Tag: Argentina
December 2022
Dirty Ice
We had been buying bags of ice from the store next to our house because of the heat. After about a week of using the Ice for our water, we noticed that there was a lot of nasty floaties in the water when the ice melted. We are not sure if that was a contributing factor in us getting sick or not.
Two Weeks of Sickness
During the middle of this month we had sickness that even shut down our midweek service for a week as I was sick at the same time as the family where we are meeting. I was sick for the first week and as I was getting better Stacie became sick. Thankfully as I write this we all are better and are diligent in His service.
A Short Rest
We had planned since last month to rent a house outside of town for a couple of days. The time that we went fell at the time that I was recovering from the sickness and Stacie was starting with it. The change of scenery was a blessing for the kids, even if only for a few days! Cordoba has been very hot lately, over 100º and in the house it gets very hot some days. Where we went had a nice breeze blowing throughout the day as it was on a lake in the mountains.
Cursed by False Prophets but Blessed by God
Continue to pray for the next door neighbor where we are meeting. She had a meeting at her home where she called her false prophet pastors to pronounce a curse upon us and on our Bible study on Wednesday night and upon the family where we are meeting. About this same time four of the people in their family became sick and it looked like we would not be able to have our special Christmas outreach. This took place on the Friday before Christmas. We prayed! They prayed and read scripture! The next day I received a phone call from them letting me know that they were all feeling better the next morning and they all wanted to still have the meeting that evening and not let Satan have the victory
We spent the rest of the day getting things ready and had the best meeting ever! We even prepared a gift basket for the lady next door that had been so vile to them and to us! Jesus had the victory for the evening!
The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
Thankfully my kids are hard headed! towards the end of the month the plaster fell from the ceiling on into the middle of the dinning room table while the kids were eating lunch. The roof as already been fixed at the time that I am writing this but you never know what each day will include.
Thoughts from Stacie
End of Year Band Concert and Last Violin Class for the Year
The beginning of December we had all of our end of year concerts and parties with the band and violin classes we are taking. Scott and the older three children had an end of year concert and the younger girls and I had our final violin class for the year. We made our last class special by having the rest of the family bring their instruments and we played Christmas songs with our violin teacher.
Weekend Getaway at the Lake House
Even though Scott still had a cough we decided to go ahead and escape the big city and head to the lake house. The last time we visited the lake house was about three years ago. It was good to get out of the dusty city and enjoy some fresh air. It was beautiful weather and Scott started feeling better. Then I started coming down with the same symptoms he had. Getting sick was not in our plans for the month.
Soccer – Argentina won the World Cup
Most of December was filled with excitement as Argentina competed for the FIFA World Championship. Soccer is super important in the culture here. It’s bigger than the Super Bowl in the U.S. People here practically worship their favorite players and when Argentina won it was like all the problems of the world were solved in that final victory.
Soccer – Argentina won the World Cup
Most of December was filled with excitement as Argentina competed for the FIFA World Championship. Soccer is super important in the culture here. It’s bigger than the Super Bowl in the U.S. People here practically worship their favorite players and when Argentina won it was like all the problems of the world were solved in that final victory.
Christmas Shopping
We want to thank all the churches that sent us special Christmas offerings. We were able to not only buy gifts for our children but it also helped us to take them out Christmas shopping as well. Letting them shop for each other and us has been a tradition that we all love. It’s fun to see what each one picks out for everyone. Then they also get to go out and buy gifts for us. The special offerings helped us be able to give them enough money to buy gifts they knew everyone would truly enjoy. It is also fun for us to see how much older they are getting in their gift selections.
A Christmas Blessing
We almost thought we weren’t going to be able to have the special Christmas Eve celebration when several people from our Bible Study in Malvinas Argentinas fell sick. The Friday before Christmas we found out about those who were sick and also heard the sad story of the neighbor who had the elders from her church come curse the Bible Study and the home where we’ve been meeting.
Scott asked the ones who were having problems with their neighbor to read Nehemiah who went through a similar situation while repairing the temple. That night I prayed for special Christmas blessing for our brothers and sisters in Malvinas Argentinas asking God to bless them more than the others wanted them cursed. The next day as we were preparing the baskets to deliver to the families we received the news that they were all feeling better and wanted to continue with the plans for the Christmas Eve celebration.
Happy New Year!
We ended 2022 with thirteen in attendance in our Wednesday night Bible Study. We discussed goals and the possibilities for the New Year. In 2023 we would love to find a better place to meet and to add another service on Sundays. Please continue to pray that the Lord opens the doors as we continue to seek His will.
Bonus Pictures
One Sunday the church in Cordoba where we visit asked Scott to translate for some special guests from the U.S.
It was Bro. Victor’s first time to have someone translate his sermon.
First time to preach in a gaucho poncho! It was a cool evening and our host passed us out coats to keep us warm!
Preparing Christmas gift baskets for people in our neighborhood and for our Christmas outreach!
November 2022
She that goeth forth and weepeth!
One of the ladies in our Wednesday night Bible study has been going up and down the streets in her neighborhood and inviting her neighbors. She would share with the people that she met, (bearing the precious seed), and weep and pray over the lost souls in her community! She truly has a heart like Jeremiah (Mine eye affecteth mine heart… Lm 3:51) It is a blessing to be able to encourage such people with the Word of God! After only three months of meeting we have been running 14 in attendance consistently. (Seven in my family and seven besides!)
May all of our hearts look to His promise and be soul winners!
She chose to be with us on Wednesday night!
Last month we shared about the lady that lived next door to the family where we are meeting and how the false prophets in the neighborhood had pressured her to not spend time with us since we we Baptists! We noticed that at one point in the month she stopped leaving in the middle of the service to appease the other pastor. She decided to spend the whole Wednesday service with us! Please pray for her as she has a lot of physical pain in her legs, especially now that the weather is so hot!
Bible Lesson for the kids!
Another thing that we did was to reorganize our Wednesday night meeting to have a short kid’s Bible lesson before the preaching. It is hard to describe the neighborhood where we are reaching out, but there are several kids that do not go to school and are not able to read that many times have never seen what a Biblical family is supposed to look like as they have never had it modeled for them in their homes! Please pray for the Lord to give us the wisdom and strength to reach out to win souls for Him!Another thing that we did was to reorganize our Wednesday night meeting to have a short kid’s Bible lesson before the preaching. It is hard to describe the neighborhood where we are reaching out, but there are several kids that do not go to school and are not able to read that many times have never seen what a Biblical family is supposed to look like as they have never had it modeled for them in their homes! Please pray for the Lord to give us the wisdom and strength to reach out to win souls for Him!
Thoughts from Stacie
Jonathan’s 15th Birthday
On the 4th of November we celebrated Jonathan’s Birthday. We surprised him by taking him and his siblings to the Super Park. The Super Park is a small local theme park with rides and activities for kids. It has been several years since we’ve been. They’ve all grown so much since our last visit there.
Women’s Conference
That following Saturday, November 5th, I took Hannah and two other ladies from our mission point in Malvinas Argentinas to a Ladies Bible Conference in the southern part of the city. We had a wonderful time of fellowship and encouragement.
Children’s Bible Lesson
Also this month I started teaching a children’s Bible Lesson on Wednesday nights when we have our worship and Bible Study services. There is a little boy named Samuel that has been coming to our Bible Studies with his mom. He is a little too independent four year old that has never been in any school setting and has never heard about Jesus and the Bible before coming to our meetings.
We all felt like we needed to do something special for him. It’s been a process teaching him to stay and listen to a lesson and to not run off with my illustrations. We are seeing progress with him though as we continue to show him the love of Christ.
Decorating for Christmas
It’s going into summer here as we approach the Christmas season. We had a cold front come through the Monday before Thanksgiving and so we decided that was the perfect day to put up the Christmas tree and stockings. It doesn’t change the temperature but having the Christmas lights glowing makes things feel a little more festive even as we enter the hot days of summer.
Thanksgiving Dinner with Friends
For Thanksgiving we were invited to the home of another missionary family in the country. We joined several other families. Argentina doesn’t exactly stop for Thanksgiving.
We managed to cook some good food to share at the Thanksgiving dinner and really enjoyed getting to spend time with other English speaking friends. After the dinner we surprised our children by taking them to hear a string quartet in concert.
Last Homeschool Co-op for this Year
Our last meeting with the other homeschoolers was held in a different location a little outside of the city. A family in the co-op owns some property with a camp style building that is used throughout the year for group events. They invited the group to their campground where there were rooms that we could teach our classes in. We all had good classes and enjoyed the fellowship afterwards. All the children were also given certificates for participating in the co-op.
End of Year Concert and Band Recital
The school year has been winding down as we approach the summer break. Yes, it still sounds strange to be approaching summer break in November. After four years here in Argentina we are finally starting to get used to the school year ending and vacations beginning in December.
Summer begins in December and ends in February. All the normal school activities and other classes will begin again in March. We are getting better at planning a vacation during this time of year. In July when the United States are in the middle of summer break, we will be experiencing a two week winter break.
Bonus Pictures
October 2022 Report
One Lady Saved! Praise the Lord!
This last month has been very busy. During the beginning of the month there were several fires outside of the city which brought smoke into the city. Between the smoke and the crazy weather changes we had more sickness (congestion, runny noses, lost voice). Even with problems, the Lord has continued to bless. On the 12th during our Wednesday night Bible study, a lady had visited us with her two children. That evening I taught on John 14 about Jesus and the way of salvation. After the service she prayed to be saved! Please pray for her and her children. There are many difficulties in her life that the Lord is helping her to work through.
“Have nothing to do with them! They’re Baptists!”
This is what one of the false prophets in town said about us to the elderly lady that has been visiting with us for several weeks. There are very many prosperity “gospel” pastors here in Argentina that want people to come to their church so that they can demand offerings. If people turn to the true Lord, their means of income is being diminished. Ravening wolves will always eventually show themselves for who they are! For a couple of weeks she did not come to our Bible study, following the command of this “pastor”. They start at 8:00 and we have been starting at 6:00. For the two weeks that she was staying away, she was hearing us sing and play praises to the Lord and us teaching, not demanding their money and she longed to be with us! She determined for now to be with us at 6:00 and then go to the other to not rock the boat. Pray for her as she struggles through making important decisions. She is in a position to hear our message and theirs and to compare them! Spiritual slavery is very common here, where people willingly put themselves into bondage of a religious system of works to either try to earn salvation or to work to try to keep it.
Thank you, Lord, for holding the security of my salvation in Your strong hand!
There is so much more that I could share about the work in Malvinas, if there was more space to tell! I could tell you about how excited they were when I brought a wooden stamp to stamp their address on the back of the tracks! I could tell you about his oldest son who has already visited for two Wednesdays in a row and has enjoyed coming! Many, many, many more blessings!
God is truly good!
More importantly, the book uses chess to touch on several Biblical lessons for life!
Thoughts from Stacie
Birthday Party
We were invited to a Birthday party by a family in our Homeschool Co-op. I took Elijah, Elisabeth, and Joanna to the party. While we were there one of the mothers asked me what the differences were between us and one of the other churches near us. I had a good conversation with her and later sent her the PDF of our Gospel of John Books. She and her husband are very interested in learning all they can. Sometimes the problem isn’t the desire to learn more but the lack of information available to them. One thing we find is there are people that study the Bible and might agree with us but there is a shortage of churches teaching the truth about what a New Testament church really is.
Independent Baptist Church Organization Service
We were blessed to be able to visit an organization service of an Independent Baptist church in the province of Ojo de Agua. Scott, Hannah, and Jonathan were invited to play with the other musicians during the worship service. We were blessed by the service and happy to see a small group become a self-supporting church with a national pastor. There are so many towns, cities, and provinces in Argentina without any gospel presence. There is so much work to be done.
Día de las Madres – Mother’s Day
The following Friday, Templo Bautista, the Independent Baptist Church we’ve been visiting on Sunday Mornings hosted a Mothers’ Day dinner. I brought Eufemia with me to the dinner. (Eufemia is the wife of Juan. On Wednesday Evenings we are meeting in their home in Malvinas Argentinas.) She really enjoyed getting to meet other Christian mothers.
Female Driver
There are a lot of women in Argentina that don’t drive. Of course as an American I surprise them a lot by being a fairly confident driver. I picked Eufemia up in Malvinas and drove to the church where the Mothers’ Day dinner was held. It was about a 20 minute drive. Once we were inside the building I looked in my purse and realized I didn’t have my wallet. I immediately messaged Scott because I didn’t have any of my important documents nor my driver’s license. We left the church and I took her the “back way” to my house where I knew there weren’t police guards set up. Scott was waiting for us with my wallet and he rode with us back to Malvinas. Eufemia really enjoyed sharing the story about my driving and how confident I was. We had a good laugh about my avoiding check-points which is a very Argentine thing to do.
Homeschool Co-op
Scott taught the chess class again and I taught the younger children’s sewing class again this month. The mother I visited with at the Birthday party earlier in the month brought her children to the co-op for the first time. Her husband also came with them and that gave me the opportunity to share a physical copy of our Gospel of John books with her and for Scott to get to visit with her husband.
More Books and Bibles
We have been giving away a lot of Gospel books and Bibles. We gave several Bibles away in Malvinas Argentina to various visitors this month. We are having to be careful how we give Bibles out.
The culture here is very opportunistic. It’s so ingrained in people to look for a good deal that they might take advantage of our generosity. So we’re having to be real careful how we give things away. Our method is to be super generous with gospel tracts and the gospel of Johns which are our cheapest options. Then if someone asks for a Bible we give them a New Testament. Then the full Bibles are given to those who we feel are genuinely seeking to learn more about God.
Bonus Pictures
We took the kids out to eat the last Sunday in October. When Joanna saw this advertisement with a bacon cheeseburger taller than her we had to get a picture!
September 2022
The devil hits hard, but God hits harder!
| This month has been a whirlwind of activity and blessing! This month we began having regular meetings in the home of a couple that lives in the next town over that want to see a scriptural church planted in their town! As we have been laboring this month with this family, the devil has been very active trying to discourage them as they step out in faith to see what the Lord will do! In the last month they have had multiple problems crashing upon them like waves of the ocean including a motorcycle accident, a broken arm, two family members being robbed at separate times in the month and a nephew dying among other things. |
| During the majority of this month my family suffered from sickness, allergies and losing my voice. God has been seeing them and us through all of these things and in the midst of it all blessing them with joy in the middle of the trials! Please pray fervently for them that God gives them strength to face and overcome the many trials! |
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“God Sent Your Family to Our House!”
On Sunday evenings, my wife and I have been meeting with this family and looking at the scriptures together. Last Sunday as we were sharing our whole story about how the Lord moved us to Argentina, they suddenly realized the full impact of what the Lord is doing in their home. Juan, the man of the house, looked at me and said, “God brought you from so far away directly to my house!” It was that evening that they realized that their willingness to follow God’s will was a greater blessing to us than even our presence was to them! May God continue to knit our hearts together as we serve Him!
My Family Asked to Play Music During a Professional Soccer Game
I am surprised sometimes at the opportunities that the Lord gives us to serve Him! I received a phone call this month from an Argentine friend that I would love to see come to know the Lord! He invited my self and three of my kids to play with their band during the Belgrano soccer game. I had always heard that Argentine soccer games were crazy but had never experienced it before. They had gathered 68 musicians to play during this event. You can get some idea at the energy by looking at the pictures. My prayer is that God may use us to be at the right place at the right time to win somebody to the Lord.
We were there for several hours but decided to leave early. It turns out God had more plans for us that evening! When the trolley bus came by the driver saw the four of our smiling faces and was instantly cheered. She told me later that she had been sad that day grieving the loss of a loved one when we entered her bus at just that moment. At her request we played songs, mostly hymns, for the rest of the ride. Before we left she gave us her information to be added to the list when I send out messages from the Bible each week on the podcast! Please continue to pray for her and for the ones in the band that we would like to reach with the gospel!
Thoughts from Stacie
Students’ Day
There are quite a few holidays here in Argentina. Some are national holidays and others are just celebrated days. This month’s big celebration was Student’s Day. Joanna’s and Elisabeth’s violin school had a party for their students. The girls dressed up as princesses and had a lot of fun with their friends.
Colds, Allergies, and a Stomach Bug
September is the start of Spring here in Argentina and as the weather appeared to be warming up we were still hit hard with all sorts of sicknesses. With seven of us in the house it seemed like we were going to be sick forever.It started with colds and then just as we seemed to be on the mend we got hit with a stomach virus. Then as trees were starting to bloom in our neighborhood we got hit with allergies. As we talked to people we found out we weren’t the only family that had problems with sickness this month. We tried to take care of ourselves and had to miss a few activities that we would have normally been a part of.
Bible Month – The Gift of God’s Word
We were asked by the family with whom we are meeting each week, if we had a Large Print Bible for their neighbor who has trouble reading small print Bibles. We went to the Bible Book Store here in the city and found her a Giant print Bible. She was really happy to be able to see the words for herself. We have also seen a large interest in the Gospel of John books that Scott put together. It’s been amazing seeing how many people have shown a great interest in these books. Quite a few have even asked for more books so they can share them with their friends. Pray for the people that receive the Gospel’s of John and other resources we’ve been giving away. God’s word does not return void! Please continue to pray that souls might be saved.
Homeschool Co-op
Each month we meet with other homeschool families from around the Cordoba Province for a homeschool co-operative. There were a couple new students in our classes this month. Scott is teaching a chess class and has been working hard putting together a book not only as a teaching tool for his class but it will make a nice ministry tool as well as he is incorporating spiritual and life lessons throughout the book. Books and tracts that share the gospel through different topics can be a very effective way to share the gospel. People are more apt to read something that looks interesting to them. I am teaching a “simple” sewing class for the younger children in the co-op. This class is a bit more chaotic as I have about 14 children ages 8 and under. The co-op has been good for our own children and also it’s been good getting to encourage other homeschooling families through it.
Bonus Pictures
June 2022 Report
Safely Back in Argentina!
We are so thankful for all of your prayers as we traveled. I really believe that your prayers made the difference going back! At the check in booth for the airline, the Lord gave us a person to check us in that was from a large military family that grew up all over the world. What a blessing to have a kind hearted, understanding person to check you in. We are so thankful that there was no extra charge for our 7 extra checked luggage!
When we arrived at the gate we still had more bags than allowed to carry on but the airline needed people to voluntary check their luggage, which brought our number down to just a few backpacks and bags that we were carrying on to the plane.
When we arrived in Cordoba, we were able to go through immigrations and customs without any problem at all! There are so many things we could talk about during our trip that would require a book, such as our daughter striking up a conversation with a couple while we were waiting to board the plane in Chile or getting to share the gospel with the delivery driver on the way back from the airport. God is good in all things and He will richly bless us with opportunities to share His message!
Car Maintenance, Plumbing, and Catching Up
Our house was like a tomb when we came back after being gone for 8 months! Nothing had moved except for an accumulation of dusts! (It is amazing how a house that is completely shut up here can acquire so much dust!) We had so much to take care of during this first month back from paying bills to fixing what needed to be replaced.
Our car was right where we left it in the parking garage with about a 16th of an inch of dust on it. The young man at the parking garage helped us jump start the vehicle and our landlord gave us good quality, reasonably priced places to go for car maintenance. We put a new battery in the car and had a full service done.
We had several plumbing issues in the house when we turned the water back on that needed to be dealt with immediately. Our landlord had given us leave to hire whoever we would like. I contacted a friend of ours that I helped a year ago when he needed business cards designed. Pray for him! He is a saved man, but has not been to any church with his family in a year. He was interested in us letting him know when we were going to have a dedicated place for having services. We are praying for the place that the Lord will give us for that purpose!
Three Days in the Immigration Office
One of the things that had to be done within our first two months here was to report to immigration and bring ourselves and all of our documentation to get our information cards made. It took three days in a row but we have it all done! Please pray that we all get our cards in the mail this time!
We have been in the immigration office so much during the last four years that we know the process well enough to give instructions to other foreigners who were coming for the first time. We joked about the fact that our five year old has spent over a month of her life collectively in that office! Amazingly, as of sending this report, we have received 6 out of 7 of our cards in the mail one week later!
Gospel of John Booklets and New Testaments Well Received!
Before we came back to the US, we took delivery of 1,000 Gospel of John booklets that we prepared and had printed. We were also given a large number of pocket New Testaments to bring back to Argentina with us! Since we have been back, we have already given away many copies to individuals!
It is great to have resources like these to put into peoples hands and to let them know that they are holding a portion of God’s Word, His message to us! Pray that the Lord continues to use this booklet to open doors to share his glorious Gospel!
Thoughts from Stacie
Slowly Getting Back in the Swing of Things
When we arrived back to our home in Argentina, we were determined to get back to daily life slowly. We didn’t want to get overwhelmed Of course we had a lot of cleaning to do the first few days and the plumbing in both the kitchen and bathroom was leaking.
So for us starting slow meant cleaning up and calling a plumber. We also had to get our car running again. Of course by the end of just that one week back, we felt like a whole month had passed.
Resuming Band and Violin Lessons
Then the following week we got violin classes resumed. Elisabeth, Joanna, and I have been taking violin lessons. We were having our classes virtually while we were in the States. The girls were very excited to get back to in person classes and group classes with other children.
Scott and the older kids also were excited to return to band and seeing their friends. The band has a class for adults and the instructor allows the children of the parents in that class to join them. Music is something our children enjoy and we as parents can encourage them in.
Visiting Our Language Instructor and Her New Baby
I messaged our friend and language teacher, Romi, when we arrived back in Argentina. She invited Scott and I to come to her house to see her new baby. She named her baby Elías which is Elijah in Spanish. She liked our Elijah’s friendly and laid back personality when she met him and she liked his name.
We thought it was really sweet that she named her son after ours. Since she invited us to her home we told her we wanted her to come visit us as well. So maybe in a few weeks we will have her and her family come visit us.
Shopping and Paying Bills
Shopping can be a lot of work when you have to think in two currencies. Whether it’s going to the shoe store to buy winter shoes for the children or shopping at the supermarket we have to think about not only how many pesos we must bring with us but we also have to think about how much it is in dollars as well.
Sharing Electricity
Paying bills can be tricky as well. We went to pay what we thought was the only electric bills we had one day and a few days later our electricity was cut off. It turned out we had missed a bill we didn’t realize was still due. Our landlord that lives behind us loaned us electricity by giving us a cord we could plug into our house like a generator. The next day our electricity was back on but a couple days later our neighbor’s electricity was cut off and we returned the favor and had the house plugged in for his house to receive electricity. Thankfully his was up and running again after a couple of days. It was just interesting having a cord going through our bathroom for several days.
Broken Water Line
It’s almost seems unreal but when our electricity came back on the following day our water ran out. A line was broken down the road from us and they had cut the water to the houses on the street until it was fixed. Thankfully it wasn’t off for more than a day. There is a tank that fills up on our roof so we don’t always know when the water is off until our tank runs out of water. When the water came back on we were a little nervous of using too much water until we were sure that the water pressure was back in full.
Everyday life can be rather unpredictable sometimes.
Celebrating Joshua’s Birthday from a Distance
Our eldest son, Joshua, celebrated his 24th Birthday on June 27th. It’s hard not being able to be there to celebrate in person but we sent him a video of us singing “Happy Birthday” to him and we sent some money for him and Ruth, our oldest daughter, to go out and celebrate his birthday together. Ruth sent us a picture of Joshua wearing a new hat he got for his birthday.
Bonus Pictures
February 2021 Report
Stacie is teaching a weekly kids’ class!
It has been great getting to have face to face services at Marcelo’s house again. He had asked me to ask Stacie if she would like to work up a lesson before the Bible study on Wednesday nights. Last year the night before the quarantine started, we had our first big outreach like this with several kids present. Since starting again this year we have had much smaller numbers but everyone present has been throughly enjoying the time together.
We understand you better now!
This is what I was told one night after preaching on Wednesday night. They told me that before they had a harder time figuring out what it was that I was saying but now they were able to understand more. I guess that the language classes have been paying off!
If you have ever been in a cross-cultural situation where you are learning another language to preach and teach the heart of God and the depths of His word, then you will understand the difficulty. Over the last year during quarantine we have continued our language classes through Zoom and have continued to teach on the podcast and through Youtube and Whatsapp. There is not a day that goes by that we are not learning a new word or phrase and how to best apply the new found knowledge. Please continue to pray that the Lord, who made the tongue, would continue to aid us as we speak His message to the world!
5000 full color flyers printed!
We finished up teaching through the 22 doctrinal statements this month on the podcast. After finishing up the teaching, we made a separate post for each doctrine and linked the audio lessons to our “what we believe” page on our website. I then made a full color, single-fold flyer on high-quality, glossy paper that has the plan of salvation with a QR code to the “gospel of John” booklet that we prepared previously. Also on the front of the flyer is information on how to connect to the weekly teaching on the podcast and website. On the inside and back cover it shows the 22 doctrinal statements under the title of “how to recognize a scriptural church, a study in christian doctrine”. Next to each doctrinal statement is a QR code that will take them to my audio teaching on the subject.
We plan on passing these out over the next few months and praying that the seeds that are sown would take root. Our first purpose is to see people saved. Secondly, our purpose is to begin the discipleship process. We are praying that through this the Lord would touch hearts to open their home for a Bible study where they can invite their friends and family to hear the word of life. Even if half of one percent respond by wanting to have a home Bible study it will have been worth the effort!
Greek New Testament Parsing Guide translated into Spanish!
We would like to express our great thanks to Maurice Robinson for allowing me to translate his work “The online Greek New Testament parsing and declensions for all occurring forms” into Spanish. To my knowledge nothing like this existed before in Spanish and if it did it wasn’t freely available. This resource will be a great blessing to students of the Greek Scriptures and New Testament and will be made freely available on our website. It has an alphabetical vocabulary of the entire Greek New Testament with its Strong’s numbers and its grammar codes. We pray that it might be a great resource. I believe that it will fill a gap in the Spanish speaking world. It may be downloaded, copied, shared or printed as long as the content is not modified and it remains free of charge. Pray for us as we continue to share Jesus with a lost and dying world!
Thoughts from Stacie
We appreciate having so many people praying for us. We never know what doors will open at any moment. One minute we think our schedule will be going one way and just one phone call or conversation later doors open to go another direction. After almost a year of closed physical doors where we had to do things digitally, now doors are beginning to open up in the physical world. The kids will be going back to in person band and violin classes again. Please pray for our children as they interact with other children again in Spanish. We are coming out of the long lockdown of 2020 feeling a little shyer than before. It feels strange with all the mandatory masks and self distancing protocols getting in the way of good communication. Please pray for us that we are able to conquer these barriers in order to share the gospel with those we will be seeing regularly.
Click Here for the Printable PDF of this Report
December 2020 Report
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!
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
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
Click this link to view the printable PDF of this report:
http://argentinabaptist.org/Newsletter/Report-2020-08.pdf
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.
