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SADDLEBACK KSG TEAM ARGENTINA 2018
Blog Post June 21, 2018
We had breakfast in our rooms and then came down to the hotel basement for devotions at 8:30. We were missing a devotional, so each small group either picked a favorite devotional or discussed the highlights of our trip so far. Once again, the kids led the devotional, and their insights and wisdom were far beyond their years. There is a lot of depth in this group of children, and you can tell that KSG has done an amazing job in helping build that spiritual foundation in our kids.
After devotions, we grabbed all our bags of clothing to donate. Kris called an Uber to take the bags without wheels to Saddleback Buenos Aires, and the rest of us schlepped the rolling bags the mile or so to Saddleback BA. We soon learned that the 3 green and black bags were not really designed for city walking, but no one complained, even though the bags kept turning over. Kudos to Sean, who was our sweeper this week to make sure no one fell behind while we walked through Buenos Aires, and Tim, who stood out in the street at intersections to keep kamikaze cars from hitting us as we crossed.
Our job for today was making blankets for Venezuelan refugees who have fled the unrest in Venezuela and have pretty much no warm clothing or blankets. When we arrived at Saddleback BA, Liz and Ariana were whisked off to the Buenos Aires garment district with some Saddleback BA volunteers to buy fabric, while the rest of us cleaned the room where we would make the blankets. The kids did a great job sweeping, vacuuming and mopping the floor. Windows were cleaned. The room shone when we were done.
Then we sorted the clothing we had brought from Southern California. We had a bit of free time before lunch. The kids have been playing Mafia all trip in the back of the bus and during breaks, but today they played a more Christian version called Salvation. It is cool to see what good friends the kids have become on this trip.
After a lunch of hot dogs, we started in on the blankets. The blankets were basically 2 large squares of felt that have a cut fringe, and then the fringe edges are tied so that the 2 squares stay together. We had about 30 blankets to make, and we could make about 2 to 3 at a time. The first few blankets took a long time to make. We measured every fringe cut meticulously to make sure it was even, and every fringe end was tied with care. The scissors we were using were craft scissors and not fabric scissors, so they didn’t cut very well, and most of us had to cut the fringe for each piece of felt separately. We realized we were going to be there a long time. Meanwhile, most of the Saddleback BA volunteers were watching Argentina play Croatia in the World Cup (Argentina lost 3-0), so it was a bit distracting to the kids to hear cheers erupt every few minutes.
Then Sean got the brilliant idea to tie every other fringe end. He demonstrated, and it looked pretty good. This saved us quite a bit of time. We stopped measuring the fringe ends, as a chorus of “Deep and Wide” broke out. The tables started the game of competitive blanket making, and that sped things up. With every blanket finished, we lifted it up and shouted “Goal!” until Argentina lost the game, after which we shouted “Hallelujah!” Adults cut the fringe, and the kids were right behind them tying it off. The time to make a blanket went from about 20 minutes to 5 minutes. Finally we were on the last 2 blankets. Both tables finished at about the same time. We realized we had made 30 blankets that would keep people warm this winter, and it was a good feeling.
After that the kids helped make patches to sew on the blankets. Each patch had a statement like “Jesus te ama” and “Dios es amor”.
We said good-bye to our friends from Saddleback BA – Geri, Simon, Joey, Mikaela and many others. It had been hard work, but we felt like we had made a difference with the clothes we brought and the blankets we made.
That evening John took the kids to dinner and the adults got a rare adult dinner together. It was a good time of sharing and conversation and continuing to get to know each other.
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