Something Old, Something New

These last two months have been a blur. We have experienced old familiar things, like seeing faces we remember, going to places we’ve been to, and eating some great Argentine foods our taste buds missed. We’ve also been reintroduced to several aspects of the culture, like the crazy traffic, shopping at a different store for each different food group, and remembering which appliances need voltage converters. Of course, the brand new things abound. We’ve had the privilege of seeing new faces and making new friends, learning the basic geography of our city and neighboring towns, and going through “real missionary” experiences like waiting in line for everything, getting a shipping container through customs, and having to get those appliances fixed that needed an appropriate voltage converter. All in all, God is good, all the time. Rachelle’s parents, Barry and Diane Courts, have been extremely helpful in helping us get settled in and adjusted. The church family here at Iglesia Bautista Calvario (Calvary Baptist Church) has taken us in as their own. When our container got to the house, there were twenty of the church people there ready to help unload it. That was an incredible blessing.

Some of our help unloading the container

Our living room after things were unloaded

Ministry Opportunities

Though initially focused on getting settled in here, we have been blessed to take part in a few different aspects of the ministry. Rachelle had the opportunity to help in the nursery and teach the ladies for a Mother’s Day event (Mother’s Day is in October here). Ben has been able to preach a couple of times and is helping with the youth group. We both have also enjoyed being in the music ministry, practicing for the Christmas program and choir numbers. We appreciate these opportunities because they allow us to work alongside Leo, who heads up the youth, and his wife Claudia, who helps with the ladies’ ministries. Leo is the pastoral intern at the church. They want to follow the Lord’s call to pastoral ministry, and we are praying for the Lord’s guidance in working with them to start a church.

Ladies at the Mother’s Day event

Ben teaching the youth

God also has given us some opportunities to share His word in either witness or counsel with others. The van we bought came from a business in downtown Buenos Aires, about an hour away. Ben had the opportunity to share the Gospel with the owner of the business, Andres. He was not interested in receiving Christ at the time, but still asked several questions about the Bible, Jesus, the church, and our missionary work. His office staff was listening in and he even had Ben share a brief Gospel witness with them to see if they had ever heard it before. They had not. Because of the vehicle transaction process here, Ben got to meet with Andres a couple different times, watering the seed that was planted, and giving him a Bible of his own. Please pray for Andres to realize his sin and turn to the Savior.

Click to print: Prayer Letter- 2014 Sept Oct