December 2020 Report

Posted on January 2, 2021 by Anastacia Maness

Merry Christmas!

A Special Thank You for the Special Offering to buy Bibles and Print the Gospel of John Book

This year, while we were in quarantine, I finished preparing a Gospel of John booklet that has a clear plan of salvation, the complete text of the Gospel of John with the beginning steps of discipleship at the end. About a month ago a church, which desired to remain anonymous, had connected with us on what they could do to help us share the Gospel here in Argentina. We mentioned our desire to print these booklets to be able to give to people that we meet.

They had graciously voted to send $1,000 to either print the Gospel booklet or buy Bibles. We will be looking for the best options for getting them printed as soon as possible. This booklet will be a great resource as it could be used not only to visually share the Gospel, but also as a basic study guide for beginning discipleship sessions with someone. On the back of the book there are links to our Podcast as well as our Youtube channel. If we can get somebody plugged into our podcast we can continue to speak the Word of life into their lives. This book is free to download and copy, so if you know anyone in your community that speaks Spanish you can freely share it with them!

We Miss Having Places Like O’Reilly or Autozone

Culture in other countries can be very funny sometimes. We miss the fact that in the US, every town has an Autozone, ABC or some kind of autoparts store. The experience is usually very straightforward. You enter the store, buy your part and leave. Done.

Here in Argentina, in a city of almost one and a half million people, it was very difficult to by the part that we needed for the car recently purchased. When we bought the car, we bought it at a discount, knowing that it was going to need the rear light assembly. When asking whether the part was in stock, the auto parts store did not have one and were unwilling to order one from the factory for fear that the price would change while it was being shipped.

They gave me the number of someone else that might have the part. They did not, but they told me of another that would have the part. They did not but were willing to order it with a 7-10 day wait. I told them to order the part and two weeks later received notice that it came in.

When I arrived with the money to pay for it, they explained that it was not there but at the other location on the other side of town. He printed off the bill for the part and I traveled to the other side of town and was able to get the part that we needed. After several trips and translations, we finally have that part that we need! Praise the Lord!

The Lord Opens Up Opportunities to Share the Gospel

One thing that is nice about a large city like Cordoba is that you have great potential to meet new people. There are many times that you will meet someone for the first time and possibly never see them again. It is a great opportunity to share the Gospel. This month had been no exception! From the people that I get to talk to regularly to people that we met that were selling items for Christmas.

One such person was the green haired young man that came to Cordoba to take college classes right before the pandemic hit. While he was not very interested in making Jesus the Lord of his life, he did listen to the gospel and later I shared the link to our podcast. Pray for him.

Or the taxi driver that was sad when we got to our destination because he was enjoying the discussion. Please pray that the Lord gives us wisdom in all our words, actions and decisions!

Abortion Legalized

At the end of the month, our hearts sank with the knowledge that abortion had been legalized here in the country. Earlier in the month we even saw a notice by two women that wanted to become pregnant just to be the first in line to abort their babies. I am having a hard time even writing this paragraph without tears in my eyes over the evil rebellion in the heart of people. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Thoughts from Stacie

Thank You for making our Christmas so Special!

Our Children posing in front of the tree on Christmas Morning

Christmas is usually an unsure time of year and some years are a little tighter than others. Our children are really sweet though and are always excited for Christmas no matter how many gifts are under the tree.

This year because of several generous Christmas offerings we received we were able to get some really special gifts for not only our children here in Argentina but also to send a little something special to our State side children as well.

The five children here were especially excited a couple of days before Christmas when we gave each of them money to go out and buy gifts for me and Scott. I think they might have been more excited for us to open our gifts than they were to open theirs.

Christmas Eve we set out their gifts after they were in bed and Christmas morning they set our gifts around the tree. After our Christmas morning Bible reading where we read about the birth of Jesus from the book of Luke and Matthew, they wanted us to open our gifts from them first.

Bonus Pictures

September 2020 Report

Posted on October 2, 2020 by Anastacia Maness

We are buying a Car!

We feel kind of like a broken record starting every report about the quarantine so we thought we would change this report a bit and start with some good news. There is another missionary family here in Córdoba, Argentina who have 5 children that are upgrading to a larger vehicle and asked us if we would like to buy their 7 passenger mini van.

This was exciting news to us as we have been talking about how we were going to get around after the quarantine finally lifts. While not always ideal, we made public transportation work for us the past couple of years, but the “new normal” means we won’t be able to travel like we once had.

We are so thankful that with the help of the offerings that have been sent in to our vehicle fund, we are now in the process of purchasing the van pictured in this report. Thank you so much for your prayers and offerings! With the offerings we received we have what we need to not only pay for the car but also to cover the fees and other costs involved with the transfer of the title and other mandatory paperwork involved in the purchase of a vehicle here in Argentina.

Latest Quarantine News

And now about the quarantine… we finished the month of September on the 195th day of mandatory quarantine. The government of Argentina extended it this time until the middle of October. (We aren’t going to hold our breath that they will actually lift it by then.) Besides the extension they also added a curfew. We are not allowed to leave our homes between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m. except for essential travel. This is a pretty heavy restriction here in Argentina where supper doesn’t normally begin until after 8.

It is also around the time many churches here would typically start their evening service. However even meetings are restricted at any time of day to a certain number of people for the size of the building and a lot of restrictions so most churches have not been able to meet yet. And those few who have been able to meet went through a lot of strict protocols and paperwork to get the legal permission to do so.

While many churches are still not able to have in person meetings we are blessed to be able to be an encouragement with classes and Bible Studies online.

How are we doing?

We’ve had so many people concerned about us as we share updates and news on Facebook. We are doing well and have been doing our best to adjust to this crazy time we are living in. We continue to go for a weekly walk as a family.

During one of our walks we decided to walk by a park where we saw parents watching their children play on the playground. We weren’t exactly sure if the playground was technically opened but since the police only a block away weren’t stopping the children from playing, we decided to go ahead and let our children enjoy a few minutes of outdoor play.

It had been 6 months since Joanna had been able to slide down a slide. She was so happy!

We took proper precautions with the masks and washing hands afterwards. But that few minutes was almost like a breath of fresh air.

Outreach Continues

We are continuing to reach out online through our podcast and YouTube videos. Our audience continues to grow not only in Argentina but around the world as more and more people listen in to the daily messages from God’s word. In the 50 days since the beginning of our podcast we have had people in 16 countries tuning in.

If you know anyone who speaks Spanish please share our podcast and YouTube channels with them. Profundizando en la Palabra is the name on both platforms. You can find all our Spanish resources and content on our website at: profundizandoenlapalabra.org.

“How Can We Help?”

One Time Project Needs

• Emergency Fund Goal: $6,000

$1,400 left

$4,600 received

• Language School Expenses: $300 per month

• Vehicle Purchased! Amen! We are so thankful to all of the churches!

More details about our recent purchase will be in next month’s report.
Thank you so much for all your prayers and support!

August 2020 Report

Posted on September 2, 2020 by Anastacia Maness

Click this link to view the printable PDF of this report:
http://argentinabaptist.org/Newsletter/Report-2020-08.pdf

Get the Printable PDF of this Report Here

The last day of August was the 165th day of quarantine here in Argentina. We have now been in quarantine longer than there are days left to Christmas. However what at the beginning seemed such an inconvenience to our original plans for the year, we are now able to look back and see how the Lord was working through it all. So many things that we have started and focused on during this time of social distancing and isolating, as they call it here, we would have not done otherwise.

New Podcast

Just in the month of August we not only continued to send out daily audio messages and weekly YouTube livestreams, we also started podcasting around the middle of the month and our listening audience has grown.

Our Children’s Education

We’ve also been able to work with the kids on their homeschool lessons which with the additional time this year they’ve been able to go further than they might have if their attention had been divided with extracurricular activities. They are focusing on getting ahead in their lessons so that when the country starts opening again it will be easier to keep up when things get back to a new normal.

Family Devotionals in Spanish

While on the subject of kids’ education, this month we added presenting our evening family devotionals in Spanish every other week. We already had each of us taking turns giving devotionals in English to help our children prepare for one day possibly being Sunday School teachers but we also want them to be equally prepared to minister here should they ever be asked to teach or speak in Spanish.

LAMB Seminary in Columbia

Scott was blessed with the invitation to bring a few virtual lessons through Zoom for the Latin America Missionary Baptist Seminary in Columbia. We are thankful for the opportunity and are looking forward to seeing what doors the Lord may open in the future.

Children Stateside

Please pray for our Stateside children. We are so glad that we are able to stay in touch with them through all the craziness they have had to face in the new normal of 2020. It’s hard being so far away through the transitions that the year has thrown at them. However God has been faithful and they are doing well. When you pray for us please lift Joshua and Ruth up as well. It’s hard parenting from a distance but we know God’s grace can lead and guide them even better than we can during these times.

Watching our daughter, Ruth, sing a special at her church in Texas over 5,000 miles away through Facebook
Enjoying some coffee and conversation with our son in Michigan.

Bonus Pictures

July 2020 Report – Quarantine Month 5

Posted on July 31, 2020 by Scott Maness

Today is Day 133 of Quarantine

By the title of this report, you would think that it came from a Science fiction book. Here in Argentina we had just begun the 12 phase reopening process. Most people don’t actually know what phase we are actually in. I believe that we are somewhere between phase 3 and 4 but now several places in the country have returned back to phase 1 and they are discussing it here in our city.

Independence Day

Here in Argentina, their Independence Day is the 9th of July. On the fourth I baked a US flag cake with a full 50 piles of coconut sprinkles for the stars! I sent out the pictures of our cake and family celebration with my daily audio message.

We had a very good reaction from the Argentine people. They really appreciated us sharing some of our culture with them. They were really excited when I made an Argentina flag cake on the 9th and sent the pictures with my sermon. I used an egg for the sun in the middle of the flag. Please pray for us as we continue to build relationships even during lockdown.

Don’t go near the grass!

Last weekend, we took the kids out for a walk hoping to let them have some time to run around a little bit. We walked 8 blocks (the furthest that we had walked from the house in over 4 months!) to a grassy area. When we arrived, there were police guarding the grassy, vacant, open area and playground. The area was deemed off limits by the authorities.

Live Streaming and Increasing the Quality of the Videos going out

Before last month we were sending out a daily audio message and at least two prerecorded videos. This last month we began live streaming and using a green screen. Recording videos and audios have never felt like a natural thing for us to do.

It has been said that to become a master at any given thing, that it takes about 10,000 hours of practise. We are well on our way with over 800 hours of “Practice” over the last 4 months. We have put a lot of work this last month into learning to put together good quality videos. Please continue to pray for us that we are able to streamline the whole process as we plan to continue putting out audios and videos after the quarantine lifts and that we are able to have in-person meetings as well.

We are praying for you all!

Our hearts are saddend whenever we hear about friends in the US who are struggling hard with infection. We are continuing to keep you all in prayer and are so thankful for your love and prayers for us and for the work being done in Argentina.

Bonus Pictures

Elisabeth playing in a Zoom Concert
Winter Time in Argentina
Always Something to Do
We enjoyed visiting with other missionaries through Zoom.

June 2020 Report – Still in Quarantine, Continued

Posted on June 30, 2020 by Anastacia Maness

Today is day 103 of Mandatory Quarantine

As of writing this report we have passed 100 days of quarantine. People here like to change the name in Spanish from “cuarentena” to “cuareterna”, basically saying that the quarantine seems “eternal”. We know that eventually this chapter will end and the Lord will open the doors to meet in person again.

“Thank you for the daily messages!”

We have been thankful to be able to send out a daily message by Whatsapp each day. Thankfully each month we are able to add more individuals to our list to receive a daily message. We don’t get feedback from everyone on the list, but there are three or four that regularly send back a message thanking us for sending out the messages. Like all things in our lives, we may not realize our full impact from our preaching until we are in glory. Pray for us as we continue to send out daily!

The children take turns bringing the nightly devotionals each week. Every night before bed we have a family devotional and prayer time.

Contemplating what life will be like after the quarantine

One of the first things that we will need to get taken care of after the quarantine lifts is renewing our visa paperwork. Please pray for us that all of this goes smoothly. While we don’t know what everything will be like after the quarantine lifts, we know that God has been at work throughout the quarantine and look forward to His plans going forward. The last that we heard from the government here was that the quarantine would extend at least until the middle of July as long as there are no more developments. We will take everything one day at a time.

Thoughts from Stacie

Hope of Beginning a New Normal: So far the number of Covid-19 cases here in Argentina have been very low and we’re beginning to see some hope of the quarantine ending. Many businesses have reopened this month and we have begun to see a little hope of a new normal.

Homeschool focus: One benefit to this time during quarantine is being able to focus fully on our children’s education without distractions.We would love to be able to interact more with the culture and become more involved in ministering together as a family and that will come again soon. But right now we can only focus on what God has currently in front of us. The children are growing and learning quickly.

Distance Parenting: It’s hard to have grown children what seems a whole world away from us. Joshua and Ruth are doing well but it’s easy as a parent to be a little concerned for them as we watch the news and see all the things happening back home in the United States. While I must focus on the children who are still at home, I find myself constantly thinking about our grown children as well. When you pray for us, please pray for our grown children also. We can’t be there with them but I know God is there and can watch over them better than I ever could.

Joanna wearing the crown Stacie made for her.

Click the image to download the PDF of the Gospel of John in Spanish

February 2020 Report

Posted on March 7, 2020 by Anastacia Maness

One on One Discipleship

Each Tuesday evening Hugo and I have met for coffee and Bible discussion. We have been spending about two and a half hours together answering questions and discussing current life struggles and God’s solutions. Each time we open the Bible God’s simple plan of salvation is presented. The book of Matthew has been our guide for basic discipleship with a current focus on the Sermon on the mount.

This is the cafe at the corner of the plaza in Alta Cordoba where Hugo and I have been meeting each Tuesday evening for a Bible study. This photo was taken after one such occasion as I was heading back home in the trolley. Please pray for these meetings!

Asked to Teach for Three Days on Marriage and Family

We had been asked to help with a three day camp meeting and teach. We were asked to teach each morning on marriage and family. When we arrived, we found ourselves teaching not married adults but single kids. We adapted each lesson for their personal needs and everything went very well. It was a great blessing to be able to have several discussions throughout the weekend. I brought the morning lessons and brother Oscar brought the evening lessons. There was a lot of time put into the lessons before the camp preparing materials to help a troubled marriage, which the Lord has been using not only at the camp with the adapted lessons but with a few individuals that we know and talk to that have major problems in their marriages. Please pray for the many people that we have opportunities to speak with on a daily basis.

Stacie has begun teaching a Bible Story in Spanish before the sermon each Wednesday!

The Lord put on Stacie’s heart to offer something for all of the kids that have been coming on Wednesday evening to the Bible study at Marcelo’s house. She has been printing off a Bible story and taking it to her language coach for suggestions on grammar and usage. She has been doing an amazing job sharing with the kids!

Looking for a House to Rent Closer to the Plaza

Our rental agreement will end at the end of May so we have been diligently looking for a place to rent that would be big enough for our family and also to have Bible studies.

Planning a Party

One part of the Argentine culture is the quinceañera. Picture planning a wedding. Hannah will turn 15 next month and we are planning on having a party for her in this tradition without breaking ourselves or the bank. We are planning on having a party with a Texas theme and sharing the Gospel with all that come. Please pray for us.

Thoughts from Stacie

Tranquilo: That’s my word for the year. It translates as “Tranquil, Peaceful, Calm, Quiet, Relaxed…” Basically my goal for this year is to keep the stress levels down. Any time I realize stress is building I go back to that word, “Tranquilo.” Usually I pick words based on what I know I will need during a given year for me one word is so much easier to remember than lists of goals.

Teaching: As Scott mentioned I started teaching a childen’s Bible Lesson each week to the children that come the the Bible Study on Wednesday nights. I noticed that sometimes children from the neighborhood would just pop in to see what was going on and then leave. They weren’t getting much from the preaching as they would typically leave shortly after the song service ended. This month I started reading a short Bible Story after the singing and I share the gospel with them at the end of each lesson. We also pass out coloring pages from the story for them to take home. These lessons help me gain experience teaching in Spanish and introduces the children to God’s Word at the same time.

Homeschool: Also this month as our schedules change from the summer break we decided to revamp our homeschooling. The month of February I had the kids testing for the Alpha-Omega Homeschool Curriculum. This new curriculum looks like it will be a good fit for us. Please pray for us as we try to adjust to these transitions “tranquilly.”

Bonus Pictures

Above are Photos of Hymnals that Scott prepared for Praise and Worship Services.

Translated the cover reads:

“Hymnal of Praise”
Revelations 4:11
“Thou art worthy, O Lord,
to receive glory and honor and power:
for thou hast created all things,
and for thy pleasure they are and were created.”