquie. She speaks very very little English, but she has been very loving and helpful. Yesterday she took Lauren and Tara to the local university to hand out flyers. Nune owns a big house nearby, where we were all originally going to stay, but the plumbing at the house is deteriorating fast. All of the members of the church and community know Nune. People stop by the church all day asking if she's around. She has a big heart that can be easily seen, even through the language barrier. The church itself is about 10 members, and we've only met Nune and Jacquie. They're hoping to grow, and Lauren had a reader yesterday who said she wanted to come to church on Sunday, so we'll see!

Terrence and I are staying with Cristian and his wife, daughter (6-7ish), and two sons (8-9ish and 15). The only one of the children we ever really see is Ivan, the 15 year old. Cristian's English is pretty good, but sometimes we have to slow down or rephrase things for him. His children know a little English, and his wife tries very hard to say "Hello, how are you?" and "Thank you" and "Here you go", things like that. They are ridiculously hospitable! Terrence and I have to start eating smaller portions at dinner, because Argentines eat a light snack around six or seven, and a bigger meal around ten. Since we get home around 10:15, there is always hot tea, coffee, sandwiches, cakes, and other food set out for us. We eat and watch a little TV with Cristian and his wife, then go to bed. Cristian is a Catholic (most Argentines are, just by birthright). He started as an LST reader a few years ago, and Jacquie says he comes and goes, but lately he has been really struggling with What the Bible teaches versus what the Catholic church teaches. He will be reading with me on Mondays, and he says that he prayed that God would send him English speakers so that he could keep practicing, and then we were sent soon after--to his house! The family is very nice, and Cristian has been teaching me and Terrence where to get on and off the bus, and he has a hired car that picks us up at night from the church. (Travel is 19 pesos a day for both of us--a little less than $5).

Gaston is a local Christian, a little older than us. He is a student at the University, studying to be a doctor. He is very very fluent in English, and yesterday he took us to a Heladeria (ice cream shop--I tried to say it and apparently it sounded like I was asking about the Lotteria...the lottery). We had some great ice cream, and took a little walk around downtown Cordoba. We'll be exploring downtown more on our off days. Gaston treated us to a really fun afternoon, and gave us lots of suggestions for places to visit during our stay. Also, on the mp3 player in his car we heard Death Cab for Cutie, Jack Johnson, and Jay-Z. Crazy!

And then there are the readers that we have had so far--all of whom have been very kind and excited. They are very hardworking, and our first day of lessons went incredibly well.

-Brandon

Picture time

Here is a slideshow from our trip to Argentina and our first day. I don't know how the song got on there or how to get it off, so I just hope it's appropriate for the pictures! :)

We're here!

Hello everyone,

We're finally in Cordoba, and we're settling in nicely. After our missionary, Jacquie, picked us up from the airport, she brought us to Alto Alberdi Iglesia de Cristo, the church we'll be working at. Lauren and Tara are staying in a loft upstairs, and while they unpack Terrence and I are taking some time to let all of you know what's going on. Jacquie has been very helpful, and we all have anywhere from 6-9 readers. We're taking time today to buy groceries and become familiar with the area around the church, and we'll start reading with some of the locals tomorrow morning.

The trip here was an adventure for sure, and God already seems to have some pretty big plans for us now that we're here. We even had a reader stop by and say hello because she knew we were coming in and wanted to meet us before we get started!

Here are some pictures from our trip up here and of our first day.

Almost there!!!

Thanks to everyone who came out to see us off yesterday. We were really blessed to have all of you there, praying for us and supporting us. Our flights from Memphis and Miami went very well, and we're still excited about finally landing in Cordoba and getting started! Right now, we're sitting in the airport in Santiago, Chile. Lauren and I were able to get some much-needed rest on the plane, and Terrence and Tara are actually enjoying a little nap as I'm typing. (It's 5:57 am local time)

So far, the trip is going smoothly. Everyone is safe and eager to get started. We'll update again once we're settled in at the church in Cordoba. Also, pictures from the trip to Argentina will be up soon!

Adios!

-Brandon

Thank you!

We would like to say thank you to all of the individuals, groups, and congregations that have supported our trip so far! God has really grown the four of us this semester as we've prepared to leave, and with just a week and a half left until we leave, we're all ready to go!

This semester, we had a few group fundraisers that allowed us to grow closer to each other by completing group tasks, and to allow us to involve other people in our trip by their support.
In February, we had a fundraising spaghetti dinner, which raised almost $800 for our team.

Following the dinner, we helped out with yardwork for members

of local congregations, raising almost another $600.

This is only what our group raised to distribute; the rest of our fundraising was purely out of the generosity of those who donated directly to our individual accounts.
This week, our team is meeting to finalize party preparations for the six parties we will host as a part of LST's curriculum. We're also personalizing each of our lessons and gathering photos and souvenirs to take to our readers. Hope

fully, through these lessons and social events, we can help the people of Cordoba better connect to local churches and to share the love of Christ.

Our team leaves from Memphis International Airport on May 10 at 1:00 pm. Feel free to come pray with us and see us off as we prepare to leave! We can't wait to start reportin

g to you from Argentina about our trip.

Again, we want to express our thanks to everyone who donated to our trip, and we appreciate your prayers and support as we leave for this exciting adventure in a mere 12 days!

-Brandon, Lauren, Terrence, and Tara

Fundraising!

Thanks for checking out our blog! Check back starting May 10 for posts from our trip to Cordoba, Argentina!

Until then, you can help us meet our fundraising goals!

Please check our progress at:

http://www.lst.org/2010projects/bdave - Brandon Davis
http://www.lst.org/2010projects/tbrownlee - Terrence Brownlee
http://www.lst.org/2010projects/lnelson2010- Lauren Nelson
http://www.lst.org/2010projects/taraswope - Tara Swope

Thank you again for all of your support and prayers!

God bless,
Lauren, Tara, Terrence, and Brandon