I love the verse Jeremiah 29:11, For I know the plans I have for you"-this is the Lord's deceleration -"plans for your welfare, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope, but sometimes I feel that the verse loses some of its power and meaning when people just quote it by itself and fail to reveal the surrounding circumstances of the letter that this verse is contained in. The reason for this letter to be sent at all was the fact that many of Israelites that where in Babylon where listening to the good news preached by false prophets. The amazing message that I feel that is missed in this letter is that the nation of Israel was supposed to live in Babylon in captivity for 70 years. Not the amazing quick fix that many of are waiting for. Also the fact that God is also telling them to not look for the quick fix but to settle and continue to live to the fullest even in their bad situation. The Lord tells them to remain fruitful and to continue to multiply and to in a way make Babylon their home. Also the way in which we are supposed to seek the Lord for his blessing is lost when the verse is told by itself.

Right now in my life I feel that Argentina is my Babylon I will be here for 14 months, I will have to fight the idea that I am different here and the sin in my life is only existing because I am not back in the States. I need to continue to live in the time and place that God has placed me in and not look back to my homeland as the answer to what I need to do. I feel that many times in our lives no matter what we are imprisoned by whether it is debt, lying, pride or home sicknesses we need to still look to God and make the best of our situation and trust in him that in his time we will be blessed by him.

The way to receive God's blessing in our lives is clearly stated in the verses following Jeremiah 29:11, You will call to Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for me with all your heart. I will be found by you... Jeremiah 29:12-14a. These verses once again call us to do the same thing we have been told to do yet fail to achieve on a regular basis. We are to seek the Lord in prayer and to search with him with all our heart. I feel that many times we seek the Lord and fail to praise him for what he does in our life. Today is my monthly day with the Lord where all we do is seek the Lord for the day and do what ever we fill necessary to get closer to him. I am so thankful for this day and encourage you if possible to set aside time in your on life to seek God first so that you may find him and be more blessed in him. Please continue to keep me in your prayers that when I feel weak during the coming months I will seek the Lord first.

Ben Anderson

While listening to my favorite praise and worship song, Mighty to Save, in Spanish I was moved to write about where I am at in my life. The line that really touched me was "Savior he can move the mountains. As I continued to listen I thought of all the mountains that are in front of me. There isn't just a mountain I see but a whole range of mountains. The most obvious at that moment was learning Spanish, it is so crazy to be in a country where I can not readily communicate; being the extrovert I am this gets frustrating. I also saw that I am part of a team of 8 that is full of different personalities and ideas that would be meshed together. These 8 are not my blood family but they are my STINT family and we bare that name as group. This group is who I will share everything with in Argentina. Learning to love and work with them for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ over the next year is yet another mountain. Also in the past few days I have taken a few bus rides and walks without the aid of someone to help me to find my way; on one or two of these I have taken wrong turns and had to really focus to find my way to my destination. It amazes me how large Buenos Aires is and how much I am learning about the set up of this city another mountain that lies in front of me. Then I considered how long I would be here and that I would not be able to be with my family and friends and how much I would miss them it is not going to be easy; but at the same time I have to realize the opportunities that I have here in Argentina that would never happen if I stayed in the states and I am encouraged by the students I meet here and that the Lord is letting me serve him full time here in Argentina.

There is a beauty to being able to see these mountains. I now that my God can move mountains and has moved so many mountains in the past. The support raising part of my STINT year was a mountain that the Lord has all ready moved. Now I get the chance to watch him move mountains in my life that seem almost impossible right now; but then I thought about what my mountains looked like in America. I saw that they were just as grand of mountains in America that I just choose to not climb and go back to my comfort zone and sit back and pull the curtains and not try to work with the Lord to conquer these mountains in my life. I feel blessed that I am here where I can clearly see the mountains and have no way to go back; than to be back home and feel that I had the option to not climb the mountains but to remain in the safe valleys of my life. So no matter what there are mountains in your life you just have to trust in God to help you to conquer them and that without him it is impossible to climb them. So as I leave you remember that our God is mighty to save and that he has conquered death so what are a few mountains to our God!

Ben Anderson

aka Shmando

Welcome to Spring! We celebrated the Day of the Student on the 21st which happens to be the first day of Spring here September 21st. It is weird celebrating spring wiht my Birthday still 6 months away since the seasons flip flop here below the equator. I am really looking forward to this season in Argentina; please keep our movement in your prayers as we go through a time of growth and change as one STINT team leaves and another comes in. On another note right now I am taking Castashana( Argetine Spanish) 5 days a week for 4 hours a day. The spanish down here is highly influenced by the huge Italian population that lives here, over 50% of the people here are Italian. A huge praise is my awesome neighborhood called caballito which means small horse, it gets its name from the fact that around 1860-1920 it was an area right outside of town for the horses to rest. It is in the larger part of the city called Capital Federal( the Manhatten of BA). Another awesome praise is all the food, I can drink water from the tap and eat anything without getting sick. There is an awesome resteraunt called El Misquito across the block from our apartment, great steaks for right at $10 American. There are also three good fruit/vegetable stands within in 2 or 3 blocks of us. Also another huge praise is that I will be on the Economics college of University of Buenos Aires, visted for the first tiem tonight more details to come. On a not as fun note I am still lacking some important things, I am still with out a cell phone but should be getting one on Thursday, we still need a fridge which was put on hold since the 1 year old daughter of our campus director got sick and had to be put in the hospital(she got out today praise the Lord) please keep them in your prayers. Also our internet should be here this weekend and so more blogpost and skype dates will be coming! Please keep me my roomate John Mark the team and me in your prayers.

Shmando
aka Ben Anderson