#adventure

Sorry to all who follow that I have been delayed on my blogging, but I promise that this one will be worth it!  Story time!

What a Monday this past Monday was!  All for my wonderful package!  It was literally like a movie!  Although, God knew everything that our day had in store, which was an encouragement!  So here is our movie in the making from start to finish…

            First, the bus we were told to take, left at 5:20 AM and the reason for being so early was because one of the other two girls I was with needed to renew her tourist Visa and the lines become very long and the whole process takes a while, so the earlier the better.  Well, the bus was a fail, and there was another one coming at 6:30 that we could try to catch.  It was full.  So we ended up taking a 300 peso cab (roughly $60) and we decided to go for it because we were losing time and needed to get there.  We hit traffic, and it turned into a two and a half hour cab ride, but we got there!  Weather was looking like it was about to cry, so we hurried to get Virginia to the building she needed and Katlyn and I went to the post office.  It takes a few minutes to go called up and Katlyn receives her approval quickly but since my package was in Gaby’s name (one of the heads of PBB), they required the physical passport of him in hand, not just the signature and passport number, but the physical passport.  Thank the LORD that a man who spoke English comes up behind us and helps us to translate.  He ended up letting us borrow his phone to call Lucas with an Argentine number. So we go to the waiting room for Katlyn’s number to get called so she can get her package and within 20 minutes or so.  We contacted Lucas and told us to find internet and Lyndee (Gaby’s wife) would Facebook me a picture of his passport, with hope that they would accept that.  Katlyn and I treck all the way across the park (very very large park) to the Starbucks where we could download the picture.  Make it back to the post office, she doesn’t accept it, tells us the same thing.  I hold myself together (crying) until I get outside, and see that it is raining.  Perfect.  I am thinking to myself, “I didn’t pay all this money to get here and to leave empty handed!”  We go back to the building where Virginia (who is the Spanish speaker of the group) is a few blocks down and find her to tell her what is going on.  She encourages me by saying “Maggie.  We aren’t leaving without your package.”  Sidenote: Virginia was expecting her Visa to be a certain number and praise the Lord that it was half of that value!  Such an blessing!)  Anyway, once she is finished with that, we haul back to the post office, wait in line again, and the same women, just our luck, says in Spanish “this is the third time! I told her that she needs the passport in hand, that is the law for Correro Argentino (Arg. post office)!”  Virginia pleaded, mentioning that we came from far away, spent a lot of money, the difficulty of getting back here, and that it’s from my parents from the United States.  The women let down her head in frustration, and looked up saying that we could try to fax it.  We get the number, go all the way back to the Starbucks and tell Lyndee of the new proposition.  Turns out that the fax machine at school is broken.  Just our luck.  So we get lunch and relax and Lyndee tells us that we aren’t far away from the Word of Life office on Florida St. (major street in BA) and that they have a copy on file of Gaby’s passport and if we wanted, we could go to the office and get a copy!  So, going away from the internet, we hurry to the office.  We missed the message saying that the computer in the WOL office was broken.  We arrive, and another member of the Fernandez Paz family (directors family) tells us that it is not functioning but if Lyndee could e-mail it to me, there are little stores around Florida St that we could go and for really cheap, print out the passport.  So we hurry down there, thinking that the post office is open till 6.  Hindsight: it was open till 16 hours, which is 4:00.  So we treck allllllll the way back to the post office, front door is closed and lights are off.  The same women, still sitting up front, totally disregards us, and another man that was up there just kept telling us that it was closed.  Using my CSI skills, I noticed that the waiting room for the packages still had its lights on, so we run around the building, door is open, the same man who told us no was standing at the pick up desk.  When he kept telling us no, I couldn’t help but cry my eyes out.  I was physically and mentally exhausted from running everywhere in San Martin Plaza, and include being soaking wet from all the rain that day.  He sees me and finally lets down and says, “come on.”  With huge excitement, Virginia and I follow him back to the original room where they check papers, and he asks me to sign my paper, accepts Gaby’s passport, and disregards the charges for my package!  He told me to not cry and in my mind, I was thinking, “WHAT?!?! How can you tell me not to cry???”  Anyway, the happiness overran my sadness and I finally got my package!  We were filled with joy and so we go back to the Starbucks, have a huge prayer time because of all that we had just experienced and walk around the stands of Argentine markets.  After that, we just had a huge buzz of relaxation, along with the amount of pain we were in from the physical challenge we had just experienced and got a bus home at 6:50.  The bus, might I add, was pretty empty, double dutch, and had the most comfortable lounge chairs possible.  We slept most of the way home and arrive back at Word of Life around 9:30.  Pick up dinner at a missionaries house that sells empanadas and by 11:30, we are able to rest!  I was just so happy that I got my package at that point that I didn’t care what time it was.  I knew that the next morning would be rough because of how I had to be at breakfast at 6:45 AM! 

            After this adventure, which we names #adventure, I was in immense pain and discomfort the next day and am happy to say that I feel a lot better today but ahhh. I can relax now J

Prayer Requests:

1)   That whatever this illness is, that it would leave my body and I can feel better!

2)   My sister (along with others from Florida and Virginia) are going to Haiti in December and so if it is God’s will, that funds would be provided.  Also pray for the people that they will be reaching!

3)   There is a group from my school going to Africa in the next month, and are on FIRE to share His word.  Pray for safety, the people, and that they can make in impact on that area.

4)   Lastly, that I can finish strong in the last month I have here until the first semester is over.  It has been wonderful and I know that there is still A LOT to be done and to be learned.

Thank you for reading! Please let me know of any prayer requests!  

I WILL keep them in mind! J