Good morning! Those of you who have been following along with us will know we’ve been staying in Cordoba for the last few days. This was our last day with Viña Cordoba. It was actually our last day with a church in Argentina. We got on a plane this afternoon and headed to Iguazu Falls for a little rest before we fly home.

It’s been a whirlwind of a trip and it’s actually been hard to remember what we’ve done for the last 13 days. All the plane rides, crazy Uber drivers, and flooded bathrooms are coming to a close. We have one day to relax before a 30 hour travel marathon home.

We were all a little tired this morning from the Argentina World Cup game Saturday night, even those of us who went home an early. First order of business was getting packed up and ready to leave. There was much rejoicing over dry laundry, some of us were getting worried. Then we hitched a ride to Jorge and Dulci’s house for their Sunday service (a hybrid of Ubers and friends this time) and settled in for breakfast.

Viña Cordoba meets every other week in Jorge and Dulci’s house and sharing breakfast is part of their routine.  A traditional Argentine breakfast with plenty of sweets and caffeine. People started to arrive and we enjoyed Jorge’s fireplace for one last time.

I can’t tell you how much the service felt like home. Dan and Jorge lead worship with Juan P on the drums and an excellent bass guitarist. We celebrated and praised for good while. Afterwards Ray shared a message on Colossians chapter 1. God was very present through it all.

Ministry time looked a little different than usual. We gave words, prayed, and asked questions. Sounds pretty normal but it was much more conversational. Really we just have everybody a chance to speak from the heart. Jorge has been thinking a lot about outreach and planting house churches recently, and it was good to hear everybody’s thoughts.

Afterwards, we had some empanadas and left over pizza for lunch (best empanadas so far, I don’t care what Jorge says) while we played an extended game of signs. All ages joined in, Dan and Lucas were a dynamic duo.

Our whole stay in Cordoba we’ve been hearing about the best ice cream shop in town, which happened to be walking distance from Jorge’s house. So naturally we took our chance. 30 minutes before we had to leave. There was much concern.

The ice cream was the best we’ve had by far. Most people had the pistachio con Nutella Dubai, which lived up to every bit of the hype. We hustled home to make our flight and rather than risk the time need for an extended goodbye, pretty much the entire church decided to come to the airport with us.

The last day at each stop has been hard. This one particularly so. Four days is just long enough to make some real connections and figure out who your people are. Then we leave. Goodbyes were a little sad and I wish we had more time to spend with our friends. Hopefully we can see them again soon.
In other news, we had our first real airport issue! The promotional deal we bought into didn’t include a carry on. So we had to pay the difference or leave our luggage behind, much to Ray’s chagrin. But nevertheless we made our flight.
It was raining when we landed in Iguazu. Fun fact, Iguaza is not the Amazon, but it is a subtropical rainforest known as the Atlantic Forrest and is separated from the Amazon by a vast stretch of land known as the dry diagonal. We had a lot of fun with the Jaguar crossing signs as Dan played the Jurassic park theme song.

We’re staying at the Grand Crucero Iguazu Hotel, very nice. After realizing the promise individual beds was too good to be true, there was some disagreement amongst the boys about the sleeping situation. Bold choices were made. We had a much needed, if not slow dinner and we ended the evening with a late night devotional on psalm 112 lead by yours truly. I’m hopeful that tomorrow will be a fun, relaxing way to spend or final day here in Argentina.

Pray that we enjoy our time at Iguazu falls! The schedule is getting to us all but we’re excited to finish strong and enjoy our last day here in Argentina!

Howdy!  Today we started off the day with an AMAZING homemade breakfast! We had hashbrowns, eggs with bell peppers, fruit, yogurt, bacon, and toast.  Shortly after, maria led us in an awesome devotional time where she went over Psalm 27 and then shared her testimony!

After that, we were off to the park for a jam-packe day! We spent a few hours hanging out with our Argentine friends.  We played different sports like AMERICAN football, futbol, baseball, and basketball.  We paused and ate sandwiches for lunch before going out to pray for people.

We split into several groups and then walked around the park (it was a huge park, by the way) and prayed for people who were open to receive.  It was very encouraging as we debriefed and got to share all the cool stories from people we had met.  We got to pray for lots of people for lots of different needs!

Our day at the park concluded with some bilingual worship, after which we returned to the hotel to rest before going to Jorge and his family's home.

First, we played signs with all the kids. Then, we ate lots and LOTS of pizza.  Lastly, we ate ice cream and watched Argentina's World Cup match agains Jordan!  In case you weren't tuned in Argentina won 3-1!!! It was very exciting!

Thank youfor all your prayers and support back home!

Hola amigos, today started like most days, except today we got to sleep in a bit more. Mary Ann and Maria made some breakfast sandwiches which were delicious. Elizabeth liked them so much she broke a chair. After that, we quickly packed up and hollered for our Ubers, because unfortunately we don't have a 16 passenger bus here. If you were wondering from the last post, we did indeed go back to the school!

This time instead of teenagers and middle schoolers, we got to minister to 1st-6th graders. We went in and immediately were greeted by a bunch of very excited children, which was super encouraging. We started off by playing one of our favorites, a classic, Making Melodies. Getting to play this for the kids was a blast. They picked up the moves pretty quick, and were a very fun crowd. If you are unfamiliar with this song and the motions, you are certainly missing out. After that, we did our skit again (shoutout Kira, Josh, and Chris). Then we lead another OG  song, Waves of Mercy.

After that opening, we split up into groups and went into the classrooms to share testimonies and pray for the kids. This was personally one of my favorite parts of the trip so far. Getting to interact with the kids and share with them stories of how Jesus came into my life was such a blessing. Even with a language barrier, you can see the way their faces and body language changes and the way the Lord is working in them. We let them ask questions at the end of course, and honestly they were very creative. After going to the classrooms, we got to pray for the Spiritual Counselor. She told us how their building is in need of a lot of renovations, and how after Covid the schools economic state has been really hard to manage. Please keep them in your prayers.

After visiting the school again, we went out on the town. Our friend Jorge and his family took us around and showed us different places in Córdoba. We saw some really beautiful parks, cathedrals, giant chess pieces, and some cute shops. And some entertaining street performers, which had me cackling. Chris got to model for more pictures for his tinder profile, and he finally got to eat his beloved peanuts. What a wonderful day for us all.

After that we went back to Jorge's house for some leftovers for lunch. YUM. Think of all the delightful things we've eaten here and put them all in one meal. We got a little bit of everything. Milanesas, beef sandwiches, lomitos, and the mashed potatoes! Hallelujah! 🙌

After lunch we went back to our hotel and had yet another siesta. We love to just sit back and chill a bit. Watched some of a fútbol match, napped, showered, ate chocolate. It was just as splendid as it sounds. Back to that showering thing, it's safe to say that our battle with showers and water and plumbing in general has not yet been won. As Teata was showering, water started to leak through the upstairs floors to downstairs. Luckily handy Manny showed up and saved the day. War is possibly over, but we will keep you updated.

Soon though, that was over and it was time to head over to the park for some more fútbol. ¡Eso! The church and all their friends were invited to come and play and eat. We played some intense games of soccer, with people of all ages. Even some abuelos joined! I haven't been that stressed in a while. One of the dads, Lucas, kept saying "HOPE!!" And then throwing me the ball from the goal. As someone who is not good under pressure and not very good at the game in general this was somewhat terrifying. It was also very cold. (See pictures for reference) As we were playing, our lovely cooks made us some soul healing chori pan and hamburgers. Spectacular post-soccer meal. It was a very fun time getting to fellowship with the church and everyone else.

After our time at the park, we again plotted another ice cream run. Except this time we had it delivered to us so we had time for our devotional. Jordi lead us in psalm 82 and a time of prayer, which we ended with a communal kilo of ice cream.

Thank you all for praying for us and taking the time to read our blogs. It is so important and meaningful to us to have such a big support group back home. We seriously could not do this without you. Please keep us and the Argentines in your prayers. Catch you all in the next one✌️

Hey Uamas, here's to another day successfully flushing toilets! It's truly the small things in life we forget to be grateful for, and in this case, I have never been so grateful for working toilets. Our current apartment / hotel is truly wonderful. A TV we can watch games on, no live wires sticking out of the ground that shock people, no gas leaks, working electricity, flushing toilets, and best of all… no flooding bathrooms! Hallelujah!! Before you finish reading, go flush a toilet.

Today started off with a heavy breakfast made by Maria and Kira. We ate pancakes with peanut butter and honey, apples, and eggs I think. Delicious! Then Mary Ann led us in a devotional on Psalm 90. Very good stuff, thanks Mary Ann.

We then all hopped in Ubers and headed to Juli and Jasmin’s school. They go to a Christian school here in Cordoba and we got the opportunity to come and share our testimonies with them. The school age is from 12-16 and there are about 400 students.

We opened up with a little Gospel skit in front of the whole school. Hope, Josh, and Chris acted while Kira narrated. Our G.O.A.T. Rosie translated and I imagine it was flawless. Then Dan told his testimony, telling kids about his journey in finding Christ and all he has to offer. All the kids listened very well and we felt really respected while sharing.

We then split up into five groups of three people. One person told their testimony, one person prayed over the group, and the last was a translator. I got to tell my testimony with Dan praying and Rosie translating (clearly she has a knack for it). I spoke to two different classrooms, one with older kids and one with younger. We prayed over the home lives for the first group and the second we prayed that they would continue to have a bright future forward with Jesus. It was really powerful watching these kids meet the Lord through their facial expressions, body language, and tone. You learn to read people differently when there is a language barrier and sometimes that brings out such beautiful forms of communication. I loved watching little faces pop up when a kid would have a little revelation moment. Or watching a kid concentrate on what I'm saying the whole time to really understand the ending of my story haha.

After that we got to have some interesting conversations with the kids during their break. They really liked meeting pro basketball player Josh Pittman and had many questions for him. My blue eyes caused a lot of attention, and for some reason, my height... I was called beautiful and short by many of the girls.

We were able to pray for the spiritual directors of the school who struggle with taking on a lot of responsibility for the school all on their own. We also prayed for their son who has lost his way from Jesus. I think God touched their hearts and they were very happy to have us come serve with them. They even asked us to come talk to the 6th graders again tomorrow. Tune in to our next blog to see if we accepted…

We then walked to get lunch at 3 pm. We were told to eat a light lunch because we would have a big dinner. I said, "need not worry, we can eat a big lunch and a big dinner" and Hope said “especially if there is mashed potatoes!” Oh Hope, we love you and your love for that mashed goodness. We walked to an Italian place and ate. Really good, really good. For dessert we had scrambled eggs drenched in syrup (aka flan).

We Ubered from lunch back to our hotels. Ray and Jorge (the driver) had a hard time understanding each other and this conversation went on for a while. Message me 🙏 if you'd like to see raw footage from this special Uber ride.

Finally time for our prized siesta, everyone loves a 7 pm nap. We slept for around 40 minutes before leaving for dinner at Jorge and Dulce's house.

We started with a time of worship right away, that turned into a soaking time with the Lord. We prayed for the families who hosted us and encouraged them to continue with how they're serving the kingdom. It's been a blessing getting to be welcomed but such a Christ centered community and learn so much from them.

Then of course, we ate BIG. We talked to each other, laughed with each other, and watched fútbol with each other. We ate some delicious ice cream and started heading out around 11:30 pm.

Thank you everyone for supporting us and praying for the group. I can't wait to come back and pass on to you guys the knowledge that the Argentines have taught us. Keep praying for safe travels, a healthy group, and for each church to be blessed by God.

Hola a todos! Today we started our day early driving to the Mendoza airport to fly to Córdoba — but thankfully not quite as early as some of our previous flights. (Mary Ann and a few others of us agreed that we don’t know how to fly when it’s not in the middle of the night! Some of us slept anyway on the flight just to catch up.) Though we’re definitely sad to leave behind our new friends in Mendoza, it’s exciting to be on our way to the third church we’re visiting and anticipate making more new friends there.

After waiting in line for long enough to make everyone a little nervous about if we’d make it to our flights, we finally got all our boarding passes, made it through a very simple airport security, and grabbed breakfast at the airport. Around 10 am, we boarded our flight to Córdoba and took to the skies!

The flight was about an hour, and it allowed us to get another look at the beautiful Andes mountains from above. When we landed in Córdoba, we were greeted by teal bathroom stalls (my favorite color!), a very slow water bottle filler, and our lovely friends in Córdoba. Since the taxi drivers in Córdoba are currently on strike (we saw them protesting as we left the airport), four people from the Córdoba church drove us caravan-style back to the pastor’s house.

After being greeted by the pastor’s dogs, Charlie and Molly, we sat down for a delicious lunch of milenesas (breaded fried, flat chicken with tomato sauce and cheese)mashed potatoes (Hope loves them!), and oranges for dessert. It was a nice time to get to know the pastor and his family, as well as a few of the church members who joined us for lunch. Then we caravaned through town again to get to our accommodation— but, minus one car, we had to leave our brave volunteers Chris and Jordi behind for a second trip.

We settled in three apartment-sized hotel rooms (hoping for no flooded showers!) to rest for the afternoon. Several people went grocery shopping and a couple people went out on a run (what fun ways to see Córdoba!). Then we regrouped early that evening to hear Dan share from Psalm 139. This was such an encouraging reminder to me that God is with us in every moment of this trip. He sees the easy moments and the hard ones, the times when we’re energized and the times we’re exhausted… even when the shower floods or plans don’t play out the way we expect, He is here with us in all of it. His presence is with us, and He is always moving! We just get to ask Him to open our eyes to where He’s already working.

After devotional and spending time alone with Jesus, we headed in our multi-trip caravan to the pastor’s house again for dinner. When we arrived, we got to talk with the pastor’s family and another family who had come to help cook dinner. I talked with two girls (shout out to Azul’s sisters Jasmin and Juli!) in both English and Spanish so we could both practice our language learning. Then Elizabeth and I had another lesson from them about Spanish slang! (“Posta,” “ahre,” and “da” were a few of the words I took away from that.)

After visiting for a couple hours while the food was being prepared, we finally sat down for a delicious dinner of lomitos! (We were VERY hungry by suppertime, which was about 9 PM — hungry enough that Lauren and Josh ended up in a lomito-eating competition!) Lomitos are a traditional sandwich on crispy, fluffy bread with thinly sliced steak, lettuce, tomatoes, and a fried egg. Ours were served with homemade mayonnaise on the side, which was delicious! Everyone was very full by the time we finished supper, and we settled back to talk and plan tomorrow’s outreach at a local Christian school. Though everyone was excited about the outreach, a lot of us were getting tired by 10:30 and decided to head back to our accommodation for a semi-early bedtime. Thankfully no showers flooded right before bed, and we all were able to climb under warm covers and get to sleep.

As we continue to minister in Córdoba over the next few days, we would appreciate prayers for people to have open hearts to the Lord, and for God to lead us in who specifically to talk with and pray for. We’ll be doing a lot of street ministry to people who may or may not know the Lord, and we want to see Him come in power and touch and change people’s lives! Also please continue to pray for strength and health for our team — we’ve been traveling for 10 days already, and while the Lord has been giving us strength for each day, I know that myself and others on our team definitely have moments of feeling worn out. We want to finish the trip strong and fully engaged in what God has for us to do!

For those following, this post is for the events that happened on our trip on Tuesday, June 23rd : ).  Today (Tuesday) was meant to be a rest day, but it started earlier for some of us than others!  As you may have read in yesterday’s post, we had late night bathroom flooding incidents upstairs at our Airbnb!  So some of us were not as rested this morning (Ray, Chris, Teata and Elizabeth all contributed to helping stop the flooding and cleaning up).  I was oblivious being downstairs on the other end of the house, but in the morning imagined the worst happening like Piglet in Winnie the Pooh trapped on his bed floating through his home : ).  The plumber arrived this morning and resolved the blockage (we hope).

The next interesting event of the day was the picking up of our group’s laundry.  Three of our guys went to the laundromat where it was dropped off yesterday and brought it back with everyone’s laundry completely mixed together - this led to what we will call ‘The Great Laundry Sort’ at our main dining room table.  Most people located all their clothing with the exception of a few undergarments that now belong to someone else in Mendoza : ).

An English speaking brother, Mark Mirra, who has been helping transport our group in his 15 passenger van back and forth places, picked us up around 11:30 am and took us up into the Andes mountains for a visit to Lake Potrerillos.  We enjoyed hiking around by the lake, throwing rocks in the water and having a picnic lunch near the shore.

After this, we rested and played soccer a bit in the backyard of our AirBnb and again at plaza nearby with local kids, which was a lot of fun.  Mendoza has an impressive fountain display with lights and set to music at the plaza that we also enjoyed.  We finished the day with a devotional on Psalm 119 led by Ray and then sharing a meal with Mark and Karina and praying for God’s blessing on them and the Vineyard church here in Mendoza.  

Tomorrow (Wednesday) we depart at 7:45 a.m. for the airport to fly to Cordoba.  It has been a blessing, I think, to each of us on the team contributing to the daily posts in how it gives us time to reflect on all of the people we have been able to meet, share our lives with, minister to, and be encouraged by.  We are grateful for the chance we’ve had to get to know our brothers and sisters in Christ in Gualeguaychú and Mendoza.

For those interested, here is a link to several Holy Spirit encounters we have had on the first nine days of our trip if you’d like to read more and lift up individuals prayed for by name:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oENWPSV-Xmr0a3y4Mb8vlXx5Irw0tslq/view?usp=drive_link

Hoping as we continue this trip to see even greater moments of the Holy Spirit’s presence on peoples’ lives in and outside the churches - for the gospel, healing, prophecy and the manifest presence of God to be experienced powerfully.  Have very much felt that the prayer happening at home for this time is having significant impact for the Kingdom here.  Please continue to pray for us for spiritual strength, passion, and focus for our remaining time here.  We have tried to keep in mind that we have been sent here on mission and don’t want to drift into the mindset of a vacation or of a tourist.  We want to see and take any opportunities we have to share with and demonstrate the gospel to those around us.  Thank you again for partnering with us!

Hello everyone!!
What an exciting time it’s been in Argentina so far!! This morning was a slower morning for us since we didn’t have anything planned which was nice for all of us to get some rest. Some maintenance and cleaning people came to the house to fix some of those special features Mary Ann was talking about. CLEAN TOWELS FOR EVERYONE! (They didn’t last long though… read to the end to find out more)

After resting for a bit we set out on a laundry expedition. Had to make sure we didn’t accidentally spend $80 on one load (that’s happened on this trip before). After a trip to the laundromat we came back to the house for a quick lunch before heading out to Arístides street to do an outreach during the World Cup. Vamos Argentina!! ⚽️ We were unsure of how the outreach would go since Argentines loooooove their soccer.

Let me set the stage for you. Imagine a really big street full of lots of different restaurants and little store. All the restaurants have tables and chairs set out with big screens in front of them that have the game playing. The street, and all the chairs and tables are full of people. And then when Messi scored his first goal the crowd went wild!!! Just ask Chris, he made a very special connection with the Argentines when he celebrated the goal with a big hug from one of them.

You can see how this would make outreaching a little challenging but we were able to talk to and pray for a few people. We looked for people who were more on the outskirts and just tried to offer words of encouragement to them.

After outreaching for a little bit we found a spot to stand and watch the rest of the game. We got to watch Messi score his second goal and celebrate with everyone again. Vamos Argentina!! Argentina won the game 2-0 and it’s safe to say everyone was very excited about that. You could tell by all the yelling, screaming, and chanting there was when the game ended. We even got to take a picture with Messi. Look at the pictures below to see for yourself.

After the game we went to get ice cream to celebrate Kira’s birthday!! Let’s pause for a moment and sing happy birthday to Kira

Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday to you
Happy birthday dear Kira
Happy birthday to you

Some of our new friends from Mendoza came with us back to our house and we started a game of hide and seek. Me and Lauren hid at the bottom of a dark, cold closet where we waited, and we waited, and we waited. Don’t worry we were found it just took about 30 minutes. After hide and seek Lauren lead us in a devotion on psalm 146. We read it together and then all shared the part of it that stood out to us.

Then it was time to head over to the Young’s house for asado. What is asado you ask? Well let me tell you. Meat, meat, a different kind of meat, and then some more meat. So we all shared a really good meal together, hanging out, and having good conversation. We left the Young’s and headed back to our house, little did we know what would be in store for us.

Remember earlier when I said the clean towels didn’t last long, well here’s what happened to the towels. The maintenance guys had come that morning and had fixed the shower (or so we thought). So I get in the shower and everything was going well until all of a sudden I hear everyone screaming and yelling at me “ELIZABETH TURN OFF THE SHOWER!!!” Somehow water had flooded everywhere in the bathroom and was coming out the bottom of the bathroom door into the hallway. We had to use all of are clean towels to try and clean up the water. We still haven’t gotten a hang of the plumbing here in Argentina. Then again later that night the bathroom flooded again!! Me and Teata tried our best to clean it up but then had to wake up some leaders to come and help us. Safe to say it was a very exciting night and something I don’t think any of us will forget.

Thank you all for following along and praying for all of us. God has been moving and working in us and all the people we have been encountering.

We missed being with you on this Father’s Day Sunday! I want to start by thanking you for the hours you have spent praying for us. Know that they are having an effect!
Our morning began sharing the special features of the home we are staying in. We keep discovering more of them! Don’t be surprised if your children return to you with a new found appreciation for plumbing! The kids have been amazing in adapting to inconveniences. They find humor in everything and adapt so easily. Kira viewing a backed up shower as a way to keep your feet warm will forever be etched in my mind as an example of finding the good in everything.
We enjoyed cooking together for the first time on this trip before heading to the church’s English service. Fun fact: Mendoza is Argentina’s second most popular city for ex-patriots. We have met so many Jesus loving people who have had such different experiences than ours; many having lived all over the world. Kira, Josh, and Hope led the church in a beautiful time of worship. Ray delivered the message, Dan and Ray led the ministry time with our entire group acting as the ministry team. Think our Sunday service on steroids! The Lord gave words and many of those attending had an encounter with the Holy Spirit through prayer. You have to ask Dan about his experience giving the word “cemetery.” Ray, as appropriate for Father’s Day, went from giving a powerful message to teaching our kids how to flush a toilet with a bucket of water.
We were treated to a soup lunch at the Young’s home (church leadership). Amazing how fast people feel like family when we share our faith. I love watching our kids make quick connections with the youth. I hope all of you get an opportunity to watch our kids play signs. When you see Elliot, make sure you ask him to show you his sign! The afternoon was rounded out with a grocery trip. Shopping in a store that sells meat and TVs is always an experience-shopping with 11 people seriously elevates the experience!
The evening was filled with the Spanish speaking service. Please watch the clip of Josh, Lauren, Kira, and Hope leading worship! I don’t know if it’s okay to say our team was cool, but they really were! Dan delivered a message and then we broke into groups to pray for each other. We had the opportunity to minister, but we also were ministered to by the Mendoza church. Argentinians eat dinner around 10 so we were very Argentinian tonight. Chris inspired with a devotional on Psalm 16 which was even better than his jacket sermon! The night ended as many have- a trip to get ice cream!
As I close, my heart is so full as I think of our kids on this trip. I have been around 1000’s of teenagers/young adults in my life. These kids stand apart. They love each other. They love others. They love God….not to mention, they are so fun!

Today started very early or very late depending on how you look at it. After a 3 hour drive, we slept for about 2 hours before heading to the airport for our flight to our next stop, Mendoza. After making it to the airport, we boarded our flight and spent about 2 hours in the air before finally landing in Mendoza.

Once we arrived, we were picked up from the airport and taken to the house we’re staying at. Even though the accommodations are pretty tight in some places, (especially on the first floor (1 room that’s just a bunk bed inside a closet)) we are still making it work. After the travel and lack of sleep, we were then able to have a few hours to rest, sleep, and recover before the rest of the day's activities.

Around 1 pm, we got picked up in a van and headed over to the Youngs' house for lunch and ministry time. We enjoyed some delicious Argentinian pizza and cake while spending time together before beginning ministry. After lunch, we broke up and got the opportunity to pray for six different people. We spent time praying for each of them and asking that they would encounter the Holy Spirit. It was great to be able to minister to them and encourage them as a team.

After our time at the Youngs' house, we headed back to the house we’re staying at and had about 2 hours to rest. After a busy day of traveling, this additional rest felt great.

Next we went over to a plaza down the street from the house we’re staying at. We passed out drinks and snacks to people in the park and got to pray for a lot of people. People in Argentina were a lot more open to hearing about Jesus and wanted to receive prayer compared to a lot of people in the United States, so it was really cool to get to share the gospel with so many people.

When we got back to the house after, we ate salad for dinner with ingredients some people had purchased at the local grocery store, a great healthy meal. During the rest of the evening Maria led the devotional on Psalm 27 and we prayed together as a group. Lastly, about half of us went to get ice cream at Grido’s Ice Cream (only $2.32 for a 3 scoop cup!).

We're excited for the rest of our time here in Mendoza and excited to see what God will do in the next few days.

Thanks for continuing to keep our team in your prayers!

It's midnight (on Friday)  in Argentina as I finish this.  We woke up and went to have breakfast (🧉☕️🥐🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞🍞) with the leadership of the Vineyard here in Gualeguaychu (if you're still wondering how to pronounce this, ask Elezabeth's dad, Aaron: he's great at it...).  We had a 2-way Q&A where we got to know each other and understand each other's ministry contexts.  We prayed together against hopelessness and suicide among the young people in Gualeguaychu.

Then we hung out and talked and played music togehter.  Our girls (Teata, Elizabeth, etc.) traded American slang for Argentina slang.  While translation apps are definitely helpful, our interpreters, my mom and Azul, our friend fromCordoba, who joined us for our Gualeguaychu leg of the trip, are always in high demand.  We are all having so much fun we stayed until lunch (mas empanadas!) then headed back to our hotel to rest (shout out to Dan and my dad for navigating the streets of Argentina and surviving the tightest parking garage in the world).

The hotel gave us a conference room to hold our devotional, and Chris took the opportunity afforded him by the podium to give a speech on the virtues of his rain jacket (hit up Mary Ann for the vieo proof).  Then I led a devotional on Psalm 2, and we prayed together that Jesus would actualize his rightful rule over Gualeguaychu and Argentina through us and the church here.

We had an hour or so to nap or walk the city.

At long last, Josh got his wish: he an Elliot got to play basketball in Argentina with Argentines!🏀

We endind our time in Gualeguaychu with an evening service at the facility the Vineyard uses for their Sunday services.  Kira, Lauren, and Hope led us in bilingual worship.  Dan gave a teaching (my mom interpreting) on our aurthority an permission as chidlren of God to seek the Miraculous and take initiative ministering in the Spirit.

During ministry time we got to pray for the Spirit's empowerment.  I got to pray with Lauren over Isaiah, one of the pastor's sons (age 11) that he would no longer fear to pray in front of people.  My dad led a gentleman named Nico to pray a prayer to accept Jesus; he made sure to let the local leadership know so they could follow up with discipleship.

When we said goodbye there were lots of hugs and kisses (this is Argentina after all).  We grabbed dinner (mas empanadas!!!), and headed back to Buenos Aires to sneak a few hours of sleep before our next flight at 6:00 am.

We're sorry to leave our uamas in Gualeguaychu behind, but are excited for what God has for us in Mendoza!

Please continue to keep us in your prayers!

Hi guys! Today we started our day with three museum tours alongside our friends from Gualeguaychu Vineyard. We explored the city's history, visited an old slaughterhouse, and learned about the town's archaeological past.

After, we ate lunch together at a local restaurant. While inside, it started pouring rain, which continued the rest of the day... After lunch, we had some free time where Mary Ann led our devotional time with Psalm 34. In that time we listened for words or pictures to give for the upcoming meeting later on at night.

We arrived at our vineyard family's house and quickly discovered they had 240 empanadas waiting for dinner. They were amazing! We had an awesome time of worship, a good talk from Ray, and a very impactful ministry time.

¡Hola! Today was another travel day, our last day in San Telmo, Buenos Aires, and then we headed to our first Vineyard church in Gualeguaychu. We started our day with Dan leading us through a devotional on Psalm 145 about the greatness of the Lord! Then we packed up and hit the road. On our 3 hour drive to Gualeguaychú we stopped at a gas station to use the bathroom. In the parking lot we met a couple, Adriana and Julio, who were also on their last stretch of a road trip. Julio expressed to us that he suffered from constant back pain and additionally was navigating how to treat his colon cancer and the possibility of treatment in the US. We got to pray for his healing and for the restoration of his wife's hope in God.

After a short rest from the drive we arrived at our hotel in Gualeguaychú. We went for a wild empanada chase but unfortunately never found them. But before long, it was time to head to the house of the pastors of the Gualeguaychú Vineyard. They served us coffee, mate, pastries, choripán for dinner, and a beautiful cake for dessert. We met a bunch of the youth and got to teach them a popular game at our church called Signs. We spent the night eating, fellowshipping, worshipping, playing games and drums, and eating some more. We are excited for what tomorrow has, and to enjoy more time with these lovely people!

We encourage you to lift up Julio and Adriana in your prayers, and that we would minister to the people of Gualeguaychú in power! ¡Ciao!

Hello! Tuesday we landed in Santiago, Chile around 5:30 am. We had a 2 1/2 hour lay-over and then flew over the Andes mountains to Buenos Aires. We are traveling with backpacks and personal items, so all we had to do is go through customs, which was relatively fast. We had rented what we thought were going to be two 7-passenger vans, but turned out to be two small SUVs, but we fit with all our luggage! Ray and Dan were our drivers and we made our way to the San Telmo house. After a late lunch at the Choripaneria we were led by Ray in a devotional time from Psalm 1. We then had free time to rest, shower, play games, etc. I have to admit that the most exciting part of the day-for me-was watching the team from Argentina play Algeria (and win 3-0!!) even though the game here started at 10 pm. Bedtime was after midnight, and tomorrow we begin our travel to the churches by driving to Guleyguaychu, about 3 hours away.  Thank you for your prayers and support.

Hello everyone,
Yesterday was a long travel day that is continuing today.  We left Fresno around 8:00 am in the morning, and got to the airport around 12:00 pm.  We had an 11 hour flight to Chile and are now waiting to board our next flight to Buenos Aires.  We are tired but very excited to see what the Lord has for us in Argentina!  Some of us have already gotten opportunities to reach out to people and show the love of Jesus.

Please pray that the Lord Continues to meet us while we're traveling and that everything goes smoothly.

It’s officially five weeks until our team leaves for Argentina! We’re continuing to spend time in prayer together as a team as we prepare for this trip. Down in Argentina, we’ll have opportunities to connect with three Vineyard churches, build relationships in those churches, and partner with how they reach out in their communities.
During these last few weeks leading up to our trip, we’d love for you to pray for us!
               ⁃             Pray for unity in our team as we work out final preparations and details
               ⁃             Pray for God’s blessing and safety on our travel and stay in Argentina
               ⁃             Pray for God to prepare our hearts and the hearts of the people we’ll meet in Argentina for what He wants to do!
We’d also love if you would consider helping us raise the last bit of financial support we need. Currently we are 93% funded and need $3,000 more to fully fund the rest of this trip. If you’re interested in donating, you can give here: https://universityvineyard.com/give 
Thank you again for partnering with us as we prepare for this trip! We’ll continue to send updates as the trip gets closer and when we’re in Argentina.