God is so good!
Finished renewing our immigration paperwork for another year!
After several trips and visits to immigration we got our temporary residency for another year. We will need to do this for three years before we are able to transfer our status to permanent. We almost didn’t recognize the place since they had painted their office.
Hymn Books and Gospels
We are very thankful to our sending church for shipping out a large box of John and Romans and some English hymn books! When we have a Bible study with Argentines we always sing in Spanish but when my family is having private devotionals together we like to sing in English as well. Before today we did not have enough English hymn books to share, but now we do! Thank you to our pastor and a special thank you to Victory MBC in Russelville Arkansas for hand delivering them down to us in Argentina! In addition to several gospels of John and Romans, we also ordered several full Bibles and soul winner’s New Testaments.
I am probably more excited than an individual ought to be but have great plans to wear out this little soul winner’s New Testament pictured above! It is much smaller and lighter than my regular Bible and able to be carried more places.
The picture shows the John and Romans booklets. They were some of the leftovers from the Birmingham, Alabama outreach. All that we need to do is change out the covers!
Building relationships in order to share Christ
In the picture above you can see standing next to me, one of the guys from the music class on Thursday. The kids also have several friends at band that they are trying to win to the Lord. Please pray for the seeds that we are sowing. Please pray for this man and several others like him with whom myself and my kids are speaking to during the week.
Great visit at the end of the month
In this picture and one above are the two members from Victory in Russelville, Arkansas that were sent to visit and fellowship with us at the end of the month. Words cannot fully express what their visit meant to us! We had a great time showing them the city of Cordoba and some of its 1.5 million people. There is so much work to be done here and so many people that need the Lord!
They asked us the question, “what are your greatest needs that we can help with?” I told them that our greatest physical need right now is a place to meet that we can purchase and have as a fixed location. Any special offerings could be designated as “meeting place”. We are open to God’s plan as to where He would have us to have fixed services. While our guests were with us, we showed them about 10 different locations that we would love to see a scriptural church!
~Thoughts from Stacie~
Conversation Starters
Sometimes we can use our hobbies as great conversation starters. I usually don’t even have to say much. I just pull out whatever crochet project I’m working on and people start asking me questions. Scott has had this same response to his leatherwork as well. One conversation leads to the conversation about where we are from and why we are here. I am currently working on a temperature blanket. I’m considering other projects to start just for the conversations I can have with people, so stayed tuned.
Homeschool Continues
No summer break for our kids in June since it is the middle of the school year here. It is easier to keep our homeschool schedule in line with their Argentine friends. The kids enjoy their co-op classes and we’ve been working hard on math and reading. They’ve been growing and learning a lot. Although it was strange to see so many U.S. friends graduating while schools are still in session here.
Gym Membership
Hannah and Jonathan wanted to join a gym here in Argentina. They are very interested in health and fitness. They said they wanted some experience with gyms before one day returning to the states and being clueless. I’m not about to let my babies join a gym without adult supervision so I agreed to join the gym with them. This not only helps them to have experience in a gym but also motivates me to get more exercise as well.
Women’s Retreat
Also in June, Hannah and I attended a Women’s Retreat with the ladies of Templo Bautista. I was blessed with the opportunity to bring a devotional the first night. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed some great fellowship with the other ladies.
Retreats like this one are a great way to immerse in the culture, use our Spanish, and to make friends with other ladies. The more we learn at these retreats, the better prepared we will be when the Lord opens the doors for us to possibly host a retreat of our own someday.
Opportunities through Music
We have had some great opportunities musically. Scott and the children have been building relationships with other band members. The kids invited a lot of the young people they are friends with to a Youth Night at Templo. One of the goals of our children and other christian friends they have in the band is to win the lost ones to Jesus.
Bible Memorization in Spanish
Templo Bautista where we’ve been attending on Sunday Mornings encourages the youth and adults to memorize scriptures. Each month the children go to the front of the church to quote verses they learned with their classes.
Joshua’s Birthday
Our eldest son, Joshua, turned 25 this past month. We enjoy getting to call and talk to him and our daughter Ruth through a video call. They were celebrating his birthday at my parents house. We don’t hear from him often but it was nice to see his face and hear some of the plans he has been making for the future.
Preparing for Guests from the U.S.
Through the month of June we anticipated a visit a couple of members from Victory Baptist Church in Russelville, Arkansas. Joanna kept telling me throughout the month that she was nervous of their visit because she didn’t know who they were. I assured her they would be nice. The kids were all a bit shy the first day they arrived but warmed up to them quickly. It was like having family visit.
They engaged the kids in great conversations and even let Joanna teach them how to play a hand clapping game “Miss Mary Mack”. We took them all over the city and shared with them the blessings and challenges we’ve had here in Argentina. We truly enjoyed their visit. The children all expressed how sad they were to see them leave.
Messed Up Side Walks
Well we didn’t have a camera ready to get a good picture of my ungraceful fall one day earlier in the month as we were hurrying to music practice. When I am in a hurry and have my hands full “little” things like unexpected holes in the sidewalk will trip me up. It brought back memories of our first year here and the fall I had in 2018. Thankfully I am stronger now and I was only a little bruised up this time.
Bonus Pictures
First time to find a jalapeño in Argentina!
The boys decided to have a pepper eating contest!
We had a lot of fun making an “asado” for our guests. An asado is an Argentine Barbecue!
First fire of the year in the fireplace. The weather has begun to drop as we move closer to winter!
