Day 1- Buenos Aires

What a wonderful day of service! Tyler received word that the church was in desperate need of cleaning and a fresh coat of paint. Despite the fear that there were not enough hours available to accomplish everything we wanted to, the team was determined to serve the church in this way. A few of our wonderful men sacrificed their sleep to wake up early, head to the church, and start working! The team joined shortly after. After a wonderful morning of work, and a delicious lunch made by Evelyn (our beautiful cook that is affectionately known as “mama”), half the team stayed to continue working and help mama cook dinner, and the rest headed out to Buenos Aires to spend time playing games with the children.

The children were so happy to spend time with everyone! Cindy quickly became the center of the universe as all the children lined up to have her paint their faces. Katy did a wonderful job organizing the games and the children spent the afternoon blowing bubbles, jumping rope, throwing Frisbees and finally (their favorite event) hitting the piñata!

The rest of the team arrived just in time for the afternoon service. Russ gave a beautiful sermon. Actually, have gave two! He spoke just to the children first, using water’s three forms as ice, water and steam to explain how God can be the father, son and Holy Spirit. He spoke to the adults about the living water which set the community up to hear about the water purification project that followed the spaghetti dinner prepared for the community by Mama and part of the team. After a few minutes of eating and fellowship with the people, it was time to share the water purification project.

The community was in awe as they watched Beth, Mark, Russ and April demonstrate how to purify the water. The community leader was so excited to fill up cups of the now potable water and pass them out to the members of the community! It was a beautiful sight to see. All in all, a wonderful and fulfilling first day of service for the team.