New Country, New Year

Well, after many travel complications and a night in the airport, we made it!! Carlos and Adrian (two men from the church that many of the host families attend) were waiting at the airport to pick us up, then we all made it to our host homes around 11 o’clock Argentina time, 9 Indiana time. There I met my host family, Ana and Rogelio (or Cacho), who are two of the nicest people in the world! They kept telling me “Esta es tu casa, hacete tus cosas. Tranquila.” (This is your home, do whatever you need to do to be comfortable/at peace). Granted, I can only understand about half or less of what Rogelio says and a little bit more of what Ana says, but I think I’m already understanding a little bit more.

Yesterday, Ana and I took a little walk around the neighborhood, which is beautiful! There are two plazas within a three minute walk, where I plan to go and read or even go on runs through the area. Rogelio showed me on a map how to get to the university, which is about 23 blocks away. Later today, we are going to drive there, but I plan on walking most days.

Last night, for New Year’s Eve, we went to a restaurant with a couple from their church. The restaurant was a buffet with an open grill, and I ate all kinds of interesting foods – sushi, tongue, blood sausage, and a few things I didn’t recognize. The tongue was actually pretty tasty, and the blood sausage wasn’t bad, it just had an interesting texture. When it was getting close to midnight, Obaldo had us all tell about the best memory we had from the past year, then we toasted each of those. Then, about five minutes before midnight, a mariachi band burst into the restaurant and began to serenade us. Apparently, many Argentine people LOVE Mexican music, so many of them were singing along with the band at the top of their voices. At one point, both couples I was with got up and started dancing amongst the tables. It was great, certainly a New Year’s to remember! Upon returning to the house we turned on the TV to watch the ball drop in Times Square, which is what I would have watched were I at home :)

Over the course of the last couple of days, I have been exhausted, excited, overwhelmed, sad, and peaceful. Throughout this barrage of emotions, though, God has given me peace and has sustained me through it all. I have also been grateful for many little things that have put me at ease.

First, when I went through security at the Indianapolis Airport, my bag was special searched because there was a trace of some chemical (I still don’t know where it came from). Despite the fact that I knew I had nothing dangerous in my bag, I was still ridiculously nervous, and the guy searching my bag wasn’t really talking to me which made me more nervous. But then he looked up and, seeing my Grace College t-shirt, said, “Winona Lake, right?” It turns out he was a huge Billy Sunday fan, so we began to chat about Winona Lake, what I was studying at Grace, even lessons that we should learn from Billy Sunday’s life. Needless to say, I was much calmer after that, and he sent me on my way with no problem.

There have been countless other things, too. Like waking up to hear Rogelio listening to some Frank Sinatra – one of my favorite old-school singers from the U.S. Like eating breakfast listening to a country singer from the states singing gospel songs about God’s goodness. Like having a conversation with Obaldo about not taking Bible verses out of context, something that reminded me of a long-standing inside joke at my high school (you Covenant people will know what I’m talking about). Like flipping through my Bible looking for a certain passage but stumbling across Psalms saying, “When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way,” or being reminded of the Psalm my parents designated as the theme verse of my trip, “if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.” Like Obaldo telling me (in perfect English), “You have a job to do while you’re here, and God brought you hear for a reason. Take good care of them (Ana and Cacho). You are a huge blessing to them.”

I could go on, but I’m about to go out exploring with Rogelio. But first I have to say that these last few days have been crazy at times, overwhelming at times, but I am constantly reminded that God is sovereign over my time here and that He is the same God that has guided my steps so faithfully back in the States.