Thursday, September 2, 2004

Argentina - So Far, So Good

Greetings from the land down under (Argentina is as under as Australia from what I can tell)

We�ve finished phase #1 of Argentina '04. Daryl Heald and two of his girls, Hallie and Francis, left Sunday night. We had an action packed time and I think it went very well, both from his point of view and in terms of the work here.

I spent most of my time with the girls --- we went to a foster home the church runs, served food in the street to the homeless, hung out, shopped, rode the coastal tourist train, etc --- while Tim, Daryl, and Gerardo (the pastor of the church) were in meetings. The funny thing is I probably would have preferred the meetings and Tim the more social activities :-) but it ended up being good for both of us.

It seems like Daryl was a real asset in many ways, for example some people who do fundraising for the school here said they learned more during the lunch with him than in most seminars on the subject. And he spoke at a men's breakfast on generosity and it seems that the right people were excited about what he said and the right people were squirming in their seats ;-)

We also got to do some really great things, like sailing down the river (click for photo) and eating lunch at the Yacht Club of Argentina, the oldest and most prestigious club in the country, and on a different day, going up into the delta by motorboat and lunching in a club hidden away among the islands. And the people here are so amazingly warm.


Tonight we spoke briefly at a meeting at the San - Olivos church, and the rest of the week is pretty laid back, though I think we'll have plenty to do.

Yesterday we finally got to do something we�ve never had time for... walking around Buenos Aires alone going where we want when we want. We spent most of our time in the San Telmo district, which is famous for its antiques.

More Later, till then, as they say here.... ciao, ciao

Annette

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