Opportunity

Ok. I think I'm settled back in. I've made the phone call to the girls' home to get permission to start visiting again; I found out the hours for swimming; I've actually slept..

Doing various chores around the house to get it ready for three new members of the OM team (!!). Finances for 2012 are done; the 2013 spreadsheet commences (I changed its color from that awful magenta to a happy blue)..

But I must. I must look back on the 17 day vacation with Kathryn as well as the year 2012 as a whole. Here we go:

Kathryn and I went from Mendoza in the west to Bariloche and Puerto Madryn in the south to Iguazu (one day layover in Córdoba) in the north and finished up in the nation's capital: Buenos Aires. We truly had an adventure. From brown water rafting to all-night buses (that would introduce us to some interesting folk :P) to swimming with sea lions to Devil's Throat and the other typical touristy things of the big city. I think we calculated over 75 hours on a bus, but we figure we can sleep on it (sort of) as well as save money in staying yet another night in a hostel.

Then there was the fact that we hitchhiked once (it was raining and miserable!). Or maybe include the boy who wouldn't stop hitting on me on the bus from Mendoza to Bariloche--at least we had a lot of laughs!? Should I include the Christmas miracle? An older gentlemen we met in Puerto Madryn, paid for our entire trip there. That is, two dinners, the trip to the penguins (which is not cheap) and all three nights' stay. We met Greeks and Swiss Germans and Dutchies and Israelis and Frenchies.. lots of Argentines as well, obvio.

We laughed. We cried from laughing so hard. We marveled at the Andes and the waterfalls and the beach (!). We have so many more inside jokes, and thankfully we wrote all about them. Unfortunately, you wouldn't understand a single one. hehe

Above all, we talked. We had some really good conversation about what we want and what God wants. As single females in our twenties, it's really easy to get caught up in the family we still don't have. And yet, at least I know, our loving God has a good purpose through it all. I pray, we pray, for more confidence in this truth. Which sort of segues into the thoughts from 2012.

What I learned from the first adventures in January up til the last one with Kathryn December 31 was that opportunity is all around us. We literally have no idea where one conversation with someone might take us. But we have to be the ones to start that conversation.

Think of Vane and how I could have just taken her picture on the beach, nothing more, continuing a walk with a guy named Carlos (not my penguin). Instead, we shared info, went on a bike ride the next day, and two months later, I am visiting her house in Río Cuarto. A week after the fact that she almost killed herself. We continue in contact.

There's everyone from 30 de Agosto--a connection made through another venue, and completely unsought. I continue in contact with a few of those, and I am encouraged daily by their faith.

We met Charlotte in Pto. Madryn, only to find her again in Iguazu. An evening in the second place, we had a conversation about kissing boys, and I got to share about how I've only kissed one. Which led to talking about why :)

And the man who paid for us in Pto. Madryn sent an email to me about two Brasileros coming to Córdoba. I opened my home to them, trusting in the man's word. It was worth it. They are not believers, but we were able to talk about what I do and why several times while they were here. They were surprised that I would invite them, and even let the guy smoke (outside of course, hehe). They invited me to their homes in Brazil. I asked if 2014 was a good year, and they nodded, understanding what I meant.

Making the most of every opportunity, in faith knowing that God is working. I still pray for courage to speak forthrightly about Jesus, even moreso than I do. Maybe it has to do with something I recently read by A.W. Tozer (to which I honestly responded out loud, "Dang it Tozer, you're making me feel bad!"):

I wonder if some holy one, some watcher who had spent centuries by the throne of God, if he came to earth and stepped into one of our pulpits, if he would be allowed to speak. I suppose that if he spoke here, he would say very little of what we usually hear. I suppose that he would charm our ears and fascinate our minds and cheer our hearts by his talk about God--the great God, the rapturous God, the One that gave his Son to die for us, the One in whose presence we expect to live while the ages roll.

And I suppose that after we heard such a being speak about such a God, we would never consent again to hear a silly, "timely" sermon preached out of Time magazine. I imagine we would insist that anyone who dares to take up our time preaching to us should not try to settle the political or economic problems of the world, but would talk about God and God alone.

(The Attributes of God, Volume II. God's Transcendence. p. 39)

Here comes adventure year 2013. What will you do?

love and chau!