The Valencia's

Instagraming

2012-01-31T13:54:00.001-08:00

This week I got around to using the Instagram app. I like that a picture doesn't have to be taken very well to look more interesting. And it beats regular photos taken on this thing. Here are some picture examples from the week including the boys, our avocados that are starting to fall behind our house and some really delicious Cranberry and Oatmeal Cookies I made. Enjoy.

Day is done...

2012-01-26T17:46:00.001-08:00

...and Enzo is pooped. Goodnight blog friends.

Just hanging out

2012-01-16T11:11:00.001-08:00

Pink Eye

2011-12-31T06:48:00.001-08:00

Celebrating...

2011-12-10T07:58:00.001-08:00

.... Another great year with Vida Estudiantil La Plata. We worked hard to put everything together and then we had a great time celebrating together. Great night!

Many faces

2011-12-08T16:34:00.001-08:00

I have been alone with the boys this week. Here are some funny and fun moments.

P.S. We all survived.

Reggae for Vida

2011-12-05T04:05:00.001-08:00

On Saturday night, my brother-in-law's band generously agreed to do a benefit concert for Vida Estudiantil. All proceeds are going towards sending students to camp and anything left over will go towards a general fund that helps pay for things like special events, regular activities and the steep rent for our VE Office. We had a great time. Also, to raise funds recently, we have been selling things in "Feria Americana"s... our version of a garage sale. We open up the Sede (VE Office) and sell things that have been donated by people in our group. The Sede is a half a block away from a popular concert hall, so when big name bands or singers come to town, we spring into action and cook up Chorizo Sandwiches to sell afterwards. These three activities have proved SWELL fund raisers and they've been fun to do, as well. Thanks to Leo and his band for their giving hearts and a great concert! (Leo is pictured playing the drums)

Photo ops...

2011-11-30T09:14:00.001-08:00

... are fleeting but so worth it. Thank you Morgan for the photo session! Our first family of four pictures!

November news

2011-11-28T04:16:00.001-08:00

Pictures will probably speak much better than words. So I will post a good handful.

I recently got an iPod touch which is great for my on-the-go lifestyle. It's also to your benefit seeing how hopefully I can post much easier.

Summer is coming on strong and quick this year down here. And both boys are growing a ton lately.

We also got to visit D.C. for a good two weeks at the beginning of the month (Tabo got less time as he traveled for a conference in Thailand). Enzo experienced his very first Halloween with my good friend Megan's kids. See pictures here... http://beglin.blogspot.com/?m=1

I did not get a ton of pictures in the States on this thing, but I'll post the two I do have (Max and Tio Drew and one of the whole fam) and some more later. The other pic is of our very, very hot Thanksgiving here with teammates Ashlee and Emily. It was Em's first Thanksgiving experience as she is from England.

Great month! Looking forward to end of the year activities.

Hermano

2011-09-23T17:38:00.000-07:00

This post is a long time coming. (Story of my life.) I originally wrote it a while ago and in a tired stupor, I navigated away from the page before it uploaded… lost the WHOLE thing. So I’m sorry, but here goes a little update of what we’re up to around here these days.There is a new word upon Enzo’s lips lately. “Hermano”, Spanish for “brother”. It is so cute to hear him come into a room and call after his brother so proudly, “hermano!” Adorable. I will get to Enzo in a minute, but let me tell you a little about Max Daniel…

Considering he is almost 2 months old, it’s about time this little man gets a post about him. Max was born on August 3rd at 7:15 pm. He was born on his Uncle Nate’s birthday, which is hilarious because for those of you who don’t know, Enzo was born on his Aunt Cristina’s birthday (July 8th)… so it seems we have a thing going. After waiting around for 40 weeks for Max to arrive on his own, finally I went in for a C-section that Wednesday (Enzo was also born by C-section). Now, I am not one to jump into getting a C-section. Definitely not my first choice. But I was past 40 weeks and, hello, huge and uncomfortable. It was a super long day as the operating room was packed and they had me waiting around on a gurney for quite a while. However, my experience was really great at this hospital and with the medical team that attended me. We were chatting the whole surgery through. But back to Max. He is big! Five days before he was born his estimated weight was about 3 kilos, 400 grams. So on the operating table when my doctor says “Oh he’s a big baby!” I thought “yeah”… but then she said, “I’d say about 4 kilos”, I was thinking “no way”. Sure enough he weighed in at 4 kilos even. He had a perfectly round head meaning he was not on his way out at all. Max has done well putting up with some tough love from Enzo. The older brother loves his younger brother, sometimes a bit much. There was a little scratching and a few punches the first week… now we just have to keep Enzo from putting all his weight on his brother when he hugs and kisses Max and keep him from being too close all the time. If it were up to Enzo he would just cuddle his brother all the time. Luckily Grammy gave him a Mickey Mouse doll that he “takes care of”. It’s really sweet.

He is neither too laid back, nor is he so high maintenance. He’s sleeping ok… just now starting to extend a bit during the night. I was thinking the other day that I should probably give him some more floor time and tummy time, HOWEVER, sometimes that’s difficult with Mr. Always-Wants-to-Cuddle around.He’s a Spitter Upper, which is new for me. Enzo never really spit up much and Max seems to be a fountain at times and I can't believe he's even eaten as much as he's spit up. Max is a noisy little person. When he’s sleeping, when he’s crying, when he’s eating… he is making noise. The sleep noise sounds like a mix of grunting and getting gas out and stretching. And then he’s just a snorer. When he cries he makes the piggy noises, just like Enzo did. And when he’s eating, he’s just a heavy breather. Funny. He is a cute guy and he’s getting more and more alert and fun.

So now onto the BIG little man. Enzo is in a funny stage of his little life. Discipline. Independence. Personality. Boundaries. Understanding. We have had many an ugly moment as far as disciplining goes. It is so crazy how one minute he can frustrate us so much (and I’m sure we are just as frustrating to him) and the next minute TOTALLY melt our hearts with his cute little face. (I need to capture this certain face he makes). Language is a big thing right now. It’s a learning process for us too as we’re seeing what it’s like to raise a boy (they say they’re typically slower in the speaking department) who is learning two languages (they say that takes even longer). Enzo has quite a list of vocabulary. I’ve noticed that while he probably has more words in English, his pronunciation, in my opinion, is better in Spanish. It’s pretty impressive to see he really understands the two languages. That is amazing to me. I pretty much speak to him as much as I can (at home and around other English speakers) in English. Tabo mostly speaks to him in Spanish and then when we’re out and about I do as well, or most of the time when we have Spanish speaking guests over (although, of course, people understand why I speak to him in Spanish in our home). He is SLOWLY beginning to put a couple words together like “hello _____ “, “bye bye ______ “, etc… but he can in both languages. “ALL DONE” was one of the first things he said in general, but that’s also a phrase he does in both English and Spanish. Not much else as far as multiple words go. He’s working on colors right now, his favorite, as least to say, is yellow.

Enzo is a kid who loves order. Well, sometimes. He loves to line things up… blocks, shoes, etc. One time at a restaurant that had a kids section in the back, he took a long time to meticulously fix a tic-tac-toe board so that it was all x’s. Perfectly lined and perfectly even. Another child came up and flipped one of the x’s and Enzo looked at him as if saying “don’t you know how long that took me to do?” Loves order.He also likes closure. No literally, he closes doors wherever he goes in the house. And he’s not always very quiet about it which we’re working on. Enzo’s favorite things to do are ride on his toy motorcycle, read books (he’s especially enjoying Dr. Seuss these days), playing with blocks, watching pretty much any kind of kid’s shows that sing and dance on YouTube and of course, kicking a soccer ball. Enzo no longer sits in a booster seat or high chair. This started one night and he never went back. He's not using a bedrail in his "big boy bed" either. We forgot to put in on one night and realized he was fine. We've had no falling out of bed incidents. We HAVE however dealt with the child getting out of bed to come sleep with us. We have NO idea how to tackle this problem, which happens EVERY NIGHT.Enzo is on his way to being a GREAT big brother. He has to work on many things like not waking the baby up with his hugs and kisses, or his tantrums… but he sure loves his “hermano… bebe… Max!”

So thankful for our little boys.

Dos.

2011-07-09T17:11:00.001-07:00

SOMEbody turned two yesterday. Tabo and I wanted to do something unlike any other day and we decided to take Enzo to Burger King to play in the Kids Zone. Well... every McDonalds, Burger King and the like were PACKED in the city considering it was a) Friday and b) the last day of classes for students before Winter break. It was REdiculous. We never made it upstairs to the Playzone but we DID get french fries! He has no idea yet, so that's ok. After lunch we took Enzo in for his two year check-up with the doctor. Lame, I know. Going to the doctor ON your birthday. Enzo checked in at 13 kilos, 800 grams (almost 30 1/2 lbs) and 88 centimeters tall (34.6 inches). Everything looked great.

Later on we went to run around the cathedral a bit and for dinner we had a friend couple over and Enzo's uncle Leo. It was a good, quiet day. We absolutely cannot believe Enzo is two but fully expect to be astounded like this every year. So thankful for our energetic, happy, sweet Enzo Luke.

At the cathedral of La Plata (above and below).

Watching a Copa America game with our friend David.

Dressed up as Spiderman at one of our favorite family restaurants, The Mosquito.

Enzo's latest craze... KETCHUP! We've found he will dip just about anything in it... and sometimes he'll just eat it alone!

And they're off!

2011-07-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we sent of the first batch of students and staff to the northwest part of Argentina for our yearly missions and social project. Over the next three weeks we will send a total of 17 students from La Plata to join over 100 others from all over the country involved with Vida Estudiantil or the professionals movement. They will be distributing donations including clothing, medical supplies and school supplies, completing work projects of all sorts, giving special talks on health and a variety of academic subjects, giving medical and dental attention to those in need and most importantly, taking the message of Christ to this region through any activity they can.

Tabo and I are cheering from the sidelines as we've decided to stay home this year and wait for a baby who is less than a month away from his arrival.

Our 17 students and staff from La Plata are headed to the northwest corner of the country to remote places surrounding and in between Salta and Tucuman.

Another go...

2011-06-21T20:40:00.000-07:00

I have long debated whether to have a strictly personal blog, plus a strictly ministry blog, or to combine the two. Then there is the debate of what blog site to use (for me Wordpress vs. Blogger). Since seriously debating these, I have hence... not blogged at all. My conclusion is... let's keep it simple.

I am always logged into my Google account, which run blogger. Done.

Two blogs is way to complicated.

Ministry is personal and I am not going to stress about what get's more attention on the blog.

So here we are... using Blogger, hoping (again) to be a good updater and let all of you in my blogworld (of 3?) know once again what is going on with Tabo and Kelly and the Valencia's.

To play some catch up I will revert to pictures. People like pictures, right? Thanks for tuning in!

About a year ago (end of May, 2010) we moved to La Plata, one hour south of Buenos Aires. When I went around taking pictures of the apartment for my family, Enzo tirelessly followed me around, then only crawling, but very fast.

Enzo turned 1 in July and within the month was a walker.

In November, Kelly participated in a Latin America Women's Conference, getting to hear from some great women such as Judy Douglass (wife of current CCC President, Steve Douglass) and get to know many other great ladies. I also helped with simultaneous translation throughout the conference which was an extremely educational experience.

In December we saw 6 "Vida Estudiantil" students and former students baptized in one night at our church. We had a great time celebrating with them afterwards at the Vida Estudiantil house.

January, 2011 was dedicated to our National Camp conference in Cordoba and straight into two weeks on a service project in the south of Argentina (this year the Valencia's were in Piedra del Aguila, Neuquen).

Enzo had no fear of the frigid lake water in Neuquen.

February, 2011

In March (20 months) Enzo moved into a "big boy bed".

This is not our best picture, but it is evidence of how crazy Enzo's hair got.

Enzo with "Ta Ta" in D.C. in April, 2011

Giving Dad a head massage.

A dinner with students at the Vida Estudiantil house.

And finally... a couple of Enzo's favorite things lately:

Trying on "too big" shoes... or lining all the shoes up in our house in very neat rows.

Riding his motorcycle with a friends real life motorcycle helmet. Every time Ezequiel comes over, Enzo is forever trying on the helmet.

Sitting at the computer on his makeshift stool (just perfect, an old coffee container) to watch video's on YouTube.

There is so much more to update on... but I will stop here.

End of the year. Wow!

2009-11-29T15:03:00.001-08:00

Over a year. That is a new record low for the Valencia's. We are sorry about not updating this blog. A year ago is about when we found out that I was pregnant. Now, Enzo Luke Valencia is almost 5 months old and life looks a LITTLE BIT different for us. How about a little updating...

Enzo was born on Wednesday, July 8, 2009 (if you haven't already heard)

Kelly continues to work (mostly from home) on translating communications for our National Director, as well as some ministry resources. Since Enzo's arrival, she has eventually made her way back into the office about 2 days a week (depending on the week) bringing Enzo along with her.

Tabo has been working on launching and developing new spiritual movements all over Argentina. Currently, one of the main locations is in the northeast part of the country, in Misiones. He is splitting his time between ministry visits, office time and campus time, working with a team to reach university students with Christ's message.

We are now preparing our biggest time of year... summer. On January 1st we will head to Cordoba for our Summer National Conference. Or "camp" as we call it here. From there we will be traveling south to Neuquen where Tabo and I will be leading this year's Summer Project in Mapuche Communities.

So it's been an exciting year and there's a lot going on! We look forward to keeping you way more updated.

Christmas in D.C. for the Valencia´s!

2008-11-13T11:44:00.001-08:00

In December, we will be back in the States for a short time. We are thrilled to be able to spend a Christmas in D.C. again and look forward to seeing as many of you as we can in the two weeks we´ll be around. Kind of a downer is that our support has lulled a bit this past year and we´ve realized that we need to focus some attention on challenging new monthly supporters and ministry partners. While we´ve been experiencing a “time of need” lately, we are also confident that the Lord will continue to supply us with our every need, just as he always has for us. It is good to be shown his provision and his care for his kids. We´re also confident that these new projects in Argentina, involving a lot of extra effort and travel, are most definitely worth it. Big things are happening here, so we thank Him for that!

Several days are definitely being set apart for a trip to the Raleigh, NC area, seeing how we didn´t get down the last time we were back… and we really regretted that! For these two weeks we´d like to be wise with our time and be good planners, but we also want to enjoy some quality time with family and friends. So please pray for us and that balance. If you feel God leading you to support us, please let us know. Likewise, if you have anyone you know who is looking for an opportunity to give, also let us know. We so appreciate you…

Oh the places you´ll go

2008-11-13T11:23:00.000-08:00

In September Tabo and I, along with our friends the Frazier’s, carried out a vision trip to Central Asia, checking out the possibilities of forming a partnership between Argentina and this location and sending teams to work alongside the national and international teams in this country. This project has become our “baby” as we´ve begun planning and dreaming about these future projects. This nation is a key place in Central Asia which would serve as a door into the Middle East and a denser Muslim world. We see these as rich opportunities for our Argentine students and we will be praying for a team of 6 or 7 to head back in September of 2009 for 4-6 weeks. Be praying for the formation of this team and this challenging project as we hope to affect lives with the message of Christ in this country.
Our other “baby”, apparently we have two babies now, is a little closer to home, but just as exciting. Tabo is working on a new department which would focus on reaching the unreached campuses of Argentina, creating a Spiritual Multiplying movement on such campuses. To give you a better picture, there are about 106 universities total in Argentina. Campus Crusade currently has “spiritual movement” presence in 47 of them, leaving 59 to get to. Tabo is working on a plan that will get currently involved students and staff to make visits, even adopting, these other universities, so that we can come a few steps closer to reaching a generation with the message of Christ in Argentina. This plan involves coming up with a budget, raising those funds, making contacts with students, staff, authorities, pastors, etc. as well as, creating presentations, producing resources that will promote CCC in these universities and getting teams together to carry out these visits. It is a huge project with a lot of logistics and Tabo is very excited about it. Please pray for him as he looks for God´s wisdom on getting this together and executing the plan.

The end of an era...

2008-11-13T11:14:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, we have been participating in an Emerging Leaders Initiative for South America, run by the Global Leadership Team of Campus Crusade. This team includes a handful of very wise, respectable and down-to-earth leaders in our organization who over the past 3 years have poured into us, investing an incalculable amount of time and energy, and just plain good teaching. In mid-October here in Buenos Aires, this team commissioned us into the world to continue growing spiritual movements everywhere, thus making us graduates of the 1st Cycle of the Emerging Leaders Initiative in South America. What a privilege it has been to have been a part. We only hope that our gift in return is to give ourselves wholly to God´s calling for us and seek excellence for His credit.

Central Asia

2008-10-03T08:32:00.000-07:00

WE´RE BACK!

We had a short, packed, educational, tiring and wonderful two weeks in Central Asia. I would say, one week after our return, we are officially over the jet-lag and we´ve moved on to addressing the "what now" of this new project. We hope you enjoy some of these images from this special time.

Vision Trip Prep

2008-08-22T08:01:00.000-07:00

As most of you should know by now, Tabo and I are preparing for a big trip. I know it´s a little lazy of me, but I will copy a part of a letter that we recently sent, which explains a bit our reasons for this "trip"...

A little over a year ago, we were sitting in an international mission’s conference, praying for the nations, and more specifically for Argentina so be a “sending nation” and work towards the completion of the Great Commission in other parts of the world where it is difficult for many of us to go. Of course, there are Argentine missionaries in other parts of the world, but our organization in Argentina also want to be winning, building and sending students to win, build and send wherever they may go, “building spiritual movements everywhere”.
We believe it is important to give these students a “taste” of what missions is. After all that is what I (Kelly) was looking for in 2003 when I first left for Argentina. For that reason we are working on a short term international project opportunity for Argentine students, with hopes that some students will be moved to a more long term commitment to global missions.
Just next month we will be traveling to Central Asia on a Vision trip alongside one other couple. We will be looking for good ministry opportunities for Argentines in this country and ironing out some details for a future project in early 2009.

So be thinking of us, please, as we make our final preparations, as we travel, as we collect our information, as we aim to really see what it is the Lord has in mind for this trip and the future of this "partnership". Thanks so much. We will keep you informed!

campus tools

2008-06-15T08:14:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share 2 things that we've been sharing on campus lately. One is the cadaestudiante.com campaign. You may or may not have heard of http://www.everystudent.com/, a resource website for students looking into spiritual issues. Well, the website is now available in Spanish and students have a way of contacting us through email with any questions and doubts and thoughts that they may have about the articles posted. We get a ton of emails with a wide range of responses. There are some interesting comments, some pretty rude and inappropriate comments and then some genuine comments from real seekers. Tabo has been helping to answer these emails and provide some help to those geniune seekers. In the month of May there were over 61,000 hits to the site. We have reason to believe that as many as 1,055 people made decisions for Christ through the website, although we can't be positive how accurate that number is. The site is http://www.cadaestudiante.com/. Take a look!

The other tool we've been using lately is called the Soularium. The Soularium is basically a set of 50 images, on 50 different postcards, which inevitabely evoke different thoughts in each person. There are a series of questions to help begin a more indepth conversation with someone about where they've been, where they are, and where they'd like to be in life and on their spiritual journey. The questions are simple and allow for their own very personal response... some go like this:

1. Which 3 images respresent you, right now, and why?

2. Which 3 images would you choose to represent what you've experienced spiritually in your life so far? Why?

3. Which image would you LIKE to represent your spiritual life right now? Why?

4. Which image represents how you think of God? Why?

Those aren't the exact questions... but along those lines. I've found this tool really interesting to work with and it really can generate a great conversation on spirituality. There is a site where students can go to see what other students answers were like. Check out http://www.mysoularium.com/ if you like.

Elsie Rose

2008-06-14T20:03:00.000-07:00

... and then our little friend Elsie arrived. One of my best friends Megan Beglin had little Elsie on April 21st in the wee hours of the morn. She is one cute baby and sounds like a delight to hold and be around. The closest we´ve been to her is checking DAILY for any updates on her blog that her mama does so well. We sure are excited for they day we finally get to hang out...

2008-06-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

So in February we had a whole 2 weeks in our new apartment in Buenos Aires... non-consecutive. But they were wonderful. We spent every day, all day, scraping and painting. The day that we left for the States, we finished the very last part of the apartment. So there were still boxes everywhere, all white walls, no order... but HOME.

We spent March in los Estados Unidos. WONDERFUL. We got some really great time with the Millers. We didn´t get to see all the friends we would have liked to see... but more quality time with family is ok by us...

...There were lots of things we were able to do that we really enjoyed: a quick trip to New York (thanks Carrie) and meshing in all the sites and experiences we could in a day, the peak of the Cherry Blossoms, Ben and Alissa´s wedding in Atlanta, plenty of half-priced burgers at Whitlows, Easter weekend with some ex Argentina STINTers, visiting with all sorts of multi-generations of cousins and family, seeing some good basketball games, getting loved on by our "4th family", seeing Megan Beglin just before Elsie´s arrival, time with our temporary neighbors the Mutryn´s, lunch bunch Sunday lunches, visiting with Jim and Jenny... there was a lot.

So on to April and our return to Buenos Aires. We now split our time between Staff Training and working for the National Office. About every month or month and a half, a group of new staff come to the city and we have about 2 weeks intensive courses together. In the time where that group isn´t around we have been doing anything from administrative help (translating, accounting, statistics) in the actual office, or on campus sharing with students. It´s been a time of growth for us... we´re learning a lot about "the other side of the ministry" and also just being in a new city, a huge city, with all it´s pro´s and con´s. We´ve been so pleased and really grateful for the smooth transition. It really has been a great time for us and we´re really enjoying ourselves. The Lord has been so good to us.

2008-06-14T19:37:00.000-07:00

... on the road...

2008-06-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

We officially left Comodoro just after Christmas. We put our things in "storage" for the summer... and by "storage" we mean in at least 4 different people´s houses (thanks guys) and packed into our truck. Our address from Dec. 27th until February 10th or so was... Mitsubishi L200, Argentina. Har har. No, but seriously. It was a long summer...

... we added up over 100 hours of driving, and approximately 6,000 miles covered. Yes! It was an adventure.

In January we had our National Summer Conference in Cordoba.

In late January we returned to the Mapuche Communities of Neuquen, Argentina for a missions project.

...the past 8 months or so...

2008-06-14T19:26:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since October. As you can imagine. First of all, Christmas happened...

... it was our last Christmas in our first house. Stockings care of Terri...

Before leaving Comodoro we visitied Coyhaique, Chile for a long weekend with our niece, Belen.

... Tabo has a lot of family in Coyhaique and we had a great time visiting with a lot of them. Tabo and Belen got in a good soccer game.

Out and About

2007-10-19T20:19:00.000-07:00

Tonight we got back from a quick trip to Trelew (400 km. North) and Puerto Madryn (500 km. North) where we were helping with the latest nation-wide Crusade campaign called "How much do you know about Jesus?" (see below for details). Tabo and I were traveling with Pablo (also from Comodoro) and his girlfriend, Etelvina (working in a city north of Buenos Aires... Parana). It was quick, a little tiring, and really good. These trips allow us to see the students working in these cities and encourage them however we can. We'll put some pictures up here soon.

*** "How much do you know about Jesus?" is the name of a special campaign Campus Crusade Argentina is using during this part of the school year. We target 1st year and rising university students (from about ages 18-21) by putting up posters, handing out flyers and running into them at the university. The idea is that after finding out about the details... the students go to a certain website (www.cuantosabesdejesus.com) to enroll, giving details such as their name, age, major, school, address). Giving this information, they are contacted by Crusade staff with further details. They are given the opportunity to study up on Jesus Christ and on a certain day they will be able to take a 10-question quiz about what they've studied. They are then entered into a lottery for a variety of very nice prizes. Already, we have recieved a good number of students interested in taking this quiz... It's already served to contact people in many cities interested in who is Jesus Christ.

Spring has sprung!

2007-09-25T19:45:00.000-07:00

Today was a BEAUTIFUL spring day here in Comodoro. We are THRILLED to welcome the warm weather after months and months and months of cold. And we know what the warm weather means.... summer and our busiest time of year is just around the corner! That's ok. We're ready for it.

Happy Birthday Tabo

2007-09-25T19:40:00.000-07:00

August 17th was Tabo's 26th birthday. We had a bunch of people over, the house was full, and we had a great, great time.

2007-09-25T19:39:00.000-07:00

Baking a cake with our niece, Belen, for Tabo's birthday.

Social nights...

2007-09-25T19:34:00.000-07:00

On one night we did an activity with our friends, which was more like a teamwork activity. It took about an hour to explain and accomplish, but we had a lot of fun doing it. Afterwards we talked over the game, sharing what each person got out of it. And they really enjoyed it! We had a lot of fun and enjoy these friends a lot.

CM2007 Conference in South Korea.

2007-09-25T07:01:00.000-07:00

Click here to see pictures and comments from our amazing time in Busan, South Korea alongside 16,000 people from all over the world.

If the link doesn't work copy and paste http://picasaweb.google.com/kellymvalencia/CM2007WebAlbum into your web browser.

ENJOY!

2007-04-17T10:20:00.000-07:00

2007-04-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

Panama

2007-03-15T17:27:00.000-07:00

Tabo and I were in Panama for about a week at the beginning of the month. This was Phase 3 of our mentoring and leadership program that we have been attending once every six months... (Remember Ecuador?) Of course, in Panama we got a chance to see the famous Canal. In the picture we're overlooking the Canal facing the side that empties into the Pacific. It was a little windy and I think both of us have our eyes closed. Ah well.

The conference was VERY wonderful and we're so thankful, again, that we have the opportunity to participate in these conferences.

2007-03-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

A little view of the Panama Canal. This lock (Miraflores) is one of three on the 50 mile stretch of canal that goes from Atlantic to Pacific... and this is the last lock before the boats reach the Pacific. However you are looking towards the Atlantic in this picture. It was quite a sight to see.

2007-03-15T17:14:00.000-07:00

In Panama we got to hear Dr. Henry Cloud speak... 3 days, each with 3 different "sessions". This man is GIFTED. He's very wise yet very down-to-earth and easy to follow. We enjoyed it very much. Just FYI, Dr. Cloud has some great online resources in the area of psychology from a follower-of-Christ perspective. One site of great Q & A by video is http://www.solutionsonvideo.com/ also try
http://www.drcloud.com/ .

Check them out!

dvc Reloaded

2007-03-01T09:31:00.000-08:00

... that is (d)esarrollo, (v)ision, (c)apacitacion.
... or development, vision, training

You may remember that last year we started a leadership program for our leaders in Patagonia, we called it "dvc". We've just completed the first round of "dvc Reloaded" in Trelew, Chubut (4 hours from Comodoro). Catchy, no? All new leaders were invited to work on their vision and training to be even better leaders here in the South. We are real excited about this group... this year a group of 8 (last year their were 5). We mainly spoke about what it looks like to be "Building Spiritual Movements Everywhere", a current Crusade slogan. Our next time together will probably be April.

While in Trelew, we took advantage of the new school year beginning. With so many freshman and college student propectives, we decided to host small seminars at the university in Trelew on useful information for these students, including: Vocational orientation and Study techniques. We met a lot of students and considered the talks successful...

2007-03-01T07:03:00.000-08:00

We got a new garden nook.... and we love it.

2007-03-01T07:01:00.000-08:00

Ralph and Facundo relax a little at the park, waiting for their asado.

2007-03-01T06:56:00.000-08:00

A little Phase 10 with Terri....... Tabo and Belen (our niece)

2007-03-01T06:50:00.000-08:00

Ralph and Terri came to visit! We spent 5 great days in Comodoro, fixing up the house and garden (!!!) and showing them around "our town" and then 5 great days of travel to the south.

Tabo and I were absolutely blessed by their trip and we're so glad for the time we could spend with them... following are some other photos from our time together.

2007-02-28T16:08:00.000-08:00

It's Jack and Rose and the iceburg. Noooooo, not really. It's Ralph and Terri in Calafate. This was AMAZING... if you ever get the chance, it's a sight to see.

2007-02-28T15:54:00.000-08:00

Mom and Dad Miller on a train to the end of the world. No seriously... it's the "End of the World Train". Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, End of the World.

On the Air

2007-02-28T13:36:00.000-08:00

Kelly, Tabo, Penelope and Pastor Marcos

The first Sunday of our week on Project with the Mapuches of Neuquen, we helped Pastor Marcos with his radio program. The program reaches his local town of Alumine and a lot of surrounding towns including many Mapuche villages. Penelope shared about the project and Campus Crusade for Christ, Kelly shared her testimony and Tabo shared a brief message for the listeners. It was funny... and fun...

Mapuche project in Neuquen...

2007-02-28T13:31:00.000-08:00

... Here's a family we visited in the mountains in Quillen, Neuquen. The family wasn't able to make it to the showing of the Jesus Film that night, but we did get to spend some time with them and share with them about Jesus Christ.

This is Tabo and me with Elisabet, Ivan, Adan, Adriana, Laura (who was helping with us) and Chingo.

Mapuche Project 2007

2007-02-28T13:26:00.000-08:00

Showing and watching the Jesus Film in Quillen, Neuquen... a mapuche village in the foothills of the Andes. We asked permission to share the film in the front yard of a Mapuche woman whom our group had met the year before. This is just a visual example of some of the work we did on the project following camp in the south this year.

Meet Sara...

2007-02-28T13:20:00.000-08:00

This is Sara Vidal.

Sara is from Concepcion, Chile and we met her in January, 2006 at camp in Neuquen. Sara is preparing to make a big move as she'll be coming to Comodoro and working with us for at least one year. She'll be considered a "STINT" (short term international, which is what I was in La Plata). We're expecting Sara in March and very excited for her joining our team!

Camp in the South... 2nd annual!

2007-02-28T13:13:00.000-08:00

After camp in Mar del Plata and a couple days rest at home, we drove 1,700 kilometers up and over to Neuquen. We were glad to return to beautiful Villa Pehuenia for round two of our camp in the South. Here's a picture of the group who joined us.

2007-02-28T13:01:00.000-08:00

Summer Conference 2007 in Mar del Plata.

The first couple weeks in January, we hit the beach. All 280 of us. You may know that most summers we go to Cordoba to attend the Vida Estudiantil Summer Conference, one of the highlights of the year here on a national level. This year we all relocated to the east coast of the Buenos Aires province in the hot spot of the summer, Mar del Plata. The camp was focused more on evangelism this year and taking advantage of being at the beach, we put that theme into practice just about every afternoon on the crowded beaches of Mar del Plata. Every night there was a specially planned activity, such as a karaoke night (shown in picture) a "dancing with the stars" night, movie night and others such as mission's night, etc. It was a great time of catching up with friends from other parts of the country and some sweet teaching... and a great beginning to summer in the southern hemisphere...

2006-11-02T14:59:00.000-08:00

THIS is overdue! Tabo and I have been back from Quito, Ecuador for almost 3 weeks now, but we continue to process over things we talked about while we were there. First of all, the group of leaders that are participating in this mentoring program... are great! It is SO neat to see who God has put in these other countries of S. America and to hear about what is happening where THEY live. The dynamics of the group are really great. Also, those who are doing the training are just some real quality people. What we heard was deep, relevant, challenging... and I'm so glad Tabo and I were given this opportunity. We EAGERLY await our next time together with this group.
I think there are about 30 to 40 people involved in the group, from Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Colombia. And then there is a leadership training team that travels from the U.S. national headquarters as well. To the right is a picture of those of us representing Argentina (plus one Chilean who snuck in there). We are at "the middle of the world" where we were able to actually walk on the equatorial line... ACTUALLY, the original scientist were off by about 200 meters of so, but still. It was neat.

Clockwise starting left is Cristian (the Chilean), Marcelo, Mauricio, Tabo, Mario Bloise (National Director CCC Argentina), Kerri, Kelly, Charly, Andrea and Cintia.

I feel like it's pretty impossible to really convey how great out time was... but I can at least tell you a little about the content. Maybe a little list of example topics we mulled over...

~ the heart of a leader
~ framework of a spiritual leader
~ framework of a spiritual movement
~ strategic planning
~ strategic resolution of specific problems
~ recognizing and resolving problems and then fitting them into a strategic plan
~ the role of a "change agent" in your ministry (having to do with Stategy)
~ "movements everywhere!"
~ discipleship that changes lives
~ "connecting with the lost" - the message, the messenger, the method
~ values or pillars of a movement

Just to give you some examples. Good stuff! The bottom line is that it was a great time and we are so thankful to be a part of this project. And THAT is our report from Ecuador. The next trip like this will probably be in March... location TBA.

Over AND out.

2006-10-16T19:38:00.000-07:00

We're home from Ecuador! Tonight we FINALLY got back to our house after nearly two days of traveling. Our trip was VERY great and we promise to write about it very soon... like tomorrow probably. Although we had many, many hours of sitting in one place, we are pretty exhausted.

But before we sign off, we'll leave you with some BUBBLE WRAP ( <-- click there) that we stumbled upon. This is Great! Try manic mode! You're welcome.

2006-10-08T15:08:00.000-07:00

Hailing from Quito.

Not only are we safe and sound in Ecuador, but we are updating you thanks to the glory of wireless internet... in the Andes mountains! This city is pretty amazing. We flew in to the international airport last night, which is nestled... and I mean really nestled... in the hills of the Andes. The airport lies right smack dab in the middle of the city. Kind of scary, but we had a good landing. We're surrounded by beautiful green mountains, four of which are active volcanos. Getting off the plane there were these BEAUTIFUL and GIGANTIC bunches of the prettiest roses I've ever seen. And tons of them.

Today we enjoyed a day off before the conference starts tomorrow. So Tabo and I went with two others to a tennis match that Tabo was real excited about. An Argentine, Guillermo Canas who's making his way back into pro tennis after having been suspended for 15 months. Unfortunately he lost against the Australian Chris Guccione. That was my first pro tennis match and it was exciting. So that was a good, fun day off.

And tomorrow we start. Everyone is arriving including a lot of great "speakers" from the States. So we're excited to be here and looking forward to updating afterwards. If we take any fun pictures, I'll post them up here.

Oh, yes! And one last, but very important fun fact is that today, the best soccer team in Argentina, River Plate, defeated the not-best soccer team in Argentina, Boca Juniors... 3-1! Beautiful!

2006-09-14T18:11:00.000-07:00

So, this is South America. Some people don't realize how far south Argentina actually is. And within Argentina, Tabo and I are pretty much way down there. We are located on one of those last little jut-outs on the eastern coastline of Argentina. But if you can believe it, it would still cost you about 24 more hours to drive to the southernmost tip of the country. It is large. But the map is actually to point out Ecuador. (Huhm?) Yes, Ecuador... upper left coast there just below Colombia. In October, Tabo and I will be traveling there, each for the first time, to participate in a very special mentoring program where staff from all over S. America will also participate. We excited and we'd appreciate you prayers for our time there. I believe we'll be in Quito, which is their nation's capital. Fun, fun!

2006-09-11T15:26:00.000-07:00

Just married... June 17th, 2006 in San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina.

2006-09-11T14:59:00.000-07:00

Villa la Angostura, Neuquen... Argentina

2006-09-11T13:59:00.000-07:00

This July we visited our young friends in Amaiche del Valle, Tucuman in northern Argentina. This is the third year we participated in this Winter Missions and Social project and in this particular town.

Hello, neighbor...

2006-09-11T12:44:00.000-07:00

We are very happy to announce that not only do we have Internet in our house now... we are also proud "Bloggers". This way we hope to stay more connected with you all by posting things that are going on and sharing pictures that you might enjoy.

We hope you enjoy!

Tabo & Kelly