Berazategui Building

Day 12 is now posted which is the last official day of the team. However, I do hope to make a few more entries in the coming days: Progress as we continue to work on and use the building, as well as some of the preparations leading up to the teams arrival, so stay tuned.

Well, that's not happening very quickly, is it? Maybe sometime.

Day 12: Tuesday March 25

Hello one last time everyone! I am sorry to write this so late, but here it is!
Tuesday, our last day in Berazategui, was a bit of an emotional one! It started well and Chuck, Gary, Don, Doug, and Ray left the camp around 8:30 to go to Bz. and help Elvio load up all of the rented equipment. They had quite a time of it from what I understand, but I'm not sure I can recount their story enough to do it justice... you will just have to ask them!

The rest of the group went into Quilmes to do some last-minute shopping and to have lunch. We all then went in different groups to each of the missionaries' houses for one last shower before our travels.

This all worked out well and we were able to get back to Berazategui in time to help with Project Open Heart and to say one last goodbye. For this ministry, people from the church get together with food and clothes donations and pass them out to less fortunate families. They then break up into small groups of men and women and share testimonies, prayers, and the Word with one-another. A few of the team members and I (Eryn), were able to share testimonies with some of the groups. It was quite a "rich" experience and several of the ladies that I shared with were moved to tears. I wish I could've spent all day talking with them and getting to know them, but that is not what the Lord had in mind, so we will have to trust that He will be able to compensate for what time did not allow!
The team was also able to share a gift with several of the women who cooked for us during the week. We purchased a picture frame and put our team picture in it and also gave them a small wooden keepsake to put up in the church somewhere. It seemed such a small thing for all the ways that they blessed our lives that week, but they were grateful and thanked us with kisses and tears! We just love those ladies!

Shortly after all of this, it was time to say our last goodbye to the Berazategui members. (Ray and Myrna left a few hours before us as their flight left earlier.) We all did well until Maggie started crying, and then the floodgates opened! It was so hard to say goodbye to so many wonderful people, not knowing if we would ever see them again on this earth! Words of encouragement, blessings, and prayers were mingled in with hugs, kisses, and tears and we finally all got on the bus to go to the airport.

On the way there, our team prayed and shared reflections on our trip and hopes for our return. We prayed together for the people in Berazategui that the Lord would continue to make himself known through those people and that many lives would be touched. We also talked about plans for going home and the things that we learned from this trip that we would like to share when we got back.

The rest of the team parted company little by little... some in Buenos Aires, and then some more in Houston, and then the last few in Chicago. As our group dwindled, it started to really sink in that we may never be with all of these wonderful people again until heaven! I was so thankful, then, for the chance to be around such wonderful people and to have such a rich experience! Thank you, Lord!

Several team members have sent emails saying that they arrived home safely and were now resting up well and the same is true for the Missouri group!
We are so please to be home with our families and to share with them all that the Lord has done and so many wonderful traditions as well!
This morning, our family sat down at the table and I passed around the mate and shared with them how to drink it~Argentine style! Many of the kids were surprised at the bitterness at first and decided they liked it better dulce rather than amargo! They all said a big gracias! and we had a good time of it! (By the way... does anyone know how much caffeine is in yerba mate???) :)

Well, that is it for our last blog! We love you and miss you all in Berazategui and will continue to pray for you all! Thank you to everyone who played a part in this wonderful adventure! We are all so pleased at the way everything turned out and hope that you know how much we appreciate everyone who partnered with us! Thank you, eternally!

We love you all and pray that God's peace and love will rule in your lives!

Team Berazategui

Day 11: Monday March 24

Wow! What a superb day! Today Dave brought Doug, Maggie, McKenzie, and I (Eryn) to la capital. What a neat opportunity for us to see all of the sites and to do some shopping! We walked around the galleria and did some shopping for ourselves and some team members and then went to el Palacio de Papas Fritas to eat some wonderful steak and french fries. Mmmm! It was wonderful!

Dave took us over to the feria where there were venders with hand-made crafts. Many were selling beautiful jewelry made of silver, copper, beads, wood, and precious stones. There were many woven garments, woodcarvings, and painters. I could've spent all day just looking in amazement! Wow! What a sight!

On the way back, the car broke down and we had to take a taxi back home. We...um...took the loooooong way home. Once we finally arrived at the Baileys we had a team pizza party complete with an award ceremony. Each team member got a "certificate of NotorietyTeam, complete with their "funcion" on the team and notable quotes. It was really cool.

In other news, we finished putting the roof on the building! Brent lead a short key ceremony as he handed over the keys to Elvio!

Team Berazategui

Day 10: Sunday March 23

Happy Easter! Dave was kind enough to bring breakfast out to camp since the electricity is still out! We have been having quite the time with that, but everyone has remained in good spirits!

We shared a wonderful time with our Argentine brothers here at Berazategui. Everyone greeted us saying Feliz dia de la resurreción and we shared testimonies, songs, and verses.

Our good friend Pablo, who is 19, taught the lesson for the morning and... wow! We are all very impressed with this young man who has a passion for the Lord and His people! We were thankful for his example and wish that he could come back with us to teach a few of the young men in our churches at home!

After lunch, the men went to work on the roof while the ladies prepared for the hora feliz. Patty dressed as a clown and the rest of the ladies were mimes for a skit that Teresa taught us. The children loved the skit and we also sang songs with them, ate snacks, played games, and just had a great time! Linda thought there may have been as many as 100 children there as well as some mothers and older siblings! Praise the Lord! Pray that the Lord will work in their hearts and that His message would shine through.

We all went to a feria in the park last night where they had several venders with hand-made crafts and jewelry for sale. We enjoyed browsing around and then met for ice cream afterward... quite a necessary tradition any time we pass by a heladería! We then made our way over to the mall where we ate dinner and bought some extra things we needed.

Our time here is coming to a close and we are having mixed emotions as we all wish we had more time to share with the people here, but we also miss you all terribly and can't wait to see you again!

Thank you all for your faithful prayers and support and we can't wait to see you in a few days!

With love,

Team Berazategui

Day 9: Saturday March 22

Hello everyone! Today was a big day as we had our first real injury! Gary McCaman had a brick dropped on his foot from the highest part of the wall. We were lucky to have Vernie here who acted as our surgeon and drilled a hole in Gary’s toe nail to relieve the pressure as it was throbbing and swelling a lot. Most of us thought that he was very blessed that the brick hit his foot instead of his head, while others said that there may have been less to damage if it had happened that way! Well, he received lots of sympathy and care for the rest of the day and is now doing much better! (Be sure you look at the pictures!)

The youth (Pablo, Estér, Betsi, Sabrina, Maggie, Eryn, McKenzie, and a few others) all went out and passed out flyers in the neighborhood for the hora feliz. We had a good reception for the most part and were very excited to see how many would turn out.

That night, we split up into groups and went to each missionary’s home (Martins, McCamans, and Baileys) to shower and clean up before dinner because the power was still out at the camp. We all met at the Baileys’ for a delicious dinner which Ruth Ann prepared for us.

We were all tired and had no problem going to sleep- even with all the noise that our neighbors were making all through the night!

We love and miss you all and are grateful for the help that each one of you gives!

Your friends and servants,

Team Berazategui

Day 8:Friday March 21

Wow! Another beautiful day... well, at least at first, but I'm getting ahead of myself!

Progress, progress, progress! The building is getting so tall that we had to put up the second set of scaffolding. Talk about a balancing act... wow!

The brick-layers were adding onto the back wall and to the side walls today in preparation for putting up the rafters. Brent says that, at this point, it doesn't look like we will be able to put the roof on before we leave, but we should be able to complete all the steps prior to this.

We were blessed to have Steve and Wilma Bailey come out and help us as well as Ruth Ann who is feeling much better. We were so happy to have her sweet presence back with us!

Right now, we are having trouble keeping everyone busy at the same time, which has actually turned out to be a blessing as it has allowed some time for more relational building.

Teresa, who has been working with us the last several days, shared some of her testimony with the women. She is such a neat lady and a joyful addition to our team! She has a great attitude about life and a wonderful sense of humor. She was telling us stories about her childhood and, at one point, had us almost rolling on the floor in laughter! She has a heart for working with children and handicapped people and will be helping us to learn some skits and things to do with the children during the hora feliz on Sunday.

Things were rolling right along, but came to a drastic halt at about 5:30 when it began to storm. It seemed to come out of nowhere and all of a sudden, everyone was running around trying to cover up the wet cement and picking up tools and rushing them inside! We managed to get everything put up just before it really started to pour. The only problem was that we had about 7 buckets of cement that we couldn't use and had to dump out. When the bus driver arrived, we headed back to camp and found out that we had no power. There was still enough water that we could shower in the dark before we went out to eat, praise the Lord!

We went to a restaurant called Comer which was way beyond our expectations! It was buffet style and we all ate so much good food that, when we finished got back in the bus afterward, the driver told us that the bus was too heavy!

The power was still out when we got back to camp and we were out of water, so we made plans to start a little later in the morning in case nothing had changed. Maybe the Lord knew that we needed a little extra rest!

We are all so happy about the way things are going and blessed to be a part of the Lord's work! Thank you all for your comments on the blog! We have not been able to see it on the internet, but Linda McCaman printed out all the comments and read them to us and it gave us great joy and renewed strength to feel so connected with you! We miss you all tremendously and would love to hear more from you!

Please keep praying for us that we will make the most of every opportunity.

Team Berazategui

Day 7: Thursday March 20

Hello everyone! I hate to sound redundant, but we've had yet another great day here in BA! I'm sure that will not disappoint anyone! We are zipping right along with our project, praise the Lord! Most everyone worked on finishing the bond beam and a few also laid brick. There were many members of the church helping us today including Elvio, Ester, Pablo, Betsi, Teresa, and some new faces working in the kitchen. They were a great asset to the team and tomorrow we expect several other Argentines to join us.

Because we accomplished so much during the day, we (Eryn, McKenzie, and Maggie) were able meet with Teresa and some other ladies to talk about what to do for the children's Easter program. We talked about games to play with the children and practiced some new Spanish songs and we also drank a lot of mate! The more we talk with the Argentines, the more we learn that we are not so different from them. They have many of the same songs and games-- and even the same sense of humor many times-- and we all enjoyed each other's company.

Pablo and Ester also invited us (the girls) to join them and the other youth (young adults, actually) for a pizza buffet and ice cream. Linda took us to Pizza Libre and then invited us to spend the night at her house afterward. We had a great time and were happy for the opportunity to meet more Argentines close to our ages! We hope to see many of them again in the next few days. The rest of the team missed us so bad that they decided to go out for ice cream to try and lift their spirits! Overall, we all had a fantastic day!

Thank you for all of your prayers going up for us. It really means a lot to us and many others here as well! While we were at dinner, I (Eryn) was able to share with a few of the girls the ways that God is working in this team and they were excited for us! I told them about all of you who are praying for us and how the unity that we have would not be possible without you. The thought of this touched their hearts and it made the evening that much more enjoyable.

Time is flying by muy rapido and soon we will be home and able to share all of this with you face to face! We miss you all and love you!

Besos y Abrazos! Xoxoxo

Team Berazategui

Day 6: Wednesday March 19

Bendiciones a todos! We hope that you are all well! Today was a good day as Vernie made a remarkable come-back and was able to join us for the whole day! He put in all four windows with some help from Ray and kept right on truckin' throughout the day. Ruth Ann is not fully restored to health, but we are praying in faith that she will be able to join us again soon.

The progress on the building is really astounding! The ladies finished ALL of the roof panels and were dancing with joy!

The main focus of our day was putting up the mold for the bond beam (the main support system for our roof). When the forms were ready, our team magically transformed into a mass-production cement factory! Gary, McKenzie and Ray cranked out the concrete like their lives depended on it! Everyone was running back and forth with buckets and finding out about muscles that they didn't know existed! We didn't quite get finished, but our bus driver was gracious enough to wait an extra 30 minutes for us while we worked.

Later that night as we were eating pizza and empanadas, it started pouring down rain and we were very grateful for Brent, our fearless leader, taking the time to make sure that our day's work was protected from the weather. We are so grateful that the Lord held off the rain until we were done (which also gave us some nice cloud cover during the afternoon!) and that he is giving us the strength to continue each day!

We look forward to the next few days as we will have some more opportunities to build relationships and ask for your continued prayers for our team.

Prayer requests from the team:

-Continued safety and health (physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional), and relief from pain and fatigue

-Continued good weather

-People with whom we are in frequent contact (the night watchman, our two bus drivers, and one of the neighbors) - pray for the gospel message to speak through our actions

-Team unity

-Easter service- that many will come and that God will use us in this opportunity for his glory

-Prayer walks and visits Thursday and Friday- that we will be unhindered and for clarity as we are praying, that God will work through us

-Ruth Ann's health

-Strength for our leaders

-also, each Gary asked for prayer for the other one in jest, but really... they could use some help!J

We send our love, blessings, and prayers to all of you!

Team Berazategui

Day 5: Tuesday March 18

Buen Dia, Everyone!

We had another wonderful, sun-shiny day here in BA, praise the Lord! Because of the day's progress, we are almost ready to start on the roof! Now that will be a fun project! Vernie and Ruth Ann were not able to join us for the day, but by the evening, Vernie was doing much better, and determined that missing work was worse than the whole sickness! Patty, Chuck, and Brent made a visit to the chiropractor during the course of the day and found some relief from their aches and pains.

It is absolutely necessary to mention the comida muy rica (delicious food) we have been enjoying each day! Ana and her crew have been doing a superb job in the kitchen throughout the day. We have had some wonderful cultural dishes such as milanesa, a breaded and fried meat, and pastel de papas, mashed potatoes with really yummy meat on top! Our lunch is usually followed by peaches and cream with dulce de leche or flan. Mmmm!!! As Chuck would say, "We're having more fun than should be allowed!"

After lunch, the Lord gave us the wonderful opportunity to pray for Maria Rosa and her family, one of the ladies who have been cooking for us, as her three yr. old baby has recently been in the hospital with some respiratory problems. She was very blessed by our prayers and we were grateful for the opportunity to reach out to one of our sisters.

We ask for your continued prayers for health, safety, progress on our building, and for more opportunities to connect with the people of Berazategui. We will be participating in some prayer walks on Thursday and Friday and ask you to pray that God will prepare our hearts and that people will be blessed through us.

chau for now!

Team Berazategui

Day 4: Monday March 17

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! We had another great day here in Berazategui and are excited to report that we are making excellent progress on the building. The weather has been wonderful for working; sunny and quite warm, but the Lord provided us a little cloud cover today that was much appreciated!

We are so thankful for the many ways that each member of our team has been able to help. Gary Morris and Maggie have been the backbone of our group, always making sure that there is a steady supply of cement available; Brent, our team leader, is doing an excellent job of making sure that everything is level and going according to plan; Doris, Myrna, and McKenzie have been working with Linda McCaman and Ruth Ann Martin treating the hundreds of ceiling panels with bug protector and varnish; Chuck is our expert electrician, always ready with his Panama hat and tool belt; Ray, Vernie, Don, Eryn, Patty, Doug, Elvio and Marcelo (two of the leaders at Berazategui) have all been laying bricks for the walls and filling in the cement columns; Gary McCaman and Dave Martin have been our constant suppliers making sure that we have everything we need and helping in whatever ways they can.

In the evening, the Martins and McCamans introduced us to a wonderful restaurant called Los Hermanos. While a few of the orders were mixed up, the food was superb and made up for all. They also gave a red carnation to each of the ladies at the end of our meal. Maggie got her flower second-hand as she, after such a long day of hard work, was catching some z's when the waiter came around! Luckily, though, she managed not to fall asleep on her dinner plate!

Please continue to pray for Vernie as he has been very ill today and was not able to come to work with us... and for those of you who know him, he has to be feeling pretty bad to miss an opportunity to serve! His presence is sorely missed at the site, not just as a worker, but because of his gentle quiet manner that adds so much to our team. Keep Ruth Ann in your prayers also, as she is not feeling well this morning (Tuesday), and went to the clinic with Vernie to see if there is anything they can do.

We are continually grateful to the Lord for all of you and giving thanks to him for your faithful prayers and support!

Que Dios les bendiga ricamente!

Team Berazategui

Day 3: Sunday March 16

This morning, in Berazategui, we all sang, shared our hearts, and had a three-fold communion together. The Lord was able to weave our hearts together despite the barrier of language and culture and many people were touched. Many of the Berazategui members spoke of their joy in our willingness to travel so far to help them and how they, in turn, want to serve us. Several of our team members shared verses, songs, and testimonials.

For the foot-washing ceremony, the men and women split up into different groups and everyone from our team paired up with an Argentine brother or sister. This act of service towards one another communicated more than words could relate. Each partner embraced and shared blessings and smiles.

Many people came up to us after the service sharing how they had been touched by a particular testimony or song and asking us to pray for them.

The evening service with the brothers at Wilde was a particular blessing for some in our group who came in 2000 to help construct their building. They recognized many faces there and the church was blessed by their return. They prayed for safety and God's blessing over our current project and spoke words of encouragement and affirmation over all of us.

Our day came to a wonderful conclusion except one thing for which we ask you all to pray. Vernie Abbott, the oldest, and probably most steadfast of us all, became ill and will not be able to accompany us to the work site tomorrow. Please pray for a rapid recovery as his presence on our team will be sorely missed! Please also pray that the rest of our team stays healthy and without injury.

We continue to look forward to what the Lord has in store for us here in the coming days and ask that you continue to bathe us in prayer (after working so hard, we need all the bathing we can get!).

Amor y bendiciones a todos!

Team Berazategui

Day 2: Saturday March 15

These entries are now being done by the BBBT (Berazategui Building Blog Team): Eryn Cummings, and McKenzi & Maggie Shenk (sisters).

Saludos! What a busy day! Today we had a full work day and accomplished many things in the Lord's strength! We started the day bright and early, eating breakfast at 6:30 followed by a wonderful time of prayer and devotion led by our dear friend, Vernie Abbott.

We arrived at Berazategui around 8:00 and got right to work! We appreciate all of your prayers and we believe that because of them, this team is united in one mind and spirit! Right away, everyone divided into specialized groups and began using the gifts that God has given them to support the team. Some are laying brick, some mixing cement, some staining panels for the roof, some overseeing, some doing electrical work. Even the sisters here (in Berazategui) are applying their gifts to help the team by providing excellent food that is muy delicioso! As we are serving them, they are also serving us with a ready cheerfulness and love that touches our hearts. They all greet us with hugs, kisses, smiles, and words of encouragement (even though we don't always understand what is said!). Don't worry, although we are working very hard on this trip, all of us have decided that weight loss is out of the question thanks to our wonderful cooks!

We had a wonderful authentic and unique Argentine dish called spaghetti which many of you may be familiar with! After some refreshment and fellowship, our spirits were strengthened and we got right back to work!

By the end of the day, we had laid about 5-7 layers of bricks for our walls, set in electrical outlets, filled in cement corner posts, stained about 1/5 of the panels for the roof, and consumed ½ bottle of muscle relaxers and pain killers and not near enough sun screen! Ha! What a day!

By that evening we were definitely ready to get back to camp and clean up as most of us were covered in cement and brick dust from head to toe! We were definitely a fragrant bunch! Our efforts were well rewarded that evening as the Martins introduced us to a wonderful Argentine restaurant by the name of Sr. Gomez Parrilla. As we walked in, there was a large grill to our right filled with wonderful smelling Argentine beef and other meat. Everyone ate to their heart's content and we had a glorious time! To add to our bliss, we went across the street and enjoyed some delicious dulce de leche ice cream in various forms. We had no trouble falling asleep that night!

What a wonderful opportunity this is for each one of us and we thank everyone who is partnering with us through prayer and support for making this possible! We cannot wait to see what the next day has in store for us!

Day 1 (Click for pix)

The team arrived alive and well and anxious to get to work. After wasting 30 minutes getting settled into their living quarters, the got back back on the van and headed to work site!

Pouring Day (Click for pix)

The day dawned bright without a cloud in the sky. We were done pouring by noon, then about 4:00 PM it started clouding up and rained. BUT THE FLOOR WAS DONE!

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