Metzgers to Argentina

CAMPING

Another camp season is in the books. We had two young adults, eleven teens, and six kids from our church this year. Our family loves serving at camp, and now go for 2 of the 3 weeks every year. This year the camp celebrated its 50th anniversary! We praise God that we are able to be a part of this ministry that has a great impact on our youth. This year we were the teachers for the children’s camp, and Rachelle was in the kitchen both weeks, which was a change for her! She thoroughly enjoyed it and hopes to help cook more often. Please pray for the youth who made decisions for Christ this year.

GROWING

We praise God that He has been not only bringing visitors, but many have come to stay! We are bursting at the seams, which is a good problem to have. We pray we can minister to each new family and person who has come along. We thank God that we have enough teachers and helpers, but personal disciplers are still needed so everyone is connected. Along with this, we hope to start building the new church building so that we can expland. Pray for the remaining funds to come in, & wisdom in this whole process of expansion. .  

INVESTING

Several national church planters have built or started to build their church buildings and have been met with the need to expand due to growth, or just need a little more help finishing building projects. A non-profit organization– Trailhead International- has funded 50% of the needed cost. The churches themselves are buying materials, doing the work, and saving up even in this hectic Argentine economy. You can help be an enormous blessing to these brand new churches! Will you please pray and consider how you too can participate to help these  church plants finish these building projects for the work of the Gospel here in Argentina? See the post on our website here to know how you can help.

Invest in Church Plants in Argentina

We are reaching out to you, our prayer partners and faithful supporters, to share some special projects we have the chance to be a part of here. Many of you have been generous partners to help us with the funds for our own church building project, so we want to ask you to pray about something that God has laid in our path… 

Several national church planters have built or started to build their church buildings and have been met with the need to expand due to growth, or just need a little more help finishing the building projects. A non-profit organization– Trailhead International— has funded 50% of the needed cost. The churches themselves are buying materials, doing the work, and saving up even in this hectic argentine economy. You can help be an enormous blessing to these brand new churches!

Will you please pray and consider how you too can also participate to help these national-led new church plants finish these building projects for the work of the Gospel here in Argentina?

You can right click on each image to either download it or open it in a new tab to view the info. 

To donate online, click here and search by last name (“Metzger”), or search by country (“Argentina”). Please include the project location to which you would like to give. 

Thank you for being a part of what God is doing in Argentina!

There are customs in every country that are different from the United States. Some we do not enjoy, but many we do. Celebrating Spring is one of the enjoyable ones. Argentine’s tend to celebrate the end of the cold winter months by having a picnic, or enjoy the outdoors at a park on or around the first day of Spring (September 21st). As a result, we try to incorporate that into our church’s calendar. This year we did a picnic on the grounds at church. We had a wonderful time drinking mate (the Argentine green tea), playing games, eating an Argentine asado (bbq cookout), and enjoying fellowship with those who came! This is also a chance to invite visitors, some who would not come to a regular service, but will get to know our church family. This includes unsaved family members of some of our church families. Please pray for the salvation of these family members who came that day: José (father of a member) and Camila (grown daughter of members).

We took a family trip to the west side of Argentina for a conference and took the time to spend a weekend with dear ministry friends. David and Ruth Monzon are church planters supported by our church, and we were able to visit their new work in General Alvear, Mendoza, which officially started in January! It was wonderful to be with them and see how God is using them in this new church plant! You are also a part of their ministry since you support us, and our church supports them! Fruit that abounds to your account! Praise God for His work! Please pray for their baby church, that it will continue to grow. Also pray for the Monzon family. They were in a recent car wreck on their way to church and their vehicle was very damaged (they depend on it for ministry purposes) and David and Ruth have many injuries  that continue to be treated, and medical bills to be paid. They are encouraged to see God’s hand protecting and provinding for them.  

Once again we celebrated Mother’s Day (in October here!) with a ladies’ event. We had a wonderful group of women and girls participate, and a sweet time of companionship and fun. We pray for godly wisdom for the mothers in our church to train up their children and teenagers for God’s glory in this dark world. Please pray for the women in our church. We came back from furlough to find some division among a few of them and we pray as Paul urges the dear women of Philippi in Philippians 4:2 “I beseech Euodias, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord…” This is our prayer for those of our church so we may with one mind go forward as an example of God’s love to reach our community for Christ!

HAPPY 6TH ANNIVERSARY!! We surprised our church family by appearing at the anniversary celebration when were not expected back in the country for a couple of weeks yet. We had a great time celebrating all that God has done over the last six years of Iglesia Bautista Redencion. It was wonderful to be back in our country, our home, and with our church after a three month furlough. Since then we have been getting back into the swing of things in our home, schooling, family and friends, church, discipleships, and seminary.

We celebrated the fathers in our church on FATHER’S DAY, which is on the same day as in the United States. We thank God for the fathers in our church. We pray that they will be godly men, husbands and fathers for their families, pointing them to Christ.

July brought winter break and we were able to travel with our church’s youth group to a YOUTH CONFERENCE on the west side of the country, and also carry out a winter youth retreat at  camp here in Buenos Aires for the churches in our area, many of whom could not participate in the other conference. These times in the Word together strengthened our our youth, but we ask that you pray for unity and purity for our young people: that they will be true, godly friends to each other, and a light to those around them.

August was spent planning CHILDREN’S DAY. The day of the event dawned cloudy and threatening rain, and it even sprinkled some during the activities time, but we had over seventy children show up, even though most walked to get to the church!  They, along with their parents, listened to a clear presentation of the gospel. Now we are doing follow-up in their homes. Pray that many families will come to know the Lord as Savior as a result!

We also praise God that over the last couple of months five men and women have come to know the Lord as Savior. Most were invited by friends or family members to come to church, and recieved Jesus as a result. Don’t ever stop sharing the Good News of SALVATION and inviting your friends and family to church. You never know when they will finally give their lives to Christ. It might be the next time you ask! Please pray for the salvation of Claudio (neighborhood butcher), and Ramon & Mercedes (our neighbors).    

Welcome back to the United States. That’s what we have heard over and over since the beginning of March. We just finished up a three month furlough, reporting to many of you in our supporting churches, and seeing family and friends after almost four years in Argentina. It has been great to be back, but we also greatly missed our church family and loved ones in Argentina. What follows is a snapshot of our whirlwind trips criss-crossing parts of the U.S.A. in these past three months.  

We arrived March 3rd and spent a week and a half in Texas with Ben’s parents (grandparent time!), presenting and reporting in a few churches in the area. That time flew by and we then zoomed away to Missouri, Kentucky, Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Delaware, back to Kentucky, Oklahoma, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, and finally Arkansas, Missouri and Texas again. Are you dizzy? Because we are! Such is life on furlough. But in every state we encountered or re-encountered  many of you who have been faithfully praying for us along the way through these 11 years since we were approved as missionaries. We thank God for renewing friendships, for new friendships, for the prayers, hugs, and blessings everyone bestowed upon us this furlough. We truly have the best supporters, and we thank God for each and every one of you!

Our church carried on in our absence, and we thank the Lord for those who worked constantly to further God’s ministry in Gonzalez Catan while we were away. Thank you for praying for the faithful men and women who have held the ropes by teaching, preaching, and reaching others while we were gone. Please continue to pray for unity in our church, and now that we have returned the beginning of June, we can continue leading them forward to reach our community for Christ. Also, pray for the property to transfer smoothly to our church so we can begin our expansion project. Thank you to all who have given to that. If you’d like to contribute to it, please contact Ben through email or phone, or simply give as you usually do, earmarking it for the “Metzger church building fund.” We look forward to reporting  how God graciously provides for this in the very near future!

Happy Summer everyone! At least here we have been enjoying summer, with high temperatures, SUMMER CAMPS, and retreats! Camp season flew by in a blur, but we were able to take close to 20 of the  children and youth of our church to three different camps in January. We praise God that one of the children, Facundo, was saved, and many more made decisions to follow Christ more fully. There were many more salvation decisions among the teens and youth from other churches also, and we praise God for that!  Then in February we participated in the pastors’ and missionaries’ retreat and also a marriage retreat with seven other couples from our church. We were encouraged and challenged in both!

Our last weekend here in Argentina was filled with a farewell party given by our church family, a BAPTISM, and the Lord’s Supper. Every step of growth is celebrated, and we were excited for Nancy, who recieved Christ almost a year ago, but had an arm in a cast during our last baptismal service. We didn’t want to leave without letting her follow the Lord in believer’s baptism, which she was excited to do! Please pray for her and the other new believers, that they will continue to grow and be discipled. We praise God for the work He is doing in their lives. God is adding to His church, and we are thrilled to be a part of it here in González Catán, Argentina.

We are finalizing everything for FURLOUGH as I write this. On March 2nd we embark on our second furlough. We are anxious to leave our people here, but excited to see many of you and your churches and give a report of the past almost four years of service here in Argentina. Please pray for our church in our absence. That it will remain unified and God will be glorified through His work in their lives while we are gone, and that we will have safe travels, profitable time with family and churches. and a restful, rejuvenating time with our kids while away. 

CHILDREN’S DAY!!! Something celebrated religiously in August here in Argentina! We were finally able to hold a larger event, inviting the neighbor children to come and participate. Our church family put it together beautifully and received over one-hundred children and parents, who played, sang, ate, and heard a gospel presentation. We praise God for the results of this wonderful day. No one made a profession of faith on that day, but two families have started coming as a result, and the mother from one of those families and the teenage son from another recieved Jesus as their Savior in the following weeks! All the glory be to God!!

Our beautiful NATALIE celebrated her EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY in August! We are so privileged to be her parents, and to see her reach adulthood. We celebrated as a family, and also with her girl friends from church, family and the neighborhood. We thank God for all those who celebrated her life with us. She will also be graduating from highschool in December, following the Argentine school year. Please pray for guidance for her in the coming months and years as she follows the Lord’s leading in her now adult life.

Another family blessing was the visit of BEN’S PARENTS. They had wanted to visit in 2020 but because of COVID 19 were unable to do so. The kids caught up on their missed grandparent time, and we enjoyed a couple of weeks with them taking the time to see how our ministry is progressing, helping us out in the ministry, chatting, playing games and siteseeing. We are so very thankful for the encouragement Ben’s parents are to our family and ministry as they  support us and pray for us. We don’t take this lightly since many missionaries do not have this kind of familial support while they serve the Lord on the mission field. Pray especially hard for your missionaries whose families do not support and encourage them.  you can also be that encourgament that they lack. We know that ultimately we do not serve men, but the Lord. However, we also know that the Lord has commanded us to “ …comfort yourselves together, and edify one another…” 1 Thessalonians 5:11. Missionaries are Christians just like you who live in extraordinary circumstances and need prayers and support from loved ones. We are also incredibly thankful for your prayers and support!   

3 John 4 states, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” This is a true statement for those of us in ministry. We praise God that we were able to celebrate a vow renewal for Martin and Carolina as a result of this “walking in truth.” Their marriage had crumbled before they came to know Christ, and it has been wonderful to see what God has done in and through them these last three years since they were saved; even leading them to a vow renewal/church wedding that they never had done before. God is in the life, marriage, and family restoration business, and we are so excited to get to be a part of it in this family and others like them!

FIVE YEARS!! Iglesia Bautista Redención celebrated its fifth anniversary on June 12th! What an emotional time for us to see this baby church of believers continue to grow and mature. So much has happened during these past five years and we have learned so much through this ministry. God has amazed us by bringing our church family this far. Please pray that we will continue to grow in spiritual maturity as well as in number as we reach the lost in our surrounding area and disciple those reached for the glory of God.

Well, winter vacation has come and gone here. But it was a two-week period of busy-ness with two YOUTH CONFERENCES. One took place for almost a full week across the country. Our youth were challenged to follow God through wonderful preachings and were able to make more Christian friends from other parts of the country. They came back drawn closer to each other and with a stronger desire to serve the Lord. The other one was a two day retreat at camp, hosted by our and sister churches in the area. We praise God for the six young people who came to know the Lord as their Savior, among other decisions as a result of this retreat!