GNY Tour in Argentina

Argentina is such an amazing country. I know we only got to see a tiny portion of the country, but I just feel in love with the people and the culture. It reminded me so much of Puerto Rico in it's warmth, literal and otherwise. It's actually summer over there, so it was extremely warm. Everyone was getting their tan on whenever we had the chance. It was hard work though. During the first four days, we barely had 8 hours of sleep. The schedule was extremely hectic. From the first day, arriving from the plane all sweaty and disgusting, we had to give a concert right away because our flight had been delayed 6 hours. I don't know how we did it, well actually I do, the Lord gave us the strength, adrenaline, and stamina we needed. Needless to say, we arrived to the hotel pretty late and had dinner at about 10:30-11:00 PM, and we then proceeded to our rooms and took baths and fell asleep for what felt like a couple of minutes when we had to wake up again to begin a new day. Needless to say, you can imagine how the rest of the schedule was. We had to work at a camp that has been left deteriorating, and we did as much as we could in a short amount of time. It looked pretty good after we were done. I only pray that they maintain it and keep on doing the work that we began. During the day that I gave my testimony, we were at a Catholic church that was beautiful, and when I was midway through my testimony, the lights began to dim and turn back on again until the electricity just went off. It was pretty dramatic, and I had to finish my testimony screaming to be heard, and with a flashlight someone dug out. It was pretty funny. Then, poor Scott Garman had to give his testimony right after me, so we had to pass the flashlight through the cramped stage where the band was, and he looked like one of those scary storytellers at camp with the flashlight illuminating his face. The concerts and open airs themselves were pretty good, always fun, even when we were bone tired, and it was so gratifying and humbling to hear people say that they had been touched and some even saved by the music and arts we took. I thank God so much for this experience. We also decided to do to offerings of love. The first offering went to the officers that had been stationed to "Parque Carpenter" (the camp we were restoring), three days before we arrived. It turns out that when they arrived to their new home, their children did not have beds, and their quarters were pretty bad. The officer began to cry when she was expressing her gratitude, and I began to cry as well. One of the many things this trip did for me was show me how EXTREMELY blessed we are. We have everything. The second offering we did was for one of the guys that always traveled with us and helped with anything and everything. His name is Lucas and he plays a brass instrument and won a scholarship to go to a music camp in the Central Territory, in Chicago. Unfortunately, we found out that this young man has cancer, and in Argentina, people have to pay for each time they receive medical attention and treatment. He had to pay for his next round of chemotherapies and radiation, and he was praying that God would provide. When we heard about this, we gave up all we had left and we gave it to him. This was the best moment of the entire trip. He burst into tears of gratitude, and everywhere one looked, there were tears streaming down our faces. It's such an amazing feeling when one knows that this small act of kindness means soooo much for another person. It's what we are called to do as Salvationists, and as Christians as well. We have to demonstrate our love and show kindness to others. It doesn't necessarily have to be with money, but just a smile and a hug, and a "God loves you," can change someone's life. I pray that I never forget that.