three months!

Last weekend marked three months here in Buenos Aires. I am settling into my new pad and it is already feeling like home. It has been fun to be live in the same hood as the Forcattos. Hopefully, I will have my phone and internet up and running this week, so I can get back to blogging and keeping up with emails more regularly.

Tomorrow I will take some time out for a 24-hour personal retreat at a retreat center here in the city. I was recently reminded of the importance of retreat in the book “Invitation to a Journey: A Roadmap for Spiritual Formation” by Robert Mulholland, which we are reading together as a community. “Retreat is the discipline of setting apart time, individually or corporately, to step aside from the normal flow of life and give God our full and undivided attention…we also need special times in which we allow God to help us reevaluate the whole structure of our life in Christ. We need to stand aside from discipleship so as to be able to see more clearly the direction in which we are going and the course corrections God would have us to make.”

Making space for retreat after three-months seems like perfect timing for some extended time with God to step aside and give space to evaluate, adjust, and cultivate how I am living out a rhythm of abiding, community, and mission. It took just about three months to feel more settled, find my way around, communicate a little better in Spanish, and begin to get into a weekly routine. I know there is a lot more learning and adjusting ahead! Really I see this first year as my “apprenticeship” year giving space to learn, discern, and grow into my vocation/call here. I think retreats every three months this first year will be valuable and essential space in the process of apprenticeship this year one!

Please continue to pray for the Dean family. They are in the United States seeing doctors for Jordan’s seizures. There are some important appointments and tests coming up this week. Please pray that these tests will give more clear diagnosis and clarity. Please pray that they would experience God’s nearness and discernment during this season. They are missed here

yep, i'm still here...

...but still internet challenged! I am all moved into my new pad in La Boca. I am enjoying my new home and hood! But, I have limited internet time for a couple more weeks until I get it set up at home. Then I will be back in the blogging game! Until then...I will be MIA for a little while longer.