After some more shopping and some down time in the afternoon, we went on to deliver two concerts in the evening.  The first was at a local Evangelical Christian church.  We were delayed due to an accident on the highway that caused some pretty bad traffic, and arrived for our concert 20 minutes after it was supposed to begin.  They waited patiently for us, though.  The church’s children’s choir began by singing two songs for us, and then we proceeded with our concert which was, once again, very well received.

Then, after a quick dinner, we headed over to the television studios of Canal Luz, a local Christian television station.  We performed a concert in their studio that was broadcast to all of Argentina on TV, and to the entire world via the Internet.  Throughout the program, viewers called in to ask questions about us.  Through this, we learned that we had viewers from every part of Argentina, and some of the people who have seen us in person in the recent weeks tuned in as well.  Thanks to all of our friends and family who watched from home!

We then stopped for ice cream and arrived back at the hotel after midnight once again.

Our trip is drawing to a close.  We have a concert on Saturday evening, and we’re singing for two church services on Sunday morning, and then we pack up and head home.  Keep checking back for the last few updates!

After seeing some more of the sights that Buenos Aires has to offer, we stopped for a noon concert at the Argentine national capital.  All of the Argentine congress was invited to our concert, but most of them are away campaigning for elections that occur in a few months.  Our hosts, the Sosas, are working with a man named Luciano Bongarra to get our concerts scheduled.  Luciano has made it his mission to get the word of God into the Argentine government.  Very few practicing Christians are involved with in government, but the number is slowly increasing, as he runs a weekly Bible study with a growing number of regular participants.  A Christian influence in the government would bring Christian values to the decisions made by representatives and to the way that they interact with each other and other people.  Our concert at the capital was part of this effort.

After a lunch at an Argentine Burger King, we returned to the hotel to rest for the big event of the day: an evening concert with two other choirs, one from a local Baptist seminary and one from a local Catholic church.

After these two choirs performed, we took the stage and were received very well.  We finished the concert with all three choirs giving a performance of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus.

After the concert, we went to a rather late dinner at an all-you-can-eat buffet.  Many of us were excited to hear that this buffet also included “all-you-can-drink” service, as restaurants that offer free refills (even on water) are few and far between down here.  We arrived back at our hotel at around 1:00 in the morning.

Check back for more on our ongoing adventures tomorrow!

Aaron Kelley

Tomorrow, May 29, at 10 PM Argentina time, which is 8 PM U.S. central time, our concert at La Puerta Abierta will be broadcast on the Internet!  You can watch us here.

We’ll post a more detailed update about today´s activities tomorrow afternoon!  Thanks for checking in with us.

Aaron Kelley

The rest of the day was primarily devoted to travel. We took a flight at 2:10 from Igauzú to Buenos Aires. This was actually the first flight we have been on that has not been delayed!

A quick story about something that happened in the airport…

For the past week we have been carrying around two extra bags with us—one for the missionaries we have met, and another for CDs, recording equipment, and other supplies. Since the airlines only allow for one checked bag per passenger, we were worried that we would have to pay a fee in order to check these extra bags. Luckily, none of the airlines have made us pay this fee yet. For various reasons, today we were going to have to. All this changed when we got to the airport, though. Little did we know that in line behind us, there was a family of Baylor graduates. One of the family members noticed our president, James Neese, using a Baylor pen and the man asked if we were from Baylor. We said yes, and he explained to us that both he and his wife are alumni as well as all of their kids, and their kids spouses. Among their family, the only had two checked bags for four people and they were kind enough to check our extra two bags so that we would not have to pay the expensive fee.

What are the chances that we would run into a family of Baylor alumni in the small town of Igauzú? Standing right behind us in line, no less! How’s that for flinging our green and gold afar?? Sic ‘em Bears!! Anyways, in order to thank them for their graciousness, we sang one of our a cappella pieces for their family as we were boarding the flight. They loved it, so we sang one more piece. There was much discussion on what our encore should be, and after very little convincing, Dr. Bradley agreed to let us sing “That Good Old Baylor Line.” The family was quite a bit ahead of us in the line so it was a surprise for them, but as soon as they heard the first few notes, they all put their “sic ‘em” high in the air and sang along with us! We were all proud to be Baylor Bears!

After getting to Buenos Aires, we had some time to settle in the hotel and then we were off to dinner. The restaurant we went to was a very nice buffet in the heart of downtown Buenos Aires. There, we met the man who planned our next two concerts. After eating, he spoke to us a little bit and then we headed back to the hotel. We are looking forward to the next two days as we sing for many of Argentina’s political leaders at the capital and other venues. On Friday night, our concert will be broadcast on national television, and you will be able to watch it over the Internet. Tomorrow we will post a link to the website where you can see us. See you then…

Clint Kimmel
Aaron Kelley

Iguazú is in a rain forest, which is a big change from the desert city of Mendoza where we spent all of last week. While walking between various locations from which to view the falls, we took a few trails through the forest. Sightings of monkeys, jaguars, pumas, and toucans are not uncommon in this area; however, we didn’t get to see any of these more exotic animals. We did see some coatis, which kind of look like raccoons, and are known for going after tourists’ snacks.

The four season cycle that graces much of the world doesn’t exist here; there is only a wet season and a dry season. It is the dry season now, and for a couple of weeks leading up to our visit, there was little rain, and the falls were reduced to a trickle. However, it has been raining pretty hard since Sunday, and this helped to get the water moving through the falls again. We were also very lucky that the rain clouds broke just as we arrived at the park this morning.

Here are a few pictures of the beautiful Iguazú falls.

We ended our visit to the falls with a ride on a boat that actually took us under a waterfall, several times! We were all soaking wet. Fortunately, we went straight from there to the hotel and had a chance to change clothes.

Oh, and it was Jacob’s birthday today!  I am sure that this is a birthday that he’ll never forget.

Tomorrow, we head back to Buenos Aires, where we will stay until we leave for the U.S. on Sunday. Here’s hoping for no more flight delays!

Aaron Kelley

Our luggage popped onto the baggage carousel as Dr. Bradley anxiously told us all to change into one of our two Argentina t-shirts since we would be driving straight to the concert in Andresito. All decked in red and blue, we rushed outside into the humidity. The bus driver instructed us to throw our bags on top of the bus, which had the luggage rack. The first problem that reared its ugly head was the lack of room for all the luggage on top of the bus. Thus, we piled the suitcases and instruments in the aisles of the bus, forcing all us passengers to climb over the bags, seats, and each other. The sun set as we hastily drove off into the heart of the jungle.

The problematic luggage rack soon became the recipient of a tropical rainforest downpour. The rain forced us to close the windows, which were our only air conditioning, and fret about the distinct possibilities of all our belongings being drenched. I thought to myself, “Man, we’re really on a mission trip now.” Our belongings were soaked and our man stench grew, but we finally arrived at the Free Brethren Church in Andresito. We hopped out of the bus and took note of the large crowd gathered inside for this special community concert in commemoration of Argentina’s Independence Day. Within ten minutes, Mr. Sosa introduced the group and Dr. Bradley began the concert. Yet since we had set up in the front but needed to process from the back, we left the stage right after our introduction, which might have appeared strange.

We finally processed in to our a cappella song “Windham,” and surprised the audience. After the first two songs, the audience was reluctant to clap. However, after the third song, “El Cielo Canta Alegria,” the pastor of the church initiated the raucous applause. Many gracious members of the church and many more visitors from the community were in attendance to hear the music. Yet most importantly, they heard a far greater message than just our music. Three testimonies were shared, and Mr. Sosa laid down the gospel message so clearly that even those of us in the choir who only understand a moderate amount of Spanish could understand. It seemed that there were more women/girls there than prior concerts who all greeted each member of the choir with a kiss on both cheeks afterwards. Also, many people wondered how we could start singing our songs without a starting pitch, because they hadn’t seen Clint play the pitch pipe behind the choir. After eating asado (assorted meat), homemade bread, and two different cakes, all served by the church, we returned to our cramped bus and sweat for two more hours back to Iguazú and checked in between 1 and 2 am. It was the most insane day in the rain forest for any of us, I’m certain.

James Cheesman

The first church we visited was North Mendoza Baptist Church. We participated in the church’s congregational song (in Spanish) and then sang our pieces for about forty minutes. We then immediately made our way to Covimet Baptist Church and sang another thirty minutes of music. After the service, the church served us lunch which consisted of some Argentine beef and various other cultural dishes.

After lunch, the pastor spoke to us and shared his vision for the church. He talked about how the church was growing, and that they were saving money to first build an education building and then a new sanctuary. They have already purchased the land that surrounds the current building, and they are saving little by little to accomplish the greater vision. The pastor also expressed his appreciation for our visit because he thinks it will inspire the men of the church to be more active. He said that seeing so many young men who are committed to Christ will speak to the rest of the church.

Then his wife got up and shared her incredible testimony. She talked about how her father become a Christian as a young boy. An American missionary family witnessed to him when he was very young, and she said that if it wasn’t for them, she would most likely not be serving God today. You can watch her full testimony below. I would highly recommend watching it. It is very moving…

We then participated in our favorite Argentine cultural tradition—a Sunday afternoon siesta! The nap was much needed, and it rejuvenated us for the rest of the day.

In the evening we went back to First Baptist Church Mendoza, this time to sing for their service. We only sang three songs, but many of the members said that it greatly blessed them. They even shouted for an encore! After singing the encore (which was” Praise His Holy Name”) they gave us a standing ovation. It is such a blessing to see how God is working through our music to minister to the people of Argentina.

We then immediately drove to Mendoza Baptist Church to perform two different sets of music. In between the two portions of the concert, we broke ourselves up into groups of four and spoke with the church members. In my group the most profound thing expressed was spoken by on older lady in the church. We understood her through a translator. She said this: “I don’t speak English, so I can’t understand the words to some of your songs, but I know they are about God because the music is so beautiful.” The lady sitting next to her agreed and said that our presence has truly blessed them all. Throughout the rest of the concert I was watching both these ladies, and the smiles never left their faces. Even though we could not efficiently communicate because of the language barrier, their smiles expressed more than any words possibly could.

After that, we traveled to Paul and Laura Shelton’s house for some pizza. These two people were our contacts in Mendoza, and over the past week we have grown very close to them. After eating, we had a time of reflection. First, the Sheltons expressed how much they appreciated our coming to Argentina. Before each concert, Paul Shelton always introduced us in Spanish. Most of us had no idea what he ever said, but Laura told us tonight that he introduced us as a “group of men who live what they sing.” She said that they did not translate this until tonight because they wanted to see that it was true without putting pressure on us to act insincerely. She said that she appreciated the fact that we lived up to this introduction without being conscience that people were watching us in that way.

Then Paul shared with us that each concert has had an effect on people. For example, last night we performed a concert at Hotel Cordillera and a man came who is member of their church. He said that the man has gone through a great deal in his life. When he was twenty, both his parents died and just recently his wife left both him and his seventeen year old son. Because of this, he has been very closed off to people. This changed at their church this morning. At church, he shared about the trials he has gone through and how he has always been searching for God. Paul said that he thinks it was our music the night before that inspired him to open up. This was an encouraging story to hear, and is just an example of how God is using us. God will surely use our music to have an impact on people’s lives, even if we may never know it.

We then told the Sheltons how much we loved them and how they have had such an important impact on our trip. As one member said, “they have become parents to us.” Their spirit of service and encouragement truly has changed our lives. In planning the Mendoza portion of our trip, they thought and prayed very hard about which churches they wanted us to sing for and where we needed to visit. In our experiences over the past week, it is evident that God has used them to minister to us. It is also interesting that many of us have ministered to them without even knowing. They told us that their house was purchased by funds from the Lottie Moon Christmas offering, which is an offering taken up every year through the Southern Baptist Convention. Being a Southern Baptist, I have grown up learning about missions and it was great to meet a family that is doing so much with the offerings that they receive.

The Sheltons’ children have all gone to Baylor, and a few of the BUMC members know them. As expressed tonight, it is evident that Paul and Laura have instilled Christian values in them. It was a great lesson to us about how to parent our future children.

After we all expressed our appreciation, we surrounded Paul, Laura, and our friends Tomás and Rolando to sing “Traveling Mercies” over them. Many of us wept, and it was by far the most emotional moment on the trip thus far. They have had such an impact on all of our lives and we will deeply miss them.

Our group with Paul and Laura Shelton and Tomás

-Clint Kimmel

We saw even more beautiful sights as we toured the land.

Afterwards, we all came back and sang a concert in downtown Mendoza for the church of Paul and Laura Shelton, the missionary couple who have spent the entire week doing an incredible job taking care of us.

Afterwards, we all went out to dinner at a familiar restaurant… but more on that later.

At this point, we’ve come to the sad realization that the trip is almost halfway through. It’s amazing how quickly time flies. Having been here a week, we’ve got a little bit better of a handle on how things work here in Argentina as opposed to the States. While there are almost inevitably several more social faux-pas to come, we’ve learned enough to avoid most of them.

First off, here in Argentina, relationships are everything. Part of the beauty of the social culture here is the way that everything centers around enjoying and being grateful for the people in your life. For example, when saying goodbye to someone, you don’t say “adios,” but “hasta luego,” because it leaves relationships open: “see you later” instead of “goodbye.” Another lesson we learned is that meal times aren’t so much about food. As Laura Shelton explained to us, a lot of times we go out to eat in the United States in order to “not be hungry.” Here, meals are about taking time to be with friends and family. Lunch can stretch on into dinner if you like, and a waiter will never come ask if they can get you anything—doing so would be an interruption of your company. Speaking of restaurants: there are no free refills, and most of the time your drink comes in a chilled glass bottle which you then pour into an actual glass yourself. There’s no drinking out of your bottle: doing so will mark you as a foreigner. Also: no ice… that is, unless you’re at McDonald’s, which the group actually experienced tonight. We were surprised to find the burgers and chicken a higher quality of meat—and better cooked—than in the States. A few of our friends told us that when McDonald’s first came to Argentina, people started getting sick from eating their food. After that, they were forced to slow down their service and cook everything more thoroughly. Since then, it hasn’t been a problem. Also, their sizes were all one smaller than in the USA: that is to say, their large is the size of our medium. Another small side note about meals in Argentina: due to the European-style dining etiquette, most people don’t bring their utensils from the plate to their mouth while eating, but vice-versa.

Greetings in Argentina are far more personal than in the USA, we’ve found. People don’t scream their friends’ names when they see them from far away—they walk up and say hello to their face. Whether saying hello or goodbye, people rarely shake hands. Rather, it’s a light touch on the arm and a “kiss” on the cheek. It’s not an actual kiss, however: you simply touch cheeks and make the sound of a kiss. On the whole, a lot of us are still getting used to “kissing” total strangers… but it’s a nice change to be made. Dr. Bradley remarked earlier that he wondered “how things might be different in our own culture if we hugged and kissed each other more often.”

Our Spanish-speakers have had a time adjusting linguistically as well. To start, rather than pronouncing the “ll” as “Y” like most people in North America, the people here pronounce “ll” more like the second “G” in “garage.” To further complicate matters, we’ve also been told that young people—as well as everyone in Buenos Aires, where we’ll be at starting Monday—pronounce it as a “sh.” Also, rather than saying “tu” to indicate the second person, people here say “vos.” While I’m sure there may be other differences, my extremely limited Spanish-skills keep me from remembering anything else. Apologies!

We’ve all had to adjust somewhat to what it’s like driving, as well. We were told “if you use the rules you learned in Driver’s Ed, you will have a wreck.” People here don’t actually stop at “Pare” signs—they yield. Pedestrians don’t have the right-of-way, but they still run out across the street fairly often. And if you do have a wreck, be prepared to get out of your car and engage the other driver in a shouting match… then see them in court within 24 hours. The former is convention; the latter is law. Thankfully, we’ve been in the hands of some very capable Argentinian drivers the entire trip, and we’ve only hit two people on the road.

… Kidding.

At any rate, the greatest thing we’ve noticed here is that, everyone we’ve met has been great. All of the people have been extremely friendly and helpful; and if you show them that you’re at least willing to try Spanish, they’ll guide you as far as you need to go. When we’ve eaten at people’s houses, they’ve refused to let us leave feeling anything less than stuffed—which has led several of us to renewed dieting pledges after we return home—and almost everywhere we’ve been has given either us or Dr. Bradley some sort of gift to thank us for coming. Whether it’s a late lunch at an outside café where the tablecloth matches the trees’ yellowing leaves, a homemade dessert after touring the winery of our good friend Tomás, seeing the magnolia sun peek over the Mendoza skyline or emerge from the clouds above the highest peak in the Americas, we all agree: Argentina is a truly breathtaking country, and to do anything less than savor our remaining time here would be a gross mistake.

Stay updated: I’ve no doubt there are many more adventures to come.

Braeden Ayres

Today we spent most of the day driving through the Andes Mountains to the Chilean border. Because words cannot describe the beauty of the landscape, here are some pictures:

On the way to the border, we stopped at a small village called Las Cuevas. We had about thirty minutes to shop in the outdoor market. Here are some pictures:

Also, it is well known that on every Bradley family excursion, C. Randall always purchases a hat that is representative of the culture.  This trip was no different:

We also stopped along the road to see Aconcagua which is the highest peak in the Western Hemisphere. Our first group picture was taken at this site:

When we finally got to the border, we took another group picture:

On the way back, we stopped at a ski resort village for lunch and continued the rest of the drive towards Uspallata. We then had time to relax before our concert in the Uspallata town square. At the outdoor concert, we were able to sing for many people who were passing by, as well as several of the church families we had met the previous night. Three of the choir members shared their personal testimonies and through these stories, we were able to witness to the people of Uspallata.

After the concert, the pastor of the local Baptist church presented us with individual gifts that expressed the church’s gratitude for our presence. Even though we had only been in Uspallata for two days, it was very difficult to say good-bye to Sergio and his family. It seemed as though we grew very close to these people in a short amount of time, and we will remember the work they are doing in our thoughts and prayers.

Now we are back in Mendoza, so check back tomorrow…

Clint Kimmel

We all joined back together at noon in the hotel lobby. From there, we loaded our suitcases unto the trailer and then walked to a restaurant called Las Tinajas to eat lunch. This was a buffet style restaurant that had everything from steak to pasta. The food was INCREDIBLE! The greatest thing that impressed me about the restaurant was the meat line. Behind the counter they had a large grill that had chicken, ribs, steak, sausage, and everything else you could want. Argentina is especially known for their beef, and this restaurant gave good evidence why. Here is a picture of the grill:

After we stuffed ourselves, we sluggishly loaded ourselves onto the bus and drove toward Uspallata. Because of the gorgeous scenery, this two hour drive never got boring. It seemed like every time we made a turn, there was something else to take a picture of. Below are some pictures of the scenery:

When we got to Uspallata, we checked into our hotel and had a short amount of time to relax. Some of us went across the street and bought ice cream. Uspallata is a very quaint town with less than 3,500 people in it. Here are some pictures of the town:

After we were settled at the hotel, we walked a few blocks to visit the local Baptist Church. When we arrived, we were welcomed by the pastor and his entire family. They even had a sign on the front door that said “Welcome” in English. The fact that they welcomed us in our own language signified that they wanted to make us feel at home. There hospitality was meaningful and touching and it gave us a sense of unity in Christ. Here is a picture of a few of us in front of the sign:

The church is actually their home, and the sanctuary is their transformed living room. While relaxing in the sanctuary, the pastor—whose name is Sergio—told us about the work he has been doing in Uspallata. He did not speak any English so he spoke through a translator. This was an incredible story:

Uspallata is primarily a pagan town. Seventy to eighty percent of the citizens participate in idolatry or witchcraft. These people often say that they are Catholic, but if you go into their homes, you would see idols and alters for these gods. The pastor said that when people participate in these forms of pagan worship, they settle in high altitude areas—making Uspallata and the surrounding settlements ideal places for their beliefs. Sergio is originally from Mendoza but he felt called to come here about five years ago. He literally gave up his former lifestyle in Mendoza to learn a completely different culture here is Uspallata. The first year and half he drove the two hours from Mendoza to start making relationships with the people. By nature of the town, the people of Uspallata are not trusting of outsiders. He moved here about four years ago to start the church, and at first he was rejected by most of the town. The trash man would even pass by his house without picking up the trash to communicate that they did not want him here. In response to this, he reacted in a way that most people would not—he continued to love the people.

Sergio has a degree in building and is a skilled electrician and welder. Whenever the town has needed something in these areas, he has done it for them for free. He has been doing this for four years and they are just now starting to trust him and accept him as a citizen. In doing these tasks, he has proved to the citizens that he is here to help in every way possible. This has been his ticket to share the gospel. Currently, there are seven families that he has led to Christ and attend the church. Several of these families walk six to seven miles every Sunday just to attend the services. God is continuing to open doors. Recently, the owner of the one radio station in Uspallata donated one hour every Sunday for Sergio to talk about the Bible. This in itself is a miracle because the owner of the station is not yet a believer and a practicing idolater. The significance of the radio program is that it reaches literally everyone in the town. The people of Uspallata do not watch much television simply because there are only two channels and they only work at certain times of the day. The radio is really their best form (and often only form) of entertainment. Another door that has been opened is that the Uspallata schools are coming to Sergio and asking him to unofficially serve as a counselor to students in difficult situations. If there is a student that is getting into a lot of trouble, has a drug problem, or maybe has a tough home life, they invite Sergio to talk through the situation with him. These are only a few examples of how God has worked through Sergio and the church that he has started.

After talking with Sergio, we walked back to the hotel and had a few hours of free time. When it was time for dinner, we walked back to the church. Many of the church families were there and they cooked us a wonderful meal. The meal that they cooked is a very special tradition in the area. It was called “pollo de disco,” or “disk chicken.” The chicken was cooked in a stew-like gravy, but the special thing about it was that it was cooked in a modified disk from a tractor tiller. Before you make any rash assumptions, let me say that it was VERY good. Here are some pictures of the chicken being cooked:

The man that cooked the meal for us is a Major in what is the equivalent of the United States’ border control. He is also one of the men that Sergio has recently led to Christ. The others that prepared the meal for us were also church members. Sergio told us before that after these families become Christians, they wanted to serve the church in every way possible. This was evident tonight, and it was a great lesson to us all.

After dinner, we got in touch with the inner “choir nerd” in our souls and sang several songs that Dr. Bradley taught us on the spot. Many of these songs were rounds. One of which in particular has become famous through the years of the BUMC. Here is a video of the round. If you are a past member of the BUMC, you may recognize it:

We then exited the church and on the way out, we hugged and kissed each one of the church members that prepared our meal. We deeply appreciate their hospitality and look forward to singing for them tomorrow in the town square.

Check back for our entry tomorrow!

Clint Kimmel