Bye Argentina!

On Monday December 17, 2012 we are leaving Argentina, and on December 18 we are arriving in Canada again. I may post some more, but it will no longer be part of my school work. Argentina was a very good experience for me, and I will miss a lot of things about it. But for now Canada here I come.

Conference International Passion for a Revival

On December 6-8, we attended the breakthrough conference. It was held in Rey De Reyes church in Buenos Aires.

Inside the church

We stayed at the Golf Tower Hotel, which was 10 minutes away from the church.

Me looking out of the Hotel.

 On the rainy first day, there were 3 services. The morning speaker was Betty Freidzon. After the service we had 1 1/2 hours break to eat. My parents wanted to take a nap so they went on to our vehicle with my younger brothers, while my sister and I went into the church until it would start. It started to rain very hard. In front of the church water rose until cars were covered with water up till the roof.

Flood
 

Earl took this from inside the Restaurant.
 

Water levels going down.

 In about two hours the water level went down, and the churches power went out. The next speaker Carlos Annacondia had come late, because he was caught in the storm. He used a megaphone to preach, and someone was always following him carrying a light. Our translator devices did not work, because there was no power.

Carlos Annacondia preaching in the dark with a megaphone.

 

The next message was also given by Carlos Annacondia. The praise and worship throughout the whole  conference was amazing. My sister, Earl and I usually went to the front for worship. 

On the next day the morning preacher was Carlos Annacondia. 

We were late for the next service; it was almost over. For the service in the evening, the preacher was Claudio Freitzon. The message seemed to be exactly for me.  I went up for prayer after the message, along with over half of the crowd.  It was an awesome experience. There were so many hungry people that I was pushed and tousled around until I was packed against the stage not being able to move. 

People receiving prayer.

 

On the last morning Betty Freitzon gave the message. I also got prayed for that morning.
There was no afternoon service.
In the evening the service was held in a stadium. Anybody who had been invited could come, not just the people who had payed for the conference, but those people got better seats. All of the 40,000 seats in the outdoor stadium were filled. More people wanted to come but couldn't because it was filled. The power of God was very strong in that stadium. Lily Goodman, a famous, Spanish, Christian singer from the Dominican Republic sang a few of her songs at the Conference. Many people received Jesus and were healed. It was a night of receiving passion and anointing for revival.

Their were very big screens and lights. 

Crowd at the Stadium

Inside the Stadium.

Proof I was actually there.
 

Claudio on the Big Screen.

 

Surfing

On the beaches of Mar Del Plata there are many people surfing. On Saturday, the 1st of December Earl and I went surfing. We took a 1  1/2 hour lesson. After the lesson we ate lunch and went surfing for 3 1/2 hours more.

Earl and I carrying our surf boards. (Wet suits are difficult to put on.)
 

Practicing on the sand. 

Practicing



Practicing. 

Me

Surfing is more difficult than I expected. After many hours in the water, I was exhausted.



Jardin Zoologico

We went to the Jardin Zoologico (Zoo in Buenos Aires) on November 18, 2012.

 

I saw many animals for the first time.

Here is a link to a movie I made about our time at the zoo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d78Y1KpaOoo&feature=youtu.be 

Cemetery

Today we went to the Cementerio El Salvador in Rosario. It is a cemetery for the rich, Catholic people.
I was very shocked that the tombs were that huge and grand. It was a little scary going underground to see the tombs. You can tell by the tombs that for Catholic people tombs are very important.


This is the entrance to the cemetery.
 

This shows the wall of the cemetery on the inside. The wall is full of graves.

 The inside of the cemetery.

 This is the tomb of the Ovidios Family.

 The huge tombs are for a family.

These are graves in the basement (underground) of the cemetery wall.

 

Argentina Religion Facts:

• Approximately 90% of the people in Argentina are Catholic.
• Less than 20% of the people who are Catholic, actually attend church regularly
• In 1994 when the constitution of Argentina was changed, the church lost a lot of its power in the government. One of the changes included that the president did not need to be Roman Catholic.
• Argentina has many other religions. For example Jewish, Muslim, Orthodox, Protestant etc.
• Buenos Aires has the eighth largest Jewish population in the world.

 Sources:
com/en/argentina/argentina_religion.php
http://www.argentinaautentica.com/religion.php

Argentina's National Drink

     Maté

The national drink of Argentina is Maté. Maté is  partly made from a herb called yerba that is dried, crushed, and ground into small pieces.Traditionally when drinking mate, you serve it in a gourd or cup, with a silver metal straw. The straw acts as both a straw and a sieve. To make Maté, you fill the cup about 75% with yerba herbs, put however much sugar you want into it, and fill it with hot water. The host or hostess must drink the first two cups to make sure the Maté tastes good. The first two cups are the strongest. After the host drinks the first two, he fills it again and serves it to a person. Once the person is done with the cup, he passes it back to the host. This is repeated with all the people in the circle, until nobody wants more.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mate_(beverage)

Christopher Alam

On the nights of November 8 and 11, our family went to hear Christopher Alam preach. I was so excited to finally hear a message in English.
Originally from Pakistan, Christopher Alam is an Evangelist. He has preached the gospel in approximately 60 nations, mainly in Africa and Asia.

Here is a story he told:

In the heart of Pakistan, at the beginning of his ministry, Christopher Alam was holding a crusade. Thousands of Muslims were attending, out of curiosity.

 As Christopher was preaching, he heard a commotion in the back. He then saw some men carrying an old crippled and paralyzed man to the front. After him came a lady (the crippled man's wife) carrying a pillow and a blanket. Next came around 15 relatives, some of them carrying a mattress. They made their way to the front and laid the bed, pillow, and blanket on the ground with the crippled man on it. Christopher stopped preaching, because no one was paying attention. Then all the relatives sat in a semi-circle around the man as they stared at Christopher expectantly.

Christopher then realised they wanted him to prove his Jesus was real. He became very nervous and didn't know what to do, so he asked one of his helpers to pray. During this time he prayed to God and pleaded with him, “I will never come back to Pakistan, I will stay in Sweden. I won't make you be pressured into healing someone. But, please just heal this man, because both of or reputations are in jeopardy." After much frustration he heard someone behind him say, "Do what Jesus did". He looked behind him and there was nobody. Suddenly he remembered the story in the Bible of the paralyzed man who was lowered through a roof. Jesus did not even touch the man, but commanded, "Get up, Pick up your mat and go home."

Christopher was still nervous, but he walked to the paralyzed man. To make sure it would work he told the man, "I am going to tell you to do something, and if you don't do it you will die, nobody is going to help you." Then he closed his eyes and told the man to get up. Shouts erupted, so he slowly opened one eye and he saw the man standing. Next he told him to pick up his mat. Like a soldier the man picked up the mat and stood at attention. The last thing he commanded was not like Jesus. He told the man to run home, and oh, did the man run home. The whole crowd ran after him shouting, "Jesus is alive".

The next day Christopher went back to preach again, when he and his friends parked the car, lots of people swarmed around the vehicle. He was certain they were going to kill him, “but,” he thought, “if this is my time, then so be it.” As soon as he got out of the vehicle the people started hugging him. There thousands of more people than the day before. As he walked to the stage, peddles were thrown the whole way. Many people came to Jesus.

 

This is his website with his testimony http://pentecostalfire.com/217384.ihtml

Nelson and Claudia Orellana

Pastor Nelson  

On October 20-22 we stayed at Nelson and Claudia Orellana's home. They are the pastor couple for five different churches and the mother church for a few others.
Nelson started preaching and helping in ministries at a young age.
Around ten years ago, he was preaching at a youth conference. His wife and a few of his children with their aunt left the church. As they were crossing the street, a car hit Claudia (his wife), his only daughter, and one of his four sons, Julio. Tragically his daughter died. Doctors said there was no hope for his wife and thought she would die too. His son Julio's arm was nearly cut off. Doctors put a iron bar in his arm in an attempt to repair, but from that point the arm never grew.
When Nelson first went to the hospital to see his family, he prayed for people and seventeen were healed.  Unfortunately, his wife was not healed right away. When his wife was healed miraculously, the church gave him and his family a vacation. While they were on vacation, their church took away their house (he had donated his house to the church) and threw their furniture on the front lawn. They did this because they thought the accident would not have happened if his life was right with God.
For a few years, Nelson and his family lived in tents, but Nelson did not get bitter toward those people. Nelson started a church, and he got a house again. Now Nelson and Claudia are the pastor couple for five churches and the mother church for several others. They also have a 24/7 radio station.
A couple of years ago, someone prayed for Julio and his arm grew back and the bar inside disappeared. A prophet told him sit down by a piano, put his hands on the piano and play. God did a miracle. He can play the piano fluently without ever having taken lessons!







All the younger girls love being in pictures and talking to the canadians. The girl in the light blue is Nelson & Claudia's foster child.
 

They treated our family like kings and queens.
 




On Mother's day (October 21) after we had a grand supper, they prepared a huge snack. It included three cakes.

Argentine snack
 

Houses

In Argentina the buildings in the city are usually built together or connected to one another.

 Each house has its own sidewalk. For example when you walk down the street, you could walk on a cement sidewalk for 8 feet, then a brown tile sidewalk for 10 feet, then a brick sidewalk for 6 feet etc. You can notice if you are in a richer area in the city because of the more elaborate sidewalks.

 

These are the most common sidewalks.

 

Carlos Annacondia

Carlos Annacondia



On the evening of October 19 we went to Carlos Annacondia's crusade.
Carlos Annacondia is recognized as the father of the Argentine revival. He is worldwide known Evangelist and has brought revival to many countries. He has written a number of books including the best seller Listen to Me Satan.
     There are many stories of how God did miracles through him. Here is an example...
One day, early in Carlos Annacondia's ministry, Carlos felt strongly that God wanted him to go to a hospital and pray for the sick. In Argentina at that time, hospitals were very strict about who could enter. Carlos went to the hospital in hopes he would be able to enter, but the guards would not let him enter. He became frustrated at God, because he knew God wanted him to enter the hospital. So Carlos prayed to God and asked Him if he would make him invisible. Then he tried walking in again and not one guard made any move to stop him.
     Carlos went into a women's ward and asked a lady if she wanted him to pray for her. She insisted she didn't need prayer, because she was Catholic. After around fifty women refused his prayer, he came to the last bed where a girl around 15 years of age lay. This girl had been sick for a long time and could not walk, because she was crippled. Nobody had visited her in the hospital for three months. Carlos asked her if she wanted prayer, and she accepted his offer eagerly. After he prayed for her she got up and she started walking. When all the other women saw this they all wanted prayer. Many of them were healed and received Jesus.


    This is a link to his (biography) ministry website http://www.reachingsouls.com/biography.htm

The crusade was held in a basketball court.
 

These people came forward to receive Jesus.

This is a youtube link to a movie I made about the Crusade attended:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD0oBVSAksk&feature=plcp

 

Stores

In Argentina a lot of people get their income from running small shops. These shops are not like the regular stores we have in Canada. Often the items are behind the counter, and you must ask the clerk for what you want. Somtimes they have a very small room for you to shop in.

The inside of a grocery store.

Each shop has their own specialty. In spanish a bakery is called a Panaderia, a tire shop is a Gomeria, a fish store is a Pescaderia, a meat shop is a Carniceria, an icecream shop is called Heladeria and so on.


Children Store

Art store

Something I find very strange but is necessary for safety is that when you go into a small shop the door is locked. You have to ring a doorbell and they will unlock the door for you. Then again when you leave the store they must unlock the door for you.


Grocery Store

These shops are not the only stores they have though, they also have supermarkets and malls similar to ours.