philippian promises.

There's a bug going around. Staci and I are both fighting colds and a possible stomach bug. We are pretty drained which is somewhat disheartening with the autumn weather being amazing. But we are doing our best trying to rest... We went to sleep at a decent time last night only to be wide awake at 2:30 swatting off mosquitos. For some reasons my whole body was achy and I couldn't get comfortable.. Staci has been reminding me to praise instead of complaining even when things are hard, so I put on some bug spray and decided to pray until I could fall back asleep. Who knows, maybe there was more reason to be awake than fighting off mosquitoes.

This morning we decided to have a Bible study together, going through the first chapter of Philippians which talks about suffering for the sake of the gospel. It is encouraging as we finish out our time here to know that thought we are not always comfortable, physically or culturally, it is for His name's sake. It also talked about how He who began a good work will bring it to completion. So we decided to go through the activities that are going on throughout the week to commit to. One of the things that can be hard about ministry is that church seems to become more of a chore or job than a joy. This will be one of my prayers as we finish out the next 7 weeks in La Plata. That we will be faithful to what God has put before us and give Him the glory through it all!

La Plata sunrise.

His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:24-25).

<3

a blessed week.

Last week we had a birthday celebration for Denise, one of the members of the church! Her husband, Mario was the one that picked us up when we first arrived in La Plata! It was a fun celebration! About 25 or so people came over and hung out in the salon and Denise had made pizza dough, brought it, topped the pizza and cooked it for everyone!

Everyone eating pizza!!

As people started to arrive I hosted by starting up the mate! I probably poured 100 glasses by the time I ran out of yerba leaves! There was a group of people having a ping-pong tournament which was fun to see people getting excited about! 

Finally we ate dinner and they served cake! I opened my mouth about being "good" at ping-pong and how I hadn't been playing because I didn't want to make them look bad. (oooohhh!) Challenge excepted. The two guys who had been running the table all night played against Staci and I. It was neck and neck and we went into like triple overtime. But! We finally succeeded and WON! It was a blast.

The beautiful cake!

This weekend we took a trip to Irigoyen to help with the kids event and help invite people to church!  It is a rough trip, mainly because we travel at night and have to get out of the car every hour for them to fill the car with pressurized gas. So I am sleeping, wake up and get out of the car, and go back to sleep... 5 times! Whew! Other than the rough travel, it was a good trip. 

Staci eating a milenesa sandwich in the van!

There were 7 adults (and 3 kids) that went total. We're all about the same age. One of the guys that came, Sergio, is the president of the youth of the Covenant churches in Argentina and has a vision to have the youth from all the churches to come together for evangelism projects, including going and helping Beto and Claudia in Irigoyen. 

The of the park view from the churches door!

Saturday was a big day! After getting up and around we went out with the guys and kids to pass out invitations to church door to door. Sometimes we just left a flyer, and sometimes we talked to people passing by or at their homes. Sergio did most of the talking, but it was nice to be there and hear the conversations.

We went back to the church and lunch was ready. We ate and then finished preparing for the kids event that started at 5. I made a bunch of baloon animals and Staci and I helped stuffed some candy bags for their treats. Oh yea! And we made a sign that said "Feliz Hora 2015!" (Happy Hour 2015!) It was all great and good until we were told that it was suppose to say "Hora Feliz 2015".. Whaah Whhaaahhhh. That's what happenes when you come from a language with the adjectives before the noun...

Singing songs with the kids!

Praises!!

Talking about Jesus and Lazarus

The kids stuck around late. Juan, Staci, and I played with volleyball with a group of the older girls. Haha! They were crazy and kept asking how to say things in English and would yell them at each other. So full of energy! 

At 10ish a group of adults came and we ended up having a game night. Guys against Girls! We played a few games of a game kind of like Scategories. Had a scavenger hunt Bible verse unscramble game. Then had to act out a Bible story without using words! Overall, I think the girls won, but.. who was keeping track reaalllllly ;) ;) ;)

Sunday was a lot more relaxed. We ate lunch as a team and then Staci, Juan and I practiced singing "I'm Trading My Sorrows" in English and Spanish to sing as a special song at church. Then we had service! It was a great message. Talking about how Jesus called Peter to walk on the water, and that He calls us to walk with Him through impossibilities to. There are no impossibilities with Jesus!

After service it was time to head back! We packed up and drove the long trip back to arrive in La Plata at 3 am! 

A successful fun change of pace for us! It is such a small town with a Kansas feel so it was nice to be able to breath some fresh air and get to walk along the railroad tracks close to the church. The church and Beto and Claudia can definitely use prayers. I know it wears on them making that trip every weekend and I pray that God continues to use them and grow the ministry there.

Thanks for all your prayers and for reading =)

<3

painting the salon.

Last weekend, along with celebrating Easter, our church decided to paint the salon above the church in preparation to them starting Bible School for the kids that come to the church services with their parents!

Here is a snap of the salon before we started! 

Salmon walls, orange pillars, and maroon floors!

The crew going to town!

Staci transforming the pillar into a tree!

My little masterpieces. A boy Scout, some flowers...

...and a girl Scout!

The (almost) finished result! 

They still need to paint the floor green and add some clouds!

Since this is our "living room" it has been a great change of scenery! It even feels like we're getting to experience some of the outdoors while we eat our meals!

<3

pascuas.

Last night Staci and I had some friends over to paint Easter eggs with! "Pascuas" is the Castellano word for Easter and they have different traditions here. Painting eggs isn't one of them. Neither is hiding eggs and finding them! So, naturally we did that too!

Decorating eggs!

The finished products!

I hid Staci's Santa in the stocking haha!

Belen searching for eggs!

Staci finding eggs left and right! She was like a lil kid in a candy shop!

Coti with (almost) all the eggs!

Of course afterwards we were hanging out and it got to be dinner time (most people eat dinner around 8 or 9 or 10) and we were like, lets eat eggs! Coti whipped up some "huevos rellenos" for us! 

YUM!

It was a great evening and it was fun to share our traditions and it gave us a little taste of being home! This weekend is going to be full of celebration! On Friday we have a special Friday Servive, then on Saturday night we are having an all church movie night. THEN on Sunday we have our Easter Service followed by a potlock! Should be a full and fun weekend!

Happy Easter everyone!

Christ is RISEN!

<3

weekend revival.

Thank you all for praying for the campaign that the covenant church's in Argentina put on this last weekend! There was a great turn out and so many volunteers and work got put into it being a success! I know that God used it to His glory and purpose as we saw new believers enter the kingdom and many who rededicate their lives to Christ!

Worship!

There was a tent to the left of the stage with intercessors who prayed throughout the 3 day event!

What an amazing demenstration of "pray without ceasing!"

A lively group that was in the back worshiping and dancing!

The group from our church that prayed in the liberation corner!

The young man in the middle with the uniform on started the Portal of Hope church that

Fabian and Patricia are pastors of! 

Being a former techy, I know that these guys need props for 

all their hard work behind the scenes!

The kids corner! Making it a great event for the whole family!

Selling yummy foods!

Recruiting for Scouts kick off!

Twas a beautiful weekend full of joy and encouragement! I am honored to have been able to be a part of it!


<3

prepping the predio.

This weekend is the Northern IPEA's (Evangelical Covenant Church of Argentina) big revival! The church has been working diligently to get the Predio ready and Staci and I were in charge of creating all the name tags for the pastors and volunteers working the event!

Last weekend we spent Saturday tarde (afternoon until dark) and Sunday manana (morning) helping mow/weedeat and rake up the grass at the Predio.

This is a phenomenon here that I have been wanting to document but hadn't gotten the chance until now. To cut large areas of land, you don't see tractors or riding mowers, or.. mowers for that matter. You often see lines of workers with weedeaters attached to them wacking off all the long grass! Thus, that's what happened last weekend as well! And of course, you have the grass baggers like us with their rakes and bags following close behind!

It was a long process, but it was nice to have the physical labor! And we were right at home since we had a lawn care business the summer before last! Who knew that it was just training to be a missionary in Argentina ^_^

The dedicated weedeaters!

 Raking away!

The bags of grass, not including the additional 10 from Sunday morning!

Putting up the sign!

I am a little late posting this! Last night was the opening night of the conference! I'll post pictures and send out my monthly update telling you how it went as soon as I can!

Bless you all and thank you for your continued prayers!

<3

community.

Yesterday was a work day for the church revival. A bunch of the men got together and dug holes and put up lamp posts throughout the Predio and then strung wire between them all to get electricity to the lights. It was a pretty cool process to see!

While they were doing that a group of us had a meeting for Scouts which starts up the weekend after the revival. We talked about different things that needed done as well as put us into groups on who will be helping what age group. I'll be helping with the younger kiddos and Staci is helping with the high school aged. I also got dubbed the official photographer for the first Welcoming Day!

It was pretty encouraging to sit there and be able to pick up most of what was being said! It helps that Patricia is easy to understand in general, but I have learned a ton of Castellano (Spanish) since arriving here! Along with classes twice a week we've been taking it upon ourselves to watch movies (mostly animated, or ones that we've seen a lot) in Spanish so that we can learn more. It can be kind of frustrating because in most cases the subtitles don't match what is being said, but it's the best "homework" you can get!

Here are some pictures to enjoy from last night!

A bunch of the guys working on the lights!

Daniel and Alejandro taping a TON of wire together 

so they can be strung to all the light poles.

Staci found a bike that had a machete tied to it!? 

Hector of course demonstrated what it was used for! Haha!

Take one on a group photo haha! I accidentally had it zoomed all the way in!

But it is a nice picture of Sole! Haha!

Take two on the group pic!

Diana, Staci, Sole, and I!

The guys using their makeshift (two short ladders tied/wired together)

ladder to put up the wire and the lights.

Staci saving the day by shoveling out dangerous spiky weeds!

We were sitting at our meeting and the guys walked by..

"Take a picture! Take a picture!"

A nice picture of Sole, Patricia, and Diana!

At the end of our time there I sat back in my chair and looked at all the people around. The guys doing the "manly work" and their wives and kids supporting them, helping when possible, serving food and mate. Work towards the revival, and work towards Scouts, all meshed together in the same place. Just hanging out and getting things done for hours. Not really bored or dying to get home or on to the next thing. Just living in community. 

It was a scene that I will not soon forget.

<3