April 18th with a TON to say! :)

April 18, 2009 – Saturday

I am thankful for my 2002 Dell laptop J …. 4 Argentines + Me = a bilingual school …. Two totally sweet roommates—Diaina & Cyntia ! … How do you say faucet? And what is the word for toothpaste? Wait a sec- I thought ‘camiseta’ was the word for T-shirt, so why do you keep saying ‘Remera’?” … G-whizz, how old am I? 3?! I don’t even know the right word for bucket!!! … Each day a new opportunity to experience HUMILITY …. Let’s kiss instead! … Did I just switch to English & not even realize it?! Sorry! … My daily life here at the DTS starts around 7:15 am and ends between 11pm and midnight…. A visit from the founders of Argentina YWAM… or—JuCuM in Spanish ….. Did you know that CPR = RCP in Spanish?

Hola!

I am writing to you again from my bunkbed- typing on my 2002 Dell Laptop, which the Lord has blessed with a longer-than-average lifespan! I’m going to try hard not to forget to pray for it every time I use it, that God would keep it running! Tomorrow, I will put it to the test when I attempt to use Skype, complete with an attachable web cam and all! My dad bought the headset and cam before I left, as we both had high hopes I would have access somewhere to wireless internet. I will find out soon if it will connect for us!

My first week of Discipleship Training School (DTS) was really great. There were going to be 6 students, but one girl from Chile wasn’t able to commit last minute, so there are only 5- two boys and three of us girls. My roommates are Daiana (pronounced Dianna) and Cyntia. Daiana is 19 years old, and Cyntia 22. Though they are both from here in the province of Buenos Aires, and live about 130 km away, they were both quite tearful upon separation from their families when they departed the first night. I think the reason is the situations they are leaving are quite stressful. And, the culture is so different in Latino families. Generally, until you are married, and even after sometimes too, you live with your parents. Everyone lives together. You’re expected to help the family and to raise the kids together. So, although they are not moving far, the commitment to come here to live is a big thing. It’s funny, though Daiana is the youngest here, she seems one of the most mature. I heard her praying over the phone for her sister, and it was a very powerful prayer! –at least the parts I could understand ;)

The group here is great! It’s actually quite large- even though there are only 5 of us students. The staff living here are serving full time, and are working to develop various ministries in this city. The average age I think is about 24 or so. I thought I’d be one of the oldest, but the guy students are 25 & 26. They are also both from Argentina. So yeah, I am the only foreigner, minus one of the staff is Colombian. But I’m the only native English speaker. There is one guy who is fluent in English though – Praise the Lord -- and so he is willing to translate whenever I am in need. I haven’t asked him to translate for me yet, but there have been moments, especially in the late afternoon classes when I wish I had. Focusing close enough to understand everything is extra hard when I am physically tired as well as mentally fried!!!

Although I am still fairly confident of my capability in Spanish, I have decided that Castellano is pretty much its own language!!! I kept hearing time and time again – “Oh yeah, I know what you mean,… but we don’t say that here, we say this (fill in the blank with a new word that sounds nothing like the one I had already learned). Fantastic! I kept thinking- now I have to RE-LEARN that word too!! And so I was becoming more and more frustrated. However, now that I’ve decided I am actually learning a new language, and not necessarily RE-learning what I already worked hard to gain, I am less frustrated, and more accepting of my progress.

HUMBLING is the word I would use to express this process of language acquisition. I feel like a little kid- learning the proper term for toothpaste, or sink, faucet, outlet, fridge, etc, etc, etc. It’s like that feeling of having just left middle school, where at your 8th grade graduation you owned the building and the hallways, and you could find your way blind-folded, and then walking into the gigantic-in-comparison high school, where you know your big sister and that’s IT, and you get lost 10 times on your first day. AND MORE. Because I am constantly asking “how do you say…” or “what does ….. mean” from the youngest person here! I am finding I can finally relate to every foreign exchange student I ever met and thought was awkward, simply because they were trying to figure out the social norms in our country. Apparently, walking down the street, it’s not the usual greet to the stranger you pass or even to say “hola” to people passing by. One of the guys on staff told me this as a big group of us were waiting at the bus stop, and I offered a friendly “buenas” (a common abbreviation of ‘good afternoon’) to a group of old ladies walking past. Stuff like this surprises me, but I believe it to be true.

One of the biggest cultural differences is their greetings! They always kiss on the cheek; although it’s often more of a cheek-to-cheek touch with a kissing sound. I mentioned to the girls while we were waiting for the bus today, that we rarely greet with a kiss but with a hand shake / slap combo. And when I showed her, she was totally surprised and kinda “weirded out!” The time the kiss-greeting most surprises me, is when it is a complete stranger to you, but instead of shaking hands, you kiss on the cheek! It just seems so close, right away! But I guess they don’t feel that way at all, they just feel like they’re “shaking hands.”

Anyway, I should really try to make these updates more brief, I know! But there is so much to share & tell!

Tonight the funniest thing was when I was just talking to one of the staff, and as I asked him a question, I had just switched over to English without even realizing it; and he was looking at me as if to say, “what?!” Then I realized I wasn’t speaking Spanish, and he said- It’s okay, it’s because you’re tired! Everyone is so gracious with me! I feel very blessed and accepted, no matter what my language!

I should tell you more about the school! It is a full day, for sure! We are up by 7:25 at the latest, and breakfast is at 7:30. We just sit around the dinning room table and sip coffee and Maté, and nibble on some little pieces of French bread with jam, or sweet bread (like the hot-cross-buns mom makes) we’ve had this week because of Easter. Then we have 30 minutes of quiet time that we spend with the Lord, and at 8:30 class starts. The topics of our classes this week so far have been on Worship, Quiet Time, Discipleship, and the Faithfulness of God. Something very cool we were blessed to have, was a visit from the married couple who founded YWAM in Argentina, 20 years ago! They came for the first time to this base to meet us and to spend a day with us! It was great! It was truly awesome to hear of how God has always been faithful in their lives as they have given their All to serve the Lord and to further His kingdom in Argentina and other places in South America and all over the world!

We have class for two hours, which consist of lecture, prayer, lecture and more prayer! Then we have a 30 minute break before another 2 hours of lecture & prayer. Yesterday was so amazing the time we spent in prayer. The Holy Spirit was working in each of us, and I could feel my own spirit of self-reliance breaking down, and giving up more room for God to increase my faith and dependence on him for his real comfort and strength! During our classes, the 5 of us students are there, as well as at least 5 and up to 10 of the staff, who join in as much as possible since they too are seeking God constantly, and will be teaching us as well throughout the theory portion of the school.

Between 1 and 1:30, we sit down for lunch. After lunch we relax for 30 minutes, then we do our “Trabajo Práctico,” (practical work) which is really just housechores, however it is part of the Discipleship. I don’t mind it at all actually. It’s kinda cool to have the whole house of people cleaning for a full hour each day. And if we complete our chore early, we do deep cleaning things, like washing doors or chairs, for example. The leaders really believe that the service-part of day-to-day things like house work is some of the best character-work that happens during the school.

Somewhere between 4:30 and 6:30, we have an hour of free time, during which we could shower or go to the internet “locutorio.” But on Mondays and Thursdays, we’ll be heading downtown at that time, to go to our “Soccorrismo” class, which teaches First Aid and CPR. I’m excited about it, because though I’ve already learned the material in English, never in Spanish! And we will be certified too, which is cool. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays we have other things planned for the evenings. Dinner is sometime between 9 and 11pm—super late! And we’re supposed to have lights out at 11!! – that is super early for me to go to bed!

Our weekends are from Saturday night around 8pm til 4:30pm on Monday. We are expected to attend one church service each Sunday, morning or night.
I’m going to the same church tomorrow as last week, and it starts at 10:30. So, I’m gonna get to sleep now.

Love to you all!

~Marissa