December 2024

Posted on January 7, 2025 by Anastacia Maness

Merry Christmas!

We thought that going into December would make things slow down a little bit. It has been a busy month! We would first like to say how very thankful we are for the Greatest Gift given to all of mankind, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! It is a great privilege not only to know Him but to be able to share His love with those around us as well.

Christmas concerts and outreach!

In December, we have had four different Christmas concerts in different locations with preaching the gospel and music. It was a great blessing to be able to put on a concert with invitations right in front of our meeting place. Through talking with people during this time, there was a lady that lives on the same block that expressed interest in coming to our Sunday service! Please pray for her. Her name is Rosalia.

After service fellowship

We have been enjoying fellowship time on Sunday evenings after our Bible Study. The men have been enjoying conversation over a game of chess while the ladies take that time to decorate and the kids play. It has been a great way of opening doors of conversation and encouraging the kids as well!

Ready for a new year

For many years my family takes a special opportunity at the end of each year to review again, our goals that we have made previously and plan for the next year. The three main categories that we plan are these: 1. Spiritual goals (how do I wish to grow spiritually this year) 2. Educational goals (what would I like to learn or learn to do this year that can be an avenue of growth and outreach) and 3. Physical goals (how can I better maintain the body that the Lord has given me in order to serve Him better and with more energy)

I know many who are opposed to the idea of goal setting for the new year because for many they are forgotten by the middle of January, but this practice has been a great blessing for me as well as my family in keeping God’s purpose always before us throughout the year. May you make great goals and plans this year with your family, just be willing to let God lead and change your plans for His! His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts!

Bonus Pictures

September 2024

Posted on October 4, 2024 by Anastacia Maness

Raising Boys into Men!

As a father of seven, it is dear to my heart that the primary ministry on any Pastor, deacon, missionary or Christian male is to their family. We have been given the task by our Lord to lead and protect our families from all of the attacks that this world might offer. We have three out of our seven out of the house at this point and still have under our direct care two boys and two girls. Jonathan will be turning 17 this year and Elijah turned 14. Our desire is that they continue to grow in their devotion to the Lord and to their resolve to stand for the right in a world with slippery slopes of reason and rationalization.

One on One Discipleship

One of the things that I have tried to do with each kid is share with them something unique that I could do with each one that the Lord has shared with me. One of the things that I started in September was taking a couple of hours each week with Elijah, showing him how to work with leather. He has already made several small projects and is learning how to bind a book and repair Bibles. It has been a great time to draw closer together. With Jonathan, we have been spending Tuesday mornings together for most of the year. We both have a shared music class together and a Bible study in a home. We have had a lot of great discussion throughout the year!

Our Last Greek Class for the Year

We have just finished this year out teaching Greek! It has been a great time with seven students finishing the year! They have learned a lot during this time and now have tools available to dig deeper into their studies. It is hard to sum up in words how much I have enjoyed getting to teach this class on Tuesday nights. We are planning to offer the Greek class again at the start of the next school semester in March. During the hour we once had the Greek class I am beginning a study with our two sons on Biblical manhood! We just had our first class and are looking forward to the time spent together digging into His word!

The two girls playing their Violins during Worship

The two boys have been playing their instruments for services now for several years. During the last month Elisabeth and Joanna, who are both studying the violin, expressed their desire to start playing in services. It has been a wonderful, beautiful addition to the service. I am very thankful for their willingness to serve the Lord in this capacity! The Lord generously rewards us each day with his goodness and his love for us! We are very thankful!

Stacie Mentoring

Stacie has been teaching and mentoring two of the Ladies that we have coming to our Sunday night Bible Studies. They also have been helping her with the monthly Women’s meetings. In this picture they got together for breakfast.

Bonus Pictures

http://argentinabaptist.org/Newsletter/Report-2024-09.pdf

May 2024 Report

Posted on June 6, 2024 by Anastacia Maness

Upcoming immigration appointment

Getting your permanent residency in Argentina should be a three year process. We have been here for six years but due to complications in their system we had to restart over three years ago. We have an appointment on the first Friday of June that is scheduled to get our permanent residency. Please pray! Even if you are reading this after that date, still pray! Everything works slow here. This will be a great blessing and help to us if we can finally get this accomplished. There is a lot of work to do here and the Lord blesses hard work for Him.

As an eagle stirreth up her nest…

One of the challenges for the foreign missionary, as well as any parent, is when one of children has grown and is leaving the house. The difference for the missionary is that the son or daughter isn’t moving to the other side of town or the other side of the state, but to a completely different country. As I write this, my daughter Hannah, who just moved out the beginning of May, along with my oldest son and daughter is 4,865 miles away. Just writing that great figure puts a longing in this father’s heart to see them, hug them and let them know how much I love them! We are very proud of all of the steps that Hannah has made in the last month and look forward to seeing what the Lord will do through her!

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor.

One of the challenges for me personally was the absence of my wife during the first half of the month. At the beginning of May, Stacie traveled to Texas with Hannah to help her get set up in the US. It was a great, productive and busy time for both of them. I can bear witness to the fact that life is much better with my wife around!

Sicknesses and other challenges

Please continue to pray for the three areas that we are currently working in. Satan is also busy working! Our Sunday evening service has been way down due to sickness. There is a couple that have been enjoying the services, praying for family and encouraging them to come. The last few weeks they have been out due to their kids being badly ill. There is another elderly couple that continues to chat with me through WhatsApp, that has been in bad health for the last couple of months. Our heart’s desire is to not only see souls saved, but disciples made! The lady that we began a Bible study with on the other side of town has been down in health in bed with bronchitis the last couple of weeks as well and unable to have us out. Our Wednesday night service has been steady, but with several that are still out, initially from sickness but later from whatever is distracting them from the Lord’s will. Again our heart’s desire is to see strong disciples of Jesus made that will in turn make more disciples.

Bonus Pictures

January 2024 Report

Posted on February 16, 2024 by Anastacia Maness

A Very Full Month!

The month of January was so full of events that it seemed to be several months in one! During the month our daughter Ruth returned back to Texas after visiting us for Christmas and New year’s day. We had several visitors to the work, including Benjamin’s brother visiting our Bible study and the couple from Malvinas that we worked with a year ago visiting us. During the middle of the month, Stacie’s parents, Paul and Janie Clark, came to visit us, planning to visit us for two weeks.

Visit to the Hospital

While visiting here in Argentina, Stacie’s mother had fallen and broke her hip. It was quite a process getting her to the hospital, but the Lord provided and helped. In Argentina, if you do not have an ambulance insurance policy already written, they will not come! We actually carry an ambulance policy for our meeting place but over their emergency number they bluntly told me that even though we were already customers, they could only come to that specific location. We have seen Argentines driving down the road with a flag hanging out their windows many times going to the hospital. Apparently it is all too common for an ambulance to not come unless you have a policy. We were told that the only recourse for tourists is if they already have traveler’s insurance, otherwise nobody will help them! We had a strong friend come to our house and using a wheel chair he assisted us getting her down the steps of our house so we could get her to the hospital.

First step in a long process

Getting her to the hospital was just one step in the process. The Hospital that we use is a private hospital. It is probably the nicest hospital in the city. We have been in the public ones before! I will be the first to dispel the myth that the political-left likes to push about the greatness of public healthcare. After we arrived there, we checked her in for the initial consultation and then an x-ray. The x-ray revealed a complete break at the top of her femur which was going to require a complete hip replacement. We then began the process of getting her admitted and going about the process of providing the materials that the doctors would use during the surgery. Everyone worked so hard during the process to ensure her comfort and wellbeing. After getting all of the materials gathered, then they were able to operate. The surgery went well without problems and she was released a week after being admitted. Before being able to fly she would need two weeks of recovery to prevent blood clots during flight. At the time of this writing, she has been undergoing physical therapy and has been walking with a walker. Please continue to pray for her as she continues to recover.

October 2023 Report

Posted on November 14, 2023 by Anastacia Maness

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!

***Installing our curtains! Pray for these two men: Marcelo and Lucas!***
***While they were working on the building I was able to share the Gospel with them!***

Printing, Binding, Stamping, Stapling, Folding and Distributing!

**Front and back of our invitation flier!**

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

July 2022 Report

Posted on August 6, 2022 by Anastacia Maness

Winter Break in Argentina

In the middle of July a strange thing happens if you are not expecting it. Businesses that are normally open are closed. Activities that are normally taking place are suspended. When we first arrived here in 2018 we were left unaware but have since begun to learn the rhythm and flow of the city. During the first week, we rented a house in the mountains for a few days and let the kids have fun playing in the dirt. Even though we were an hour and a half from the city, I was able to talk to two people there about the Lord that either lived in our city or worked in our city. While we were enjoying our time in the small village I was able to pass out several Gospel of John booklets in that place. Please pray for seeds planted!

During the second week, Hannah, Jonathan and Elijah had the opportunity to spend the week at a youth conference with other kids their age. This was a great experience for them and for their Spanish. Elijah had not had this opportunity during our first term since he was younger. This term will be his term to truly soar in his learning and speaking! Please pray for him! It is not easy to make friends in another language and culture, but during the week he made some friends!

On the last day of the youth conference the rest of us joined them as we traveled 2 hours south of Cordoba to the mountains. There is a place there that has zip lines that are stretched between the mountains over a river and other activities. The kids had a great time and continued to bond with their new friends.

“Maybe you should pray right now!”

One of the activities was one that I truly enjoy, archery! As I was shooting, we had a conversation with “Franco”, the one running the activity. Pray for him, as he needs to be saved! I shared what Jesus did for him and how one day we will leave from this earth and stand before Him in judgment and how Jesus willingly gave his life on the cross to pay our sin debt. I told him how he needed to repent and trust Christ before it is too late.

About the time that I was stressing the urgency, my daughter Elisabeth shot an arrow that missed the target and ricocheted back and flew right by him nearly hitting him. Without missing a beat, I looked him in the eyes and said, “Maybe you should pray right now!”

A Visit to the Plaza of Alta Cordoba

While the older three kids were away at the youth conference, we worked on a lot of things with the younger two daughters. One of the things that they really wanted to do was visit the plaza where we spent a year before the pandemic. As we walked around the plaza, we were able to talk to several people as the girls played. There was a lady there that rents out trampolines that started the conversation with us, having remembered us from before when we put on a Christmas concert in that plaza during 2019.

The Grey Haired Barber

I had found a grey haired barber that I liked after having my hair butchered by another younger barber. The only problem is that here if you find something that you like it probably wont be there long. One day I noticed that his barber shop was no longer there. I had to find another barber! I went on the search for another barber. It sounds silly, but my requirement was that the barber had grey hair, hopefully distinguishing themselves as more experienced. I walked to the center and saw an older gentleman through the window. I entered and struck up a conversation with him about my search for a good grey-headed barber. After we talked for a while, I discovered he was not the barber! The barber was a young lady with piercings and dyed grey hair. While I was not sure what the outcome would be, I had my hair cut and must say that dyed grey hair must be as effective as naturally grey hair! All joking aside, I had a great opportunity to talk in depth with three people about the Lord and gave them each a Gospel of John Booklet!

Two Reactions to the Word of God

One day when my wife and I were walking in the center we saw a man trying to sell an old, worn out Gideon New Testament for the price of a brand new complete Bible. I began preaching to the man about the value of God’s Word and that it was not intended to be a commodity to be bought and sold! How sad that this book that he had meant nothing more to him than an item to sell! I told him that the only reason that I would purchase a Bible like that would be to turn around and give it to somebody without charge! I told him that I would not buy anything from him, but that I would give him something. I gave him a copy of the Gospel of John and showed him where I had printed on the spine of the book that it was “NOT” to be sold and explained what grace is.

He will probably try to sell it, but I am confident the Lord will get it into somebody’s hands, where He wants it to go! On the same day we met another older man about the same age. When I handed him a copy of the Gospel of John and told him what it was, he immediately hugged the book! What is your reaction to God’s Word? Is it precious to you or do you scorn it?

Thoughts from Stacie

Fellowship with other Believers

One thing we have found is that we need fellowship with other believer’s in Christ. There are no ABA churches here in Argentina and during our first term we visited several different types of churches.

There is one Independent Baptist Church here in the city that we found to be the closest doctrinally to us. They believe in local church only and even practice closed communion. The pastor understands that we’re not there to become members but that it’s for us to be able to fellowship with other believers and for our children to be able to participate in Spanish services. The members of Templo Bautista Bíblico have welcomed us to their morning services and other activities that they have going on throughout the year. Visiting with them doesn’t stop us from starting our own work but they are a big encouragement in our desire to plant churches as well.

Two Concerts before the winter break

Here in Argentina July is in the middle of winter. Even though there isn’t a corresponding holiday here schools take a two week winter break in the middle of July. It’s kind of like Christmas break in the States. Before the two week winter break our children were able to participate in a couple of mini-concerts. Scott and the older three children participated in the band concert on a Thursday.

Then Elisabeth and Joanna played their violins in a casual recital style concert that Friday. The girls were able to dress-up in costumes for their mini concerts. Joanna dressed up as a unicorn and Elisabeth dressed up as a colorful bear. Elisabeth even surprised us by volunteering to play a solo. We really enjoyed getting to hear how far our children have come along musically.

Taking a short break at the Mountain House

Children need the freedom to run around and just be kids. City life can be tough on country kids. Our kids have learned to be flexible here in Argentina. We live in a large city and we give them plenty of opportunities to play in the parks. Of course in the city we try to encourage them to speak mostly Spanish outside of the house and if they do speak English to do so quietly in order to not attract a lot of unwanted attention.

However when we visit the countryside, we give them freedom to run around and be as loud as they want in whatever language they want. Little breaks like that are good for all of us.

Immersion in the Culture

The week following our stay at the mountain house Hannah, Jonathan, and Elijah attended the youth conference with Templo Bautista where they got to spend a whole week immersed in the culture and getting to know the youth of the church. They were talking about how nervous they were on the drive over to the church but when the week was over they were all declaring how much fun they had and how they were glad they went.

Ladies Meeting

I also had a similar immersion experience one Friday evening towards the end of July. I was invited to a Ladies Meeting that started at 8:00 PM. There was a guest speaker and a fellowship afterwards. I made myself go even though it was late in the evening and I was tired. When we’re tired our Spanish suffers. However sometimes that’s a good time to force ourselves to use Spanish anyway. I was glad I went. The Ladies at Templo Bautista also invited me to a women’s retreat in the middle of August. Pray for me as I’ll be driving several ladies to the retreat.

Missions Conference and Banquet

Templo Bautista where we’ve been visiting on Sunday mornings held a special Faith Promise missions conference and banquet. They asked every family attending to bring food from another culture to share during the banquet. We brought Texas chili, corn bread, and a blueberry cobbler to share. The chili was a big hit.

Celebrating Ruth’s Birthday from a Distance

Ruth turned 22 this month. It’s hard being so far away but we got to talk with her and really enjoyed hearing about all her plans for teaching at church camp. It’s hard to believe my “little girl” is now one of the grownup sponsors and a teacher at camp.

May 2022

Posted on June 7, 2022 by Anastacia Maness

About to Fly Back to Argentina!

After our consulate visit this month, we received our passports back in the mail from the Argentine consulate with our new visas! We have all of our bags packed a week early and are ready to fly out on the 7th of June. Our Itinerary is very good as we will be flying out at 12:45 PM from DFW and will arrive in Cordoba the next day at 10:34 AM. We will have two connections one at JFK in New York and the second in Santiago de Chile. Please pray for us as we travel and pray for those that we will be talking to along the way about the Lord!

So Many Blessings!

We enjoyed so many great meetings this month before going back to Argentina. It was great to see so many brethren at the Standing Missionary Committee meeting in Texarkana as well as meetings with individuals, families, loved ones and churches. During these three months of delays that we experienced in going back to Argentina, the moments have not been wasted. I feel as if these three months were months of pleasant rain preparing the field that God is going to bless! Please pray for the country of Argentina and the more than 40,000,000 inhabitants and that the Lord would continue to go before us and prepare the way!

An Opportunity to Share the Gospel

Part of our consulate appointment was our interview by the main official of the Argentine consulate. He wanted to hear my story of how I started learning Spanish and why we wanted to go to Argentina. I shared with him how I first committed to learn Spanish was because many years ago in 1994, I took a trip on a bus and sat next to a man that could not speak English and I didn’t know enough Spanish to share the Gospel with him well. Since then I poured my energy into learning Spanish and the Spanish Bible to be able to share the message of Salvation with any that I would meet later. I also shared with him how the Lord had called us to go to Argentina and share this message, baptize those who believed and to plant scriptural churches. We had a great conversation with him sharing our hearts and answering his questions.

Eyes as Big as Saucers!

Later in our interview I gave him and the lady that has been handling our case one of our flyers. I showed him where on our flyer he could find more information if he really wanted to know more about us and what we are working on in Argentina. Most people just quickly glance at one of our flyers and put it away, but he began to read the main points out loud on the first page! The first page of our flyer explains how someone could be saved. When he read the third line out loud, his eyes looked as big as saucers as he read how, because of our sin, we are separated from God and worthy of Hell! Please pray for him that we may have more conversations with him in the future!

Thoughts from Stacie

A Date to the Consulate in Houston

We had our consulate visit this month in Houston. They said we didn’t have to have the kids with us for our appointment so Scott and I decided to leave the kids with my parents for a few days and turn our consulate visit into a short getaway. The evening after our consulate appointment we enjoyed dinner and a classical concert together

A Want-to-Do List

This month I sat down with each of our kids and asked them if there were anything they wanted to do before we leave for Argentina. I explained that we might not be able to do it all but we could try. We took them to a rodeo and Bass Pro Shop. Scott took the boys axe throwing. We also visited with several friends. We even took the kids to the movies and watched Family Camp.

Mothers’ Day

On Mothers’ Day we attended our sending church, Nevill’s Chapel, for the morning services. After the morning services we drove up to Idabel, Oklahoma and enjoyed being a part of their special May Missions focus. We also enjoyed getting to see my brother, Jason Clark’s family while we were there.

Elisabeth’s Birthday

We celebrated Elisabeth’s 10th birthday on May 28th. We invited a lot of family over to help us celebrate with a party at the park. She had a wonderful time and really enjoyed being the center of attention. We enjoyed getting to see cousins and family that we hadn’t seen in a long time.

Saying Goodbye

Over all we’ve had a lot of opportunities to say our goodbyes this month. We have all the visas and paperwork in order and are ready to fly out. It’s a bit surreal right now to think that we will be writing our next report in Argentina.

Thank you for praying!

We are packed up and ready to go with only our carry-on luggage left to organize. Please pray for our flights on June 7th, that all goes smoothly, and that we arrive safely with all our luggage.

Bonus Pictures

December 2021

Posted on January 7, 2022 by Anastacia Maness

November 2021 Report

Posted on December 15, 2021 by Anastacia Maness

Our passports were finished early

Thank you so much for the prayers last month about us getting our passports back on time. All of the kids had to have their passports renewed during our short time back in the US. The passports were all finished and came back to us almost two months earlier than they estimated! Again thank you for your prayers!

Three Great State Meetings

One of the things that was such a great blessing to us was getting to be present for the Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas state meetings. It felt surreal this month getting to see so many individuals that we love so much! We felt several times that reuniting with so many friends at the association meetiis a very small taste of what the glad reunion day in Heaven will be like when we get to reunite with our friends and loved ones that we haven’t seen in so many years.

Happy Thanksgiving

We also had a wonderful time with Stacie’s family. It’s been several years since Stacie’s whole family were all together for Thanksgiving. Not only were we able to spend time with all 7 of our own children at Stacie’s parents but also her brother’s and sister’s families came in to have Thanksgiving Dinner with us as well.

Thoughts from Stacie

Trip Down Memory Lane
We have been so many places this month as we attended three different State meetings. In between meetings we tried to throw in a few fun things as well. One of the activities we were able to attend was the annual Heritage Syrup Festival in Henderson, Texas. I have wonderful memories of attending the Syrup Festival as a child and it was fun to share those experiences with our children. Joanna was a little nervous about riding the carousel at the Henderson Depot Museum until she found out that I rode that same carousel when I was a little girl. It’s fun to relive those childhood memories through the eyes of our children.

Silver Anniversary
Scott and I were married on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1996. This year our 25th Anniversary was on a Sunday and we were honored to be guests at Longbranch Missionary Baptist Church where Dr. Ray O. Brooks still pastors at almost 99 years old. We truly enjoyed visiting with them.

That evening we headed northward to visit Scott’s family up in Michigan. That also became a trip down memory lane as 25 years ago we went North for our honeymoon. We reminisced over all the places we stopped at along the way. It was kind of fitting to start the month in the town where I grew up and end it where Scott grew up.

Bonus Pictures

**Above:** Elijah dreams of being a fire fighter. He enjoyed meeting a fire fighter at the Heritage Syrup Festival in Henderson, Tx.

*A special thank you to Jeremiah Mattingly for letting us ride in his 1927 Model T Ford truck!*

October 2021 Report

Posted on November 9, 2021 by Anastacia Maness

Mission Conference and Marriage Conference

At the beginning of the month we were able to attend MTM, (Missionary Training Ministry) in Mountain View, Arkansas. This ministry is a great blessing to all missionaries and sending churches.

Later in the month my wife and I were able to attend the Homebuilder marriage retreat. This is something that we wanted to do for years but were not able to do before. It was a great weekend to spend together away from the kids for a few days. The kids had a lot of fun with their grandparents while we were away.

Passports Sent off for Renewal

One of the things that was on our list to finish early was the renewal of the kids’ passports. Passports for children are only good for 5 years. The renewal process takes between 16 and 12 weeks to renew and have back. That is one more thing that we can cross off our list!

Oklahoma State Meeting and Time with the Churches

We were able to attend the Oklahoma state association meeting held in Vian, OK. It was a great blessing to be able to reconnect with so many brethren that we had not seen in so long! We are also thankful for the opportunities this month to share and fellowship with several chuches in the area!

Thoughts from Stacie

Family Time
I’ve been having a hard time keeping up with what day it is. Time is passing so quickly. Some of the plans we had for October got moved on us. While I hate to mention the “C” word, but one person at a meeting we attended early in the month had gotten sick and tested positive for Covid. So we had to change some of our travel plans just in case we had gotten too close to that individual during the meeting. Thankfully none of us got sick and we were able to enjoy the extra time with our oldest two children. Joshua and Ruth both had a day off at the same time so we were able to plan a family field trip to a Heritage Village and the Zoo. It was such a blessing to have all our children together. We also enjoyed having one Sunday that we were able to attend Church altogether as a family.

Weekend Get Away It has been at least 4 and a half years since Scott and I have been able to spend more than just a few hours together away from our children. In Argentina we weren’t comfortable leaving them all overnight much less for a weekend. So we took advantage while on furlough of having family nearby to watch our children while we got away for a much needed alone time as as a couple. The retreat really helped us step away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life and take a good look at our marriage and family. The end of November Scott and I will be celebrating our 25th Anniversary. I can’t think of any better way to celebrate than spending quality time together at a marriage retreat in Branson.