Final preparations for first service!
Sanctuary before and after the new lights were installed.
During the month of October we have been busy getting things ready for our first meeting in the main room. Towards the end of the month the curtains were finished and brought out and installed in our building. They have really helped both in the appearance as well as the acoustics of the room. We were still waiting to get the electrician out to take care of the need for more plugs and more lights. While he didn’t make it in time for our first service, he did make it in time for our second service which really made the place look brighter!
While they were working on the building I was able to share the Gospel with them!
Printing, Binding, Stamping, Stapling, Folding and Distributing!
Leading up to our first service we have spoken with many people about what we are doing and sharing the gospel with them. It is hard to find good tracts here in the christian book stores with a clear plan of salvation. As a result we produce a lot of our own material to give to people. But in order to have tractsand fliers available, they must be first designed, prepared and then printed. At the house we will get the kids involved with the folding and stapling! They also enjoy carrying tracts with them to give to their friends and acquaintances.
We were very thankful to brother Victor Cervantes, the pastor of Templo Bautista for loaning us their youth group to help pass out fliers the day before our first service. We were able to get a flier to several hundred houses and make several new contacts!
Our first official Sunday night meeting!
For our first Sunday meeting we had a total of 27. The 7 in my family 15 from Templo Bautista and 5 from the neighborhood that responded to invitations from the week before. On our second Sunday we had one couple return from the first week and another couple come that had an invitation slid under their door from the outreach! Please pray that we can continue to share the gospel with individuals and that the Lord will give us clarity of speech and understanding to make the presentation as plain as possible.
~Thoughts from Stacie~
Getting Away for a Few Days
We missed taking a winter vacation in July and August so at the beginning of the October we booked an AirBnB in another part of the province outside of the city where we live. We have found that these occasional short get-aways help us a lot when the stress of the culture and daily life starts to get to us. It was a good time as we knew things were about to get even busier once we officially started our Sunday Bible Studies.
Our New Pet, Bella
Since we got back from furlough last year we considered getting a pet for the children. We don’t have a yard so a dog would be harder to care for as they usually need more space. However Scott and I agreed that our children were ready for a cat.
I saw a post in Facebook for our neighborhood of someone looking for homes for 30 rescue cats. They would take care of spaying and neutering the cats in exchange for the cats being adopted into good homes. We decided to adopt one of the older kittens which we named Bella. She is about a year old and has slowly gotten used to our large noisy family and the children have been learning to care for and be considerate of their new feline friend. So life with Bella has been really good for our children especially for Elisabeth and Joanna who seem to be Bella’s favorite people in the family.
Feeling Young Again (Joining the Adult Brass Band)
For 8 years of my childhood, 6th grade through one year of college, I played French Horn. For the past few years, Scott and the older 3 children have been going to band on Thursdays while I and the girls stayed home. Elijah has been playing French Horn in the band for a couple of years now and he told the band director that I played French Horn too. The director told him that I was welcome to join the adult class if I wanted and I could borrow one of the school’s horns.
One of the days they had a special speaker come to the school so I decided to go and listen to the speaker and also join the class. It was the first time I’ve played French Horn with a group in… well we don’t have to say how many years but you can probably guess by the ages of our children. Elijah’s and Scott’s huge grins were worth my taking that extra time in my week to go play with the band.
Mother’s Day in Argentina
Mothers’ Day in Argentine falls in October. I like to joke that I get two Mother’s days while Scott only gets one Father’s Day. Scott wasn’t thinking about it being close to Mothers’ Day at the time he found a good price for a French Horn. The school only has a few French Horns that they are able to loan to students. I felt bad because our band instructor would take the best horn the school had from another younger student for me to play on. Then one day we surprised the teacher when I brought my new French Horn to class. He came in with the school’s loaner horn and was shocked to see me with my own horn. I smiled and pointed to Scott like I was blaming him for my new instrument. Everyone in the class cheered over my new Mother’s Day gift that my husband got me. Scott gained some major husband points in the eyes of the class that day. Pray for the band members as there are some upcoming opportunities for us to get to know them better.
Special Prayer Concern: Bible Shortages
We try to stay out of politics here in Argentina, however when the political problems start interfering with our abilities to share the gospel we have to start praying hard. This is an election year here in Argentina and with the upcoming elections has come a restriction on imported items including Bibles into the country. Currently our only solution is to have people bring us Spanish Bibles when they come to visit us. The bookstores are still able to sell Bibles but they have limited supplies due to the import problems. For instance we were able to get some of the cheaper economy paperback Bibles that are printed in the country. We also still have on hand a limited number of pocket New Testaments and a few full Bibles in our current library. Please pray that the government will loosen their grip on imports and better quality Bibles to be brought into the country again.
Bonus Pictures
