by Naomi Yu

Inevitably, anytime you travel to a different part of the world or get exposed to a different culture, there are adjustments that need to be made, because things are just done differently than what we’re used to. Included below is what I found to be the Top 10 cultural differences or “shocks” that the team and I noticed and experienced during our time in Argentina. Because I am a teacher, the information is laid out into what’s called a ‘T-chart’ or ‘Compare/Contrast diagram.’ On the left is what we typically are used to in America, and on the right, I’ve included how these very same things are done in Argentina. Hopefully it will make you want to go and experience it for yourself one day.

American Greetings
We greet one another with a ‘Hello!’ You give people a wave and a verbal “hello,” and maybe just maybe if they are a closer friend or relative, you give them a hug. But bottom line, whatever you do, its one quick movement because everyone needs their personal space.

Argentinian Greetings
They greet one another with ‘Hola!’ AND…There is no such thing as personal space in Argentina. Everyone gives and receives hugs and kisses to everyone, and it doesn’t matter if you’re a guy, girl, young, old, or a child! Standard procedure is when you see someone, touch your left cheek to their left cheek and make a kissing noise.

Our Bathroom Etiquette
In America, the golden rule is, always throw the tissue paper you used into the toilet and make sure to flush after taking care of business.

Their Bathroom Etiquette
In Argentina, never throw the tissue paper you used into the toilet, but instead deposit it in the little waste basket to the side. And don’t flush, because it doesn’t really work anyways.

Our Standard Meal Times
The average American eats breakfast from approximately 7-9 AM. It’s supposed to be your biggest meal of the day, but who really follows that rule anyways. Lunch is usually taken from
around 11-1 PM, and Dinner from 5-8 PM.

Their Un-Standard Meal Times
In Argentina, you better get ready to eat late and eat heavy. Breakfast is served every morning from 7-9 AM. Lunch is usually taken from around 1-3 PM. But dinner was served usually from 9:30-11 PM, and it was usually the heaviest meal of the day!

Table Manners
Common eating rules go like this. You first eat the main dish, then dessert and fruit afterwards if they are available. You should eat the food clean off the plates and upon finishing, you put the dishes used into the sink and throw away any loose trash into the trash can.

Table Madness
In Tucuman, you are served the main dish, then either dessert or fruit afterwards. If oranges are served, be sure not to throw the peels away. Instead, guard them with your life because you can be sure an orange peel fight will break out, and you will need to stock up on as much ammo as possible!

Transportation
Everyone in San Diego pretty much owns a car and drives themselves to get from place to place. We rarely utilize the carpool idea because its just more convenient to drive ourselves and do things on our own time/schedule (although things might change now that gas prices have gone up!).

They Call It TRAFIK
Pretty much no one in Argentina owns their own car and they do a lot of walking to get from place to place.

Vehicle Regulations
In the states, we have strict rules to follow about not permitting more than 5 people into a standard sized car. Cars that are bigger than the standard follow the “depends-on-how-manyseatbelts-there-are” rule.

What Regulations?
In Argentina, there is no such thing as a person limit. In fact, they probably have strict rules about not driving and wasting gas if the car isn’t packed. Their golden rule to transportation is, pack as many people as possible that would fit into the vehicle. Doesn’t matter if people are standing, sitting on top of each other, squeezed tightly…keep packing and pushing until everyone is in!

Owning Pets
In the states, people who own dogs usually keep them safe inside the house or in their backyards. When it comes time to take the dogs out for a walk, they are hooked to a leash for containment purposes.

Or Not?
In Argentina, no one knows who owns what dog, or if the dogs even have owners! There’s a ton of dogs around and they are always out taking a walk or run. In stark contrast to the states, it’s very rare to see them sitting inside a house or backyard. Another random thing is that you see horses walking around the streets as well at times.

Our Choice of Beverage is…
Most people here drink water with soda, juices, and milk as occasional drinks, due to high levels of sugar content.

Their Choice of Beverage is…
Over there, every meal is accompanied with soda. Your options are Cola, Sprite, Manzana, or Orange Fanta. Also, on a side note, I saw kids as young as 4 years old drinking café con leche or, in other words, coffee!

Drinking Tea
When drinking tea in the states, everyone gets their own separate tea cup with their own individualized flavor and such.

Drinking Mate (pronounced Mah-tae)
When drinking mate (their tea) in Argentina, everyone drinks out of the same cup using the same straw. So even if you’re a germa- phobe, you have to get over it!

“We’re Not Home…”
Over here in the states, the idea of anyone going door-to-door is just not welcomed by many. Whether its for sales purposes, home services, or sharing religion, most do not want to be bothered and will do everything and anything to avoid opening the door to such people.

“Anyone Is Welcome!”
In Argentina, people just seem to be available and hospitable for the most part. They don’t mind you stopping by and ringing the doorbell. They don’t mind taking time to chat and listen to you share the gospel, and if your lucky, they might even invite you inside for some delicious mate tea!

by Stephanie Lim

July 9th through the 24th came and left all too quickly, leaving us with precious memories and lessons God gave us throughout the two full weeks we served Him in Argentina. And we would love to share these with you—may you join in on the sweet blessings we received by the amazing grace of God!

“The first thing I think of when I think of this trip is the church in Tucuman because of how loving they were to us,” shared Ryan Short. And the thirteen of us all wholeheartedly agree. Whether it was one’s first time or one’s fourth time to Argentina, the church unconditionally showed us “love—lots and lots of love,” JR Cuevas commented. We experienced this love in many ways, from the selfless service of young and older women of the church in every meal, to the little kids who would cling to our arms and legs and not let go, to the men and women who would listen patiently to our broken yet improving Spanish. Romi Hong told of a special experience: “Playing futbol with the ladies is always crazy! We always played marrieds against singles among the women. Both sides are very competitive! Very! The younger women have more stamina, but the older women have strength in their hips and curves. Oh my!” Kent Hong shared how this year, “we also spent more time dealing with some personal situations and struggles with church members. Pastor Jorge and Norma really view our church as partners in their ministry, perhaps because they know we are committed to partnering with their church after returning now for the fourth year…they are tireless in terms of trying to serve the needs of the body, almost to the point of exhaustion. We need to be in prayer that the Lord continues to strengthen them and raise up leaders in the congregation.”

God was very faithful to make His Gospel known to the lost in Tucuman. He allowed all of us to joyfully share in five different neighborhoods during a five-day campaign. “What was interestingabout the door-to-door evangelism,” said Ryan Short, “was the willingness of people to accept the Bible as the Word of God, having all authority.” Naomi shared that “It was especially neat sharing the gospel with those who initially seemed so confident in what other people/sources had taught them, yet when we shared with them from the Scriptures, they couldn’t deny the validity of God’s Word and what we were teaching from it.” How great is our God, who is the only one to initiate faith in someone and change hearts to submit to Him! We all realized along with Romi that “God’s Word is powerful to change and convict hearts which teaches me to rely less on my words and to solely focus on the purity of the gospel and its power to save. I cannot save anyone. It is only Christ’s Word and what He finished on the cross.”

As our team of fourteen LBC members were around each other 24/7, it was a joy (and relief) to see that we are all sinners simply saved by God’s grace and striving hard to reflect Christ through our thoughts, words, and actions. From deep and heartfelt conversations to silly moments of goofing off and picking on each other, we enjoyed deepening our relationships with one another as a result of working for the sake of the Gospel. And what a trooper Chris Katsura was! He had an allergic reaction near the end of the trip, but God even used this to allow considerate Ryan Short to “hang out with Chris while he was sick, which was a good time of fellowship and much needed rest.” The surprise of JR and Kathy’s engagement was also a very special memory that brought us together in unity to rejoice and praise God for His goodness to them!!

The glory of Jesus Christ truly is the only one worth living for and serving. As Naomi expressed, “I learned what it truly means to preach the gospel to yourself everyday. Through walking door-to-door, evangelizing, and sharing with others, I was saying the gospel so many times that with every opportunity, it became more real to me. It helped me to remember how imperfect and dirty I am before God. It helped me to really process through the significance of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for me.” And what a joy and blessing it was to experience this with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ! Praise God for a Christ-centered time in Argentina!!

by Ryan McAdams

Like each year past, we spent hours and hours in preparation for this trip. We had many sit-down-and-talk meetings, but we also did quite a few activities as well. Each one of these prepared us for various situations we might encounter while in Argentina. Of course, taking a trip to Argentina, we had to face the omnipresence of football (the international flavor). So, in addition to acquainting ourselves with Boca and River (the two most popular football clubs in Argentina), we needed to accept the reality that we would have to humiliate ourselves on the pitch (soccer field) as well. We did spend some time practicing the beautiful game, and many members of our team did in fact improve their skills. But, we didn’t take a missions trip to play football from nine to five every day. And while we tried to work as a team on the pitch, we had to get to know each other through other methods as well. Each preparation session did have an aspect of building our intra-team relationships, but year after year, the missions garage sale seems to foster relationship-building quite well. This year’s garage sale did not deviate from the molds of the previous years, and having the relaxed-yet-unified atmosphere again helped to bond the team as we laughed with each other, but also learned to work with each other to achieve the common goal of having a successful garage sale.

Our most significant preparation, however, came as the result of our planning meetings. Sure, we had to plan various performances we would do, like the skits, songs, and body worship, and we even had to all come to the understanding that anything could change at any moment (e.g. we might not even use our skits). But, we had to keep in mind that we primarily go to Argentina to share the gospel message. And with that, we kept our focus in the planning meetings on prayer and the gospel. Keeping our focus on prayer helped us maintain our perspective on the larger picture of honoring God in whichever situation we found ourselves and helped us prepare to adapt to changes because of our trust in God. As well, the simplicity of much of our preparation helped us to keep in mind that the essence of what we would do on missions would hopefully not differ greatly from our normal church lives back home.

Once we realized we couldn’t possibly prepare for everything we might face working in Argentina, we more fully understood that we must depend on God’s provision and protection for our entire time there. Knowing our God is great, we could trust on him to use both our preparation and our time there, in spite of our inadequacies, to work for his glory.

by Eugene Park

Any team member will tell you that there is so much joy in going to Argentina and ministering down there. Every year that we see them it’s like we’re coming home to family. The years that we’ve spent developing relationships with them have helped foster this feeling. But the true bond we have is our bond in Christ. It’s such a joy to be able to minister to and alongside the same people each year.

One of our main objectives down there was to help them with their campaigns in the barrios of UTA, SMATA, 24 de Septiembre, Juan Pablo Primero, and San Pablo. The team worked really hard to evangelize to these communities. During the day we went door to door sharing the gospel and in the evenings we had special evening programs filled with gospel centered movies, skits, and a gospel presentation. I really appreciated the team effort in reaching out to the people there. During the evening programs, every member of the team was engaged in conversation with the locals. The heart they had in sharing the gospel was so encouraging to see.

Another objective of the trip was to minister to the church. As we’ve done in past years, we brought resources and books to help the church leaders. But this year, we had a chance to minister to the church members as well. Apparently, the girls in the youth group have had issues lately regarding gossip and friendship. So Norma (Pastor Jorge’s wife) asked if our ladies could take the youth girls and counsel them. So we set aside two afternoon sessions over the weekend for our ladies to mentor them through small groups.

Kent and Romi also had an opportunity to counsel a couple who weren’t married but had a child and lived together. The man would occasionally come out to church because his brother is a church member. But one of the Sundays he came with his child and the child’s mother. Kent and Romi took the opportunity to speak with them individually and challenge them in their beliefs and lifestyle. Hopefully God does a lasting work in their hearts.

Over the years I’ve come to realize that this trip is more than just evangelism—it actually fulfills our MVP statement. We’re making disciples of Christ through our efforts. We’re assisting the local church in planting churches in the different neighborhoods. Because very few people actually own a car, getting around is difficult. That’s why planting churches in each of the neighborhoods is important to Pastor Jorge. And we also show our love for God and people through the sharing of His Word, the centrality of Christ in everything we do, and the reaching out to the people of Tucuman.

Being team leader this year caused this trip to be a lot more stressful for me than in years past. In the past I would rely on the decisions made by Mike Chon or Pastor Patrick and support them fully. But this year I was the one who had to make the final decisions, knowing that my decisions affected the whole team and I would be accountable to the elders for my decisions. It really helped that the team supported me through the whole trip. I am very thankful for this year’s team. They were a joy to work with and I hope to see many of them go back to Argentina again next year.

Dios te bendiga!

by Pastor Patrick Cho

What an amazing time we had in Argentina! The church there sends their greetings to Lighthouse, especially to those who have gone to Tucuman in the past. Despite the cold and that thirteen of our sixteen team members got sick along the way, the time working with the church there was a great blessing. God was gracious to give us opportunities to minister in four of the surrounding barrios. We also had an outreach night at the church and were able to invite those in the neighborhood immediately surrounding the church.

Each time we visit, it is a tremendous encouragement to see how the church is growing. The church leaders constantly introduce us to the families who have joined the church as a result of being saved through the campaigns we have been involved in. What a joy! God is definitely working through us in Argentina and it is a great privilege to be a part of His plan for the city of Tucuman. Please continue to pray for all those that heard the gospel these past few weeks. We were able once again to engage in some very good conversations with people and the church will be working diligently to follow up. Please pray because the fields are white for harvest in Argentina.

by Moon Choi

This year, Lighthouse has the privilege of going back to Tucuman, Argentina to assist Pastor Jorge Ahualli and Iglesia Biblica Misionera from July 12-26. Team Argentina consists of sixteen members, led by Pastor Patrick Cho, who are diligently preparing through various meetings and also by reading For the Sake of His Name by David Doran.

“It has been a helpful book because the principles come straight from God’s Word and the author upholds a strong view of God’s plan for missions work to be done through the local church,” said Pastor Patrick. On top of that, they are undergoing specialized evangelism training as they anticipate encountering Catholics and responding to the “easy-believism” gospel. They will also be planning more specific events, such as evening programs held at the church. They are even preparing by shaping up physically, preparing for four days of door-to-door evangelism and a packed schedule that requires them to sleep late and wake up very early.

Aside from evangelism, the team plans to serve Pastor Jorge and IBM by any means possible, be it through helping with music, providing books (as resources are limited in Tucuman) or even cooking.

The goal of all this is centered around Christ and having the gospel preached accurately from the Word, not only in Tucuman but in the surrounding barrios.

The sixteen members of Team Argentina will not need only monetary support but just as importantly, support through prayer. Please consider partnering with the Argentina Missions in this capacity (specific prayer requests found below).

Needs for Prayer:

– The sixteen team members to be God-honoring.
– Pray not only for these Lighthouse members but also for Pastor Jorge, IBM, and all the Argentineans that the team will encounter.
– Pray for the relationships between the interpreters to be good as well, as many of the solid interpreters from last year will not be joining the team this year.
– Pray for the monetary needs of the team, as the entire team needs to raise around $40,000. (That’s a big number!)
– Pray that God would use this team and Lighthouse to fulfill its vision to plant churches and world evangelization.
– Please keep the team in your prayers during their preparation and after they leave for Argentina!