Tunesday Tuesday & a little something extra.

We starting singing Christmas songs at church a few Sundays ago and while a most of them are familiar to me, there are some new ones as well. I'm sharing with you one that I instantly fell in love with, called Ven a Mi Corazón O Christo. The chorus sings: 

ven a mi corazon oh Cristo (come to my heart oh Christ)
pues en el hay lugar para ti (for in it there is room for you)

 This song reminds me that regardless of the setting we find Christ in, He is available to anyone's heart at anytime if we open ourselves up to Him. 

Setting is especially important for me to remember this Christmas season as I find myself away from home on Christmas for the first time in my life and it doesn't really 'feel like Christmas'. I say that as a phrase because what does it mean to feel like Christmas anyway?? Christmas is a date on the calendar that we set aside to celebrate the arrival, the birth of our SAVIOR. The Messiah who was has come to take the sins of the world, once and for all. This is a HUGE deal. 

So why then, does this not feel like Christmas? Yes, I see Christmas trees in Apartment lobbies, and lights in window shops. Store windows have for weeks now been advertising Felices Fiestas, or Happy Holidays,  but to me this all just says commercialism. I'm looking for the meaning of Christmas here. And don't get me wrong, I have seen signs posted around the city that say JESUS ES NAVIDAD, or JESUS IS CHRISTMAS. I have seen life size nativity sets even. Is that what defines Christmas?

Personally, growing up in the midwest, I'm missing the cold temps accompanied by snow. Missing the Starbucks Christmas cups when necessary (sorry, BA, but I'm not going to get a hot drink when it's 85 outside. Try again in July with the Christmas cups please?). Missing the long drives to work because of ice covered highways. Ha, just kidding there ;) Missing a big Christmas tree with all the presents under it and all the house decorations.

But, when I realized I was missing that last one, I scared myself.

America has so trained us and wrapped our minds to associating Christmas with the Birth of Jesus AND decorations, songs, festive things. But what happens when we strip that all away and focus solely on Jesus. Afterall, without Him, this holiday would just be another day on the calendar.

the largest nativity scene I've ever seen in the heart of downtown

snowglobes without the snow? in BA they are!

shopping malls are ready for Christmas!

 

With my nose in a book....

Reading overseas is always an interesting topic. There's this thing called my iPad where I occasionally get Kindle crazy at the start of the month and buy all the $3.99 books I can find of interest to me. But, then I'm limited to only reading it in house because I don't like taking it out in public on the buses and subway. Pretty sure I've only finished one book on my iPad, ever.

Then there's the more-precious-than-gold paper books in English. I have to clarify English because that means they got here a) in my suitcase, b)were left behind by the last girls, or c) were brought as gifts by some visitors.

Lately I've read so many good books y'all my mind is so excited about it and I wanted to share with you so that this Christmas time you could snuggle up to the fire and read something of value.

A while ago, I read The Insanity of Obedience by Nik Ripken and it was on my iPad, which not lying, I struggle to get through books on there. But I could not get through this fast enough. Hearing Nik's stories about persecuted believes and their unshakable faith was an encouragement to me and without a doubt will be to you. At the moment, I am reading The Insanity of God by you guessed it, Nik Ripken, also on my iPad. This is also a good story (more his testimony). I can't give a fair assessment, but I will tell you I read the other one quicker.

Today, I also picked up a new book to take with me out the door since I was going to be on the book. I'm ashamed to say this, but I bought it over a year ago and never started it because it wasn't appealing, or thought it was going to be boring. Ready for it? Share Jesus Without Fear by William Fay. Y'all I am over halfway done with the book already! It's so good! I think it's the Bill Hybels Contagious Christian book that I couldn't finish. Anyway, Fay's book seems to be practical and is full of questions for you and leaves you with ways to get out there and SHARE!

I read the lovely Elisabeth Elliot love story Passion and Purity. I wasn't really sure what to expect from it... a bunch of love letters?? It was described to me as the long distance relationship between Elisabeth and her husband George who at one point told her he loved her but he wasn't going to marry her because he had to be a single missionary in the jungle. Well, the story is a lot better than my words, but they have a happy ending for a little while. Ever heard of the movie The End of the Spear? [Just for fun - It took Crystal 7 months to finish this book, while I read it in 3 days. Nothing against the book though...]

I almost left out a really educational book on Muslims that I got in the DR. It's called A Wind in the House of Islam. It was a summary of the Muslim to Christ movements in 9 different Eastern parts of the world, showing what methods worked best for them. It was interesting to see how, obviously, not one thing works in all parts of the world and you have to adapt to your audience. I loved reading the testimonies of the workers, the believers, and knowing how we can pray for them. If you're in to the Church, Muslim Background Believers, and generally knowing how to pray for others, I recommend this book!

I think the last of my most recent's is what Crystal called a "controversial book," lol, is A Woman After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George.  I saved this for last because it probably got the most reaction out of me but also one of the most learning books I've read in a while. Ok, so this so called controversial part was the small section on husbands/wives. Clearly, if you take two single girls and tell them that they need to make their husbands their number one human priority.... well, we're just not ready to hear that yet! We seriously thought this book was written was 1950, but it was 1997. Things like telling us to be sure to change our clothes, putting on fresh lipstick, and wearing perfume for the husband before he came home from work sounded straight from Leave it to Beaver! BUT. The farther away from this chapter I was [yes, I kept reading about motherhood, maintaining the home,  spiritual health etc.....] I couldn't stop thinking about why that chapter bothered me so much. Was it not Biblical? What did God make woman for but to be a helper to man? Yes, she has so much more potential than that, but I think in our feminist, equal opportunity society, maybe we have taken away from God's design in the family. Is that so wrong to say? Sorry future husband though if I don't bring out the fresh lipstick at your homecoming. You read that here first.

Ok, so there ends the latest of my reading list. I want to know what you've read! Tell me what's good!

Baptisms... Again!

Today I had the privilege to go to another baptism at a different church; this time I watched 4 young men testify publicly to their faith. This was my 3rd time watching baptisms here in Buenos Aires and every one has something different about it. But today's was special. Especially different, in a way I couldn't wait to get home and write about to you.

Here in Argentina, they normally save all the baptisms until the end of the year. It's not like other places where when someone wants to be dunked, they do it in weeks there after. Here, you have to let the church know months, months, in advanced so that you can do a course ahead of time. For one church it was 6 classes, for example. I can't say this is across the board at churches here, but from the people I've talked to, it's what I've gathered.

For example, today one of the boys that was baptized was my friend's younger brother. He was saved years ago when he was a youth, but did not follow with baptism, from what I understood. Then, at the end of last year he decided to be baptized but had to wait for 2014 to take this course.

Here's the especially cool part.

When each of the 4 people came out, the pastor opened the floor up to have people in the church read verses or passages of Scripture that had been placed on their hearts for that person. I'd never seen that before, but I just thought it was the neatest thing! For each person, 2 microphones were passed around the church and at least 7-10 were reading verses of encouragement, saying, "Fulana, the Lord says to you ...."

Can you imagine your baptism day if you had had brothers and sisters in the faith do that?

There are so many things that I often think that if I went back to the states and started a church, I would take away SO much from the Latin American church. But, that's a whole other post for another night. :)