Buenos Aires, YWAM, “cartoneros” and kids

     After a month resting and visiting family/friends in the states, it was time for me to head back to South America to meet up with my team. The time went by so fast… a month felt like a week but at the same time I feel like I have been away from my team for too long! The plan was to meet them in Argentina but like one of my team member’s said, “Finding our team is like chasing the wind.” Haha, how right he was. I got all packed up and ready for my two long days of travel by myself. My Facebook status summed it up pretty well: “after getting up at 3 am on tuesday morning.. 5 flights.. about 20 hours in layovers… barely any sleep.. a very heavy backpack full of gifts:).. one missed flight.. lots of tears then delirious laughter.. a shocking $160 entry fee.. I have finally arrived in Argentina at 2 am.. may not see my team for another three weeks.. oh Jesus, this life I live.. all is well.” Yes… haha turns out they were at the very very bottom of South America. I was excited to talk to some of them on skype and hear all about their journey to Ushuaia… “the end of the world”… literally. After weighing a couple of options I decided to stay at a YWAM base here in Buenos Aires and wait for them. 

     A flood of spanish filled my ears again when I got to the base. I have got to learn more spanish! The team here is great. Normally they would have students going through a training program called “DTS” or have outreach teams here but at the moment, it’s just the staff which means I got a room all to myself! Praise the Lord… I love alone time. After chilling out by myself for a couple days and getting caught up on some stuff, I wanted to get out and explore. I got to go to a huge beautiful park where they had vendors selling tons of things and live music being played. I also got to go to a local church where a girl opened up the night by sharing on “Blessed are the poor in Spirit…” totally a Heidi Baker thing ha.. it was kind of like God was winking at me. Then the main speaker talked about food multiplying and all this fun God stuff. I got to speak with him afterwards and possibly made a connection for our team when they get here. 

     I was really excited that this base does lots of outreach/evangelism activities. Today I got to go with some of the team to a really rough area in the city. We were partnering with a church there and serving the “cartoneros.” Now let me explain.. the “cartoneros”.. literally translated as “the cardboard people” are an unofficial group that sift through other people’s garbage in search of recyclable materials to package and sell to recycling businesses. Apparently there was a huge economic crisis in Argentina in 2001 and the “cartoneros” are a visible reminder of the poverty that effected whole communities. 

     On our way over to the area, I saw many of these people walking along the streets pulling their big heavy carts full of materials they had found. These people have to be so strong to carry around these big carts! Even though these people technically are at the very bottom of society, they are really helping out their community. Because of this, the church wanted to honor them and give their work dignity. 

     One man that was working with the church is kind of like the cartoneros boss in that area. He was so friendly and has a huge heart for the men. You could tell they loved him by all their joking around together. He gathered them all in the church for a political/work/Jesus meeting. As the men piled in through the front door and took turns meeting us in the culturally latin way (“Hola” with a kiss on the cheek) I couldn’t help but notice the piercings, tattoos, and the look of a hard long life on the streets under all the smiles. I wanted to weep and scream “Jesus thinks you are so amazing!!!” all at the same time. Gosh, these are His favorites. This is my favorite. I knew it was going to be a great afternoon.

     The “service” started with a political kind of deal…. honoring them for their services. What a cool idea huh?! Then they talked about work details for a bit. Soon, the YWAM team came out and did a skit about identity. One guy played the role of a regular guy and while the others had characters such a his mother and sister. The “mother” came out screaming that he was worthless and a terrible son and the “sister” said similar. It ended with Jesus coming out and telling him who he really was. I thought the skit was something that anyone could relate to. We all have people tell us lies about who we really are. Who knows what these guys have had said to them… the truth is though, that they are princes in God’s kingdom, even if they don’t know it yet. After that we served them lunch and then ate with them. I tried so hard to say what little I could in spanish! It was fun. 

     The boss guy said that it went so well. He said, “All these guys have grown up on the streets.. drugs.. alcohol.. the list goes on. All they know is evil.” You could see in his eyes that he had so much much hope for them. It made me want to drop everything and just live in a neighborhood like this. It’s times like that I know what I want to do in life.. simply love people like this. 

     That night we also went to another rough area and did an after school type program with some kids that live in the slums. They were adorable. We ended up playing Bingo to help them learn english numbers and laughed a lot. 

     My heart is full.