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!