Safely Back in Argentina!
We are so thankful for all of your prayers as we traveled. I really believe that your prayers made the difference going back! At the check in booth for the airline, the Lord gave us a person to check us in that was from a large military family that grew up all over the world. What a blessing to have a kind hearted, understanding person to check you in. We are so thankful that there was no extra charge for our 7 extra checked luggage!
When we arrived at the gate we still had more bags than allowed to carry on but the airline needed people to voluntary check their luggage, which brought our number down to just a few backpacks and bags that we were carrying on to the plane.
When we arrived in Cordoba, we were able to go through immigrations and customs without any problem at all! There are so many things we could talk about during our trip that would require a book, such as our daughter striking up a conversation with a couple while we were waiting to board the plane in Chile or getting to share the gospel with the delivery driver on the way back from the airport. God is good in all things and He will richly bless us with opportunities to share His message!
Car Maintenance, Plumbing, and Catching Up
Our house was like a tomb when we came back after being gone for 8 months! Nothing had moved except for an accumulation of dusts! (It is amazing how a house that is completely shut up here can acquire so much dust!) We had so much to take care of during this first month back from paying bills to fixing what needed to be replaced.
Our car was right where we left it in the parking garage with about a 16th of an inch of dust on it. The young man at the parking garage helped us jump start the vehicle and our landlord gave us good quality, reasonably priced places to go for car maintenance. We put a new battery in the car and had a full service done.
We had several plumbing issues in the house when we turned the water back on that needed to be dealt with immediately. Our landlord had given us leave to hire whoever we would like. I contacted a friend of ours that I helped a year ago when he needed business cards designed. Pray for him! He is a saved man, but has not been to any church with his family in a year. He was interested in us letting him know when we were going to have a dedicated place for having services. We are praying for the place that the Lord will give us for that purpose!
Three Days in the Immigration Office
One of the things that had to be done within our first two months here was to report to immigration and bring ourselves and all of our documentation to get our information cards made. It took three days in a row but we have it all done! Please pray that we all get our cards in the mail this time!
We have been in the immigration office so much during the last four years that we know the process well enough to give instructions to other foreigners who were coming for the first time. We joked about the fact that our five year old has spent over a month of her life collectively in that office! Amazingly, as of sending this report, we have received 6 out of 7 of our cards in the mail one week later!
Gospel of John Booklets and New Testaments Well Received!
Before we came back to the US, we took delivery of 1,000 Gospel of John booklets that we prepared and had printed. We were also given a large number of pocket New Testaments to bring back to Argentina with us! Since we have been back, we have already given away many copies to individuals!
It is great to have resources like these to put into peoples hands and to let them know that they are holding a portion of God’s Word, His message to us! Pray that the Lord continues to use this booklet to open doors to share his glorious Gospel!
Thoughts from Stacie
Slowly Getting Back in the Swing of Things
When we arrived back to our home in Argentina, we were determined to get back to daily life slowly. We didn’t want to get overwhelmed Of course we had a lot of cleaning to do the first few days and the plumbing in both the kitchen and bathroom was leaking.
So for us starting slow meant cleaning up and calling a plumber. We also had to get our car running again. Of course by the end of just that one week back, we felt like a whole month had passed.
Resuming Band and Violin Lessons
Then the following week we got violin classes resumed. Elisabeth, Joanna, and I have been taking violin lessons. We were having our classes virtually while we were in the States. The girls were very excited to get back to in person classes and group classes with other children.
Scott and the older kids also were excited to return to band and seeing their friends. The band has a class for adults and the instructor allows the children of the parents in that class to join them. Music is something our children enjoy and we as parents can encourage them in.
Visiting Our Language Instructor and Her New Baby
I messaged our friend and language teacher, Romi, when we arrived back in Argentina. She invited Scott and I to come to her house to see her new baby. She named her baby Elías which is Elijah in Spanish. She liked our Elijah’s friendly and laid back personality when she met him and she liked his name.
We thought it was really sweet that she named her son after ours. Since she invited us to her home we told her we wanted her to come visit us as well. So maybe in a few weeks we will have her and her family come visit us.
Shopping and Paying Bills
Shopping can be a lot of work when you have to think in two currencies. Whether it’s going to the shoe store to buy winter shoes for the children or shopping at the supermarket we have to think about not only how many pesos we must bring with us but we also have to think about how much it is in dollars as well.
Sharing Electricity
Paying bills can be tricky as well. We went to pay what we thought was the only electric bills we had one day and a few days later our electricity was cut off. It turned out we had missed a bill we didn’t realize was still due. Our landlord that lives behind us loaned us electricity by giving us a cord we could plug into our house like a generator. The next day our electricity was back on but a couple days later our neighbor’s electricity was cut off and we returned the favor and had the house plugged in for his house to receive electricity. Thankfully his was up and running again after a couple of days. It was just interesting having a cord going through our bathroom for several days.
Broken Water Line
It’s almost seems unreal but when our electricity came back on the following day our water ran out. A line was broken down the road from us and they had cut the water to the houses on the street until it was fixed. Thankfully it wasn’t off for more than a day. There is a tank that fills up on our roof so we don’t always know when the water is off until our tank runs out of water. When the water came back on we were a little nervous of using too much water until we were sure that the water pressure was back in full.
Everyday life can be rather unpredictable sometimes.
Celebrating Joshua’s Birthday from a Distance
Our eldest son, Joshua, celebrated his 24th Birthday on June 27th. It’s hard not being able to be there to celebrate in person but we sent him a video of us singing “Happy Birthday” to him and we sent some money for him and Ruth, our oldest daughter, to go out and celebrate his birthday together. Ruth sent us a picture of Joshua wearing a new hat he got for his birthday.
Bonus Pictures
