January 2021 Report

Happy New Year and Off to a Good Start

Every year my family begins the year by reflecting on the goals set during the last year to compare what we wrote versus what was accomplished.  We always find that many goals were met, some were lost along the way and other goals that we had not initially planned were later added and finished.  2020 did not turn out how anyone initially planned but we have been amazed by God’s goodness as He added to our ministry here in Argentina.  With the start of 2021 there was a lot of talk about the government in Argentina returning us to a strict quarantine. (The quarantine never was officially lifted in December but people en masse acted as though it did)  There were several travel restrictions and it was believed that on the 15th of the month that it would possibly become stricter again.  Thankfully, that time came and went without any new government restriction. We pray that things will continue to open up further and look forward to possibilities in the future. 

Waiting in Line at Immigrations

“Can we have Jackie Chan’s Autograph?”

The Lord gave me the opportunity to share the gospel with a homeless couple.  I had just come from a vegetable store and bought a sale on lettuce and tomatoes.  As I was walking home, I saw a homeless couple that had piled up boxes to make an enclosure on the side of the road.  It was like the Lord was telling me in my heart to share some of the produce that I just bought.  It turned out that they had a box full of rabbits under a blanket that they did not have food for.  I began to share the gospel with them. 

After they listened to the presentation, they had a request.  They said that they wanted me to get them Jackie Chan’s autograph for them.  You see, here in Argentina, many people seem to think that everyone in the US is extremely rich and knows everyone famous.  They told me that they really liked Jackie Chan’s movies and really wanted his autograph. 

I let them know that I really didn’t know that many famous people except one that was the most important of all time, Jesus Christ!  From there I was able to share the gospel a second time. 

Later that day I returned with a Bible that they could keep.  I found that they changed addresses.  They had moved their things to the other side of the road!  He told me that he would read the Bible that I brought them.  She told me that she would not read it since she was Catholic and didn’t need to read the Bible.  Please pray for them and many like them!

Learning to Drive All Over Again

We finally received our vehicle title towards the end of the month.  We have had the car parked before this as we waited for it.  It would be very hard to sum up in a few words how strange it is to drive for the first time in the busy city after not having driven in over two years.  Part of acquiring culture includes conquering strange and irrational fears that seem to surface at strange times. 

Stacie and I both had embarrassing, funny experiences from that day that didn’t seem very funny when we were in the middle of them but at the end of the day we laughed hard together about each one.  Thankfully we ended the whole month with nothing damaged except for our pride. 

We are still waiting for our information card for our car that should have come with the title.  We will not be able to drive outside of the town without this important card.  Please pray that we can get it soon!

First Time to Get to Meet Together in Almost 10 Months

At the end of the month, we were able to be with Marcelo’s family in their house for a Bible study.  Again, words cannot express how much we have missed being with them personally on Wednesday nights.  We had about a 3 hour Bible study and did not get home until after midnight.  We will continue sending out our podcast, Whatsapp, Facebook and Youtube messages each week and are looking for what the Lord has in store for us next in person!

Finishing Up Projects

One of the projects that we
have been working on is
teaching through the 22
doctrinal statements. 
We should be finishing this
series up by the middle of
February.  When it is finished we will be able to point people with questions about what we believe to this set of lessons much like the “Doctrine Project” that ABA Media had prepared.


Also about the middle of February we should be finishing up our study in the Sermon on the Mount.  It has been a study about the basics of descipleship.  We plan on orginizing it like the other study into a structured study that we can lead people through. 
We are also about to finish up a PDF of a Greek/Spanish New Testament parsing guide that will be able to be freely shared and used in our Spanish speaking seminaries and as an aid to Spanish speaking pastors and Greek students anywhere!
Thankful for the opportunity to preach two times this month to a group in Colombia!

Furlough 2021? 2022?

One of the events that we are planning is our first furlough.  We would like to be back in the states around October 2021, but that will depend on many things that are outside of our control.  We will be starting a fund to offset the price of travel.  Please be in prayer for this item as we have several items of business that will need to be taken care of at some point in the mid to near future.  

Thoughts from Stacie

Scott had enough in the report to fill a whole page but I felt like adding a little from my perspective so let’s just add a third page for those of you that like the behind the scenes.

In January we celebrated Joanna’s 4th birthday. She had a fun day complete with a shopping date with Daddy and her first tea party using my fancy tea set that I got for Christmas.

When we lived in the States I always loved to pull out my fancy dishes and have tea parties with the kids. I couldn’t bring my tea set with me so we hadn’t had a fancy tea party since we moved to Argentina. When we first moved here I showed Scott a set that reminded me of our wedding set. He remembered and surprised me with that complete set for this past Christmas and told me we could add to it if we wanted to invite guests in the future.

Another fun thing that happened this month was a friend of mine here in Argentina asked me if they could borrow our sons for a video they were doing for a world wide youth ministry.

They just needed a couple of boys around Jonathan and Elijah’s ages to represent a boy and his brother whose mother taught them about world missions and one of them would grow up to be a missionary.

I enjoyed getting to visit with my friend during the video shoot and Jonathan and Elijah were excited to be a part of a missionary story. They feel like world famous actors even if it is just for one scene in a short film.

Driving has been a real adventure. It’s been a couple years or so since I’ve driven a car and even longer since I’ve driven a stick shift. I can still hear my dad’s voice saying not to ride the clutch. Which means I still want to ride that clutch. But after a few days of driving I’m beginning to feel a little more confident again and am hoping to be able to get on a longer road outside of the city sometime soon to move beyond the 2nd gear. 

It’s a beautiful car and the kids all said it was comfortable for them too. Scott was able to install the taillight this month and now we are only waiting to get our car’s identity card that will allow us to drive outside of the city. Once that arrives we can plan a longer family road trip. 

We already feel the difference this car will make in our ministry. We were all able to travel together to another neighborhood where in the past we had a Bible Study before we were shutdown in quarantine.

Before it took two taxis to get us to that neighborhood and if we got a ride back it took either two cars or two trips with half of us having to wait for a ride. This time we were all able to go together in our own car. It seats seven but is small enough to fit in a normal car size parking space.  

Thank you so much for all your prayers and support. We are so thankful that God uses His people to do His work. With God’s help and the encouragement you all give us, we are able to move forward quicker through the doors the Lord opens before us. 

May God richly bless you in all that you do for Him and the spread of the gospel around the world.