Shady Nasty

It is 3:59am, and I am sitting in the bathroom of the most disgusting hotel I've ever been to in the middle of Taoyuan, Taiwan. Mr. Roger and I are staying here so we can catch an early flight to the airport to go home, but I really regretted my choice. I just asked my taxi driver for a cheap hotel, cuz I would be here for less than 5 hours. After driving around at midnight asking 3 different places, this hotel was the only one with an available room, but the receptionist told me I would have to wait until 1:00 am for the guest to check out.

Why would anyone check out of a hotel at 1:00 am??

Turns out this is one of those pay-by-the-hour hotels.

UGHHHHHHH.

When the room was finally cleaned and available, there were 2 sets of doors to walk through to get in the room, for extra privacy. Then, upon walking into the main chamber, a wave of cheap air freshener hit my nose, followed by the faint smell of cigarettes leftover by the guest(s) before us. I gingerly set my luggage down, immediately regretting this choice of lodging. I didn't want to touch anything in the room, fearing I might contract some disease. Roger and I didn't even bother changing into sleep clothes and kept our socks on because we just felt so grossed out. Roger is sleeping peacefully now, but I was tossing and turning the past 2 hours, trying not to think about what transpired in this room just a few hours ago. I tried to think about crafts, about my cute grandparents and the great time I spent with them this last week, I tried to think of babies, but nothing worked to help me sleep. Every time I tossed and turned, I'd get a whiff of cigarettes in the air and would wonder just how clean the blanket was. By 3:00 am, I couldn't take it anymore. I figured the bathroom was probaly the cleanest part of the room, and was probably no worse than a public bathroom. So, I've been sitting in here for the past hour, reading blogs, Facebooking, and checking work email. Only 45 minutes to go before I leave this crummy hotel room.

What a way to end this trip to Taiwan. I'm sure in a year I'll be laughing about this...

Back home

I am home. Not in the back-in-my-cozy-San-Diego-apartment kind of home, no. I am home in the sentimental, nostalgic, back-in-the-place-where-I-grew-up-and-lived-for-5-years home. Taiwan was where I spent a fifth of my life. Twenty years ago, my family packed up everything in our home in Yuanli and went to California for good. I was so young, I didn't wonder if I would ever see this place again. But as time went on, through elementary to high school, and especially in college, I kept on wondering when I'd be able to go back to Taiwan.

Taiwan, from my 5-year-old perspective, was characterized by grey skies, scooter rides with my mom from school, train rides to Grandma's eating boxed lunches, trips to Taipei and being mesmerized by the big city, and eating a whole lotta street food. 

So with all these nostalgic, wonderful memories, do I feel at home? It's hard to say. It certainly didn't feel like home when I landed. Trying to get from the airport to my hotel yesterday was a two hour ordeal as my coworker and I were trying to figure out the subway system in the middle of a busy station with all our luggage. A kind young girl who spoke pretty good English saw our pitiful state and helped us buy tickets. When we got to our station, there were no escalators or elevators so I had to lug my suitcase up 3 flights of stairs. Then we discovered we went out the wrong exit and had no idea where our hotel was. When I finally found it 10 minutes later, I checked into the hotel and got upgraded to the "Eagle Suite"-- complete with a hot tub and 3 TVs in the room. It's pretty snazzy, I guess reward for my hard work, and a wonderful place to spend my anniversary with Mr. Roger. In the midst of getting our bearings, I didn't get to stop and think, "I am in Taiwan."  That is, until last night when I went to Shilin Night Market and it all felt foreign yet so familiar. I don't believe I ever went there as a kid, so in that sense it was new to me, but the night market experience is nothing new. 

Today I went to church, and afterwards went window shopping. When I revealed that I wasn't living in Taiwan, I was asked twice if I was back home from abroad. In Chinese, it's asked, "國外回來?" Both times I was asked, I had to pause because I didn't quite know how to respond. In some ways, yes but...you know. 

Anyway, I still haven't quite sorted out my feelings yet, but I am looking forward to two things:

1) Visiting my hometown of Yuanli tomorrow

2) Having Mr. Roger with me for the remainder of this trip. He's coming in ~6 hours! With him by my side, it'll always feel like home wherever I am ♥.

The Middle Kingdom

Two years, several international travels, and my own wedding later...I'm back blogging. I think.

This time I'm traveling on my own, at least for a week, and Mr. Roger will be joining me in the motherland (Taiwan!) next week. In the meantime, I am traveling to China for a business trip and will be hitting 3 cities in 5 days. It's going to be rather intense, with a day full of work, factory tours, trying to decipher the mainland Chinese accent, and then writing a work report at the end of each day. 

-----

It's funny...I've been trying to get my butt over to China for the past 3 years. My first attempt  was at my previous company where my bosses and I made big plans to go on a business trip to China. We had already obtained our Chinese visas, were working closely with a company we had targeted in the city of Weihai, and even got an invitation letter from the company with travel dates. But I left the company after 3 months, and my bosses canceled the trip at the last minute for reasons that are unknown to me. So that trip never materialized. 

Attempt #2 was earlier this year in January with my current company. I had gotten an invitation letter with travel dates, booked hotels, and we even bought plane tickets. Then, a month before the trip,  the president of the company called it off and froze all unnecessary  travel indefinitely due to budget restrictions. I was so devastated. I had made so many plans and paid for Roger's ticket already. I had to untell a lot of people too, such as the companies I was visiting, my friends I planned to see, and my own grandparents in Taiwan whom I promised to visit. 

So here I am now, at Attempt #3. Things fell together pretty quickly. I was asked to go to China (travel is now permitted again at work) just at the beginning of August. The president of the company allowed it, so I scrambled and successfully got my passport renewed AND got a Chinese visa in less than 2 weeks. The past month at work has been mostly planning for this trip. So, here I am now, in LAX, waiting for my 1:05 flight to Shanghai. Let's see if this trip materializes. 

Tucumán Thank You

Hi everyone!

I decided to go digital/green with my thank you letter this year so that you can see more pictures and have it be a more interactive experience for you, and without the paper clutter :)

 I returned to the US on July 22, tired from 24 hours of travel and sick from food poisoning on the last day in Argentina. But despite those inconveniences, this year’s trip was memorable as always.

This trip was my fourth time going with Lighthouse (fifth time if you count my solo visit in Christmas 2008). And because I’ve visited before, this year ministering in Tucumán felt natural. Doing ministry in Iglesia Biblica Misionera Tucumán felt like I was doing my normal church activities in Lighthouse San Diego, just with a few minor differences (different language, people, and country…); I welcomed new visitors to the church, I counseled those who were in need, I spent time with the youth girls of the church, and I shared the Gospel with people who didn’t know Christ.

Eugene leads praise during one of our evening evangelistic campaigns.

Me and Roger with some chicas of a neighborhood where we evangelized.

Roger finally got to meet my good friend Pablo.

It made the time even more meaningful knowing that this trip brought much encouragement to Pastor Jorge and Norma Ahualle. I realized during the trip that being a minister of the Gospel in Tucumán is tiring work. Due to the neighborhood’s poverty, serious sins such as drug abuse, crime, violence in families (and that’s just naming a few) is something that Pastor Jorge and Norma have to deal with often. Ministry is also hard because of the constant temptation for Christians to follow and be like the world. I was glad to know that our team being there was having an eternal impact by proclaiming the Gospel. Not only that, we were at the same time encouraging the Ahualles to be effective and rejuvenated even after the missions trip was over. Our ministry to them wasn’t only in the scheduled evangelism activities but also during informal times. Helping out the señoras in the kitchen and discussing God’s Word over mate, Argentina’s signature beverage, as simple as it may seem, was the fulfillment of God’s command for us to be in fellowship. 

Fellowshipping over breakfast at the Ahualles' house.

Me trying my hand at being as great of an Argentinean cook as Maga, the grandma of the church.

Street view of the 24 de septiembre neighborhood.

Roger and me with Norma, Jorge, and their son Josue. One of my least favorite times of the trip--saying goodbye :(

Another very encouraging aspect of the trip was seeing how Iglesia Biblica Misionera served the Lighthouse team. The meals were prepared with love (and were delicious!) and they took care to ensure that we were all well-fed. 

The famous chimichurri that makes everything it touches delicious.

Argentinean pizza.

Argentinean breakfast pastries (facturas).

Guiso (stew).

Pan de carne (meatloaf)

Me and Roger at Siga la Vaca, an all-you-can-eat meat place.

The church collaborated together in making us gifts, they coordinated a welcome presentation for us on our first night in Tucumán, and they were eager to be part of the evangelism campaign in the barrios. It was an opportunity for the youth kids of the church to take part in the life of the church, as well as for me and Roger to be in our element--acting like big kids with the youth and ministering to that age group-- just like we do at Lighthouse!

Roger & I doing what we love to do--spending time with the youth kids of the church. 

This letter is to give you a glimpse of the work that was done in Argentina so that you could know how your support was used to further the Gospel in Tucumán, Argentina. I am so thankful for your prayers and support, and it’s a demonstration of how God uses people like you to fulfill His purposes in having the people of Tucumán hear the Gospel. God always uses my trips to Tucumán as a way to increase in my heart and love for the people there, and this year was no different. Despite the thousands of miles between us, my desire is still to be persistent in my prayers for them throughout the year and to continue loving them.  

Team Lighthouse 2011 (and translators) thank you for your support!

Yet another year...

OK...so we're not very good at this updating our blog thing. Another year has passed by without updates, but here's the rundown on the lives of G, M, & W in the past year.

G: 3 job changes. Got engaged to a very special guy :). Travel-wise, went to North Carolina and went to Smoky Mountains National Park. Went to San Jose nearly once a month. Got back from Argentina 5 days ago!

M: moved to NorCal. Got a government job like a good girl. Got into grad school. Got back from the Czech Republic a couple of weeks ago!

W: moved to Norcal. Got a job in SF at an ad agency. Got engaged to a special guy :) Got married to a special guy. Went to Hawaii. Got a bun in her oven :))))))

I think it's crazy that the very first post on the blog is about how Wury started dating, and now she's a Mrs. and gonna be a Mommy!

GMW Abroad Again!

This blog has not been updated on in over a year! Time to revive it again, since GMW is now away from each other again. This time not in different countries, but different cities. Moon is in Foster City (near SF) and moved back in May, Grace is still in San Diego and is staying in our (old) apartment at Crossroads, and I'm in Saratoga (near SJ). We aren't living together anymore :(((( But our dreams did come true this past year as we got to live with each other. But God gave us the opportunity to choose to either stay in San Diego and be part of the church family there or be part of the church plant in San Jose. Moon and I have chosen to be part of the church plant and Grace has chosen to stay in San Diego...We knew that this day would come when GMW would no longer be together again.

But something to look forward to is when we will be together in perfect community and harmony - in heaven worshiping our God perfectly!

Oh for that day!

LAST POST FOR NOW--Tucumán 2008--Christmas in Argentina

This is Jean Bernard. We met in a hostel in southern Chile as I was waiting for my friends to come back from the supermarket. Being the slight gallophile I am, I tried to practice the little French I know with him. Anyway, after parting ways at the hostel, I ran into him again on the trail in Torres del Paine. We said hellos and then goodbyes. Afterward, in a bus terminal in Mendoza, I see him yet again as I was wandering around aimlessly killing time! We sat eating ice cream, him drinking tonic water, talking about politics, immigration, family, and work. I felt like I needed to take a picture before he boarded his bus to Salta just because he felt practically like a travel buddy. This guy wasn't like no jote creeper ginger Chinese boy. Thank goodness...

A 23 hour bus ride, making an old Mendocino friend on the bus who works in agriculture, and several Argentine provinces later, I arrived in Tucumán. I left my heart here last year and I came here to pick up the pieces. ; ) Pablo Lopez, Yanina, Pastor Jorge y Josué came to pick me up. Pablo greeted me with a bag of cookies and a hug.
Pastor Jorge dropped me of at Victor and Norma's home for the night because they were still renovating and fixing up their home for my arrival. Their two daughters were into making bracelets, so I joined in on the fun and made one for myself. And afterward I helped them make empanadas because Norma sells empanadas on the side. I think it is a common way for people to make some extra money.

That night I also went to IBM's midweek Bible study at Doña Maria's house, where I saw a bunch of people from the church (~30). It was the funniest when Virginia arrived, and greeted everyone one-by-one, giving the Argentine kiss as usual. When she got to me after about 15 people, she kissed me and then did a double take upon seeing me. She was rather shocked that I suddenly showed up at Wednesday night Bible study. It was a sweet reunion :)

Norma invited me to go to the women's Bible study for the new believers of the church. She taught at someone's house and the woman's hubby was such a gentleman as he made juice for us and poured it for us. Juice in Tucumán is like the Chilean stuff--sold in powder packets. Mmmm artificial and processed. One thing I missed about USA was definitely the fresh juice sold in the markets. Anyway many people from the church also knew of my arrival in Tucumán, so the 20-something-year-old girls of the church, Mariana and Eva, invited me for Grido Helado. =) Marta accompanied me for safety after the Bible study for the new believers. Afterward, I insisted on taking the Tucumán bus for the cultural experience, and they thought it was hilarious how badly I wanted to take it. We originally were going to get off after one stop, but we still had a lot of time so we took the us all the way to Centro, downtown Tucumán and walked around and window shopped. I saw a lot of Floggers, which apparently is the Argentine version of the Chilean Pokemón.

I arrived the next day at the Ahualle house. I had never been there before, so I was surprised at the cleanliness and coziness of their home in Yerba Buena. I gave them a tapestry I had bought in Punta Arenas from a Ecuadorian Quechua (I struck up a conversation, and he gave me a good deal. Woo hoo!). Norma was so happy to receive the gift and told me God knows the petitions of our hearts; she had been hoping to buy a tapestry herself but couldn't because it's expensive...and in came me with a tapestry for her home! =)

My first day at casa Ahualle.

It was soooo stinkin' hot and humid in Tucumán. I'd wake up from a siesta (afternoon nap) soaked in my own sweat. Gross. So here is Josué and Pastor Jorge sleeping on the cool tiled floor. Lucky. Pastor Jorge kept on joking throughout the week that I stole his bed (Norma and Pastor Jorge let me stay in their room while they slept on mattresses in the living room...that's so sweet) and I joked back saying I'll leave and go to some youth hostel then.

And they entertained me with some songs =) That bookcase is what Pastor Jorge calls his library. They're mostly books LBC gave to him during the missions trips.

Pastor Jorge agrees with my jersey.

Then Pastor Jorge took me, Norma, and Josue to San Pablo, a villa of Tucumán for a children's program at Virginia's house. A villa is a shantytown, and the one in San Pablo is nestled between sugar cane fields and a dirt road with the mountain range closeby. After the children's program, we walked some of the children home and there were houses that didn't even have electricity. LBC evangelizes there too and I went there my 2nd year. Here are some of the kids from San Pablo. I think the girl in the pink is so cute. She looks kind of Asian.

Me and my very good friend Pablo!

Virginia, a very warm woman with a huge heart for evangelism. She opens up her house for 40 kids to hear the Gospel during the children's programs.

Then, the Sunday service was at the new IBM site! There was a run down structure in the front that needs to be destroyed. I wouldn't feel safe in it. Also, church usually starts at 10:30, but being in Argentina, we started at 11. Yay! Anyway, this is Aldana, one of the beloved girly princesses of the church. She's already 3, and speaking in complete sentences. It was weird.

Dario leading worship. Then Pablo (Natalia's husband) preached a message on the importance of influence. It reminded me of what Pastor John preaches telling us about the importance of discipling the younger generation.

Then, after the church service, a group of us stuck around at the church to chat and eat empanadas and sandwiches for lunch!!!! I forget who made it (well, I forget her name...the older lady with clear blue eyes) but they were the best empanadas I'd eaten in Argentina!

Norma wanted to take a pic of me alone with the empanadas...giving a false illusion that I'm an endless pit of empanadas. Nooooo! But man did I miss Argentine empanadas...regular Chilean ones off the street are really bad...

Darío and his 6 children came by church to chat and hang out, and Darío and his Von Trapp singing family sang for us :) I like Eunice, this little girl right here. She's so stinkin' cute and she sings even though she's about 4 years old. Or older? I dunno.

Tucumán that week was HOT. I would wake up in the morning in my own sweat. It also didn't help that during the night I was eaten alive by mosquitoes and other unknown creepy crawlies. When I talked to people, I'd be scratching at my legs until they bled or until the skin was scratched raw. And the bugs worked their way to my thighs and hips too! (My formerly blemish-free legs are now scarred with bite marks. It looks pretty bad like I had some skin disease or something so I'm reluctant now about wearing skirts or shorts. Uhh...could I live in Tucumán like this? Pastor Jorge kept on joking that the mosquitoes like chinita blood. Jaja.) Couple this with Tucumán summer=baaad. But God was gracious and that Sunday, the wind started blowing really strongly sweeping up dust and papers...and then RAIIIIIIN! It poured and showered and it was glorious. This is me and Josué in the back of the car leaving church after it started raining.

We went to Doña Maria's house again. That was probably the 3rd time that week I was there. We sat in the back patio, Pastor Jorge playing guitar and me recording the show on my camera, and Josué's cousins were around too. In the back of Pastor Jorge is Lucas, who asked me a lot of questions about USA.

I also discovered that Pablo Lucero (middle) was taking English classes at a language institute! So I was the English convo leader as I led conversations with Pablo y Pablo so they could practice speaking and listening. : ) It was fun! Who would've thought a chinita could be an Engrish teachuh? What a funny sight to behold.

And this little girl, whose name I do not know, is learning English in school too. She got to speak some, which was cool to know that Tucumán schools are implementing English education at a young age.

Really bad picture of me and Cristian, but Marcelo and Silvia's family invited me over for an asado to celebrate 3 things: 1) Return of Pablo Espeche 2) Fabiana's boyfriend was staying at their home 3) My visit. I helped Marcelo make chimichurri and I cried cutting the onions. I ate too much asado and was full the entire day.

On the 23rd, church was having a Christmas service followed by a potluck. I wanted to contribute something so I made arroz primavera. I didn't know how to do a lot of things, such as cooking rice in a pot and stuff, but Norma helped, and this is our wonderful result.

Chop chop! I miss Argentina supermarket prices, especially on beef. It was $3 a pound. That's hard to find in USA. I spent in total only $11 on the entire arroz primavera. Norma also accompanied me to a verdulería to get the fresh veggies. A verdulería is like a vegetable store that operated from a home in the middle of the 24 de septiembre neighborhood. Norma said she liked that verdulería because they have really good quality veggies. It's a tiny little shop, so being a non-Argentine I stood out quite a lot. The veggie vendor asked me about where I was from, etc. etc. because I'm just so gosh darn interesting!

Looks great, no? I think the red serving bowl really brings out the colors of the veggies (all fresh ingredients!). It was kind of icky though when I suggested we buy paper plates so that everyone could have their own eating plate, bu Norma told me that everyone was bringing finger foods an that it wasn't necessary to buy it. In the end, she brought a few plastic spoons, stuck it in the bowl, and people just took turns eating out from that spoon. Shuddddder...germs...See? Even I have some hygienic standards.

Norma made some sanguichitos (little sandwiches). The bread is this huge sheet (bigger than 8"x11") of white bread with a hard crust. Norma just spread mayo, cheese, and ham and cuts it up into smaller pieces. They're simple yet addictingly tasty, los sanguichitos argentinos.

Since I had been in Tucumán randomly hanging around, I think a lot of people at church who did not know me were wondering why I was there. During church service and Bible studies people kept on mentioning that I was here and welcoming me. I decided to take this opportunity to share about my reason for being in Tucumán and how I love the church, my time in Chile, and a little about Lighthouse.

Then, after sharing and some time singing as a church, people went up to sing and perform. The night before the Ahualles took me to Darío and Claudia's house for a visitation. We had pan dulce (kind of like fruit cake, but spongier) and mate. We sang (something that usually happens when there are a lot of people hanging out together) and Claudia and Darío taught me a chacarero, a typical Argentine song, but this one I sang was with Christian lyrics. Kind of like Argentine country music, I suppose? I hate singing in public, but I wanted to encourage the church and humor them by seeing a chinita singing a chacarero argentino. Since I have no sense of tempo, I needed Darío to signal to me when the next verse started. The church indeed was humored, encouraged however I'm not sure...

Pastor Jorge made a joke afterwards about our chacarero singing trio, saying that our website name was "Chinita punto com punto turco medio punto Dario"=chinita.com.turco(medio punto)Dario because I am a chinita, Pastor Jorge is a "Turk" (although Pastor Jorge this is a racist term because he has Syrian and Lebanese heritage...but he don't care) and medio punto because Dario is short. Pastor Jorge also joked after the song that he and Norma had been praying to adopt another little girl ("little girl" in Argentine Spanish="chinita"), but God sent them an already grown one--ME! HAHAH.

Christmas Eve dinner the next day. More sandwiches! Norma made the main dish, which was matambre...juicy delicious oven-cooked beef. With roasted bell peppers and onions. DROOL JUST THINKING ABOUT IT.

I took family portraits for them. Hehe. Josué's such a funny kid. He liked to make a lot of jokes at the dinner table. I needed a lot of explanation of the jokes because I didn't understand.

Then at midnight, the entire neighborhood set off fireworks. Josué set some off and I was a bit afraid that someone would blow off their fingers. Afterwards, we went over to Doña Maria's (again) where there were ~25 people sitting on her front yard in a circle just chatting and drinking soda (gaseosa in Argentina, bebida in Chile). Pablo Lucero and I talked about his school and what it's like, bad teachers, teenage pregnancy, what he learns, and what his academic passions are. The party ended at 2 or 3 a.m. Argentines stay up LATE. On the streets people set our their dining tables and chairs and ate al fresco on the sidewalk, drinking wine and playing loud cumbia music. What a Christmas experience to behold!

The next day, we went to a river with the youth group and the families from the church. I've never been to a river on Christmas day, and I sure wasn't used to not celebrating Christmas on Christmas Day. But hey, when in Argentina, right? So this river didnt look the cleanest, but the dudes went in anyway. Haha look at Pastor Jorge's face! The river was an interesting place to be with a conservative church; lots of drinking, young people in swimwear, loud cumbia music (I think it's cumbia; I hear it a lot in the neighborhoods just blasting). It was a very popular place (popular in the sense of common) so I was a bit conscious of my Taiwanesey self. But strangely enough, I barely got any attention in Tucumán like I did in Chile. Even in the supermarkets no one stared, whispered "Look! Chinese!" to each other, looked at me like a sideshow, or went up to me to ask me where I was from. It was kind of nice to be left alone.

We played movie charades in Spanish. It was hard since I only know movie titles in English! So when I had an inkling, I would yell it out in English or do a rough translation of the title.

Monica...what a woman. She and her family all moved to Buenos Aires to study at Word of Life Bible Institute so they could be more equipped leaders in the church. I don't know how they're doing there or if they've found a job, but I'm praying for them and their children!

On the drive back from the river, Pablo Lucero rode with us and we saw a 12 year old riding a motorcycle. So illegal. And dangerous! Anyway, after an exhausting and hot day at the river, Pastor Jorge and Norma kept on talking about a surprise for me when we got home. I was really confused but they wouldn't tell me anything. I guessed that we were going up on the mountain by their house, but they refused to tell me. After going home and resting up a bit, Norma said, "They're outside!" I said, "Who?" and she told me to go outside and look. And lo! A van of about 15 people from IBM pulled up front to pick us up and take us up the Cerro San Javier! It was such a lovely surprise, and I can't believe that planned it all for me, since they kept on talking about how I needed to go up the cerro and see it. At the top of the hill was the Cristo Redentor statue, one of 8 in the world, the most famous one being in Brazil.

Tucuman looks like it's on fire at night.

Fun fun cerro fun! The view is beautiful, but getting up is a drag...so many winds and turns got me really sick. Up on the cerro, we saw a group of gringo tourists, so I whispered to Norma, "I see gringos!" she joked that I should've waved my hands up and say, "Hellllo gringos!" It was cute because Norma actually attempted to speak English, as she had been all week. Her English is pretty bad haha. So is Pastor Jorge's. I think that's what makes it so much fun though ; )

These are the Ahualle dogs. All three of them. They're fun. They have a huge yard to roam around in during the day, as there is no fence on the Ahualle property. I took this pic on my last day in Tucumán before treating the Ahualles to lunch to thank them for being my familia argentina for a week. Sigh. I'm so wuved.

After lunch, we went to visit Raquel and her family. She kept on inviting me to come over that week but we didn't have time until my last day. She lives suuuuper far away in the boonies. Later, Ana Maria joined us. She's a very pretty mom. Actually, she and Raquel are both very pretty mothers. It was strange that I got to sit at the table and talk with the adults while the children played outside. I'm always used to being the child to play outside...but it was a rude awakening that I was a grown up. Okay, maybe not a rude awakening, but a realization I'm not a kid anymore. But these house visits always involves pan dulce and mate. I looooove.

And here are some videos of the new church building:

Josué is very talented. Aww. My lil hermanito argentino.

The Von Trapp singing troupe! Have a listen. It's cute how the sis is playing with Eunice's pigtails.


The Christmas service at a rented building. Singing Ante el trono celestial (Before the Throne of God Above), which they learned from LBC just 6 months ago.


I really like this song Pastor Jorge sang; it's about someone whose heart is for the people of Argentina and wanting to see them know the Lord. He sings that he wants to go to the pampas and the cordillera (of the Andes). Perhaps this song can apply to Chile too then! : )


Josué singing the chacarero I sang at the Christmas concert! I want to sing this again some day. Someone learn to play it!


Josué's drumming is so cute in this video : )

Well, readers. This is my final post on GMW Abroad. It may have taken me 2 months to finish this post, but I wanted to finalize it and close this chapter of Grace Mao Wu's travel adventures in South America. It was an eye-opening 6 months of being a patiperra (one who's always out and about) and I'm thankful to God He let me fulfill my goal of visiting the church in Tucumán at the end of my trip. I hope this won't be the end of my South American adventures! And next time I travel, there definitely will be updates on this website. : ) ¡Chau!