It's official!

the Mission Mobile with a friend

After seven months and at. least. 50 appointments and paperwork errands, plus untold numbers of phone calls to find out what on earth is taking so long - the Mission Mobile is finally registered!

She used to be American, but she decided to give up her American citizenship and become a nationalized Argentine automotor. It was hard - leaving her home country, being knocked around in a container on the open ocean for months, then driven over thousands of kilometers of rough terrain until her screws literally began to come loose.

working hard

she doesn't forget to help her neighbor in need,
even if it's 1am in the middle of nowhere

Sometimes she feels depressed, longing for the smooth roads of home - but, alas, she's given her body for Christ. Missions is for life for her. She knows she will never return to her homeland. But she really likes the attention she gets here in her new country. People stare at her when she strolls down the street, a foreigner they can tell, a real beauty. She is even slightly flattered when complete strangers pull up to her, roll down their window, and ask if she's for sale. She knows she's special here. When people climb in, they ooh and ahh, their eyes widening as they gaze up, down, and all around her luxurious interior. Back home she was a nobody, nothing special. Here she's a real gem, and they let her know it.



she visits the less fortunate, but sometimes feels like she doesn't fit in -
she thinks they view her as a snob, a rich girl. it's not true.



Her owners? Oh, they are now enjoying a glass of wine and talking of taking her on vacation. She deserves it. She works hard and they know hers is a sacrificial life, so they treat her really nice, like a queen. She gets regular sponge baths, manicures and pedicures, and the full interior treatment, complete with special products and lotions - something she never got back home. She knows here in her new home she will not likely be viewed as less valuable to society as she ages, and her owners know it, too. They treat her as she deserves, and even pray for her health and safety, almost daily.

sometimes she gets to see some really pretty places

Her owners are just glad - celebrating, really - that they no longer have to fear being pulled over by the police, having her {perfectly legal} temp papers questioned, along with her honor; threats of having her taken from them and detained or impounded; or insults of bribery money thrown their way for her. She is not for sale, and no, she can't be bought. How degrading!

 
She knows where she stands now. She knows her status. She's a legal resident now, with all the rights. Finally validated, finally accepted, a nationalized citizen.


ching! ching!



Are you living for THIS?

A video for you. No matter where you are, no matter what country you live in, no matter what you do, Christian - are you living for THIS?





We also want to send out a BIG THANK YOU to all the people who support us (I feel we've been kind of bad at this, communicating it properly). In heart, with your words, with your prayers, with your example, with your finances. We could not be here without you.

THANK YOU.

No matter where we go, no matter what we do, no matter which country we live in, overseas "missionaries" or not - we are all called to live for Christ, in all we do. So thankful for the people, our examples, we know who do! Some people say we are an inspiration, but we know plenty ourselves! Truly. Thanks. :)

The Mission Mobile: new and improved

I said I'd put up pics, so here she is: tinted windows and all. Briefly considered rechristening Big Blue, aka The Mission Mobile, the "Narcomobile". It looks like we should be conducting illegal and clandestine activities in there or something.

You can't see in AT ALL. It rocks. No hot, 105 degree, Patagonian desert sun beating in on delicate missionary skin (okay, me - everyone else in this family has some serious melanin but me - wah).

I like that no one will be able to see the kids in there. Or our projectors, film, laptop, and other such tools of the trade. I like that A LOT.

Front windshield... super. :)



It's actually kind of scary to drive at night. You can't see out the side windows at all unless there's a car coming or very well lit streets - or enough to reverse without running over a tree. It'll take a little getting used to.

Thank you, Tim!!! We still can't believe you did it for us for free!

one amazing week

We have been blown away just about every day of this past week with some more of God's amazing provision. Three stories in particular come to mind.

At the beginning of last week Tony sat down and recalculated (again) what our remaining expenses still are to make this Big Move to Missions (ie., how much we still need to make it to our final destination in Patagonia - and hopefully afford a roof over our heads once we get there). We were $2000 short. We have been unemployed for six months now, and he stopped receiving phone calls for some side jobs he had found. He was visibly worried when he told me, and followed it with a, "What are we going to do?". I said, "I don't know, I give up worrying about it, honey. This is God's problem. He called us, He needs to provide. I'm done worrying about it." Then I laughed. You have to see the humor in it all or you'll just cry. Tony did not seemed helped by my non-chalance. So we prayed hard, our faith returned, and we felt a lot better - Tony also decided he would fast. Three days later we went in to the church office to pick up the check of the money we had made at the fundraiser, along with other gifts that have come in. Tony came home and told this amazing story: when he got there the pastor said he had some good news. Someone had called that morning and said they wanted to give us a gift. Of $2000. Tony said  he almost cried right then and there. His eyes filled with tears.

The Mission Mobile (before tinting; after pics to come)

Later that same day we stopped in to the shop of a friend's husband who tints car windows. Tony wanted to get an idea - just an idea - of what it would cost to darken the windows to our van - to keep prying eyes and the hot Patagonian desert sun out (it can reach 104, up to 107, degrees F in the summer there - most of Patagonia is actually desert, the sun shines every. day.). We only wanted to know how much it was, to see if we could even do it. As Tony told our friend about what we are doing and why, the guy offered to do the work FOR FREE- all we had to do was cover the materials (maybe $70 out of a $400-500 job). Later, when we took the van back to start getting worked on, he said, "Never mind, I'll do it all for you for free."

A few more amazing days went by, replete with God's goodness and more provision (not just material or financial - but much emotional, spiritual, and relational provision, as well.).

We went to church a couple of days later and were able to hunt down the family that gave us that huge financial gift. We wanted to thank them, even though they weren't looking for it (we try to thank everyone personally if possible - we truly are grateful for any and all support, moral, emotional, prayer, OR financial, and want people to know that). We then began talking about some of the supplies we want to take to Argentina, some of the missions things we want to do, and some of the things we aren't sure yet how we'll do - one of them being how to show the JESUS Film. I spoke with the head of the Jesus Film Project in Latin America several months ago who told me the best thing for us to do would be to go ahead and purchase the equipment and the film, and go from there. I researched projectors, a laptop, the screen, and the audio, took one look at the price ($4000-$5000 for all of it) and said, "Um, yeah. I don't think so." After telling this story to this particular family, they actually told us that they had a big screen in their basement we could have, and they might also be able to find an inexpensive, used projector for us. He also led Tony into another room and showed him some speakers we could have to use with the projector. They actually have tons of experience with buying and using this very equipment! They will also be giving us more movies and teaching material (DVDs) to show or give away!

this is actually a picture of the Jesus Film being shown in Mozambique... we don't have a photo of our own yet -
 but we soon will! (super happy smile)

God is ridiculously good. He's so in this. I can not describe the joy and peace and abundance that comes from obeying God's commands. Being in His will is the most amazing thing I have ever experienced in my life. I think Tony would say the same.
We can't wait to get there! Six more weeks!

:)

new friends

It seems that since we made the decision to accept God's call to missions, we have made a lot of new friends. It's been great, but kind of sad. Now that we have to leave, there are even more wonderful people we have to say goodbye to. Only a very few we will get the pleasure of seeing again soon.

Lee and Dori are new friends the Lord has so graciously and unexpectedly brought into our lives.

And it's a really cool story how God brought us together.

Lee and Dori were missionaries in Peru for 8 years, then they moved to Argentina to continue the same work. After six months there, they came back to the States to resolve visa issues and have a baby. They are currently getting ready to return to Argentina in just a few weeks!

Lee and Dori visiting with us (sorry, guys - not the greatest picture -
 but the few I took didn't turn out so well! You can kill me later. :))

Sometime back in March Dori left a comment on our blog. I clicked on over to theirs, read a bit, and also commented.

After hooking up via the blogosphere, we started emailing, Facebooking, and talking over the phone. We shared experiences, talked missions, the Lord, and Argentina. For hours. We just loved them immediately. I think we found kindred spirits in one another.

They are currently in Georgia with family, but have relatives in our area. So when they came up to visit Dori's grandparents with her parents and the new baby in tow, they swung by our place so we could finally meet in person. They stayed for two days. It was great to finally meet them after months of communicating over the phone and Internet. We had a great time: we talked the Lord, missions, and Argentina for two days straight. Even our two-year olds became good friends - it was so cute! They still like talking to each other over the phone - it's so adorable to listen to two toddlers have a happy little conversation over the phone. lol

Back when I initially read their website, they had posted something last year that they were praying for another couple to work with. I read that and thought, "Oh, I hope they find someone. I'm sure they will. God will answer that prayer." Maybe I even said a prayer for them, although I don't remember.

By the time they came up to visit they were seeking the Lord's direction on where to go upon their return to Argentina. They had been in Ushuaia, also located in Patagonia, but 30 hours south by car of where we will be. We kind of lamented that they would be so far away, and too bad they weren't closer, seeing as they were the only other missionaries we had contact with in all of Patagonia besides Edgardo. But even though that was a little disappointing, we promised to visit - maybe even for Christmas.

When they came up we discussed the possibility of them going to Neuquen instead of Ushuaia. Why not? One of the things they had found that was difficult in Ushuaia was that they didn't have any contacts, and it was difficult to meet people. Tony suggested they just come to Neuquen - there, at least, they knew us, and we had a few contacts. The more we talked and prayed, the idea began to take shape: they wouldn't have to be alone, we wouldn't have to be alone, we were already friends, we would have someone to speak English with if we ever wanted or needed to, and we could all work together.

They called up Edgardo (the pastor there), talked at length about what they do, and we all continued praying. Lee was very impressed with what they do and how they do it.

It turns out (and we didn't know this at the time) that Edgardo, the pastors, and the church have been praying that God would send workers. As we talked more with him about not wanting to be a burden to them (they offered to find a house for us to rent, and would pay our first months rent - imagine that, a humble, third world church paying the rent of the rich first world missionaries), we wanted to be a blessing, Edgardo told us to please do him a favor and not waste one more second in worrying about it - they believed that God was in this, and to just come down. Us and them.

So now we're all going to Neuquen. And we're all really excited and happy about it! :)

We are thrilled, and just in awe of God.

I remember many, many months ago mentioning to someone at church that the last time I lived in Argentina I didn't have any friends. It was very hard to make friends for some reason. This woman (although I can't for the life of me remember who it was) just looked up at me sweetly and said, "Ohhhh... I'll pray then that the Lord give you friends." I thought that was so sweet, and then proceeded to forget all about it. I remembered that only after we met Lee and Dori - I guess she really did pray. God has been so kind to give us friends before we leave! How good is He? Tony and I often look at each other, shake our heads, and just go, "Wow. This is amazing. Isn't this amazing?". Él es bueno de verdad. He is truly good.

So, God answered the native church's prayer for workers, Lee and Dori's prayer for another couple, prayers we never thought to pray for ourselves, and the prayers of others for us.

"For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him." ~Matthew 6:8

As it is now, Lee and Dori plan to arrive in Patagonia a few weeks before us. Once we arrive in Buenos Aires and get our things out of customs (Lord-willing, without event), we'll meet up with our little growing team in Neuquen.

It's a good start.

:)

bonus

One of the great bonuses about walking this missions thing out is seeing how God is using it in other people's lives - to strengthen their faith, to encourage them unto good works, to reflect on their own lives, and to inspire them to obedience. At least that is what people have been saying to us. We praise God for that, and we thank Him for answering our prayers - because that has been our prayer exactly.

And, believe me, doing what we are doing has made us reflect on our own faith, as well. You can't do what we're doing and go a day without wondering, "What on earth are we doing?!". We always come to the conclusion that we know exactly what we are doing - we are following the One who commands us to go, who asks us to give back to Him the lives He has redeemed, who empowers us by faith, who strengthens us with grace upon grace, who upholds us with the Everlasting Arms. Walking this out has been the greatest blessing to us because we are getting to know God in such a greater way. We have seen how much we have put the Lord of the Universe in a box. We have defined Him, limited Him, boxed Him, not believed His Word, I mean really believed it - all of it - and He has shown us how dumb and small we really are and how big and powerful and good and faithful and GREAT He really is. I can only assume He will continue to do this even after we jump off the cliff and free fall into South American missions.

"I came to bring truth to the world. All who love the truth are My followers." -John 18:37 

What is so awe-inspiring about taking your family halfway across the world to follow Truth? Is Truth not true? Is He not Who He says He is? Are we crazy, or just simply believing the truth? I think we are just simply believing what He has said in His very own Word, and we are simply trusting it to be true. Faith is only as good as its object. We are trusting in His promises, trusting in Him. That's all. No big deal.

Like I said before, I don't think missions is some special calling for the chosen few. I know some people believe that, but I don't. I really don't. That's like saying "serving" is some special calling. We are all called to serve, just as we are all called, as Christians, to missions. It may look different for you - you may not go to Argentina - but you are still called to missions if you are a Christian. Matthew 28 is for you, too.

Spurgeon said it so much better...

“I will never leave thee.” -Hebrews 13:5

"No promise is of private interpretation. Whatever God has said to any one saint, he has said to all. When he opens a well for one, it is that all may drink. When he openeth a granary-door to give out food, there may be some one starving man who is the occasion of its being opened, but all hungry saints may come and feed too. Whether he gave the word to Abraham or to Moses, matters not, O believer; he has given it to thee as one of the covenanted seed. There is not a high blessing too lofty for thee, nor a wide mercy too extensive for thee. Lift up now thine eyes to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west, for all this is thine. Climb to Pisgah’s top, and view the utmost limit of the divine promise, for the land is all thine own. There is not a brook of living water of which thou mayst not drink. If the land floweth with milk and honey, eat the honey and drink the milk, for both are thine. Be thou bold to believe, for he hath said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” In this promise, God gives to his people everything. “I will never leave thee.” Then no attribute of God can cease to be engaged for us. Is he mighty? He will show himself strong on the behalf of them that trust him. Is he love? Then with lovingkindness will he have mercy upon us. Whatever attributes may compose the character of Deity, every one of them to its fullest extent shall be engaged on our side. To put everything in one, there is nothing you can want, there is nothing you can ask for, there is nothing you can need in time or in eternity, there is nothing living, nothing dying, there is nothing in this world, nothing in the next world, there is nothing now, nothing at the resurrection-morning, nothing in heaven which is not contained in this text—“I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”"

Yes, we are free to go, to follow - He will freely give. He will take care of us; we need not worry. We may go to Argentina (or China, or Timbuktu) and He will never leave us. Never.

Do you believe it?

more Yard Sale success

Yard Sale #2 (see #1) on Saturday was a smash success! We made a killing (thanks to Jesus, and my mom, who donated tons of tools!).

We were up by 4am and worked straight through until 10 or 11pm at night - but it was worth it. And tons of fun. We got rid of a lot of junk and made enough to ship the Mission Mobile to Argentina! The kids even sold some of their stuff, and were able to keep what they made: about 30 bucks each.

Just one more yard sale (thank God!) and we should be downsized enough to move and hopefully make enough to ship the rest of our belongings, including supplies for ministry and stuff to bless the indigenous church.


4am shot, the dining room table is under there somewhere



...the junk, it was EVERYwhere...

 ...and more junk...



...and more... half the furniture in this picture is now gone, and I'm very happy about that!

 setting up, and a few early birds

...setting up more stuff...

After we spent 3 or 4 hours setting the stuff up, the swarms descended. We had lines of people wanting to buy stuff. We are so thankful it went well - we were able to downsize and helped my mom get rid of 2 garages, 2 sheds, an attic, and a basement full of tools. Everyone was happy. After a week of non-stop rain, God blessed us with perfect weather - not a drop of rain. And the two weeks we spent googling and pricing tools was worth it, too, because very few people haggled the prices. It was also great seeing and talking to friends who stopped by. A big Thank You to all who came out and prayed and helped!

Now to clean my house. It looks like a bomb went off in here.

:)

wow, like WOW

I was just about to write a post about how down in the dumps we have been and could you please pray for us and the whole move and stuff?

But then we got the most amaaaazing email.

But before I share it with you, a little background:

We sold one of our cars and bought a newer van with less miles, with the idea that we would ship it down to Argentina, instead of buying a car there (= too expensive).

The cost to ship the van is anywhere from $2000-$4000. Then we pay 82% of the value of the car just to get it through customs (which, even though we paid only $2700 for our van, they would use the highest Kelly Blue Book value - over $5000 - to calculate the tax). This is still infinitely cheaper than to buy one there (like $12,000-$20,000 cheaper).

So, we had a reality check this month when we peeked into our Mission Fund (ratty envelope) and saw a couple hundred dollars there.

What to do?

Pray. And have other people pray? And thank other people when they pray? And ask God to do the impossible even though you really don't believe He actually will or can?

(We're such worms.)

So, then we got THIS email from a customs agent in Argentina who (Lord would have it) is a Christian. He writes:

"It seeems that God wants to do something regarding your situation. Today a new law passed, a law that has been pending for more or less two years, which states that any Argentine citizen that has been living outside the country for over two years who wants to bring his personal belongings together with his car (which can not have a value exceeding US$10,000) will not have to pay any importation tax.


This is all very new, so new that this morning the official newsletter came out... I wanted to tell you because we can now forget [the import tax]. You will still need to own the car for at least three months before arriving in Argentina.


May God always bless you and your family."


Isn't that INCREDIBLE?!? God just saved us almost $5,000 - that we didn't have anyway!

answer to prayer :)

"...for your Father knows what you need before you ask him." ~Mat. 6:8

Oh, if I could just believe the truth of this more often!

Last year when we decided to do this thing and follow God to the foreign mission field, I admit I struggled a lot with fear. My mind was filled with all sorts of horrible things that could go wrong: the kids could get sick, one of them could die, we could get sick, what if one of us dies (or both!), what if the kids get kidnapped - you know someone slips something in our drinks and takes off with the kids (I know, I am neurotic...) - what if we end up living in a dump with a leaky ceiling and no hot water and cockroaches everywhere, what if we make the move and Tony never finds a job, what if we move and people forget about us - we leave it all for Christ and no one supports us - what if we don't have access to medical care, what if we can't afford to buy a car, or it gets stolen from us... and on and on and on.

I was seriously gripped with fear. Fears of all kinds. Some rational, most irrational. Fear is like that - mostly irrational.

One of my prayers over this past year has continually been, "Oh, Lord, please provide medical, at least for the kids! If it's not through a job, please at least provide the money so that we can afford to pay for medical if one of us gets sick!"

Medical attention is just something that's important to me at this stage in life. There are a few things that I feel like I "need" in order to go (that sounds lame, but it's kind of true). Medical for my kids is one of those things. It's just important to me, and to my peace of mind as a mommy.

I don't know that I have "big faith" - the kind that can just go with nothing. I wish I did. Some people might look at us and think that we have that kind of faith - but let me just tell you right now, we often pray for faith, that God would simply give us faith. We are not spiritual giants with a "special" calling. There's nothing special about me, or Tony, or our faith. I admit my faith is small, as small as a mustard seed. But that is all God requires. (Luke 17:6)
 
So, back to my story....

We recently found out that medical attention is entirely free in Neuquén. Free for everyone. And it's really good medical care, too.

In all my prayers, it never occurred to me that God would provide FREE medical for us in Argentina.

The government apparently actually uses the money it has and it's given, at least in the province where we are going, to actually do something good with it. Hats off to you, Neuquén!

They not only have free, quality medical attention, but the province of Neuquén, specifically the capital where we will be, also has free sports programs for kids, free educational workshops for adults to learn a new skill or trade, and free public libraries, as well as many other community programs.

We were stunned to learn this. Buenos Aires wasn't like that. And most parts of Argentina are not like that.

So, Thank you, Jesus! Forgive my unbelief, and help me to trust you more!

Moving right along... Part deux

Things are still moving right along in preparation for the Big Move. It is wild and amazing to see it all unfold.

It makes me think of this song (allow me to be weird for just a moment...)...




And we feel just about as happy as Kermie and Fozzy, too!

Let me tell you why... (and by the way, I should let you know that Tony says that when I open my mouth he trembles for fear of what I'll say next. That would be because of my incredible social ineptitude, I'm guessing. I admit it's true, I often share things that are better left private, but some things must be told. This, I believe, is one of those things).

Allow me to share with you how amazing our God is.

This week we've been fasting and praying. You know, just feel like we should. I always hesitate to say, "Oh yeah, I'm fasting," or, "Yeah, fasting today!" because I don't want it to come off Pharasaical or anything. But it's important to note that prayer and fasting makes things happen. It always amazes and encourages me to see the connection between 'fasted today' and - BAM! - 'answered prayer' tomorrow.

You see, we need God and we need Him to do all this for us, because there is no way, zippo zero, we can do this (missions thing) by ourselves. So we set our minds and bodies to fast and pray asking the Lord to do this, and please do that, and Lord we really need you here because there is NO WAY we can do that over there so would you please?

So to my story...

Someone who just made the move to Argentina from the US gave us a number to call of someone else who could maybe help us. This contact is in the shipping business. Tony called him, told him our story, and asked for a quote to ship our belongings. The guy talked to Tony for a while, asked us a lot of questions, then
proceeded to give us tons of fatherly advice on moving overseas, humanitarian helps, and the like. Since he's 78 year old, is in the shipping and moving business, and has moved overseas several times himself, we listened.

After talking for over an hour he then said, "Listen, I'm not a Christian. I'm Jewish. But I believe we should all help, no matter where we are. So I'd like to help you. Do me a favor, from here on out, don't worry about shipping your stuff. I'd like to do it for you for free - or as close to free as I can get it. So don't worry about it anymore, don't waste one single moment worrying over how you will get the money to ship your stuff."

............{mouths gaping open}

Tony and I looked at each other, gaping, and me with this look like, "Did he just say what I think he just said?". Tony shook his head in the affirmative. I burst into tears. Tony hung his head in gratitude or disbelief, or both.

W-ow.

(We're hoping his offer is genuine... guess we'll see!)

In other news...

We also {finally} received a response to our inquiry at the Jesus Film Project. The idea is to get hooked up, if possible, with everything we will need to take with us in order to show the film there (we are thinking Mapuche, high up in the isolated mountain villages, kids, slums, neighborhood outreaches, VBSs etc.) . The email I received was from the Director of the Jesus Film Project in Latin America. I noticed in his email he also CC'ed someone else - someone I know - the director  of Campus Crusade for Christ in Argentina! The very same guy that pastors the church I went to in Buenos Aires 10 years ago!

Out of 40 million people in Argentina, we know the same person?!?

God is AMAZING! He has so hooked us up. I could not make this stuff up if I tried. It's like it was His plan that we return all along.

All that is going on in our lives right now reminds me of the story in the Bible where God commands the Israelites to cross the Jordan. The Jordan was overflowing its banks, probably looking impossible to cross. God only parted the waters after the priests placed the heel of their foot in the water. Only after they obeyed and started walking it out did He then show his power and glory.

He asks us to do the same today: Trust. Have faith. Obey. It is then, and sometimes only then, that we see his power and glory.

"...for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders..." ~ Joshua 3:5

Wow