Safe in Resistencia!

After two weeks of orientation at home and abroad, we finally arrived at our placement here in northern Argentina on Tuesday.

We left Denver on August 17 for Chicago, where we attended YAGM orientation at the Lutheran School of Theology--Chicago. The seminary is beautiful, by the way, and we had a great week spending time with the other YAGMs going all over the world. Daily seminars there focused on intercultural communication, philosophies of mission, and expectations & procedures, among other things. I found our discussion of the accompaniment model of mission work the most interesting. The ELCA describes this model as "walking together in solidarity that practices interdependence and mutuality." Our presence here is part of our role; we are here to listen and learn, as well as speak and serve. I find the model good and Godly but difficult to describe!

The great departure from Chicago occured on August 25, when we flew to DC and took an 11-hour flight from there to Buenos Aires. There are three volunteers in Argentina (including us) and one in Uruguay, but we are all several hours apart from each other. So we had five great days in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina, getting to know one another and the country. We stayed at the ISIDET, the united Protestant seminary there. I was excited to see all the posters for interesting classes, seminars, conferences, etc. going on there! It is, by all appearances, a vibrant academic and faith community, which we will experience in bits and pieces throughout the year. We also spent a lot of time with our country coordinator and her family, who were most hospitable.

We did manage some touristy activities in the city. By far the strangest was the Cemetery of Recoleta, where Evita Peron and other Argentine greats are buried. This "cemetery" is a collection of above-ground vaults, some just big enough for coffins, many small (and some large) chapels where services could be held. It is like a city of the dead, with avenues lined with houses for coffins. Google pictures if you are interested! It is a must see sort of attraction. (Eva´s grave is pictured to the right.)

We also visited a gaucho ranch and ate a whole ton of meat there. The gauchos are (were) like cowboys in the American West, and wear distinctive berets, cowboy-like boots, and pants. The whole town where the ranch was actually looked a lot like the Southwest, with stucco and brick houses.

The IELU (United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina and Uruguay) is hosting us here, and we attended a service at the Buenos Aires congregation on Sunday. The order of worship etc. was very familiar and comforting, and we shared a meal of empanadas with the church members. Empanadas, by the way, appear to be the national food--we have eaten them perhaps eight times already, and they are always good. It is a kind of mini-sandwich, meat and other fillings wrapped in a dough pocket. Several kind people have already volunteered to teach us how to make them.

Finally, on Sunday night we boarded a bus to Resistencia and arrived here the next morning.
(Views from our apartment) Buses here serve meals on long bus rides! Wow! I was pleasantly surprised. The bus-riding experience resembled flying much more closely than it resembled Greyhound. The seats were very comfortable, and they served coffee in the morning as we got close to our final destination!!!

I was delighted to move in somewhere I will not be leaving in two weeks! We have a really charming apartment a few minutes from the town square. But the rest of our Resistencia stories must wait for another post and another day. Chao!