Good Bye SALTA, Hello Bueno Aires!

Saying goodbye is never a pleasant feeling as you can imagine. Especially to a Church, a family and friends. It was a very busy last week, fun filled with lots of dinners, parties and tears... from laughing and from saying "Chau". Well what can I say? This week was a week which I will never be able to forget! Thankfully I could spend the day with "My family", Luz and Abraham and their four children up the cable cars over looking Salta! It was a really unique day and thankfully I was able to present the children with Bibles which I had designed the cover to! The last night was brilliant thanks to the young people from the Church. We all played games in the new temple and just chilled and chatted. It was a really a very special time with them and i´ll def miss the "banter" from the group! My last morning, Helen and I headed into the plaza for the last time where we just had breakfast and then went to the terminal. There I was met with a huge group from the Church to see me off! Struggling to get onto the bus with the weight of my luggage and from the tears streaming. Abraham just made it to see the bus just as it was pulling away. Never will I forget this time. Although it may be "Chau", i´d rather see it as "See you later Salta!" and "Hello to Ireland".
Love from Argentina! Megan xx

"Traditional Irish Dress"

As Naomi was packing her bag just before she left, I was lying on my bed and for some reason I thought it would be funny to dress Naomi up. She literally put on every type of clothing she had at once and I said, "Now you have to buy something in the local shop". As you can imagine the tears were tripping me from the laughter. We arrived in the shop and the 2 woman at the counters acted completly normal so we went down the back to get some juice. So as you do, we paid and the other woman burst out and said "Sorry I have to ask, is this some sort of fancy dress?" At that, I couldn´t resist and said, "in Ireland we don´t have a traditional dress so we basically put all of our clothes on at once and this would be our national dress." We didn´t think they were going to actually believe it to be honest but it seems so as people keep mentioning it within the neighbourhood. Just take a look at the photos, I think it says it all! Good times!

Coming to a close

Hey Everyone!
I hope everything is well with you all in Northern Ireland! As the last 3 weeks are quickly passing before my eyes, I find myself at the most busy time of my trip so far! Hard to believe really that i´ll soon be packing my bags for Buenos Aires as it seems like yesterday when I arrived here in Salta!

So much has happened in the last 8 months of my life here in Argentina as you´ve been reading through my updates. As Naomi prepares for her journey home this Sunday, we are preparing the Farewell parties. What we had arranged was a surprise party until the Pastor announced it infront of the whole Church, oh well, it makes it easier to prepare. Also we are having an “Irish Night” on Saturday for the women just to say their last goodbyes to Naomi. This week we will be visiting people and having dinner with them which should be really good fun. Apart from the dinning and surprise parties, we are managing to work. Don´t worry!

In my last update, you may of read about the Natural Disaster in a town called Tartagal in the province of Salta, about 4 hours away from Salta City. The town was destroyed by an unexpected mudslide due to the excess rain which Tartagal had experienced. Aid wasn´t able to reach the victims, as the only enterance to the town was the bridge which was hit. Lives where taken, everyone was evacuated from their homes and many livelyhoods where lost. Where is the light in this situation some people may ask?

This morning we packed 12 boxes of brand new shoes which a local factory had donated to the cause, which thankfully will reach the people of Tartagal on Friday evening. The donations of clothes, food and shelters that have came to the Church has been amazing. In such a horrible situation, i´m glad to be able to say that there is light once again. It was very serial being part of an “Aid Distrubition” process. It´s reassuring that when you give to charity to be able to say, I know that it arrived where it needed it most. Thank you for all your prayers about the situation in Tartagal.

Thankfully my English classes are still up and running and are going very well. This has been a really blessing throughout my time here in Salta. The progress which I have seen through my students has been totally amazing and it will be hard to say goodbye. I will still continue to teach my students for the last 3 weeks and when I am home in Ireland. Please pray for this as it will not be easy, although with some determince and some hard work on their behalf, I have faith that they will continue to learn.

I think leaving here will be a very difficult step of faith. Leaving my friends behind, a culture which I have grown to love and a Church with so much potential. Sounds like home! I have done that journey once and I know that I will have the strength to face it again. I´m really looking forward to seeing you all again and being able to share some of my 10,000 photos that i´ve managed to snap!

See you all soon,
God Bless,
Megan from Argentina

My best evening in Salta

I´m sitting here at 1am writing this blog entry after probably the best night I have had here in Salta. This evening it was just like every Sunday evening where we attend the normal Church service in "El Redentor". Although the difference about tonight was that I saw friends that I hadn´t seen in quite a while and it was really brilliant just seeing them again. Marcelo and Ana were in Corduba studying english translation for a month and it was amazing to hear them come back to Church and speak confidently in english. Their english has always been a very high standard, probably better than mine, but this evening was the first time she spoke to me all in english! It may seem simple but small things like that mean alot! I dropped them home with Pite and Andres who are the most adorable elderly couple! Marcelo made me laugh as he reminded me of a little child. The conversation went as follows.

Marcelo : "I refuse to speak spanish"

Pite : " Yo no intiendo - I dont understand"

Marcelo : " You need to learn english, so i´m going to keep talking in english"

Ana : "Don´t be rude Marcelo"

Marcelo : "I am always rude, why should I start being nice?"

You can imagine me trying to drive with tears in my eyes from laughing at Marcelo refusing to speak spanish and wee Pite not understanding a thing! I think that will be one journey I will never forget! What really struck me tonight was the passion Marcelo and Ana came home with and this is so encouraging to see as he travels to Peru next week to translate Bibles into the local dialects. Please pray for him as he travels without his wife but travels with faith.

Also this evening, I got to see Raul and Maggie, a couple from my Church who I hadn´t seen in a while. Raul was learning english with me and was doing really well and I´m so proud of him how far he has come with his english! They are very special to me and I will miss them alot when I return to Ireland but I have confidence that I will see them again one day.

Tonight, it wasn´t about going out and having a great time, it was about sharing time with my friends here in Salta. These are the moments that I will treasure the most. I know that only a month to go, but so much can happen within that period of time! I plan to spend as much time as I can with the people here in Salta until I go as I can learn so much from them and hopefully visa versa. I feel sad that I have to leave, although I know that God has a plan for me and this is all his hands. I feel that I have learnt so much here in Argentina and for that I have to thank God and the people he has put me in contact with. That was my best night in Salta!

I´m going to go to bed now!

Good Night! Megan x

The Wedding Celebrations

Well, I hadn´t experienced a wedding until I came here to Argentina, however Naomi and Helen tell me a wedding at home is very different! Samuel and Vanina, the son of our Pastor here in "El Redentor" got married on the 7th Feb. It was a very bizarre experience but one that I will never forget. Leading up to the ceremony we gathered a week before, we began cleaning and preparing the Temple for the wedding. The "Templo Nuevo" is a new temple which at the moment you would say was a building site. On the Night of the wedding when the ceremony it had been totally transformed. I had to seat the guests which was a laugh trying to pronounce everyones names as you can imagine but thankfully everyone, I think was seated correctly. Just before the Bride came, some short fused some light which meant we had no light... that didn´t help the grooms nerves. She looked beautiful in her dress and he looked totally terrified. Thankfully when he said "I DO" he began to smile. Samuel had written Vanina a song while he was studying in Corrientes and he sang it to her at the altar. Of course at this point, all the females are saying "Aww..." It was really special because of course, the Pastor married his son. The party after was very different from what I had imagined. We arrived at this center where it had been done up and the basketball nets had been covered. They hadn´t enough tables for the guests which was a laugh so for the first while we sat at the cake table. You cant just imagine how difficult it was trying to keep Naomi away from that! Some of the friends of the couples sang a few personal songs and then our Church band played some worship music. The first dance, well the one and only dance of the night. Everyone of course looked amazing until the girls started pushing and pulling trying to catch the flowers! Then again, the men weren´t much better. Please pray for the newly married couple as Vanina moves provinces to live with Samuel and that the Pastor can relax once again.

We went to a second wedding just a few days ago. The daughter of a friend of ours was getting married. I had never met the woman before but thankfully it was obvious who she was. The one who looked very nervous in the white dress. This service unlike the Garcia wedding wasn´t held in a Church but it was a Civil Marriage. To be honest it was over very quickly and then the photographs began. This wedding did have a first dance that continued after unlike the Garcia wedding. Please pray for Rosa, that her and her new husband would find faith one day and would have a happy life together.

Over all, we had a very good time, but very different experiences.

Enjoy the photos!

Chau, Megan xx

Prayer

May God Bless You

May God bless you with discomfort
at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships.
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people.
So that you may work for justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears
to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger or war.
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them.

May God bless you with enough foolishness
to believe that you can make a difference in this world.
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done.

Please pray for my family of FAITH

Hello Everyone!

A wee prayer request but I´m not going to just tell you what it is...

I would like to introduce you to my Argentine Family. In the photo that I have added as an attachment you will see Abraham and Luz, husband and wife and their 4 children. Yes there are four, if you look carefully at the photo you will spot the fourth. We have Abraham Juan, the twins Gisela and Ian and wee Israel.

I met Abraham when I was working for the "Cruzaders" here in Argentina and thankfully he introduced me to his family. Abraham speaks very good english which came as a real blessing when I needed it the most when I first arrived. Now i´m teaching Luz english and thankfully she has came a long way.

Abraham is from Venazuela where he and his family moved just last year to Salta in Argentina to stay with Luz´ family in her family home. Abraham is a pastor from a local baptist church and works full time during the week to make an income for his family. Luz is a part time nurse and full time mum as you can imagine from the photo of her 4 children... all under the age of 7.

Just 2 weeks ago, her mum and dad asked them to leave the family home after many arguements and even threats to the children. Being Christian in a non christian house and living with a drug addict has brought this situation together. They have been searching for a house constantly and sadly nothing has became available. The problem here in Argentina, they do not have estate agents and hearing about a house is all about what contacts you have. Just yesterday they where told they had to leave now... so its just a matter of time. Luz and the children stayed with me today to try stay out of the house and try to protect the children from the atmosphere which they are picking up on.

What has been amazing throughout the whole situation is the amount of FAITH they have had thoughout the whole situation. Sharing with Luz today she said, "I have to have strength in the Lord for my children sake and I know that God will provide for us" and the only thing she now can do with Abraham is pray.

Please keep this family in your prayers throughout the coming weeks.
Many thanks,
Megan xx

Mudslide envelops Argentine town

A massive mudslide set off by heavy downpours has swept away a railway bridge and swamped houses in the Argentine town of Tartagal. At least two people were reported missing after the river running through the town broke its banks, flooding roads and triggering landslides.
Some buildings were submerged in up to 1.5m (5ft) of mud. The heavy rains come as parts of Argentina are suffering their worst prolonged drought in decades. Torrential downpours caused the River Tartagal to overflow, with floodwaters sweeping away vehicles and inundating roads.
Local authorities said the mudslide had destroyed a railway bridge, making access to the town, which lies on the border with Bolivia, all the more difficult. The governor of Salta province, Juan Manuael Urtubey, said some 10,000 people had been affected by the mudslide and flooding.
Tartagal has been hit by floods before. In December 2005, the town was largely cut off for several weeks. The Argentine meteorological service says the heavy rain is likely to continue through Wednesday.

Please pray that aid gets to the town and to the people where it is needed. Please pray for the clean up process!

Images telling the story!

My Birthday!

Well, this will be a year that I will never forget! Thats for sure! A very quiet day in the house to be honest, until Helen came home from the camp that she was cooking at and surprised me. Also scared the living day lights out of me as you can imagine! Naomi and Helen bought me a very Argentine wooly hat, that I did wear for most of the day in 30 degrees heat just to feel a little more argentine with my new maté cup and sherba! Later on that evening we all went to Dannys house from Church... All very quiet until they started to sing "Happy Birthday". Next thing I am being hit my eggs, flour and maté which then was nicely matted into my hair. A very argentine tradition so here´s a tip for any of you thinking about visiting Argentina. NEVER tell an Argentine its your birthday!!

Thank you to all of you that where in contact or sent messages online for my special day! It really meant loads knowing that I was so far from home but that you were all thinking about me!

Hope enjoy the photos!

Jujuy Camps

The day we came back from Bolivia we headed straight to the summer camp in Jujuy. We are all getting a bit bored of buses. The camp was in the middle of the mountains and there was about 75 people all aged 19-24 years old. You can imagine the craic was good. The day we arrived I met a deaf group of Christians so of course I was in my element. Megan trying to use her BSL signs and them teaching me their ASL signs. It was fantastic! One evening each team had to put on a drama sketch. It was a very funny night and I don´t know how but I ended up being the goth, although i´m not so sure there would of been goth in Bible times. I went with it... we all had a great night in the end and each was very different. Sadly, I had to leave the camp early as I was admitted into hospital. After a few days of tests and scans thankfully the found out why I was in so much pain and it wasn´t appenditus as they had expected. It was a real blessing that I came home from Jujuy to Salta as the hospital there were ready to operate. Out of hospital now and just resting in the house... which i´m finding very challenging being in bed all the time. Thank you for all your support and prayers! 8 weeks to go!! hard to believe!!

Chau for now, Megan

Funny Videos

Bolivia

To be honest we had the worst luck with transport. On the way to Bolivia someone managed to read the ticket times wrong and we missed the bus! great wee start! thankfully someone in the Church chased the bus to the next station and we got there and we found out that the bus wasn´t going there. So we headed to Pichinal and waited for 5 hrs for a bus to pick us up! After our fun arrival we arrived in Santa Cruz and the streets were flooded! We went to Cec Bolivia, a Christian camp focused all on mission! We were staying 6 hours of Santa Cruz in Monte Blanco and the journey there was a laugh! I think I prayed all the way! A dirt track in the mountains and at one point the bus ended up slided down a mud ditch as it swerved the on coming bus. We arrived and the center was beautiful, in the middle of the mountains. The time table for the week was packed! Really reminded me of Summer Madness, although you had to do everything and the food was amazing! The speakers were so interesting. I got to go to seminars on loads of different things from Islam, Hindusiam to finding your perfect partner. The worship in the evening was amazing and the different people we met were lovely. It was so nice, Gisel from our Church came with us so we had a blast with her. Wake up call was at 6.45am for gym. One morning I chased the man with the whistle... yeah Megan did jump out of her and chase him! Good times! One day we had extreme sports and it was fantastic! Everyone playing with a human sized ball, then in donuts and then human tug-a-war. After our day of killing eachother in sport we had a day of practical as in the different seminars they had prepared stuff for the local town! All 175 of us jumped in the truck which carries cattle and it was a journey I will never forget! Teaching the Argentines Irish phrases while trying to hang on for dear life! We litter picked and other groups did dramas, mimes and dances. It was the highlight of my week! In the square I taught a bunch of the boys how to Irish Dance which Naomi managed to catch on camera for all of you amusement! Really a fantastic week. I´m sure your beginning to get the idea we had bad luck with transport. Well on the way home, we had to wait at the border of Bolivia/Argentina for 8 hours, just waiting. On a 20 hour journey it makes it seem like a life time! All in all, we had a brilliant time, met loads of class people and possibly came home a little bit blumper.

The 3 kings visit the hospital

On the 6th of January the religious tradition here in South America is that the 3 wise kings come into the city and distribute the presents to the children. As I have been visiting the hospital to talk to the children, we organised an official group that would dedicate time each week. Yesterday a group of us, including myself headed to the wards dressed as the 3 kings with presents. A very emotional day on both behalfs but one day that I will take to the grave with me. As we walked around the wards there was so many little babies and children under three years of age. What thing that strikes me is that the children have such hope. We came across a 14 year girl breast feeding her one year old child who had been admitted for paracites. Its crazy when you think about but she was just so thankful that she had been admitted and given birth in a hospital. The hospital isn´t in great condition by any standards but yesterday just reminded me of Robin Williams in "Patch Adams". Even though those children are suffering so much, a little bit of a joke or a fancy dress can make so much to their day. Its just something I wanted to share with you. In the photos you will see what I am talking about. Megan x

Celebrating the New Year

I added this clip to give you a feel of how they do New Year here in Salta! I hope you have a laugh! I was terrified! Although literally what it was was a handmade firework display. They put a metal scrubber onto a rope and yeah, there you have it and told me to swing it over my head!

Mum if your reading this, don´t worry!! Perfectly Safe and have survived to tell the tale!

Count Down to 2009

I spent new year with my favourite family from the Church here in Salta. We had a traditional BBQ and sat and chatted while watching the fireworks! Fireworks are totally huge here and incredibly dangerous and of course I was asked to set them off! I´m sure you can just imagine my face! I think I screamed so loud that the Church or maybe all of Salta heard! At 12 O´clock I brought out my Irish Tin Whistle and played the traditional "Auld Lang Syne". I had previously learnt two hours before, although it thankfully went ok. Bringing a little of our culture into theirs! At 2am all the youth met in the Church and we managed to play twister for 3 hours! pretty good going I think! It was a very enjoyable night and one that I will not forget! I hope that you all enjoyed yourselves and that this year will be a year full of happiness for you all! Miss you and happy 2009, love from Salta! xx