La Mia Vita

New Begennings

2007-10-13T12:56:00.000-07:00

Hello Blog world,

Please forgive my absence. To say the least, a lot has happened since my last post, I may struggle as where I am to begin.

I finished my term at L'Abri in Switzerland with joy to complete another chapter in my life, as well as anxiety for what laid ahead and sadness for leaving a place and people for whom I grew to love.

After L'Abri I trained back down to Rome to meet up with my parents, we spent about two and a half weeks training through Italy, Switzerland, Germany, And ended up in Paris, where they caught there flight home. While I continued down to Barcelona, and Madrid, where I caught my flight back to the States. It was a great time, and we were able to see a lot of really great places. I was relieved to be done with traveling to tell you the truth. Although after the rest now, I am eager to continue on my next adventure, of which I have no idea when or where it will be.

When I got home, I was planning on getting a job or two, and trying to work until January, when I was then hoping to come up to Chicago to finish up a degree at Moody Bible Institute. Five days after I got home though, I received a call from my cousin (Laura) who lives in Park Ridge (30 minutes from downtown Chicago), inviting me to live with her until January. Well, as soon as I got off the phone I knew I would be coming up. So I started right away looking at flights and other methods for a safe arrival to Chicago.

Rachel Staab, a very amazing girl, who God has graciously put into my life, decided that she would make the venture with me and agreed to drive me up. So we got to Chicago, and I found a job rather quickly at Starbucks, and have another job at a catering company that is pending. Rachel was also able to find a job and a nice apartment about 3 miles south of downtown.

In other news: concerning Moody. It looks like I will be attending the Moody Bible Institute starting in January. I have already bought one correspondence course, and am planning on working on it over the next month(s), until completion. I am looking at double majoring in both Applied Linguistics, and Biblical Languages. We will see though what the future holds.

I have way to many photos to try and post here, so I will try and make a photo album some time and post them up for your viewing pleasure.

Le Argentine

2007-07-04T05:32:00.001-07:00

Thursday, about ten of us who are studying here at L'Abri took a long hike called Le Argentine, no I am not back in Argentina, but it is called that for some reason, it was probably one of the most beautiful hikes I have ever been on. Funny, I think I say that every time I take go on a new hike here. We left just after 9:30 and got back about five minutes before dinner started at 7:00.

If I could choose one word that would sum up the hike, it would probably be diverse. Diverse because of how different the landscape and mountains changed, We walked through high mountains, then down through daisy filled valley's, then through green lush forests, covered by a canopy of huge trees and mild rapids/rivers which we took a dive into. Yeah, that was probably the coldest water I have ever jumped into. So, I will leave a slideshow of a few of my favorite photos I took along the way:

L'Abri update

2007-06-08T13:09:00.001-07:00

L’Abri, Huemoz, Switzerland

I would generally be writing this in a journal by hand, but I thought it would be good to do some on the computer, this will at the same time help my poor spelling skills by using Spellcheck. I met with my counselor today for the first time, his name is Richard, from Canada. There are many Canadians here as well as a few Australians. He is an intellectual, with a bright mind. He is finishing a Doctorate in Philosophy now, he was thus chosen to be my counselor, because I said this is what I would like for one of my focuses to be while I am here. Indeed it is, I am introducing myself to the love of knowledge, which is what the Greeks began to do many many years ago. It is an interesting subject, and one (I believe) worth the time to look at. At least as far as faith,and truth, and God goes, it is important. While Apologetics is the defense of the Christian faith against different types of accusations, Philosophy gives us a reason, and helps us understand the faith that we have, and why we have it. I have been introduced to Epistemology, which is the study of knowledge, and deals with the questions, How do we know? How much can we know? And, How do we know what we know is true? So these are relevant questions, that we can formulate answers from. Some of the reasons are through memory, but mostly what we know is transferred to us through other people telling us, i,e the Apostles, Historians, etc.

Life at L’Abri is hard to explain, I will attempt to do so, and hopefully better explain this place once I have lived here for a little longer. The people here are diverse and all have a unique outlook on life, there are people who claim Christ, and yet live as if he has never affected their lives. There are also people who do not claim Christ, and live in the same way. Also, there are people who claim Christ, are in pursuit of him, and are letting Him affect and change their daily lives. Among these diversities, there is no feel at all of spirituality. Christianity, I don’t know yet? If it is Christianity, it is one that I am not used to. There are no real rules here, there is a schedule, but no set rules. So people here do what they want, which plays out in various ways. The rules policy is a good thing, because everyone is able to get along very well, while all living under a single roof, in Chalet Bellevue. We have three hours of work a day and it is either in the morning, or the afternoon, on top of that, we have to help clean the dishes once a day which takes about half an hour. We have as well a study time of about three hours in the afternoon or in the morning. This consists of the student spending the alloted time in Farel House, listening to various lectures on tape and reading the books that pertain to the subject he is studying. There are recorded tapes from lecturer’s who have come here in the past, and they range widely in topic. Also the library is quite impressive, I don’t think it is impressive because of the number of books as much as the wide range of books there is to choose from. I think I could be happy for about three years just reading all the books and listening to all the lectures. On Wednesday and Friday mornings we have a lecture, and every afternoon for lunch we go to a different L’Abri worker’s home. But this isn’t a normal lunch, this is a formal setting where we the students have to come up with something to talk about, whether it be sex, drugs, and rock and roll, or Epistemology, or the North American Church, or whatever it may be that is bothering us at the time. It usually lasts for about an hour to hour and a half, this is a good time at which we can openly talk about whatever is on our minds, and not feel judged if it is a touchy topic. The L’Abri worker usually tries to head up the conversation, but generally lets the students interact with one another.

Thursday, May 17, 2007
L’Abri, Huemoz, Switzerland

Today was our day off, so we decided to go to Montreux, it is a city nearby. We headed out at about 1:30 P.M. And decided to hitch hike, now hitch hiking is totally different in Switzerland that in the US. First of all people here actually care about other people, so they are willing to help other people in need on the side of the road. So we waited for about five minutes and were picked up by a Lady who was not headed to Montreux, but Aigle, So we decided to hop on. Once in Aigle we could grab the train to Montreux, it ended up only being an 8 minute train ride. Aigle is the town in the valley where the nearest train station is, Huemoz, where L’Abri is about 1000 meters up the mountain. We arrive to Montreux, go to the tourist information booth and figure out that there is not much to do in there, but there is a 13th century castle with mosaic paintings all throughout. We didn’t end up going, but had an enjoyable time just walking around the city. We had already bought our return ticket to Aigle, and were waiting by the tracks to catch the train, accept we got on a train that was 6 minutes early, and figured out shortly after we got on that we were headed the wrong way. So we get off on the next stop and ask around, some of the group decide to take a bus back, while three of us decide to hitch it back. We got picked up about 10 minutes of sticking out the thumb, and the guy was real nice and dropped us off at the train station. We get off and stick out the thumb again, and were shortly after picked up again. These guys were in a brand new Honda, when they pulled up we asked if they were going to Huemoz, and they acted confused, then we said Villars, which is the town a little north of Huemoz, and after a few moments of bewilderment and conversing in French with one another, they chuckled, and said “Get in”. So we decided to go for it, and we were off, speeding up through the mountain curves at very high speeds, passing buses, and anything else that was in our way. We arrive to Huemoz, and they say “Huemoz” to which we get out and shock them with our French speaking abilities by saying “Merci”. The funny thing is when we got out, they simply turned around the car and speed off down the mountain, they were never even going to come up the mountain, they simply wanted to help us out. That was amazing to me, because I think of America, and how often this would ever happen there, and the answer is never. I think for numerous reasons, one because Americans think that if a person is by the side of the road with a sign in their hands it means they are bad people, that can bring me not good, and want to hurt me. This I believe is a misconception, in some cases. Some people yes, are scary, but really though, why can’t we be more willing to help more people out who are in need, when we are perfectly able to do so. It almost seems as if people here feel as if it is their duty to help others out, each time we got a lift today, they had to move all their stuff around and re situate things in the car to accommodate us, but it was so normal, an average everyday thing to do.

God is in the Alps!

2007-06-08T13:07:00.000-07:00

L’Abri, Huemoz, Switzerland

I have been here now for three days in the mountains of Switzerland more or less on a journey of finding myself,but also finding why I was existed, for what purpose, you know the big questions in life. I have been puzzled by Philosophy since arriving, and will attempt to focus my studies on this wide topic that is so necessary to any one who is not satisfied with the norm, to any one who is not comfortable with accepting religion or a set of beliefs just because it was taught them from childhood, but to really search out those deep questions in life, like does God exist, and if he does, what role do I play in this fabulous story that is unfolding before me as I live my daily life.
I started reading a book today called “Philosophical thinking, An Introduction” I have to admit I am quite puzzled but yet intriguingly enough find myself at the same time drawn to the complexity of the book, it is because I have never studied such a topic as Philosophy, and I find some of the ideas misleading and difficult to grasp the concepts of, I find myself at the same time not able to get enough of it. I want to continue to delve deeply into this, and begin to start thinking philosophically, I want to put my mind in gear, engage myself intellectually, and stretch the limits that I so often put on myself. There is no sense if I am a true follower of Christ, to relax my intellect and be satisfied with the normal life, the life that does not seem to have any worries at all about certain issues that are not quite clear or completely understandable about the Bible, or Christianity, or the way I relate and interact with it. Indeed it would be foolish to be satisfied with the normal, hum-drum way of life, that is satisfied with being a Christian and that is it, no probing, asking, wondering, pondering, thinking, loving, meditating, questioning the things that we have come to know as true. I am not saying at all that we need to question the deity of Christ, or that he came to earth in the form of man, while being fully God, and satisfied the wrath of God by dying for the sins of the world. Nor am I saying we should in any way question our Salvation or our identity in Christ. Instead, what I am saying is I think we should have reasons for the faith we have, and not be arrogant when sharing our faith, but simply state the facts of Christianity in love, and then explain why we do believe this to be true and truer indeed than any other human endeavor’s through religion.
Indeed L’Abri which simply means (The Shelter) in French, does have a unique atmosphere to it. I have not known many Christians like I have known here, I am beginning to enjoy every moment I have in this place, and I have been here such a short time. Christians here don’t seem to care about a whole lot, some curse, drink beer and smoke, which in themselves are not bad things at all, they are just a little abnormal for my way of thinking a Christian should act, which is a good thing that I am here. In a sense I am here because I want to meet Christians like that, who don’t have it altogether, and are living in a certain way as in a sense is how they want to, but also in a way that they think is pleasing to God. I believe this is a place for change in many peoples lives, and I believe that this is the case with some of the Christians that are here now, they are searching, looking for answers to life’s biggest questions: Who am I? What is my purpose in life? Does God exist, and if so, what does he want with me? Indeed I am blessed to be a part of this group, to be a part of life at L’Abri for a chapter in my life, one of which I will hopefully look back upon in years to come as a time of growth in many different ways.

Boat ride to Greece!

2007-06-08T13:06:00.000-07:00

I have been on this boat for about 15 hours now, and am quite comfortable. It is much like a cruise, there are bars, gift shops, restaurants, snack shops, wireless Internet, pool, jacuzzi, and private hotel rooms as well. This is truly luxury on water. I chose the deck which is the cheapest of tickets. It is basically just an airplane type seat, and I get to sleep on the floor, which is fine with me, I have a sleeping bag. I left Greece last night at midnight, and am on my way back to Venice, I was able to spend five days in Greece, and see some interesting stuff.

I met some Spaniards on the boat, they didn’t know exactly where they were going but knew they wanted to get to Athens that night. So, I was in the same boat, so when we arrived to Patra we got off the boat and began looking for the bus station, someone pointed us in the right direction and we were off. We got to Athens around midnight, and found a taxi to take us to the center of the city where there was a hostel, so we got there checked in, and got a decent night’s sleep. The next day, they went to the port to buy a ticket for Crete, while I went to the Acropolis, but when I arrived I noticed that I could not get in, for there was a protest, there were about one hundred people blocking the entrance, and one of them had a megaphone screaming something in Greek, I didn’t understand anything he said, so I decided to try and get in any way, I casually made my way up to the mob, and acted as if I was part of them, and made my way through the crowd and closer to the entrance, but some one spotted me and began to push me back, so I decided to try to enter through the exit gate, then make my way back to the entrance to pay my way in, but they were there also, and saw me approaching and began getting angry at me, and pushing me back. Well, I was quite angry at this point, because I wanted to see the Acropolis, so I just started walking around it, and noticed two guys jumping over the fence to get in, and I decided to follow them, but once again I was caught, but this time, it was a worker, and he pointed me in the right direction to enter, so I got to the other entrance where there were no mobs, and was able to get in for free because of my student ID card. The Acropolis was very impressive.
I met back up with the Espanoles, and we walked around the city for about three more hours, then we split ways and I went to the port, and bought a ticket for Santorini (Thira), one of the Greek islands, I slept one more night in Athens, and the next morning was off at 07:00 A.M. For Santorini, we arrived at )3:00 P.M. And this place was gorgeous, very touristy which kind of stunk, but beautiful let alone.

I booked a hostel the night before, so they were there at the port to pick me up, it was a nice place and very cheap. I had a full 24 hours on the island, and was trying to figure out how to use it wisely. I decided to rent a 50cc motor scooter, it only cost 12 Euros for 24 hours, this truly was they best way to see the island, because buses are expensive and inconvenient, and the motor scooter is fun! So I decided to ride to this one village called Oia (pronounced ee-a), which supposedly has amazing sunsets, it was about a 45 minute ride on the bike, so I left around 06:00 P.M. And accidentally went around the island the long way, but it turned out to be a beautiful drive, I get to Oia and have a nice meal and watch the sunset.

The next day I went to this beautiful secluded beach called “Red Beach”, and I found out why it was called that when I arrived, it was just how it is named. The sand was red, white, and black, all mixed together, it was amazing.

I returned to Athens after this and slept one more night there, then went off to my next destination which was a pretty little Venetian town called Nafplio:
This was a nice place to just relax for a half day and sleep. The next day on my way to Corinth, I stopped at some more ruins called Mycenae.

At Corinth I was pressed for time, because I had to get to Patra for my boat was leaving at midnight, so I had little time, I wanted to see Ancient Corinth, but decided against it at the last minute, but I did get to see the Corinth Canal.

An interesting thing happened to me in Corinth, the bus I got on from Mycenae, had a final destination of Athens, but was stopping in Corinth, when I bought the ticket, the man told me to make sure I got of at the isthmus, so upon arriving to Corinth, we made one stop and I asked the guy behind me if this was the isthmus, to which he replied, “no, later”. So I thought, okay, well we get going, and I notice we drive over the canal, and then get on the highway with signs marked “to Athens”. I turned around and asked the guy if we were leaving Corinth, to which he replied, “now we go Athens”. I was like, are you kidding me, so I told the bus driver to let me off because I missed my stop, and he got mad at me and said “why you no speak me isthmus?” So, I guess it was my fault for not telling the bus driver, but he let me off on the highway by a toll booth, so I had to walk back to the isthmus, which was about 10 kilometers, I crossed the highway, climbed over the railing, and headed back, there were no taxi’s in sight because it was a back road with nothing on it, so I started walking, and ended up walking the whole way back. However, when I was about to arrive, I was so tired, and sweating like a dog, (I had both my back backs on, one weighing 50 pounds) I had to stop at a gas station to get something to drink. I believe the man who works there saw me coming from a distance and showed me grace, because as soon as I dropped my bags and sat down in one of the chairs, he came and gave me a glass of cold water, I was very grateful. Then he gave me a two liter bottle of purified water, and two big oranges, I was astounded. I was very humbled and thankful, because earlier when I was walking, I wasn’t very happy and complaining and not very comfortable, but this man showed me grace, because he saw that I was in need. So, that helped me out a lot, I need to be like that with people.

After I was refreshed with orange and water, I crossed the canal and made my way over to the bus station, bought my ticket for Patra, and waited for the bus. I got on the boat okay, and here I am now, looking forward to my time in Switzerland, which I should arrive tomorrow evening.

(This was written on the 7th of May, I have already arrived to L’Abri, and will post more soon.)

Italy is great, Life is good

2007-06-08T13:05:00.001-07:00

I feel like I need to write something, since I believe in journaling, and keeping people updated on the events that take place in this life. I was just reading something I wrote while I was in Brazil, and all the memories of people, things said, stuff done, and emotions experienced flooded back from that place and what a wonderful experience it was.

So, Italy has been a great experience, one of which I feel will always be with me in one way or another. All the things learned, places visited, people met, and books read. It is one thing to know that God is good, but another to experience his goodness. I have been experiencing his goodness in many different ways. God allowed the hard drive on my mac to crash and I have been computer-less now for about three weeks, I was upset at first but then realized it was for my good, because it had become to much of a distraction to me, I was on it all the time. Now, I have been able to focus more on studies and on relationships, which are more important. I am trying to get my computer fixed now, I took it to a shop in a little town called Valvasone about two miles from here, so it should be fixed soon hopefully.

There is only one week left of school, and then I am off. Lord willing, on the 30th of this month I will embark from Venice to visit Greece for about six days. I plan on visiting Corinth, Athens, and a few greek islands. After this I will make my way back up through Italy to Switzerland, and hopefully spend about two months at L’Abri. I am excited about living life, and looking forward to all that God has in store for me. I am grateful and thankful that He has given me such amazing opportunities, and continues to expand my vision, and increase my faith as I stay obedient to what he is telling me to do.

I have been accepted into Moody Bible Institute, but am on the waiting list, which basically means I am not fully accepted until they have room for me. I may have to wait until Spring of 08 to enter, or even later than that. I am going to talk with a few other schools as well to see how many WOL credits will transfer, because Moody will not accept very many. I don’t really like the idea that I could be in college for four more years just to get an undergraduate degree, but we will see, while I may plan and have ideas, it is God who will ultimately give an answer as to where I will go.

Prayer Requests:

1. Safe travels.

2. Computer to be fixed.

3. Last week of school, to be focused on the task at hand.

4. Wisdom and discernment on where God is leading as far as which college to attend.

5. A renewed sense of what God is calling me to do.

San Lorenzo, Italia

2007-06-08T13:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been living in Italy now for about 6 weeks, and am enjoying it thoroughly. I am living in a small town of about 300 people in the Friuli Venezio-Giulia region in the northeast section of Italy, about an hour and a half north of Venice. We are about an hour train ride from the country of Slovenia, and about two hours away from Austria, add a couple to that and you’re in Switzerland. I am learning a lot about life and what it is all about. We have had the opportunity to study Evangelism, Missions, and Intro to Fine Arts. We have also had the opportunity to travel and see many important sites in Rome, Florence, and Venice. We had one week of ministry of which we used various methods for evangelism, we spent every day in the nearest big city called Udine going to different plazas and ministering to the people. I will spend five more weeks here and then I am hopefully off to L’Abri in Switzerland.

Ciudad de Mexico

2007-06-08T13:01:00.002-07:00

Time for another entry.

Gee, where to start? Well I will just say this and make it short. We made it safely to Panama on the sailboat from Colombia, and we traveled by bus all the way through Central America until finally arriving to Mexico City, which is where I am writing this. We should cross into Texas by the 22^nd of May. Yippee! I should make it home to Jacksonville by the 1^st of June only to get on a plane the next day to fly back down to Argentina with my Church. Que vida no? Truth be told I will miss the life of a backpacker/traveler. I mean it is a hectic life but I will miss getting to know cultures, and all the different people of the world and the lives that they live. Also seeing all the diversity of the creation of God. But, got to get back to the grind of life, work! I have not had a paying job since before WOL, which has been three years. WOW, that’s a long time! Any way that’s all for now, if there are any questions on Central America or Mexico, shoot. I have a handful of stories to tell. I just don’t want to write about it all because you would be reading all day, Literally. See you soon United States of America.

Boarder crossings are fun

2007-06-08T13:01:00.001-07:00

To say the least we have had some interesting boarder crossings lately. We entered Ecuador coming from Tarapoto, and everything was going fine on the bus until all of a sudden we stop behind a huge line of buses. The driver gets out to go see what the hold up is, and Leighton and I decide to join him in his quest. We get to the source of our problem and find out it is a huge landslide that has completely blocked the road with big rocks and debris. Some were saying it would take three days for the workers to clear it, others said one day, while others still insisted on only a few hours. Leighton and I just looked at each other and laughed. We had to sleep in the bus that night and in the morning it still was not clear. So with much uncertainty in the air as to when it would be clear, Leighton and I decided to not waist any more time in the area, and crossed the landslide by foot. We get to the other side and immediately find a Combi that would take us to the nearest city. Keep in mind this is basically in the middle of no where, in the mountains. Well we had to transfer Combi’s or Carros about three times until finally arriving to the boarder. Well here is where the story gets funny. The guys at boarder control say that there was a landslide up above that was completely blocking the road and we would have to hike for a minimum of two hours. Again, Leighton and I look at each other and laugh and slap hands. We start walking and not even two minutes into the walk we hit a rough area that would be impossible for any type of automobile to get through, later in the trail we find probably twenty small landslides. I thought it was funny that the guards acted like this landslide had just happened when in reality the road had been blocked for quite a while from any traffic. So it gets dark right before we hit where the landslide was supposed to be. We cross it and walk some more until we find this truck which was supposed to take us to the nearest city called Zumba like one and a half hours away. Well we get to this police stop and they say that we can’t pass until the next day. So we sleep in this town of about fifteen people, and the next day are off for Zumba. That little experience was about four days, just because of landslides blocking the road. Welcome to South America! I will never forget you!

Getting to Colombia was not as fun, we arrived to the boarder coming from Quito at about three in the morning, and we had to wait until six when the immigration office opened up. We got everything cleared in the legal department and were off for the nearest city in taxi. We basically speed through the country and are currently in Cartagena on the Caribbean side waiting for our sailboat to leave for Panama, yippee! Colombia is an incredible country, did you know that there is more North Americans living in Colombia than there are in any other South American country?

More of a reason to travel it!

Sorry for such a boring blog this time, it’s just a little into the loco life that I am living now, hopefully one more month and I’ll be home! Can’t wait! Chau gente! Bendiciones!

Ecuador

2007-06-08T13:00:00.001-07:00

Perú

Well, we are now one more country closer to being home, the problem is that we are only entering Ecuador, and we still have all of Central America and Mexico to travel before arriving home. We have found out that we are sort of running out of time, we have to be in Texas by about the 23^rd of May and from there I have to be home (Jacksonville, Florida) by the first of June. Because the second I will fly down to Argentina with my church on a missions trip. That’s right I will be going back to PDV! It should be a great time.

Any way allow me to explain a little of how Peru has treated us. We were able to see Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian side from a city called Copacabana. From there we crossed over into Peru, and stopped in our first city called Puno, which also lies on Lake Titicaca. We stayed here one night and then were off to Cusco. Once in Cusco we had already made arrangements for a hostel so we arrived safely, and were here for about a day and a half. Then we were off on the Inca Trail, which would take us on a hike through some beautiful scenery for the next four days. The night before we left for the trail our guide came by to explain to us what we would be doing each day and some of the things to prepair for. He told us that the next morning we needed to be up and ready to leave the Hostel at approx. 4a.m. In order to avoid a strike that would be going on where we would start the trail. Welcome to Peru! So we were ready and off by 4 the next day and walked for three days on a gorgeous trial and had a lot of fun. The fourth and final day of the trail we had to get up at 4a.m. once again so that we could walk for about 2 hours in order to arrive to the sun gate. The sun gate is where you have the vista of the Machu Picchu archaeological site. We arrived and it was awesome, the three days of walking were worth it to get to the site. Overall it was a great experience, and even humbling for me. Their were these little scrawny Peruvians called Porteadores, who carried all our food, tents, gas tanks to cook with, table and chairs to eat on. And anything else you can think of, these guys just tied it to their backs and literally rain the whole day through the trail until arriving at the campsite, then they would cook for us, and wash the dishes, set up camp and tear it all down. Handworkers!

After Cusco we headed to Lima only with enough time to catch another bus that was headed for our next destination, Tatapoto. Tarapoto is a city on the Amazon Basin, Leighton’s parents have Missionary friends there and we were able to meet them and go to the churches in the area, it was a blessing. After this we left for a little port town called Yurimaguas, this is basically the last city you can travel to by road before hitting the deep jungle. We got on a boat here called Eduardo III. It is a three level cargo boat, with the last two levels utilized for passengers who desire to bring their hammocks to sleep on for the 3-4 day journey up the Amazon River. We bought our tickets and they said we were leaving that night, so we went into town to buy some stuff for the trip, by the time we got back at night they had changed the story for departure the next day. Again welcome to Peru! So we departed the next day for a city that is only reached by boat or plane, called Iquitos. Well to say the least this was an interesting experience. The boat is very plain, there is nothing on the deck but three poles along the roof to hang up your hammock. When we got ours hung up we had quite a bit of room to stretch out. Well the next day was a different story, that’s when all the people got on, and we had our hammocks sort of high in the air to make it more flat, which was kind of a mistake. Because when they all started loading on the boat they surrounded us with hammocks, so there ended up being about three people sleeping under us. It was fun trying to get into bed at night. We arrive to Iquitos only after about a two days journey and find a cheap hotel, and try to get the next boat to return to Yurimaguas. We find out that we will be stuck here for the next three days due to the Presidential Elections that were happening here and there were no boat departures. So we looked around the city a little bit and were trying to figure out what to do. We stumbled upon a Jungle Tour for two days and decided to go with it and it turned out to be a lot of fun. We were able to do all kinds of things that I am not used to. Like traveling every where in Canoe and getting bit by a ton of mosquitoes. We did some walks at night in pursuit of insects and especially a tarantula, which we found. Also we went to an island full of monkeys, and got to hold a boa constrictor, baby alligator, baby tiger, and turtles. We also say the daddy snake, the anaconda. He was around 24 feet long and 400 pounds. After the jungle experience we went back to Iquitos with just enough time to get back on the Eduardo III returning to Yurimaguas. This is currently where I am typing this, chilling in my hammock, listening to Third Day on Leighton’s laptop. We will head back to Tarapoto, but only in order to catch a bus leaving for Ecuador. Then it is on to Colombia to catch a sailboat going to Panama. Then were bussing it straight though Central America and Mexico until we will hopefully make it alive to the good old US of A. It should prove to be loads of fun. As usual asking for prayers and leaving you with the words of the Apostle Paul:

Rom 15:30 I urge you, friends, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love that the Spirit gives: join me in praying fervently to God for me.

Good News Bible

Bolivia

2007-06-08T12:59:00.001-07:00

Being in Cochabamba, Bolivia has been great. We arrived a little late and now are not able to spend as much time as we would like to. Today we went to the “Cristo de la Concordia”. Its a few centimeters higher than the famous Cristo Redentor on Rio de Janeiro’s Corcovado, which stands 33m high, or one meter for Christ’s life. Cochabambinos justify the one-upmanship by claiming that Christ actually lived 33 anos y un poquito (33 years and a bit…). We also went to the biggest open market. It was great! We were able to buy some great Bolivian goods, some pants, a jacket, and a beanie for like 12 dollars! Everything is super cheap here; I mean we traveled by train for 23 hours that cost 15 dollars. We have been with a great family; Pablo Claros was my roommate in Argentina who invited me here to spend some time with him. I really love the family, I have talked both with the mother and father a couple times, and it is humbling for me to see the humbleness and love that they have for Christ. They count it a blessing to have us in their house, when really it is the contrary. It has been a great blessing for Leighton and I to see the hospitality of these humble servants of God by opening their house for us. I don’t know why but despite all the poverty, smell, and just plain dirtiness I really like it here. I love the Bolivian culture. I mean the people are just awesome, so warm, loving, and kind. Seeing the way Pablo lives his life reflects a lot his relationship he has with the Lord, and I can tell that it is vibrant, and alive. Life here is lived so simply, it is something that I desire for my life. Simplicity, only worrying about eternal values and loving the Lord, and making Him known to everyone I come in contact with. These are the important things in life. Pablo is simple, and I desire that. Praise the Lord that we were able to come through here to see Pablo, his family and the example that they are for my life.

Leighton and I had the chance to go to the amazon rain forest here in Bolivia. It was an interesting experience arriving though. We left Cochabamba at about nine in the morning, now we were told it would be about a five hour trip in bus, plus one hour in taxi, plus about one hour in canoe by river to this ministry in the jungle we were going to see. So we start traveling by bus, and after a little while we hit gorgeous scenery, we drove throughout high mountains on a road that probably was not suitable for a bus, until arriving to this pueblito (little town) called Shinaota. We get out, and call the lady here in the jungle that we were going to meet up with. She tells us to go to this store and look for a certain lady that would get us in a taxi to take us to the river. So we find her and wait, she says the driver would be here shortly, which ended up turning into five hours of waiting. Finally at around seven o’clock the taxi arrives finding two gringos a little perturbed. We get in the taxi and we drive for about 5 minutes on a paved road before arriving to the gravel road that we would be on for a while. We start traveling rather rapidly and get to some rough terrain so we got through the first spots rather well, until we got to one point in the road. We tried to get around it by driving through it, but it was a little too much to handle for our little Toyota station wagon. So we bottomed out and got stuck in about a foot of mud. Well we had to exit the car and start pushing, we had been trying to get unstuck for a while until another taxi finally came returning from the point where we were headed, so they got out and started helping us get out of the mud. We get unstuck! So we look for another method to get us around the mud pit. Well the driver was not very smart and drove really slow through the deep mud pit, despite the warnings from Leighton and I to drive fast, and we got stuck two more times. Finally, praise the Lord, we get past it. We drive about fifteen more minutes and all off a sudden stop in the middle of the road, turn off the engine, and the driver says estamos aqui, were here. So we get out of the car, and find a bunch of kids about 12 years old, and my friend Emerson from WOL Argentina. We had about 6 sacks of food that probably weighed about a hundred pounds each, and these little dudes just picked them up, loaded them on their shoulders, and started walking off into the darkness of the jungle like they had been doing it all their lives. Humbling. We walk for about 10 minutes through a little bit of the jungle and get to the river. I have to say that this was a little intimidating for me, I mean I was afraid. It was the unknown, pure jungle, a big wide river that was flowing very fast. Mosquitoes, bats, rats, beetles the size of your hand, they don’t understand what electricity and a computer or laptop is, it was a journey into the unknown and dangerous, but I loved every minute of it, I thrive for this kind of stuff. After arriving to where the school was, we were introduced to the Director who quickly showed us to our room to get some sleep, which was much needed. That night, there was probably the loudest thunderstorm I have ever heard in my life, my bed literally shook. We woke up the next morning and went to the various classrooms, introducing ourselves and letting the kids know a little bit about what we are doing. I think the kids were a little intimidated by us, because as we were speaking they seemed to shy away from our eyes, and didn’t have much to say to us. A little later we had the opportunity to speak with the Director, named Judith, just an incredible woman. She explained to us of the various needs that the ministry has. This is a school with about 120 kids, run by basically three people. They have school two months, and then break for four months, and there are teachers that help out, but basically the ministry is run by Judith, and a young married couple. During the off season they go by boat to the various communities of their students and have an opportunity to share the gospel. I absolutely loved the place; the Lord really hit home to me the truth of His word. Luke 10:2 says, “The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send laborers into His harvest.” As I realized this profound truth my heart filled with the hope of Salvation that I have, and that truly the entire world has, but someone has to go, and that someone has to be me. I was renewed with passion for the work of a missionary and was filled with love for this ministry. Please if any one is reading this and remembers to pray. Pray for the ministry of Nueva Vida in Bolivia. And if your interested in sacrificing every comfort that you have to live a life of service go there, get to know the place, the people, and you will desire to stay for a while.

Rio de Janeiro, entering Bolivia

2007-06-08T12:57:00.000-07:00

Time for another blog, even though I donÂ´t even really want to write now. Does any body even read these things?

Any way, we just arrived to Santa Cruz, Bolivia after traveling on a train called the Expreso del Oriente (the infamous Death Train). It cost like 15 dollars and it was a trip of about 23 hours. Ya, I didnÂ´t sleep much, nor have I bathed or had a clean pair of clohtes on my back since Rio de Janiero, which if youÂ´ll look on a map is quite a good distance. But enough about facts of my personal higiene. We had an interesting time in Rio de Janiero. The first day we got there we looked for a hostel and found a reletively good one. We dropped our bags off and headed straight for the beach, to say the least we were dissapointed at what we saw, which was a clouded over sky and not very big waves. So we snapped some shots and headed back for the hostel. The next day we were able to go do a small hike up a mountain called Pao de acucar. After that we were able to go see the famous Cristo Redentor statue. It was pretty cool. The next day we got on a bus of which we thought was going to take us to Bolivia. But when we arrived at the boarder, the imagrations office was closed so we decided to find a hostel in the little boarder city called CorumbÃ¡, what was funny was there were only about 10 of us that got off the bus, the rest of the people enterded Bolivia ilegally. The next day we woke up to go get our stamp to exit Brazil, and then caught a bus to the boarder. Once getting off the bus we were paraded by taxi drivers screaming at us to pick them. They were all like 2 dollars to take us to the first city in Bolivia were we needed to catch the train. So we entered Bolivia legaly, praise the Lord, and were able to find a train that left about a half an hour later. We paid around 15 dollars for it and rode it until here. Tonight we are heading out to Cochabamba to see a friend, also we will hopefully be able to see another friend that is actually working out in the jungle right now. After this we will be off to La Paz to pick up LeightonÂ´s parents and then off to spend a few days around the Lake Titicaca. Then we will be headed to do the Inca Trail until arriving to the Machu Pichu ruins. ThatÂ´s right LeightonÂ´s parents will be doing the trail with us, it should be very interesting.

I know, tell me about it, I have a boring life. Who ever reads this let me know whats up with you!

PV Sul, Porto Alegre Brasil

2007-06-08T12:56:00.000-07:00

Well we have officially finished the 3^rd week of camp here in Southern Brazil. It’s been great just to be able to be here helping out with whatever we can and learning Portuguese. I have had the chance to work three different jobs during the time here. The first week I worked as a counselor of ten kids ranging from the ages of eleven to thirteen. Yea, that was an interesting experience, I was in Brazil for a week and they put me in charge of ten kids for one full week of which my responsibility was to communicate with them in a language that I barely spoke, very smart. Well after that week they decided to give me a break which was probably a good thing and put me in dish pit! That was definitely a fun week, the girls in there are crazy. One day they kept getting me wet and finally one through a wet rag at me and got my back soaked, so I decided that was the last straw and took it out on them. I Immediately threw the rag back right at her face getting her as wet or more. Well that seemed to trigger an all out brawl of all the girls against me. So they all started throwing their rags at me of which I threw them right back at them. Yea, we were completely soaked after that as well as a little piece of the kitchen. We had too much fun with each other. Well needless to say our boss spoke us to after that because the joke (was not under control). But after that everything was cool, and I survived another week of camp.

This week I had the opportunity to work with program, it was fun. However I am quite tired after only one week of it. We are in charge of all the activities and games that are held here for the campers. So that means minimal hours of sleep each night. We have this activity here called "de repente" which basically means "all of a sudden". So there is a siren that goes off and whenever this happens your team has to go to its designated area and do this crazy game, and they have to complete it within ten minutes. Also "de repente" could happen at any time during the day or night. So the guys in Program decided to have one at three in the morning. Well we wait around in the gymnasium until about two thirty, and then we start planning on how we would wake the campers up and get them going to there respective areas to play the game. One of the guys had some little bombs, so he decided to take them along. So three o’clock came rolling around and we sneaked up to the dorms. We located some bombs in different areas of the buildings and then set them all of at once. After this, we entered the rooms screaming "de repente" and getting these kids out of bed. Also our program leader has a really loud megaphone and he was running around the different rooms screaming at them to get up. Well we came upon one guy’s dorm that really did not want to get up, yea, which was a big mistake on their part. Our program guy that had the bombs went in the room and set a bomb in the middle of the floor, lit it, and ran out. I think the kids started to realize what was going on and started getting out of bed. Well the bomb went off and the whole room was filled with smoke. I think this along with a really loud megaphone in their faces convinced them to get out of bed and start heading to their respected area to complete the game. It was great! I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Outside of this everything is chill. We will be going to a water park on Tuesday, then one more week of kid’s camp until we will be going on our adventure week. It should be a lot of fun; I am excited about it. As for now, grace and may God bless and keep you all! Chau, Matt from Southern Brazil!

PV Sul, campamento

2007-06-08T12:54:00.000-07:00

Well, we are finishing up the second week of camp here in WOL Porto Alegre, Brazil. With four more weeks to go, Leighton and I are very much energized and excited to keep serving and learning here. Over all it has been a great experience here in southern Brazil. They have decided to give me a break from counseling this week (Praise the Lord!) and put me in the kitchen washing dishes. It has been a fun week, I’m still trying to learn how to converse in Portuguese. I am trying to avoid speaking in Spanish, they understand most of it, but that is not there language, so I have had a good time kind of guessing Spanish words and putting a Portuguese accent on it and end up being correct. Every one here says I am speaking well for only being here three weeks, so that encourages me to give it my all to learn this language!

So we have arrived to Brazil, yippee! We arrived on the 7^th in the morning after traveling all night from Montevideo, Uruguay. We had a great time in Uruguay and I bought an Equipo de Mate! It is pretty great but I still have to cure it before drinking out of it. I also bought 3 kilos of Yerba, because that is a necessity if you go to Uruguay. So we arrived safe and secure to the WOL property here in Porto Alegre. The place is really great, it is very hot but I like it here. However it does rain pretty often, so it cools things down. Last week it rained basically three days straight off and on, and it flooded the property. There is a little river that flows into a waterfall on the property which was like rapids, it was incredible how that amount of rain could do so much damage. Portuguese is coming, I understand basically everything, but I am having a little bit of a hard time communicating with others, the speaking is always harder. Well, they have decided to put me as a counselor for the summer. So I am not very comfortable first of all because I don’t even speak the language yet. But they have been telling me that after the first few weeks it will come really fast, which I can already see much evidence of. So, we will see what happens, it should be an interesting experience, probably one I will never forget. I have been thinking of just all these incredible experiences the Lord has permitted me to be a part of, I mean I am seeing the world, learning things on a daily basis, learning other cultures and languages. I am sure that this is preparation for something big called my life. I know that the Lord is at work in all the small details of my life to work his will out through me and to prepare me for his work, and I have really been excited about that a lot more when I arrived here. Well we were told before we got here that camp ended on the 15^th of February but once we arrived we were told otherwise. On arrival we were told that camp really ended on the 28^th which is right after carnaval here in Brazil, which if you don’t know what carnaval is, it is probably the biggest drinking, drugging, and sex party on the planet. It is the whole last week of February, they mostly celebrate in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro I believe. Extremely immoral, and dangerous. So we are praying about staying here for that time which would put us back a lot on the schedule but we are thinking about it now and weighing out all the possibilities. Also one of those weeks they will not have camp but instead take a very small group of people on an adventure week. It is a week of climbing big rock walls and mountains, white water rafting, horse riding, rappelling of cliffs, and other similar things. The only set back is that it cost around 100 American dollars, which is a lot of money, and we’re not sure if it will be worth the money or not. So keep that in mind for a prayer request.

Well, we were originally going to leave from here on the 15^th of February, but now we have made a change of plans and decided to stay until the 28^th, which will be after Carnaval. Also, Lord willing we will be going on the adventure week that I talked about before, it should be a great time. Around the 29^th or 30^th we will hopefully be making our way up to Sao Paulo so we can get going on to Bolivia. This trip seems to be getting longer and longer. As of now we will not be arriving to the states until beginning to mid April, this is crazy but I love it. What an adventure! Thanks Lord! So many opportunities, so many places, so many things to do, and so little time. Pray that the Lord would help us to keep our heads attached to our bodies and to remember the purpose of this trip, to serve Him, and spread His word!

Argentina

2007-06-08T12:52:00.000-07:00

Well we were able to make it to warm weather once we got out of Ushuaia and started heading north on the map. We left Ushuaia on the 19^th of December headed towards Rio Gallegos. We had to go to this city in order to transfer buses to get to Mendoza just in order to grab another bus to get to Santiago and from their one final bus to Valparaiso to spend Christmas with my cousin. So we arrived to Rio Gallegos well and went off to look for another bus that would take us to our next destination. Well Leighton came back a little rushed and worried because there was nothing that could take us until the 23^rdof December, which was four days later. It was obviously too late because we were looking at about a three day bus ride from there in order to arrive to Valparaiso for Christmas. So I went off to look for a connecting bus line that would take us. I found one that left from there and stopped in Neuqen, and then I went to another bus line and asked for a connecting trip from Neuqen to Mendoza. So we bought the two tickets right then. I came back to give Leighton the news about the traveling plans. It worked out that we paid the same price for two tickets, as we would have for the direct one. So we got on the bus at 9:30 that night and traveled through the night until we got to our first stop, which was in Comodoro Rivadavia. Once we got here we had to wait for eight hours until 4 in the afternoon. At 4 we hopped on the next bus until the next morning. This trip was from Comodoro Rivadavia to Neuqen. We arrived at Neuqen at 8 in the morning, and we had to wait all day until our next bus left…. YIPEEEE! At 9:30p.m. We got a nice bus called Andesmar, and we traveled through the night once again. This bus was and is by far the nicest bus I have ever been on in my life. Leighton and I have been used to sleeping pretty uncomfortably on the buses until we got to this one. The seats were leather that reclined so far that I could not even touch the floor with my feet. We played bingo, watched a good movie ate a fantastic meal, and went to sleep. Well needless to say we slept very well that night and woke up the next morning to find ourselves in Mendoza and immediately started looking for another bus to take us to Santiago in Chile. Only two more buses to go! So we arrive to Santiago after traveling on a bus for approx. 56 hours over a 4-day period from Ushuaia. You can imagine how we smelled – fantastic! Great, so we arrive to Santiago and look for one final bus in this leg of the trip to take us to where my cousin is in a place called Quilpue. It is a little city or town in between Valparaiso and Vina Del Mar. Praise the Lord we made it safe and my cousin was glad to see us.

Chile

2007-06-08T12:51:00.000-07:00

Being in Chile for the past week has been great, we have spent most of the time in an apartment in Valparaiso. We have spent the days traveling around between Valparaiso and Vina del Mar. When we got here on the 22^nd of December we first went to where my cousin is living in a little city called Quilpue. It was great to see her. Then we called two friends up who were in Santiago. We called Pablo up who said we could spend Christmas with him. So we called up another friend named Jocelyn to tell her the news and she said let’s hang out. So we got a bus from Vina del Mar to Santiago to meet up with her for the afternoon and then meet up with Pablo some time at night. Well it turned out that Pablo’s Grandma got really sick and he was running back and forth to the hospital all day and told us regretfully that we would not be able to come for Christmas. So we were just kind of dropped off into the arms of Jocelyn for Christmas. Thankfully she is a very nice girl and had no problem with us coming over. Leighton and I felt kind of bad, because this was not in her plans at all and here we are just kind of like uh…. we have no where to go and she was merciful to us. So we were able to spend the Christmas in Santiago Chile this year. This is my first Christmas out of the house; it was kind of weird here in Chile. I definitely like an American Christmas a lot better for a couple of reasons. One, they don’t do anything on Christmas here. I mean they didn’t even say Merry Christmas to each other…Bah Humbug right? There was a tree but nothing under it. The way they celebrate is usually have a dinner on the "Buena Noche" Christmas Eve around 11 or so. When twelve o’clock comes around they say Merry Christmas and then go to bed. The 25^th is like a normal day for them. But Leighton and I still had a great time spending it with Jocelyn. I was able to see and talk to my family on the computer, which was awesome, because over all the time that I had been in Argentina that was the first time that I was able to talk to them over the Internet. After that we came to an apartment which the parents of Jocelyn own in Valparaiso. So we stayed in the Valparaiso and Vina del Mar area and just hung out, went to the local spots, basically just relaxed. Finally new years comes along and Jocelyn had planned to go her grandmother’s house which was great because she lives on a mountain that over looks the whole city and the pacific bay where Valparaiso is located. So we had a fantastic view of the fireworks show. They were pretty cool, because they were shooting them off from about nine locations. It was probably the biggest show I have ever seen. There was one thing that Leighton and I both agreed on though that could have been better, it was the sound, because you could not hear them blowing up, and that is very enjoyable. So we had a great New Year blah blah blah blah. New years day all we did was go to the bus station to check for our tickets for the next day, go to internet, and go back to the apartment. We came back to the apartment, ate, and sat around a while looking at photos, then Jocelyn was ready to go to bed. But before going to bed she tossed us her camera and asked us to film her something to remember her by. So Leighton and I had fun filling up her memory card with retarded little films that hopefully she got a kick out of. Leighton and I ended up staying up all night unintentionally because it was already late when we were getting to bed and we had to get up at five to get on the bus. So we left Chile the next day and were headed on to Brazil going through Argentina and Uruguay (Uruguay for the mate).

Ushuaia, Argentina

2007-06-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

Greetings, coming from Parque Nacional de Tierra del Fuego, city of Ushuaia, province of Tierra del Fuego, country of Argentina. Leighton and I have had quite an interesting experience so far in this so called “Land of Fire”, with a hand full of adventures to tell about. Tuesday the 13^th of December, we left the city of El Calafate at precisely 4 a.m. With the arrival to Rio Gallegos at 8 a.m. From there we had to wait about an hour just to board another bus headed for Ushuaia (The Southernmost City in the world). We arrived to the city about 8 p.m. We had to switch buses in a little city on the island called Rio Grande, the bus we got onto had a big protection mesh on the windshield, which didn’t seem to help much being as there were cracks and holes throughout the whole thing. From there it was about another 4 hours on dirt roads straight through the mountains in order to arrive to Ushuaia. It was a great ride, however uncomfortable. When we arrived to the entry point of the city, it was everything I had been expecting since the desire to go there was formed in my mind. We came flying up through the mountains in the bus, and all of a sudden we get to a clearing in the mountains. Just to see the little port city surrounded by tall snow peeked mountains and a pretty big bay filled with big fishing boats all the way down to your normal sailboat. It was gorgeous, and immediately I loved it here. The weather could be better here though, the Lady in the Hostel was saying you can see the three seasons which they have in one day here. We are about 5 days from being in summer and the sun rises at about 4:15 a.m. and sets at about 10:15 p.m. and is light until about 11:00 p.m.

We met these Israeli’s on the bus trip to Ushuaia, there were a bunch of them. Leighton and I were trying to figure out what language they were speaking, but couldn’t do it. So we started talking about world politics (a subject which he is brushed up on pretty well). Well one of the Israeli girls was apparently listening in on our conversation, because while we were talking, we got caught up on a word, suddenly she turns around from where she was seated and blurt out “Jury”. Leighton and I just looked at each other and then said to her, “ Thank you very much”, she replied with a “You’re welcome, it’s just, I agree with what you are saying”, “Great” said Leighton. So that sparked up a little conversation between the three of us, and we found out she was from Israel. Well when I heard that, my ears perked up, because I want to live there one day and I immediately realized it was Hebrew that they were speaking. I told her that, but I don’t think she believed me until later when I said I was serious that I really do have a desire to live there one day and that I wanted to move there and learn Hebrew and everything else. That gave me an opportunity to share with her why I had that desire, and I said “Because it is the land of Jehovah, and He loves it, and if He loves it, so should I.” “Also, one day the Savior of the world was born there, lived a perfect life, and then died there for you and for me”. Well, she acted very interested in all that she was hearing, but I mean that was no news to her, being a Jew and all. She knows that stuff. But she’s not saved, so she has no hope. So we arrived to Ushuaia still talking and she wanted to do stuff with us here. We went to this hostel and there was four beds in one room, two for Leighton and I, two for the other two girls. Well, she wanted to go in on the deal together; well I knew that would not be a good idea. So they stayed there and Leighton and I went to a Hostel down the road, which turned out to be nice. She wanted to meet back up with us though to go to a bar, there came the Holy Spirit again to my rescue and I knew that was also a bad idea. So we kind of gave them the idea that we might return, but what we should have done is just said “no”. Any way we ended up not going back to see them, which is probably a good thing. I can’t even remember their names, they were very hard to pronounce (I’m so bad). When we got to the Hostel, there were only two beds available and they were in a joint room with two other backpacking strangers. We paid 23 pesos each for one night, breakfast, and free Internet. It worked out very well, I had probably the best night sleep on this whole trip (because it was in a bed!), even though it was only about 6 hours. We had stayed up until about 2:45 that night just chilling out, talking to the people, and looking at some pictures on the computer. We came across this Lady from England; she was just a lost traveler. She was funny, but lost. Leighton and I talked to her for probably two hours, just sharing talking about places she had been, as well as what our plans were. We came across this girl from Holland, she was very pleasant and fun, also there were two guys from the states that had studied in Mendoza (another Province of Argentina) for the past 5 months. The Lady that owned the Hostel said that almost all her guests were from Israel, it was very enlightening. I think Leighton and I have had our eyes opened by being here in Ushuaia. It seems like everyone we have talked to has been traveling South America for 5 months to 1 year, it just amazes me how these people live, they just go from one place to another, and it’s not rare either. We figured out that the whole world is like this, traveling maniacs, that all know more than one language. I think a lot of people in the states are very closed of to the idea of traveling, or learning another language. Also, Leighton and I were sort of coming into this trip kind of with the thoughts that no one else would be traveling by bus from here to the states, and that’s true to a certain extent. But what we have found out is what we’re doing is normal down here. I mean we have met people from all over the world already in just one week of being on the trip. But this is what so many people are doing, traveling, and just passing the time by doing nothing and it’s meaningless. I mean, I watched these Israeli’s in the Hostel to see how they lived their lives, and I realized something, that they are just like the rest of the world, which is dying and on there way to hell. They cooked food, smoked, and drank. That’s all they did in the Hostel. I came to a realization very profound. That is, if a life is not dedicated completely to our creator and we are not into deepening our love relationship with Him, and if we are not in His work and serving Him with a one hundred percent undivided heart, then life is a waist, it is worthless, meaningless, without purpose. I just hope and pray that the Lord will strengthen me to not fail Him, but to live every day under His grace and love to be able to overcome the enemy.

Here is a great story, so we heard that if you wait until about 8 o’clock p.m. they will not make you pay to get into the National Park. So we hired a minivan called (Combi) to take us there at about 8:15, therefore saving about 20 pesos each. So we were saying to ourselves “This is great”. Well our driver said he could only take us to the entrance of the park, but he said that our campsite (Camping Lago Roca) wasn’t that far of a walking distance from the entrance, also if he dropped us of there it would be even cheaper for us. Again we said to ourselves “This is great”. Well, we arrived at the entrance, our driver dropped us off and said “Chau!” we started walking thinking it would be a great walk to the campsite. All of a sudden we see a sign on the side of the road that read like this: “Camping Lago Roca 9 Kilometros” that would be about 8 miles. At that point our mouths dropped and we started laughing hysterically and just saying wow this is great. We thought we would not get to the campsite until about 5 hours later. Also we had bought a lot of food to cook at the campsite, so here we are walking with 60 pound backpacks on our backs and bags of food in both hands, laughing along the way, realizing we had a long walk ahead of us. Well thankfully a really nice couple from Spain drove by in a car, and quickly sticking out our thumbs, they picked us up and drove us the rest of the way. Real nice people, we ended up walking only about 10 minutes, so what seemed to be something bad turned out to be good, Thanks Lord!

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Yesterday was not a very productive day until about 5 in the afternoon when we set of on a hike. In the morning we went to the end of route 3 in Argentina, which is supposed to be “the end of the world”. But in reality it is the last point where you can drive in Argentina, it is pretty south though. It was really cold, we took a couple of pictures by the signs that said “Fin de Ruta 3”. Then walked a few little trails that were nearby. We then came back to our campsite for a little lunch. After a little while we decided to go out for a little hike, we arrived to a cross in the path. Two signs which read: “Frontera de Chile 3horas. Ida y vuelta” which means “Boarder of Chile 3 hours. Round Trip”, the other one read “ Mt. Guanaco 4horas Ida” which means “Mountain Guanaco 4hours there”. So, when we were discussing which way to go, two guys walked buy and told us it was only four hours to get to the top of the mountain and to return to the campsite. So with a little persuasion on Leighton’s part we were off. Well it turned out to be more than a four-hour hike there and back. We ran into a couple of bogs, and a lot of mud. When we got to the top, it was snowing and we could barely see 15 feet in front of us because of the fog. It ended up taking about 5 hours to the peek and back down again. It was a hard hike but very much worth it. Leighton and I figured out that both of us are way out of shape when we got back down. We got back to camp around 10:00 p.m. We ate two ramen noodles each, showered up and went to bed.

Today didn’t do much either, woke up, ate something, and stayed in the tent because it was raining. Leighton went of to go see Chile, the boarder is about an hour hike from here, I decided to stay because I didn’t want to get my only pants wet. Maybe a half-hour after he left snow started falling from heaven it was great. Now it is pretty calm, so I hope Leighton is all right. Tonight will be our last night in the “Parque Nacional de Tierra del Fuego”. Tomorrow morning we will be leaving from here to spend the day in the city of Ushuaia. Then Monday we will be leaving here to head for Rio Gallegos. From there we will try to get a bus that goes directly to Mendoza, Argentina. From Mendoza we will have to grab another bus going to Santiago, Chile. From Santiago we will be getting on the final bus that will take us to Valparaiso, to hopefully spend Christmas with Christine, but if not with her, there is someone else there that wants to spend some time with us. I’m not sure when we will end up arriving there, but hopefully we will get there a couple of days before Christmas.

Word of Life is over

2007-06-08T12:49:00.000-07:00

Well,

Classes are over as far as Palabra de Vida in Argentina goes. I took my final test today on Bible Geography and praise the Lord I only got one answer wrong. wohoo!! Anyway about life. It´s great, I have completed a page of my life. It feels good to know that you have accomplished something like colege, even though I could have had a better attitude at times or studied better for a test I still know the Lord has blessed me, used me and tuaght me many valuable lessons that I will hopefully take with me the rest of my life. I think my time here in Argentina has been very valuable in many different ways, and the Lord has defenately taught me things here (in a foreign country with a foreign language and culture) that I could not have learned in other places. I have learned to draw close to God, I have learned from His precious Word, and that I should love it more than anything in life. I have learned to live a life full of purpose, looking always to the things that are eternal in this life, and letting all the other things that aren´t important go.

I am getting ready to embark on sort of a mission trip/vacation/what else you want to add here kind of thing. Well it is something I have been praying for, for about a year now. Since then the Lord has really showed me His will in it- by opening doors in almost every country in South and Central America. So, about two weeks a friend and I will be setting out on a great adventure, probably the greatest of our lives. Lord willing we will get to visit almost all of South America, and every country in Central America. We will be stopping for short periods of time in every country, some more than others. For examle we will be in Brazil for about 2 months. So that means by the time we get home will be about April. Yes we will be traveling by bus......The idea is while we travel get to know diferent ministiry oportunities, as well as develop friendships with many people. Aslo we want to take every oportunity we have to share Christ to everyone we can.

I would like to leave a verse in Romans 15:30 "Now I urge you, bretheren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God for me."

Just as Paul recognized his need for the body of Christ to join together in prayer for him, I also express this necessity to you, and ask you to pray for me, it is the best thing you can do for me!

Going to Brazil

2007-06-08T12:48:00.001-07:00

Well, it looks like I´m on my way to Brazil to spend about six weeks there helping out with a WOL camp and learning Portuguese. My Saviour is too good to me, giving me the ability to learn spanish, and now He is allowing me to go to Brazil. wow......I am so thankful to Him, because He is my sustainer of life. Any way I have to go get a visa from Buenos Aires on monday for Brazil. It is about one hundred dollars, but I heard that it is for five years so that is good. Biblical geography is great!!! I have to get to Israel, and I don´t really even know why but I just have a passion and something telling me deep inside that that is where I NEED to be!! I have been soaking in every word of the class. I have been challenged to love that land, because that is what the Lord loves. And if I love God I will love what he loves. Deuteronamy 11:12 (Tierra de la cual Jehová tu Dios cuida; siempre están sobre ella los ojos de Jehová tu Dios, desde el principio del año hasta el fin.) If you don´t understand that loo it up in english. His eyes are always carefully looking at that land, and I should too!!

Palabra de Vida

2007-06-08T12:44:00.000-07:00

As far as Argentina goes, all is well. I have decided not go to Pichi Traful or San Martin de Los Andes. Because I still have A LOT more planning to do before we are set for the trip. I still haven’t heard back from Brazil yet. A Brazilian on campus named Diego has sent an email to the director of WOL Brazil concerning Leighton and I working at one of there camps for the month of January, we are still waiting a response. If we can’t get Brazil, I think we will just spend January in Bolivia; there is plenty we could do there. It is really cool seeing doors open here and there for this trip. It seems like every time I mention this trip to some one, they invite me with open arms to stop at their house. Pray for the Lord’s direction concerning all this planning. The Lord has to be number one in this!

I am studying about the first five books of the Bible (Pentateuch). Daniel Obel is the professor; it is a good class so far after one week, as well as homiletics, which is the art of writing and preaching sermons, also a good class. We watched a video yesterday in Pentateuch about the Exodus account when the people of Israel were lead by Moses from Egypt crossing the red sea on into Saudi Arabia. The Lord parted the waters there and killed the Armies that were chasing them. It was a very interesting video, it showed evidence of the place where they had crossed the sea. As they dove down to get footage of the ocean floor it was almost like a bridge of land had been formed for them to cross, on each side were to big valleys (similar to The Grand Canyon), it is awesome to see how God planned this geographically from before He created the world. They also found many coral reefs that were in the shape of ancient wheels shafts and carriages such as the ones they would have used in that era. It was really cool to see all that, and it rekindled the fire and passion inside me to go see it all first hand. Lord bring me to Israel, to see your land!!! I decided to start washing my clothes by hand; I figured it would be good for me. It is very cheap and practically every one else here does it so why shouldn’t I? So, I washed my first load on Wednesday, and received from the experience two nice scabs on two different fingers. I need to learn how to do it right. Jaja I like making fun of myself.

Blue Like Jazz

2007-06-08T12:41:00.000-07:00

I was just in the middle of praying before going to sleep, and felt the urge to start writing. I am not much of a writer, nor am I consistent in writing a personal diary, but I have recently finished a book entitled “Blue Like Jazz” It talks about non religious thoughts on Christian spiritually. To say the least it was a very interesting book. It made me think a lot about how much of a selfish human being I am, I mean how much time I actually spend in the day thinking of myself, and not of others, all the things I could do that the Lord has gifted me to do, to help people. It helped me realize that it is unhealthy to live your life in a bubble, in other words isolated, alone, cut off from all human contact, friendship and love of other human beings. Because it is something that we all need, friends, communion, love, partners to call up and talk to about serious issues of life. I need to be like that. I need to learn to live my life centrally connected to people, because it is very unhealthy to live isolated. My passion to learn has been reunited by this book, and I am very encouraged to continue living for Christ, separated from the world, while living in it. I am more than pumped about learning the Greek language for a number of reasons. Because, for one I think it would be cool to learn an old language like that, and I have always been interested in it, also I would love to be able to read the Word of God in its original language and meaning.

Staying for an extra term

2007-06-08T12:37:00.000-07:00

Yeah, so everything is pretty chill down here in Argentina. I am really glad I decided to stay, the Lord is showing me a lot of things through His Word and through prayer. I am taking the life of Christ right now, and it is going really well. I have had a good time reading all the gospels in spanish, (as well as utilizing my dictionary).
So, I was planning on going on this crazy trip with Leighton in December, from here to home on bus. Well, it might end up being a lot longer and crazier now. I was talking to this mexican girl (Arlete) the other day at lunch (I met her on that trip I took in December of 2004). Any way she is taking a trip as well, but in April after camp, she will leave here. She said, Matt, why don´t you come along? I thought for a minute, and said I would pray about it, and keep it open as an idea. Well this is a big prayer request...I was thinking if I go, I might stop by Brazil for WOL camp, continue on through Paraguay, then I have been invited to work in the jungle of Bolivia in February, so meybe there next, and then meet up with Arlete in Peru or Ecuador, and from there all the way up throgh Central America, until the states. I was thinking it would be an incredible opportunity to go see the world, as well as see many souls come to know Christ. It seems really crazy, and there is a lot of praying and details to be worked out, but if the Lord wills it ¡VAMOS TODAVIA!