Carried to the Table.

"Carried To The Table"

Wounded and forsaken
I was shattered by the fall
Broken and forgotten
Feeling lost and all alone
Summoned by the King
Into the Master's courts
Lifted by the Savior
And cradled in His arms

I was carried to the table
Seated where I don't belong
Carried to the table
Swept away by His love
And I don't see my brokenness anymore
When I'm seated at the table of the Lord
I'm carried to the table
The table of the Lord

Fighting thoughts of fear
And wondering why He called my name
Am I good enough to share this cup
This world has left me lame
Even in my weakness
The Savior called my name
In His Holy presence
I'm healed and unashamed

You carried me, my God
You carried me

Go.

In "Radical," David Platt writes:

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    In Romans 1:14-15, Paul talks about being a debtor to the nations. He literally says, "I am in debt to the Jews and Gentiles." The language is profound. Pail is saying that he owes a debt to every person on the face of the planet. Because he is owned by Christ, he owes Christ to the world.  
    Every saved person this side of heaven owes the gospel to every lost person this side of hell. We owe Christ to the world-to the least person and to the greatest person, to the richest person and to the poorest person, to the best person and to the worst person. We are in debt to the nations. Encompassed with this debt, though, in our contemporary approach to missions, we have subtly taken ourselves out from under the weight of a lost and dying world, wrung our hands in pious concern, and said, "I'm sorry. I'm just not called to that."
    The result is tragic. A majority of individuals supposedly saved from eternal damnation by the gospel are now sitting back and making excused for not sharing that gospel with the rest of the world.
    But what if we don't need to sit back and wait for a call to foreign missions? What if the very reason we have breath is because we have been saved for a global mission? And what if anything less than passionate involvement in global mission is actually selling God short by frustrating the very purpose for which he created us? 
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 What strikes me most about this passage is 2 things:

 1. This debt we owe the world as children of God, as saved ones this side of heaven, to every lost person this side of hell.  What a burden and yet what a privilege to be a child of God. 

 2. This concept that we are still here because we've been saved for a global mission. I think this goes back to that question/concept people have sometimes about why we don't go straight to heaven when we start a personal relationship with Christ.  I think of that verse in 2 Peter 3:9, "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."  

Now please don't see this post as a preachy Go! Yes, I am here in Argentina, that was my way to go, but I encourage each of us to interpret the "go" as God calls it fitting to your life. You are to be obedient as God call you to be. For me -a single person with no strings attached- it was moving overseas, but with families, persons with large debt, it can look different. 

Maybe we can't all physically go, maybe we can't all financially give, but we all can pray for global missions.

Rosey Days.

Yesterday was quite beautiful. It took a while for it to pick up, but once I got out and got to where I was going, I wish I had started my day hours sooner! Do you ever have times like that?

Rather than telling you about it, I thought I would show you it.

You can rent these paddleboats for 2 or 4! Can't wait to come back.

Looking into the Rosedal. Ducks and geese everywhere!

Excuse the excitement. I only thought the tall palm trees seen here existed in LA. Not BA?!

So pretty and smelled so good! I can only imagine this place in Spring or Summer!

Over 5,000 species of roses here.

I found myself wondering how many marriage proposals have happened in this garden. Right? It's a girl thing.

 

And so ended my time in the garden. I now have my sanctuary for when I need an escape from the city. 

The night only got better when I was surrounded by others (as it usually does). I met up with some girls for a submarino and just to practice our Spanish. A submarino sounds like a submarine, I know, but in Argentina, it takes on another thing....

Yep, it's a delicious hot beverage. It's hot milk and they give you a bar of chocolate for you to dunk in there and melt it. Basically, hot chocolate. It gets its name because the chocolate floats! Clever, right? Crystal and I talked with two friends of ours where they both shared their testimonies. This was great because each of them had Catholic backgrounds, and one was more mature in her walk than the other. I truly felt like this is what the body is supposed to do. Dialogue with one another to build and encourage, answer questions, and relate to each other along the way. These two had been going to the same church for some time and had never met, and by the end of the night they were exchanging phone numbers! Praise Him, and pray that they can encourage and be examples for one another as they seek to know His will for their life.

 

After our delicious submarinos, we met up with the rest of the youth group and went to see Noah. Really disappointed by the movie. Not that I expected it to be good, because I had heard from people in the states that it was typical Hollywood adaptation of a Biblical story.   But even still. Stone creatures helping Noah build the arc?? Come on. The theater was filled at this late night showing since people have off for the Semana Santa holidays and it was my prayer leaving that these people are met with Truth, not what the Catholic church tells them, not what Hollywood tells them, but who Truth is. I hope they gleaned that judgment is coming from that film, but that's about all I can take away from it.

Please be lifting up BA this Semana Santa, that they would experience the realness of Jesus. That He is alive and available to each and everyone of us because of His work on the cross.

Tunesday Tuesday.

You guys!! Needtobreathe's new album came out TODAY and it is so so SO good!! It is their 4 or 5th studio album I think? Each one just gets better and better. I am sharing with you my favorite song from "Rivers in the Wasteland" so far. It is called Multiplied and the chorus is really simple. The whole song is actually, it just repeats itself:

Your love is like radiant diamonds
Bursting inside us we cannot contain
Your love will surely come find us
Like blazing wild fires singing Your name

God of mercy sweet love of mine
I have surrendered to Your design
May this offering stretch across the skies
And these Halleluiahs be multiplied

Shabbat Shalom & Scattergories.

Last night was my first real Friday night in Buenos Aires, as in going out with jóvenes. Last Friday night was a chill night in, playing Sorry with my supervisor and his two kids. Don't get me wrong, I loved that too. The youngest boy reminds me of my Chandler and I was worn out by the end of that night. However, last night was different. After a busy morning and day, Crystal and I had some time to come home and rest before meeting up with Stacey at 7 for a service at a Messianic Jewish Center. This was a really neat experience for me and I hope to attend many more of these in my 2 years to learn more about their traditions and customs!

After this, we were heading to someone's apartment building for a goodbye party for Stacey. This was at 9, mind you, and my bedtime tends to be 10:30/11ish. So, we arrived, among the first ones there of course, and played Bananagrams. It's a spelling game, and when you play in Spanish, it only gets harder. How many words in Spanish do you know with an 'X' or 'W'? We played for a while, then ate food, then played Scattergories...and my, was that something interesting. It is really good for practicing language. However, when it's now 2 hours past my bed time, I'd be doing good to play in English, but Spanish?? I was a hot mess. We rolled out at 1 am, and had two new friends walk us to a busy street where we took a taxi to another busy street and then finally got a bus to take us home. All the while people were out at dinner and the buses were all packed! How they do this, I do not know.  We had a really good time though, I'll just need to make sure I take a really good nap next time I plan to be out and up until 2 am. My introverted, grandma self just can't take this all at once :)

A Wild, Crazy Adventure.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. " Isaiah 55: 8-9

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I am so glad God's ways are higher than my ways, because often times mine are complicated and would end up with me in a hole somewhere. BUT. On days like today I really wish God would tell me before I leave the house, "Ok Bethany, this is going to be one of those times when my ways far exceed your expectations of how today is going to go. Ready?" I don't regret praying that God would give me opportunities to show his love and practice my Spanish, but 1.5 hours would have been good, not 4 hours. And definitely not the detour on public transportation in the rain.

Rewind to before I knew all of this was going to happen. Yes I knew it was raining, but I only had a simple task. Ride the subway, walk 4 blocks, pay some money and hopefully pick up some medicine at DHL. I told my roommate I'd be back in 2 hours tops, and as I was leaving I put my headphones in to be like the Argentines who all walk around listening to music. This should be easy.

Well, at the Subte (underground subway) there was a sign saying something I wasn't quite sure about a stop well before I needed but I went through anyway (like a naive American) and that's where I met my God-send. We'll call her Vi. She asked me about the work on the metro and I told her I had no clue because I too needed one stop past hers. We asked some workers and they told us how to essentially get to where we needed. Over the next 2 hours, we.... got on a crowded subway, exited at the end of the line, got on a overflowing bus (where the driver didn't even make us pay--he was just ushering in the masses from the rain), rode what seemed like hours to go probably 10 blocks, got off the bus to run/walk 8 blocks to the next subway, and then rode together before parting ways. Vi and I talked about our lives, exchanged numbers, and are going to meet in the coming weeks to practice Spanish, which should be interesting with her minimal English and my limited vocab in Spanish.

So, despite the 2 buses, 4 subte lines, NO medicine (because it's at customs at the airport--another story, another time) I would do it all again. Except maybe bring my water bottle this time. Because it reminded my of my dependency on others, and God. I can't do this on my own, ever. I'm a very independent person. I think I can plan ahead but especially in this city, you never know what you're going to get. I have to rely on the kindness of others. Trust in God, that He will put people around me to get me where I need to go, and today He did.

Please join with me in praying for my new friend Vi. I don't know all of her story; I just know that she has two sons and is married. I told her that I am working here with the Baptist churches and I was even able to point out to her to the one I'm working with this week in the midst of our crazy morning. Pray that we will get the chance to meet up in the coming weeks and build a relationship, and in turn I can share the gospel with her.

#BALife

Day 3 in Buenos Aires and so far, so good. To recap the last few days.... lots of exploring! Monday I arrived and went to bed tired. Yesterday was full of explorations with Crystal by foot and we were tired again. Today was a holiday (Día de Malvinas) so a lot of places were closed in the city and it was a perfect day to ride the buses and tour. But I'll still go to bed tired. One thing different about today though was that we finally got some Argentine Pesos so we had money, yay! After touring the town, Crystal and I walked to this awesome megastore, Jumbo. Not sure what I would compare it to in the states, but we stocked up on groceries and goods. Then we had to carry said groceries about 6 city blocks back to our apartment.

When I think about the things that most stand out about BsAs, at first I can't think of them. It's not that different. They're modern. [Some] People have nice things, like a Mercedes driving down the streets and Lacoste stores. But then today I had the opportunity to go to the hospital to visit a girl with cancer and wow. How suddenly it makes you appreciate what American standards are. I think the hospital is subsidized by the government to the people here, so it's free, but there were also Hospitales Alemán (German), or Hospitales Italianos for people who want better care.

But, nonetheless, I have thought of some things that are just not like America:

• Flower stands. They're all over the place and just so pretty! I told Crystal don't be surprised if I come home with flowers on the regular. And then randomly stop because it's not a good use of Lottie dollars. But they're so pretty and European of them!
• The counter-clockwise toilet flush. Yes, it happens that way here.
• Justice/Injustice Awareness. We have this in America, but there's more passion about it here. Walking by the zoo yesterday, there was graffiti because the animals were, "caged in like a jail. Go vegan." Injustice. Outside the Pink House (their version of the White House. Clever, right?) There are always protests. Taxi drivers honk to a certain rhythm just to prove their point. Argentines are proud and they want to be heard.
• Hospitals. Crystal and I think a horror film has been filmed in it before. That's all I'm going to say.
• Panderías. Every corner you can find one. And they're just filled with so much goodness. I might as well mention the ice cream shop less that 100 yards from my apartment door, too. 
• Older people dress nicely. You never know how jovenes will dress, it could go either way. But I'll see men in suits or sports coats, and ladies in skirts with heels on carrying their groceries. Clearly a generational thing.

Life is different here but not in a bad way, it's all so good! It's interesting to have the TV on and learn about another place. As many of you probably know by now, Chile had an earthquake last night off their coast and 900,000 people had to evacuate from their homes.  I'm so grateful for all the people thinking of me and checking on me, but God's got it under control. I ask that you just pray for Chile. And that whole Pacific coast really, because it could affect Peru and Ecuador as well.  


I'll end with some pictures from today in La Boca. 

Futbol!!

Looking down a street with shops

Some street art I love! I bought some, just not here. Also, all the trees are wrapped

Very famous building, corner of Caminito St.

Algunos dulces