The Way home.

We have been back in the states for about a week now. It felt like a long six weeks and about halfway through I was really ready to be back. But by the end I was wishing we didn't have to go home. I think I was just getting used to Argentine culture. I expected to have some reverse culture shock coming back into the US but it really only lasted a day or two.  The most shocking things were that everyone spoke English, all the currency was in dollars, it's hot and humid here, and people (strangers) aren't as friendly. Driving a car was weird too. Actually, the weirdest thing might be being away from the awesome people I was with and grew close to this summer.

What impact did our Summer Project have? I think only God knows the full impact of our project (he's in control anyway). But here are some statistics to give you an idea.

• We told and invited a lot of people to Vida Estudiantil
• We handed out a lot of flyers
• We did a lot of follow up with new believers
• We did service projects that helped gain the University's favor toward Vida Estudiantil
• We had more than a thousand spiritual conversations with Argentines, many of which may have helped them to overcome some obstacle to accepting Christ.
• Our project shared the Gospel 638 times
• 26 people that we shared the Gospel with accepted Jesus into their lives!

Looking with hindsight, I can see that God wanted everyone of us there for the exact amount of time we were there. I say this because we had 26 students on our project and exactly 26 people accepted Christ! And even on the very last day we did ministry, 3 people accepted Christ. He was perfectly in control.

I think that's the biggest thing I'm taking away from the project: that God is in control. His plan is good, better than my own plans, and his plan will be done even when, while the plan is unfolding, we don't see it or understand it. I learned that God can even use me to bring about his plan.
I don't think I have any regrets from the trip. The second week we were there, our project staff had us write down what we wanted to see and how we wanted to be used. I looked back over this since returning and everything I wrote down came to pass. Awesome.

And now that I'm finally back in the States I can post some pictures:

Exterior of the campus I was on.

The library where we did most of our surveys

the view from my hotel window

on a boat in Tigre

'Our North is the South'

There's a few pictures; I have a lot more on Facebook. Thanks for reading this blog!

Gestures

I know, I know. I've been back for a few days and I haven't posted anything since. I apologize.
Here are some fun Argentine hand-gestures to hold you over. I only saw or used like 5 of these and they even forgot some of the fun ones.
Part 1: I saw the 'ojo' (which means, "I see what you're doing"), and the 'ok' symbol one
http://www.seashellsandsunflowers.com/2010/03/argentine-hand-gestures.html
Part 2: I saw the 'chin flick' (que se yo?), and the 'what the heck are you doing',
http://www.seashellsandsunflowers.com/2011/03/more-argentine-hand-gestures.html 
They didn't include the ones for ' there's a thief around' or 'it's ok'