Kids Small Groups

SADDLEBACK KSG TEAM ARGENTINA 2018

Blog Post June 19, 2018 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TRACY!!!

Today we go to Tigre Church – but not until late afternoon. So we got to sleep in a bit! (And it still wasn’t enough sleep time for Katia and Addi!). We met in the lobby at 9:15. We were going to have devotions at a park, but it was just a bit too cold (about 48°), so we ended up in a café. Some ordered food, but most ordered various types of coffee (café doble, café Americano, café con leche, etc.) and split up into small groups for devotions.

Today was a Double Devo Day. We cranked through Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s devotional was about Distractions. What are the distractions in our lives? Phone, TV, electronics, politics, social media, work, other people’s expectations, wanting to control things we can’t control, kids’ sports. It is easy when we are home to get distracted from God’s work by all the busyness of our lives. How do we set aside our distractions? We put aside our phones, stop checking work email, stay off social media, focus on the people we are meeting and getting to know right in front of us. This is an opportunity for us to be hyper-focused on Jesus and His work here in Argentina, and to yield our agenda and goals to His will.

Sunday’s devotional was about Foundations. We discussed what it takes to build a solid foundation. Many of us discussed different things – building a solid foundation in our own lives, on this trip, in KSG. Some of the discussions were (a) helping the local churches we are interacting with build a solid foundation for children’s ministry and with the children of Buenos Aires, encouraging children’s ministry leaders and helping them create a heart and foundation for the next generation; (b) everything starts with a good foundation – memorizing Scripture and applying it to our lives, not just reading the Bible, but doing it; (c) surrendering to God, trusting God and becoming more like Christ. Overall, we need a strong foundation to do anything effective for Christ. What can each person contribute to a good foundation on this trip? Our love for Christ and children’s ministry. Being a participatory father. Giving our testimonies to others.

After our devotions, we walked through the Jardin Botanico. It is in our neighborhood of Palermo and has trees and plants from all around the world. The garden was also full of sculptures from all over the world. There were several different gardens from Argentina/South America, Europe and Asia. We were able to stroll along in small groups and enjoy the local scenery.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a small craft shop for card stock. Once back at the hotel, the kids made cards for the Saddleback Buenos Aires volunteers who gave their time yesterday so that we could go to the orphanage, and to Gabriela and her husband at the Tigre Church. We also had a lunch of salad and pizza.

Next we had a “surprise” birthday celebration for Tracy at one of the local vegetable shops. We knew we would be in Tigre till late, so we had a little celebration and Happy Birthday in both English and Spanish. The kids had made cards for Tracy as a surprise, and they gave them to her during our mini-celebration.

At 4 o’clock, we boarded the bus to Tigre. Tigre is northwest of Buenos Aires and it took us close to an hour to get there. Once we were there, most of the adults took a walk around Tigre along the Tigre Riverfront. From the riverfront, you can take a ferry across to Uruguay, as well as to many islands in the delta. Meanwhile, the kids played with some small children at the Tigre Church and helped make empanadas for our dinner later. We learned how to put the meat in the empanada round, fold the empanada, pinch the edges shut, then curl the edges the Argentinian way.

After that, we watched the Correo Kids practice. Correo Kids is a dance ministry at the church led by Aidi, where girls learn both traditional Argentinian dance and dance to Christian music. Near the end of the class, our kids participated in a Correo Kids dance – even the boys.

At 7:00, most of us participated in a Zumba class also led by Aidi. Pretty much all of us (except Lisa) participated in Zumba, including the men. The turnout for Zumba was amazing, filling the Tigre Church sanctuary – Gabriela said that most of the participants were from the local community and do not attend church regularly, so it is a ministry for the church to the community. As for Team Argentina’s participation, this was fun to watch, especially Tim, as he had a tendency to go the wrong way and run into people. John participated for about 5 minutes, then somehow was not Zumba’ing anymore. Sean, Ariana, Liz, Tracy, Jessica and Morgan were really into Zumba and pretty much could have helped lead the class. Congrats to the men and boys, who were good sports, and to Myra, who hung in there for over 40 minutes.

After Zumba, we met with the children’s ministry leaders at Tigre Church. We went around and introduced ourselves, then the Tigre leaders introduced themselves and told us the age groups and areas in which they serve. Many leaders have been in children’s ministry for over a decade. One, Alan, became involved in the church as a child because of the influence of leaders who still serve there. Now he is also serving in children’s ministry. John told them that perhaps they should be teaching us about children’s ministry instead of the other way around.

Katia, Kyle and Jessica gave their testimonies. Gabriela from Tigre Church translated, as well as our own Ariana. Then Roxana from the Tigre Church gave her testimony. It was a blessing to hear how she became involved in children’s ministry, and now she is the leader of children’s ministry at Tigre Church.

After that we had a dinner of pizza, sandwiches and yep, the enchiladas the kids helped make. They were really good. Then it was time to board the bus back to the hotel.

Special shout out and thanks to Joy, for taking 98% of the pictures on this trip. Hopefully we will be able to get some of these pictures up with the blog.