HAPPY BIRTHDAY Shout-out to Grandmom!

Happy (belated) birthday, Grandmom!! If I wasn't in another country I would have called you, but I know you read my blog so this will have to do! I love you and miss you very much! :)

IGUAZU FALLS!!!!

Long weekend in Iguazu Falls

I just returned to Buenos Aires from a 5 day trip to Iguazu Falls! The Falls are located in the northeast corner of Argentina, so we left Tuesday night, drove 16 hours in a fairly comfortable bus, and got to Puerto Iguazu on Wednesday late morning. I was pretty nervous about the bus ride, considering that it's so long and I can't really sleep well if I'm not in a bed. Via Bariloche, however, is an awesome bus company that offers completely reclining seats! I got about 4 hours of sleep but felt pretty rested by the time we got there.

We got lost trying to find our hotel but once we did, we couldn't believe how nice it was. We stayed in a place called Los Troncos and it was awesome!

View from the balcony

beds with a queen upstairs!

We paid 360 pesos for 3 nights there (less than $100 dollars)! The owners were so nice and helped us with things we wanted to do while we were there and we got free (delicious) breakfast every morning. 

On Thursday, we took a bus to the Falls and walked down a trail that took us right next to the waterfalls. 

the group (minus Ben) at the start of the trail

I bet God had so much fun creating this.

When Eleanor Roosevelt saw the Falls, she said, "Poor Niagra". She was right. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, and the pictures don't even do it justice. On your right, you see waterfalls coming in from Argentina, and on your left, you see them coming in from Brazil. It was SO cool!!

After we walked around for a bit, we went on a little jungle safari ride that took us down a bunch of stairs to get on a boat that took us UNDER the waterfalls! It was crazy. We went through rapids and then approached a huge waterfall, our driver took us under, and we got SOAKED.  There was a man who recorded the whole thing so we all bought a video of it afterwards. 

me and Hayley wet after the boat ride

terrified haha

After drying off and getting some lunch, we went to the "Devil's Throat" part of Iguazu Falls. This is a place where water pours in from three sides. It's absolutely beautiful and we got to stand right above the waterfalls! 

me and my friend April at Devil's Throat!

On Friday, after a wonderful day at the Falls, an awesome safari bus came and picked us up at the hotel to take us deep into the jungle to zip-line and repel down a waterfall. It was SO much fun! I had never zip-lined before so getting to "fly" through the jungle was an awesome experience. Repelling down a waterfall was terrifying but SO exhilarating! Loved every minute of it. 

We finished at around noon, just in time for a thunderstorm to come and put us all to sleep for the next 4 hours :) 

On Saturday, before we boarded our bus back to BA, we walked over to the point where Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay are connected by a river. Standing on the Argentina side, you can see Brazil on your right and Paraguay on your left. 

It was so nice to get out of the city with my friends and explore another part of Argentina. If any of you ever get a change to go to Iguazu Falls, take the boat ride (it's only 50 pesos, which is less than $12), and zip-line through the jungle! Oh, and stay at Los Troncos because it was SO worth the money! 

Besos y abrazoz para todos!

Last update before IGUAZU!

Just a few thoughts to share:

1) I have been TREMENDOUSLY blessed with my new familia here in BA. Everyday I just grow to love them more and more. The girls are so much fun to be around they treat me as their own sister. My madre is so sweet and is always trying to make me feel comfortable, and my padre reminds me so much of my real Daddy! Love them so much.

2) Worship + girls bible study on Sunday nights = favorite day of the week. So blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people.

3) My two friends Lauren Herzog and Hannah Kenyon are going with me to Brazil in December and we booked our tickets today! Can't wait to spend time with Bryan and Jacqueline Bost and serve the people of Sao Paolo!

4) I'm going to Iguazu Falls tomorrow night with 8 other friends for a 5 day long weekend. I won't have my computer with me, so I'll post pictures and give an update when I get back on Sunday.



Besos y abrazos para todos :)

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me..."

Hospital

Thursday night,  a group of us went back to Hospital de lost Niños and passed out sandwiches. For some reason, I had a really hard time being there. My friend Taylor and I were passing out sandwiches and we came across this room with a girl who was about a year old and was bald. Seeing her absolutely broke my heart and I tried to keep it together until we left. Luckily, I did a good job of that and cried after we left. Seeing that poor little girl made me think about how blessed we are in the United States to have state-of-the-art hospitals and treatment for children. I wanted so badly for that little girl to be flown to St. Jude's and to be completely taken care of. After seeing that girl and many other sick kids, my friends and I were inspired to give them more than just sandwiches the next time we go. I'll keep you updated on what we decide to do, but for now, please pray for the children in that hospital.

Adulam

At 9:30 this morning, we all hopped on a bus and headed to the countryside. An hour and a half later, we arrived at Adulam. Adulam is a small Christian community where people who have no where else to go, can come and live and send their children to school. I had heard amazing things about this place before coming to BA, but I still didn't really know what to expect. Who would have thought that we would all fall in love with so many children!? Many of us played while others helped build roofs and did other forms of manual labor. I got lucky enough to play with the precious children! Three girls in particular stole my heart:

Deborah! Love her so much.

Millie! 

sweetest baby ever.

Despite the obvious poverty of Adulam, it is a place filled with happiness and you can see that clearly when you're around the kids. I hope that I have to opportunity to go back and serve them. It was such a blessing.

Besos y abrazos para todos!

This is the good life.

Today was a pretty fabulous day. I had two classes in the morning and was done for the day at 1pm. I got lunch, went home, did homework, then took a two hour nap. I then made my fifteen minute walk back to the Casa, and our whole group when out to our weekly convo dinner! This time, we took the Subte (subway) to a part of BA that I had never been to, and ate at an AMAZING gourmet buffet! Oh my goodness. I thought I ate a lot last week at Kansas, but no. That night didn't even compare. We were all prepared to be rolled out of the restaurant by the end of dinner. I think Pepperdine's plan is to send us abroad and get us fat. So far it's working. (pictures will be coming soon of our "food babies")

The best part of my night came after the amazing food. A bunch of students got together at the Casa to discuss a bible study for the semester. We had been wanting to put this together since the first day we got here, but school and being new to the city got in the way of that. Luckily, our wonderful Spiritual Advisor/Coordinator, Kasey, called a meeting together and it was AWESOME! It was amazing seeing so many of my friends come together and tell each other that what they wanted most from our abroad experience is to grow deeper in the Word and with God. How cool is that?! We decided that we're going to meet twice a week: once after Sunday night worship, and then again after Wednesday convo dinner. I am so excited to see God work this semester and I can't wait to deepen my friendships with people in the group. 

Please pray for us to grow in our relationships with each other and with the Lord. 

Besos y abrazos! :)

This is your life.

Last night, 13 people from Pepperdine went to a Switchfoot concert in Buenos Aires! We got there at 4pm, stood in line for three and a half hours, and prayed that it would be worth the 130 pesos (around $30). We finally crammed into the building at 7:45 and listened to Argentine opening bands for the next two hours. I didn't even know what to expect at a concert in Argentina, but it was totally crazy. People were ramming into each other and at one point, I looked over and found my friend Molly laying horizontally on top of people! The crowd just shoved everyone around until we were practically kissing the ground. After two hours of spanish music that I didn't understand, Switchfoot came on stage and totally stole the show. It was AMAZING, to say the least.

SWITCHFOOT!!

Too many people... but it was so worth it!

It was so neat seeing people from all over South America (there were some from Paraguay, Venezuela, Chile, you name it...) come to worship God in such a cool way: with an American band! This night was definitely my favorite night in BA. 

Favorite part of today:

 paying 15 pesos (around $3) for my laundry to be taken to the lavendaria (laundromat) and it looking like this:

^^washed, dried, ironed, and folded. 

I love this country.

Besos y abrazos!

Morgs

Fuego!

The past 24 hours have been a whirlwind. Last night, all 63 students, plus some faculty, went to an American restaurant called "Kansas". It was the first time in a week that I had had salad (or any vegetables for that matter) and it was kind of a disappointment because the salad was drenched in dressing and we could barely taste the lettuce. Luckily, the steak and AMAZING dessert made up for it, and we all left the restaurant full, happy Americans.

Today, we had our typical Thursday Asado (barbeque), which was delicious as always. At around 8pm, a group of 25 went to El Hospital de los Niños (a Children's Hospital that we go to once a week) to give out sandwiches to the families whose children were sick. I didn't really know what to expect the hospital to be like, but it definitely came at a bigger surprise when we pulled up to this run-down looking building and realized it was the hospital. I don't really know how to describe how it looked, but imagine a dirty looking building with old murals painted around the walls. All around the hospital, there were stray cats lurking about and when my group went to the 2nd floor to pass out the food, the rooms looked cramped and unkempt. I think we only saw one nurse on the whole floor. It was a very surreal and humbling experience for all of us to see what people in other countries have for their healthcare. I realized how blessed we are to be from a country that has incredibly well-known hospitals, that are kept in great condition. We all felt so sympathetic towards the sick children and their families, because we know that the majority of Americans don't have to be taken care of in conditions like that.

After the hospital, I was on my way home and was on the corner where my apartment building is, when I saw a huge group of people gathered around and fire trucks and ambulances everywhere. When I tried to get a better look at what was happening, I saw police tape and panicked. I froze, then turned right back around, called my friend Alexx in hysterics, and practically ran back to the Casa which is about a 10 minute walk away. All that was going through my head was, "Is my family okay? Was there a fire? A murder? I DON'T KNOW!" Alexx and two other guys from Pepperdine met me at the Casa and I broke down. By then, I had finally gotten ahold of my sister, Jesi, and all she had told me (or all that I understood) was "Fuego!", which means fire. She then said that I should stay at the Casa until she could call me back and it was alright for us all to go home. Thankfully, a few of my friends stayed with me until my madre called and said it was okay to come back, that everything was fine. My friend Taylor walked me home and when I got back, the firefighters and police were still there, but it was clear for us to go back into the building. My family probably thinks I'm some crazy American because I walked into the apartment, almost in tears, hugging them and trying to tell them (in spanish) how scared I was and that I'm glad they're okay. I still don't know exactly how the fire started or where it was, but I am so thankful that everything and everyone was okay!

There you have it! A crazy day in BA and I'm still loving it!



Besos y abrazos para todos! xoxo