older boys' home

Tony took this picture last night on his visit to the children's home for older boys (13+) - a ministry he's started here recently.

(blurry on purpose, all the kids have cases in court)

Isn't that weird? A ministry he's started here.

But it's so easy to start ministries here. We have started several so far: a slums ministry, a movie ministry, a children's home ministry. It's really not that hard; so much easier than in the United States. You don't need a degree, seminary, or an FBI background check.

We have found that all you need is a desire to actually do something and the gumption to go ahead and just do it.

You don't have to be super spiritual or exceptionally talented. God uses ordinary people. Peter was a fisherman. The differentiating factor?  He was recognized to have been with Jesus.

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

Acts 4:13

Not that I'm poo-pooing degrees, or seminary, or FBI checks. These are all good and helpful things. But they are not a requirement to do God's will or His work. God can't wait on possessors of these things in say poor, rural, mountainous Tibet. The Bible shows us time and again that Jesus doesn't need these things to use us. He used Peter and John, and Andrew his lowly fisherman brother, and many, many others - who were all just ordinary people.

Blue-collar Joes.

Tony and Facundo went last evening to the home together. Facundo is one of the youth from church who plays the drums.

We are enjoying working with the young adults from church. Some are not involved in any kind of outreach or ministry - they're just kind of there. Tony is working hard at encouraging them to get out there and we often invite them to various different things we have going on. It's so sweet to see their eagerness to do something for the Lord.

This was their second visit to the home. The boys were looking forward to their return, and asked them last time if and when they were coming back. Tony projected the John Bunyan Torchlighters movie onto the pale, green, smudged wall of the inside of the home. As usual, there was dead silence when the movie was over. The movies are powerful, and they have that effect on just about everyone - believers and non-believers alike.

Afterwards, they did a little reflection and discussion of the movie. They are slowly introducing the study of God's Word. The boys are very open and receptive and thankful for the notebooks Tony brought for each one. In them they write down their memory verses to study, questions, notes, and prayers. He is teaching them to pray, to think about eternal things, to open up about their lives, and pointing them to Hope, to the One who longs to rescue them from the pit. The church we attend also gave us eight small, pocket-sized Bibles for each one. After their visit of course they played a round of soccer. Because what's ministry and evangelism in South America without a game of soccer?

Truly, we can say, God is richly blessing us in all things. It is our one, main, sustaining grace, all this that we see the Lord doing. 

Some days we ourselves fall into a pit, despairing when we look at all the challenges and difficulty of our journey in the Way - but as Christian in The Pilgrim's Progress, we often find ourselves climbing the Hill Difficulty only to happen upon, midway to the top of the hill, a pleasant Arbour, made by the Lord of the Hill, for the refreshment of weary Travellers.

We continue to be so amazed at all the doors that have opened up for us here. Tony found this particular place walking home one day - back when we didn't have a car. He was walking down our dirt road and walked up along side an older man, also walking. And, of course, Tony can not not start talking to everyone he meets, so they struck up a conversation. Pedro loves to talk almost as much as Tony. Turns out Pedro worked for 20 years in homes for troubled youth. When Tony shared that that is something he would like to do as well, Pedro took Tony to this nearby home for troubled youth. Pedro now comes to our weekly Bible study, has from the first day we opened up our home. Pedro lives in a tiny, three-room house nearby. He has been a Christian his entire life, and we enjoy listening to his observations and the wealth of knowledge that only years of living and years of Bible reading can impart.



Pedro welding a wheelbarrow for us in his back yard



reflections

As we get closer to the Big Move, I find myself reflecting on the implications and the absolute HUGE reality and of what this move means for all of us.

I know it doesn't mean for us what it means for many, many people who move to Argentina (or anywhere else in the world) from another country. Some, wealthy and priveleged, are going for business, to rub elbows with the upper crust, and have maids and tons of time on their hands. Others, young and adventerous, are going for a good time and the next adventure. Still others are going from bad to not so bad, actually looking for a better life in Argentina.

For us, it's none of those things. We are not wealthy. We are not young. We know Argentina for us, in the carnal, will not be a "better life". We will most likely (barring miraculous intervention from God himself) be poor, aging, and most likely struggling to adapt to life in the third world - which all equals harder. I'd be a masochist, or just plain stupid, if it weren't for God's call and His commands.

But you know what? I don't care. Because, even though I would love to be wealthy, young, and more comfortable with a "better life" - those things are secondary to me. I care about following Jesus and His commands. I care about making my life count. I care about lost souls. I care about the hungry, the fatherless, the widow. I care about taking all I have been given (which is too much) and using it, not for myself, but to bless others. I care about making a difference in this world for Christ, for Love, for Truth, for Goodness and for Eternity. I care about things that sometimes I wonder if the American church as a whole remembers to even preach about.

This has been a hard several weeks. My husband keeps telling me to be quiet already and don't make any commentaries! (it's that TMI curse I suffer from, it makes me lose friends because I am just too frank for my own good.) I'm trying really, really, really hard to listen to him. I really am.

See, my husband rocks. He's so smart and socially gifted. He has far surpassed me in graciousness that I am put to shame. I hope hanging out with him rubs off on me someday. I really do.

For now, it's just been a hard few weeks. I don't know what I can say except that I follow CHRIST. The Perfect One. He's telling us to go. I'm jumping off the crazy cliff and honestly, at the end of the day, could care less what anyone else thinks about it. Tony says to let everyone else deal with their own problems, you follow God. It's so easy for them, men. Sometimes I wish I were one.

I'm praying these days that God would help me not be a people-pleaser, and I pray that I don't raise man-pleasers or yes-men. Let them please only You. I pray that Tony and I live to only please the Lord, and that our kids always do what's right, no matter what the rest of the world chooses to do. Lord, don't let my kids be men-pleasers! May their lives honor You and you only. Use them to further your Good News upon this earth, that we and they may be messengers of the Hope we have in Christ, offered to all men. Let it be a true hope, a real, genuine, honest-to-God hope that is reflected in their lives, lived out by integrity. A tough one, indeed. A high calling.

Lord, I prayed years ago that you would "Send us!". Now I pray that you send my kids. I pray that my children, the ones you have gifted to me, be used to further your Kingdom here on earth. They belong to you, make their lives count.

Give us strength, grace, courage. Even when people criticize us, desert us, forget about us. You said that you would never leave us nor forsake us. Give us faith. Provide for us, please Lord, provide. Make our lives count for good.

Amen. Jesus.

The Great Commission is not a suggestion

...but a commandment. Don't just watch this and be "moved". Do something. Surely there is something you can do. Go, send, give, pray... pick one, and do it.

"Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." - James 2:17

"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature... We are ambassadors for Christ... as workers together with him... and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again... for we walk by faith, not by sight... Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few." - Mark 16:15; 2 Cor. 5:20, 6:1, 5:15, 5:7, 3:17; Matt 9:37 

Are you working in the field, or are you living for yourself?

Take a risk for Christ

I love this. Francis Chan illustrates risk vs. safety so. well.

The Amish: Legalism versus Freedom in Christ

I just watched this BBC special on YouTube, Trouble in Amish Paradise. It was not only extremely informative on how the Amish live, but on what they actually believe. A clear picture of legalism versus freedom in Christ. And it is SO encouraging to see that there are true Amish believers. Beautiful.

This is a 6 part YouTube series, about 60 mintues total, but really worth the watch if you have the time.