Missionary Monday ~ A Day in the Life of a Missionary Wife

 

 

 

Meet Jennifer and her family.

 

A Day in the Life of a Missionary in Argentina...

I get up around 8 and get dressed, unless a child wakes me up earlier. Change a couple of diapers (3 children, ages 4, 2, and 1, all still in diapers...the 4 yr old is slightly autistic), pass out fresh bottles, make my tea and have quiet time and devotions. :) :) :) My favorite part of the day!

The babysitter is supposed to be here at 9, so if it's not raining and the bus isn't too late, my husband and I leave the house around 9:15 to drop him off at the cafe at Walmart where he will have coffee either alone or with the other pastors from our church and use the free wifi to work. I go from there to language school in the center of La Plata, a city of about 1 million people. Most of the streets are one-way and the cars are stick shift, parking is either parallel or paid, so I'm still getting used to driving here. My sister says my tom-boyish ways have prepared me for this, since one of my favorite things growing up was racing go-carts! 

     

I am currently going to language school 2 hours per day, two days a week. I am on the home stretch of the curriculum! I do, however, think that the closer I get to finishing my classes, the more I realize how much more there is to learn! I love my teachers, you could not find more friendly, caring and qualified language teachers anywhere. 

     

When I get out of class, it is a race to see if I can get to the stores I need to go to before they close for 'the break'. In Argentina, there is a break in the middle of the day when all the 'negocios' or stores and businesses close for lunch from about 12:30 until 4:30 or 5PM. On any given day I may need to go to the lavadero (laundry), panaderia/confiteria (bakery), verduleria (fresh fruits and vegetables), carneceria (the best beef), pollejeria (fresh chicken), and either a supermercado or Walmart for all the other things on my shopping list. 

     

We are undoubtedly blessed with a lot of conveniences because we live in a larger city and yes, we have a Walmart, but don't be too jealous. You can not trust their meat most of the time and their fruits and vegetables look like they are from the bottom of the barrel. There have been many times I preferred a smaller supermercado to do my shopping! However, I will admit to enjoying the occasional Hershey's product that they import every once in a while. ;)

     

I pick up my husband from the cafe, either before or after my shopping depending on if there is parking where I need to go or if he has to drop me off and circle the block a few times. We go home to relieve the babysitter around 1 or 2PM. Our youngest son is asleep when we get home. I make lunch, we eat, I try to clean up and put the two year old down for her nap. Then the juggling really begins! My son, Joel, is in many ways your typical four year old and does not have the ability to be quiet for the other's nap time. With his slight autism rating and sensory perception disorder, he has a really hard time getting all his energy out. It is a fine line to walk, trying to keep him occupied and quiet during nap times! He loves to be outside when the weather permits, but needs pretty constant supervision, which means I get in my exercise. ;) I run outside to make sure he is ok, run inside and put away some clean clothes, run back outside to check on him, back inside to finish clearing off the drying rack, outside to make sure he is not breaking or eating anything, inside to hang the clean, wet clothes on the newly cleared drying rack, outside to make sure he is not throwing anything in the pool, then inside to start a new load of clothes. This continues with washing some dishes, prepping supper, and since we just moved again, unpacking. When his little sister Amelia wakes up, she joins the outside mischief. Rather than running from the front fence to the back fence yelling at the top of her lungs, trying to eat the cone-like things that have fallen off the trees, or throwing handfuls of dirt in the pool like her big brother, she normally occupies herself with a stick and a good patch of dirt. Then it's inside for baths and signing time (learning ASL is helping Joel begin communicate with words and signs, the others love it too), supper, and family time. Bedtimes vary from 9:30 for baby Logan to somewhere between 11 to midnight for Amelia to anywhere from midnight to 3 AM for Joel. His autism and sensory perception disorder keep him from being able to sleep much most nights. My husband stays up with him sometimes, but he usually wants mama. ♥ I keep the other children up later than I normally would so we can keep a decent sleep schedule and all wake up around the same time.

      

On church days, we are arrive at least an hour before service for my husband to attend to his responsibilities. We are on our first term here in Argentina, so the church we are working in is one that was started by another missionary and recently handed over to a national pastor that the missionary trained. Because he was fluent in Spanish when we arrived, my husband is already involved in teaching the seminary, preaching on the radio, teaching the teen class, preaching in a weekly rotation to the church itself, leading the choir, and heading up the music ministry besides being involved in all the church activities. I was quite a bit behind him in my language skills, as is pretty common for missionary couples, so thus far I have been able to participate in many activities but only serve by helping in the nursery, providing special music and teaching the 2 to 5 year olds class. Teaching the nursery class is a recent development, and is always an exciting time. You just never know what is going to happen with that age range! :) 

     

We would appreciate your prayers while we are finishing up our first term and planning our first furlough beginning in February of 2013. Thank you, Jen Bauer for this opportunity and this blog. Being in touch with so many other ladies who are living this missionary life has already been such an encouragement to me. Thank you as well to all the ladies who share your wisdom and experiences on the blog and Facebook page! God bless and keep you all!

  

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Thanks, Jennifer!  Would you like to share a day in your life?  Please email us at baptistmissionarywomen@hotmail.com or send me a message on facebook.

 

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