October 2023 – The Maness Family

Getting the building inspected

One of the things that we needed before having people at our meeting place was to have the building inspected to give us a maximum number of occupants in the building. One of our guarantors who also works for the city in a different neighborhood graciously offered to go with us to help us get our appointment set up. It made us feel a little better that we were not the only ones that had difficulty trying to get something like this accomplished as our Argentine friend had a lot of trouble getting somebody to understand what we were trying to do. The concept of a Baptist church is a very foreign one for many to understand. In their world there is the Catholic church and everything else. The idea that each church is independent, autonomous and local with no hierarchy or headquarters, does not seem to compute. We were successful getting an appointment for the middle of the month. The lady that was assigned to us turned out being a woman pastor that would inspect our building on the agreed upon day. We were not sure what kind of reception we would get on that day since our doctrine does not support both the supernatural gifts in 1Corinthians 12 or the idea of women pastors. As it turned out, however, on the day of our appointment to pick her up and bring her to our meeting place, she forgot that she had a doctors appointment for that morning and had to send her assistant in her stead.

We had a great time visiting with him! The inspection took all of about 10 minutes and the next hour was pleasant conversation at our building over a cup of coffee. He had worked for several years working with companies helping them soundproof and sound-deadening their environments and gave us many professional suggestions and approved the work that we had done already to the building! During the rest of the month we have been following his advice and working each week to improve the acoustics of the building where we will not be disturbing the neighbors.

Insurance set up

Toward the end of the month I received a call saying that our insurance policy for the meeting place has been set up and is in effect! There are still several more pieces to the puzzle that need to be finished but they are getting accomplished one after the other.

Curtains have been ordered!

One of the things that we are still needing for the sanctuary are curtains. The front of the building facing the road is glass and one other side is also glass. Currently there is a lot of echo in the main room which the heavy drapes will help immensely. They are scheduled to be finished and installed before the end of October.

Meeting on Sunday nights!

We have already been meeting in the back room each Sunday evening and are planning on having our first advertised meeting to be on the first Sunday of November in the main room. On our first meetings in the back we started off with just singing and then slowly added guitar, keeping everything simple. When we have our first full meeting in November, we plan on having full instrumentation. So far we have only had positive feedback from neighbors and people that we have invited. Pray that the Lord continues to give us wisdom!

~Thoughts from Stacie~

Renting a Place to Meet

I took a break from writing my part of the report last month. We needed to get the report out and I felt like our new meeting location was really the highlight of the month. There is so much that goes into renting even a simple storefront to meet in. I’m sure it’s a lot of work in any country but imagine adding on top of the normal stuff having to read over contracts and such in another language. Then once we finally agreed to the contract we had to coordinate the signing of the contract before a notary. There were a lot of steps! Then after carrying a big bag of money to the realtor we were finally given the keys.

Cleaning and Furnishing the Rooms

After getting the keys the work had just begun. We still needed to clean and furnish the office and the main room. The first part we set up was Scott’s office space. We added a desk, bookshelf, and chairs to the back room as well as a hot/cold water dispenser. We also bought 20 black padded chairs for the main room. While we don’t expect to have that many people to start with, we want to be ready for our first official meeting.

Sunday Nights

As part of our getting ready to meet we started meeting in the office room as a family. Even though we could have our normal Sunday evening Bible Study in our home we decided that taking the children to our location to have our Bible Study would first get us all used to going to a physical place. It also slowly gets the neighbors used to the idea of music on Sunday nights. So far we have only had one guitar along with our singing but we soon plan to add other instruments.

Naming our Bible Study

Our plans are to eventually have people wanting to be baptized and start a scriptural New Testament Church. In the meantime we are starting by offering a Bible Study in the neighborhood. As a family we discussed possible names for our Bible Study so that we can put the name on a sign and on our handouts. Hannah shared a Bible verse in Proverbs 14:26, “In the fear of the Lord is strong Confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.” In Spanish where it says “Strong Confidence” it words it “La Fuerte Confianza” which means “The Strong Confidence”. We decided that would make a good name for a Bible Study. Our logo on our sign and on our handouts will be entitled “Estudio Bíblico La Fuerte Confianza” “Strong Confidence Bible Study”.

Getting the Girls’ Ears Pierced

On another note the three girls have been wanting their ears pierced for a long time. We agreed to them having them pierced this year. The hard part was finding a place to get the piercings done. Here in Argentine parents usually have their baby girls ears pierced shortly after birth. I wasn’t too keen on taking our daughters to any old tattoo parlor to get their ears pierced. After putting the task off for quite a few months I finally asked our violin teacher who has several piercings where she would recommend I take the girls. She gave me the information of a friend that did piercings in a nice clean professional environment. The girls are so excited about their new earrings.

Elisabeth Levels Up in Violin Class

Another event that happened this month was Elisabeth was given the opportunity to play in a recital for passing to the next level. She had to play three songs by memory from Suzuki Book 1 in order to officially move on to book 2. She passed that level and will soon be joining the Level 2 group.

Taking Elijah to the Gym

I’ve been taking Hannah and Jonathan to the gym for a couple of months. We decided that Elijah was old enough to go with and the exercise would be good for him. I believe his favorite equipment at the gym is the treadmill but he also enjoys trying out all the machines. We started out with Hannah and Jonathan partnering up since they know the machines pretty well and I helped Elijah learn how to use the machines and made sure he didn’t go too heavy on the weights.

Homeschool Co-op/ Air Show Field Trip

We had our homeschool Co-op at the end of the September. After the usual classes we drove to a private air field where they were having an air show. We enjoyed watching the different events.

Templo Bautista

On Sunday mornings we have been visiting an Independent Baptist Church located north of Cordoba. They have welcomed our children as part of the youth and allowed our family to take part in their music ministry. When we needed guarantors for our new meeting place three of their members volunteered to help us. They have really been a huge blessing and encouragement to us. One of the Sundays this month their pastor invited Scott to preach on honoring God as a family.

Bonus Pictures

The first Spanish Bible was finished on September 28, 1569 During the month of September we were able to purchase several Bibles at discount to be able to give to people that come to the services!