Mission: Urban

There are so many thing I wanted to pass on, I’ve just decided to do a day by day so I don’t forget anything.

Last Saturday:  We went out to Bosques in the afternoon to visit friends there.  It was strangely comforting to do something so incredibly familiar.  After all those trips to La Plata, I was starting to feel like a total rooky again.  But visiting in Bosques was comfortable.  You know, in an occasionally awkward sort of way.  We saw Graciela and her family.  They appear to be doing very well in all physical aspects, though I doubt things are that great spiritually.  We saw Carlos.  He’s married.  His wife is 22.  I have nothing to say about that.  The visit was pleasant.  If you didn’t know anything else had happened, you would have just thought we were long lost friends.  It was great to see his kids, who were warmer and more open than I’ve ever seen them.  And so grown up I felt like an old lady.  We saw Raquel and her kids.  And her new grandbaby.  Yeah, Ezekiel (her oldest) now has a kid.  He’s not married to the mom, and she and baby Nico don’t live there, but they are over a lot.  That part was sad, though we had known about it.  Of course, Baby Nico was cute.  Ellie and Scott were SO happy to see Raquel’s kids (and vice versa).  They played VERY happily.  We’ll go back soon.  We saw Elida.  She seems to be doing well, has work, the kids are all still in school, she’s very involved in her church and even has taken over teaching the kids in a kids club.  It’s nice to feel like someone is still really walking with the Lord.  All in all it was a good visit.  The kids loved seeing so many other kids.

Sunday:  The kids had coughed all night and no one slept much, so Nate visited the church in La Plata by himself.  His visit was good.  They were very warm and welcoming.  They suggested one more neighborhood that might be good for us.  We’ll probably attend there until our teammates arrive, just for our own encouragement.  It rained.  That made for a long day inside with coughing.  We were desperate for food.  We went to Wal Mart and did our shopping.  It was stressful.  We did, however, get food for the week.  I always feel better when my fridge is full.

Monday:  It rained again.  We went to La Plata in the afternoon and looked at the neighborhood the church had suggested.  It looks like a definite possibility.  We noted a few more realtors addresses and numbers (all downtown again).

Tuesday:  Still raining.  Really getting tired of rain.  Nate went downtown to do some errands with Dave Martin.  I stayed home with the kids.  It’s nearly impossible to do laundry when it rains.  Or to go outside, especially when your kids are coughing.  Nate and Dave discovered that the bank who normally does our exchange is temporarily not accepting checks from the U.S. because of bank failures there.  Don’t worry, it seems like this is a very temporary thing.  They said they’d probably accept checks again by the end of the week.  Hope so.  Don’t worry.  We still have money.

Wednesday:  We had staff meeting in the morning.  Then lunch at Jumbo.  Again, nice to do something so familiar.  We got the kids a vaporizor for their room.  In the afternoon the kids stayed with Tatiana (she’s our friend Meche’s fiance who lives here in the house with us).  They love her.  She’s very fun with them.  Nate and I went to La Plata to tackle the realtors.  We had a list of 7 realtors.  We made it to six of them (well, 5 and I talked to one on the phone).  One of them seemed very willing to hunt for us in the two neighborhoods we indicated.  He said he’ll get back with us on Tues. or Wed. and let us know what he has.  Another place was very helpful, but didn’t necessarily have anything for us.  They did take our name and number for the future, though.  Two places were very unhelpful.  One place was impossible to find.  One guy I called.  He had something to show us, but it wasn’t at all what we need.  He didn’t seem exactly…legitimate.  At least, not very businesslike.  I called to find out where his office is.  I don’t think he has one.  Anyway.  We have one more realtor that is a very good possibilty, but we couldn’t make it out to their office.  We’ll try them the next time.  We also wrote down the name of three or four more that we found.  It was a successful day, though it didn’t produce any immediate results.  We’ll just keep taking steps and praying for miracles.  That seems to be what this is all about.  We decided to take Thursday off.  It’s a good thing because by the time we got home from La Plata, I was feeling pretty darn sick.  More than just pregnancy sick.  Fortuanately, I didn’t start throwing up until after the kids were in bed.  I threw up all night, and woke up achey.

Thursday:  Just sick.  Really sick.  But I was obviously slowly recovering as the day went along.  Nate took care of the kids.  Fortunately the sun came out, so outside play was possible.  Somehow we made it through the day.  Nate has a cold.  Scott’s cough was much better.  I think that vaporizor is helping.  By bedtime, we were all pretty much a wreck, but we made it.  I started to feel better enough to eat real food.  That helped.  Meche and Tatiana came in and we talked for a couple of hours after the kids were in bed.  That was nice.

Saturday:  More visits to Bosques.  We’ve now seen everyone there is to see.  It’s nice to have that stage out of the way.

Monday:  Another trip to La Plata, and another conversation with a realtor who promised to call if he finds anything that will work for us.  It’s going to take a miracle to find a house, so just keep praying!