by Pastor Patrick
Thursday, July 11, 2013
It really is great being back in Tucuman and being able to see everyone from the church! After a long day of travel, we arrived in Tucuman to familiar faces and loving embraces. We began the day at Lighthouse early in the morning. The team met at 6:30am to load up the van and prepare for our departure. Members of the church came by around 7:00am, and it was an encouraging time of prayer and send off. We drove up to LAX without facing any major traffic and were pleased to learn that our flight out to Houston would be departing on time.
Once in Houston, we enjoyed a leisurely layover and had a chance to grab dinner at the airport. Unfortunately, our flight to Buenos Aires was delayed by about an hour, but this was far better than previous years where flights were cancelled altogether! Once in the air, the team was pleased to find that the entertainment system onboard was pretty high tech. (There were over 200 movies to choose from!) We landed over an hour after our scheduled arrival time which made us rush from the international airport to the local airport for the last leg of our trip to Tucuman.
The scene at the local airport in Buenos Aires was pretty crazy. There were two extremely long lines that basically filled the terminal. We were sure there was some strike or crisis going on, but a local friend who met us at the airport assured us that this was normal for Argentina. We patiently made it through the line to the counter only to find that the airline bumped us to a later flight because we were too late for the one we were assigned to. Still, we were relieved to have received our boarding passes and checked our luggage without a hitch and without any exorbitant luggage fees. When we arrived in Tucuman, we were about two hours later than expected, but the team arrived safely and we had all our luggage. It was great to arrive at least on our scheduled date especially since that was something the team was praying for. We knew our time this year in Tucuman would be significantly shorter, so we didn’t want to spend the night at the airport like in previous years. Praise God for His provision!
We were taken to our hotel and quickly checked in and dropped off our luggage. From there, we visited a house in one of the local barrios where we were served empanadas. Needless to say, we were very happy about the meal. From dinner, we were transported to the church building where we found the members worshipping together and awaiting our arrival.
Pastor Jorge took some time to introduce our team, and we got a good laugh out of Eugene Park’s rock star status in Tucuman. What an ovation! After our team introductions, I had the opportunity to preach from Revelation 2:1-7 about the Christian’s “First Love.” Many people shared that they were encouraged and blessed by the message. Afterwards there was a time of fellowship over coffee and cake, and our team members were able to catch up with all the familiar faces here at Iglesia Biblica Misionera in Tucuman.
We are now back at the hotel after a very long day! The team is washing up and looking forward to some much needed rest. We wanted to thank everyone for their prayers and support. There is much work that needs to be done in this country and in this city. The believers here are not accustomed to expository preaching. Churches are full of people hungering for God’s truth. Praise God for Pastor Jorge and his ministry. We are thankful for his commitment to the gospel and the work he does to shepherd the flock tirelessly in Tucuman.