Photos: left to right top photo: enrique, me, guri and his little brother enzo (sons of marcelo) and one other kid who was new last night and I can't remember his name... Llama? Doh that's not it.

Middle photo: me and Javier, the two Javi. (all the locals call me Javi, it's easier than Zach which is pronounced like Sak here)

Bottom Photo left to right: Marcelo, Marcos, a different Marcelo and Rich. Playing Truco alllll night. There were two other guys as well.

Alright this week has been busy and then not-busy in spurts all over. I am doing nothing for a day then I'm doing everything for 2 days it feels like. Ha just a little crazy. First, on Sunday the 4th, I got to go to the McCaman's (another set of missionaries closer to Buenos Aires and have been here for years) Argentine church. We there on Sunday morning because Rich was going to speak. It was one of the coolest things here yet. I was overwhelmed by their kindness and openess even though I didn't expect anything else. Their passion for God was amazing. Overall I was so appreciative because the locals (about 30, maybe 40 including children) took time to talk to me and were patient with my lack of Spanish fluency. Before we all sat in a circle and prayed for those who weren't there this week and then Rich talked about our identity in Christ. We even had Spanish worship which I was able to sing about half of the songs with them by reading from their hymn book.

After church that morning all the GBIM missionaries in the BA region got together for a 4th of July cookout. We had burgers and hotdogs and sat around and relaxed. We even had some delicious Apple Pie! Thankfully all the rain held off until the next day. Then on Wednesday we had pingpong with the kids, things went well with that. Thursday was crazy though, I got up at 7:30 after not getting to bed till 12:30 and then spent the morning taking a bus to the train station, the train to the outskirts of BA and the subway to an Immigration office with Brian. He had to check on some paperwork for his family. Normally by bus or car the trip takes 50min or so. That day it took 2 and a half hours, an hour and a half in the office, then another 2 and a half back. Was pretty tiring. I then took a break, went to Spanish class with Ozzie and then played soccer. Soccer went really well, I scored 4 of our first 5 goals and it was alot of fun that night. When we were finished though they decided they wanted to play Truco, which is an Argentine card game that I cannot fathom the rules for. They came to my apartment around 11:30 and left around 4:15 that morning. The kids and I played alot of pingpong. I'm pretty exhausted but it was a great night and was great connecting with the guys. Marcos even invited us to an Asado at his house so we're definitely making connections.

One thing you guys could be praying for this week is for a kid named Javier. He's older than the boys we work with, 18, and by that age here kids have been involved in some pretty heavy stuff for several years. He smokes and has been drunk more times than not when I've visited the Villa and he was there. Kids at that age in the Villa's are pretty rough. Javier has started to play pingpong and soccer with us and is talking to us about different things we do. It's been neat to see him connect, especially because I'm closer to his age. Next week I'll be taking a trip to northern Argentina starting either late monday afternoon or early Tuesday morning, and will return either thursday afternoon or friday morning. Pray for safety and I'll update you all when I get back! Much love to all of you guys!