¡PATAGONIA!

Castillano is the type of español they Argentines speak. It's very beautiful. The people don't ask if you speak spanish, they ask if you speak castillano (ca-sti-shano)...b-c the "ll" and "y" are pronounced with a "sh" instead of a "ya" like normal spanish. so when i say my name is sheryle it sounds like "sho shamo es sheryle"...pretty cool, huh.
anyways, we're now flying solo, in that we don't have any argentines who speak fluent spanish with us...we'll be fine though.
PATAGONIA is a place I've always wanted to visit, and I'm finally here! It is sooo beautiful...the Andes kind of remind me of the Rockies. I was hopeing to sneak in a day of snowboarding on one of our days off, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen.
We're all anticipating Neoquen...this is where we're going to have to really rely on God in terms of ministry. We'll be helping survey the area to see how the Navigators can fit in there and start up a ministry partnering with one of the local churchs. We'll be staying with families there...total emersion.
Please pray for our team...the ministry here is so different then other mission trips that I've been on. It's really tough, but that will force us all to rely on God and not our own knowledge and strength.

¡Ciao! ¡Ciao!
Sheryle

Bariloche

Our team leaving Buenos Aires and heading South to Bariloche (19 hrs by bus) and Neoquen...we'll be there for 2 weeks.
me in bariloche in front of the montañas.

El Cento de Federal

one of these is a pic of the girl's house, one is of team vellez, and the other is of this crazy ralley for the president of argentina


this first week is considered orientation...becoming familiar with our team, the people, language, culture, city. So yesterday they had a scavenger hunt for us, it was extremely creative. we were split into 2 teams and have to navigate our way around the city and solve different questions about the argentine culture in order to know where to go for our next clue. this entailed us asking random argentines on the street for help, directions, ect. we had to go to locotorious (internet cafes) for clues as well. forcing us to use the spanish that we know. we had to figure out the transportation system here which consists of trains, buses and the subway. they want us to feel comfortable getting around here, as well as talking with the argentine people. we hit all the famous sites in Buenos Aires: the presidents house (we actually saw the president himself on the roof of his house...he waved to the crowd and everyone went crazy. there were CRAZY ralleys all over the city yesterday. there were points where we could barely move. loud music. drums. dancing. they know how to do it here in AR)
The people here are amazing! They're very relational, so the ministry consists primarily of building relationship with them. Another focus of this first week is understanding their perception of a relationship with God. The missionaries have told us that ministry here is a long process because they value relationships so much...it's taking the time to share you life with people. So one thing they stressed is that it's God that changes hearts and lives and not us. We've been spending a lot of time in prayer...I've seen God work in powerful ways through prayer and am excited to see what He's going to do here in Argentina. It may be something that we might not even witness while we're here, but that's not up to us.
Tomorrow is the "day of faith"...it's going to be crazy. it's supposedly really going to test our faith...we don't have details yet, but i'll post a blog with some pics soon.



un beso por todos!
Sheryle

El Cento de Federal

This first week is, for the most part, an orientation for all the students. One thing they want is for all of us to be familiar with Buanos Aires...be able to get around on the trains, buses, and subway. So yesterday they planned a "scavenger hunt" for us around el centro, downtown BA. They split us into teams: Vellez and River (two really big futbol teams here). I was on Vellaz and we won! There´s a picture of my team. They would give us a clue, we'd have to solve it and if we didn't know we'd have to ask an Argentine. They wanted us to get comfortable with using our spanish, ect. We'd have to go to locotorious (internet cafes) to check for clues...it was extremely creative! We learned a lot about the city, how to get around, and they had people from their Bible study meet us at places and we'd have to find them...having no idea what they looked like, etc. This is all part of our "orientation week," getting oriented with the city, people, language. A HUGE focus has been on how the Argentine people view God...something that's been very encouraging to me is their emphasis on how it's God who changes hearts and lives, and nothing in my own strength. They stress that because the people here are not very open to the Gospel...relationships comprise most of the ministry here. That works b-c the people are extremely relational. Everyone gets besos (kisses)...this is something i'm going to bring back to the US with me. I LOVE IT!

OK, well I better run.

un beso por todos!
Sheryle

Argentine sunrise...

on our way to pick up all the college students from the airport we stopped on the highway and watched the sunrise. we also prayed for each one of the students as we sat there.
at this point we've all been together for 2 days, but it seems like we've known each other for so much longer.
i put up a pictures of the leadership team minus Martin...i have one of him and i'll put it up soon. (josh, marisol, my, darin) at least you guys can put a face with the name.
the last picture is of the girls house. it's big and cold. we use a wood burning stove to heat the place, and since it's so big and empty it never really gets warm. :) we do have mini space heaters for our rooms at night, which really helps. i love it though...it's like our little casa.
so much more to tell but i have to run. i'll try and get on here more often to update.
really quick, today was awesome. we went through this thing called the 7 steps of freedom or healing. i don't remember right now, but it's this indepth Bible study bringing up 7 areas in our lives where we ususally can use healing. marisol and i then met with each girl to talk through stuff that might have come to the surface and then we'd pray with them. i think it was soo good... it helped me get to know the girls in a more personal way.
alright, gotta run!

ciao!
sheryle

mañana...

...all the students arrive. josh, darin, marisol, and i will be going to pick them up from the airport.
we went to church today, and heard martin preach. it was kind of tricky bc darin and i don't speak a ton of spanish. i caught a few words though and had a dictionary there to look new words up. it's totally draining trying to concentrate sooo hard on the spanish and communicate with people. they say it's totally normal to feel this way for the first two weeks. i don't think i've used this much brain power in a long time. :)
everyone's siestaing right now, but i'm not that tired. i'm going to walk around the city for a little while. we're in villa ballestar...pronounced totally different than what you'd think...bisha vashestar. the ll and y are pronounced with a sh instead of ya. i'm not sure how well this will translate through email, but i thought id try.
i'm goin to try and get a team picture tomorrow so i can post it on here.

miss you all!

sheryle

Buenos Dias!

So I made it! I{m here in Buenos Aires, Argentina! All the punctuation on this computer is crazy...so I apologize in advance.
I met Martin, Josh, and Marisol...they{re all great! Martin oversees josh and marisol and the collegiate ministry here. He{s so funny...and laughs a lot, i love it! josh is from PA, and is my age...he{s been here for two years with the Navigators and is moving back to the States in November. Marisol is a national...she{s super cool too.
The college students all fly in on Monday...i{m looking forward to meeting them.

I don{t have any fun pictures yet, but i{ll start posting them soon!

Sheryle