what i've learned so far...

downtown Los Menucos, aka Curi Leuvú


We've only been here eight months. We are by no means experts. On anything. We only know our own experience, what we are living. What I will tell you is that we've learned a few things since we've been here in Argentina, on the mission field.

There is nothing like missions to bring it all to the surface. I am amazed at the junk that God is revealing in us. Ew.

God has sifted and shaken and pruned and cut, cut, cut, and opened eyes and brought conviction and has made us see things I know would have taken years, not months, back home. I want to say I am thankful, because that would be the correct "Christian" response. I guess I am.

Yes.

I am.

But it's been ugly. Sin likes to hide. It likes the dark. Kicks and screams when dragged into the light.

That's pleasant for no one.

There is nothing like missions to bring what is hidden and dark to the light.

There is nothing like missions to bring you to your knees and make you cry like a baby.

There is nothing like missions to show you that YOU are the worst sinner in need of salvation, God help your soul.

There is nothing like it.

There is nothing like living on the edge, and still feeling like you take up too much space.

There is nothing like leaving it all for Christ and feeling like most people don't think you are sacrificing all that much, and the rest seem to have forgotten you.

There is nothing, and I mean nothing, so hard as simply trying to do what is right, and being criticized or misunderstood for it. {The Christian Condition, right?}

There is nothing like doing what is right, and not getting the same thing in return. Day after day. Month after month. Year after year?

There is nothing like feeling like the very people that should love and support you, don't. Won't.

There is nothing like sitting at the computer at one in the morning, pouring your heart out to cyberspace, because that's all there is.

There is nothing like missions to teach you, really teach you, all about grace. Not the grace thrown around in Christian circles - but REAL grace.

grace noun \ˈgrās\

unmerited divine assistance given humans, approval, favor, mercy, pardon, a special favor, privilege, clemency, a temporary exemption, reprieve... {ah, reprieve}

~ Merriam-Webster

Oh, if people only knew!, I sometimes think to myself. 

Really, there is nothing like missions. There is nothing like being in a foreign country, having left all you know and love and that is familiar, to do what is good and right where no one particularly makes one iota of a big deal about all your "sacrifice".  The consensus seems to be, "Yeah, whatever spoiled, first-world people. You're really suffering living here. WE live here, WE know suffering. You can go back to your first-world country, WE live here. WE know."

Really, there is NOTHING like having only the Lord, and no. one. else.

You know what I've learned since being here?

Missions means nothing.

Following the Lord means SOMEthing.

We are not called to follow a cause. We are called to follow a Person.

Truth. Love. That's all that matters.

Do that and you fulfill the Law.

Hudson Taylor, sacrifice, and other good news

I am loving reading Hudson Taylor's Spiritual Secret. Timely encouragement as we are busy selling our possessions, and feeling the stress and strain of all that entails...

"How few of the Lord's people have practically recognized the truth that Christ is either Lord of all or He is not Lord at all! If we can judge God's Word, instead of being judged by it, if we can give God as much or as little as we like, then we are lords and He the indebted one, to be grateful for our dole and obliged by our compliance with His wishes. If on the other hand He is Lord, let us treat Him as such. "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not do the things which I say?"

In these days of easy-going Christianity, is it not well to remind ourselves that it really does cost to be a man or woman whom God can use? One cannot obtain a Christlike character for nothing; one cannot do a Christlike work save at a great price, "Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of, and be baptized with the baptism wherewith I am baptize?"

People ask me if I want to go to Argentina. I guess they find it surprising, either because they know how much I hated it before, or they know I am leaving the first world for the third, and am I okay with that? Argentineans are especially curious, "So, how are you, Chris? Are you happy? Do you want to go back to Argentina??". I say yes I am, and I do. I never wanted to step foot again there, but God changed my heart. That's all I can say. I truly see it as a privilege that He is sending us there. What an honor, to be commissioned by the King. I don't deserve any good thing He gives me, but He not only gives me good things, He is seeing fit to use a wretch like me to reach others. How can I not be happy about that?

There was a plane crash yesterday in Patagonia - it had just taken off from the very city we are moving to. 22 dead, including a baby. That makes me nervous (in that I want to go by banana boat now, not plane - not a fan of flying tin cans), but it also makes me yearn to just be there. I watched the news, the interviews of the humble people that live out in the middle of nowhere Patagonia where the plane went down, and where not much else ever happens, their faces revealing their indigenous roots, and I would just love to be there with them. That is the greatest miracle of all to me, that God has given me a love for the Argentinean people I can honestly I didn't have before. The greatest miracle of all sometimes is the miracle of a changed heart. If He can change my heart, He can change anybody. If He wants to use me, take me anywhere and use me, then I happily say, "Here I am, Lord. Send me!".

Last night our daughter also gave her life to Christ. First our boy, now our girl *sniff* - God is good. Although her personality is a happy one, she has been angry lately, frustrated, unhappy, fighting alot with her baby sister, selfish, mean. Last night, in her frustration, she announced that she had made a decision: she was not moving to Argentina. She was staying here and that was final. She also informed us she was not ever going to accept Jesus into her life because following Jesus is boring. We weren't sure where it was all coming from, maybe she was feeling the stress of the move, maybe we have been busy lately and not giving her the attention she needs - so we had a long talk with her to try to figure out what was going on in her little heart. Tony opened up the Bible and showed her a few verses, I talked to her too, but she still said she didn't understand. At one point I just shrugged and told her what Mom-mom told me once when I asked her why we had to go to church and what the big deal was, "When you're older you'll understand." I told her she didn't understand because she doesn't have Jesus in her life. She looked up at me and asked me if I wanted her to accept Jesus. I said of course, but that was a decision that she would have to make. She asked if she could do it when she was 93, right before she died. I said sure, but who says you're going to live until you're 93? Remember the people in the plane crash? They probably thought they would live many more years too. But they didn't. They probably didn't think that they would get on that plane and not get off alive. I reminded her that her Mommy and Papi wasted many years of their lives on stupid stuff and we hope that she doesn't make the same mistake. I asked her if she would like to pray to accept Jesus and ask that God help her to understand all those things that she doesn't, and she (to my surprise) said yes. We prayed right there in the kitchen, dirty dishes and all. As my tears fell down onto her face she looked up at me and said, "But I didn't cry". I told her that everybody's experience is different, tears or no tears is not proof that you are saved or not saved. Some people come to a gradual understanding of Christ and their need and their sin, others have a powerful, marked experience of great weeping and repentance. Faith is like a little seed, sometimes it starts very small, and grows gradually into a big tree.

Afterwards we found and told Tony, and talked late into the night. She asked a whole bunch of questions, questions not typical of our goofy, happy, tends-on-the-flighty-side daughter - real, deep questions about how to be born again, and what does that mean, and oh you mean like Nicodemus, and what about hell, and am I going there, sincere questions about the blood of Christ and what it means and judgement and how to get to heaven and the Way.

I asked her if she believes in the wind. She said smiling, "Yeah...". I said God is like the wind. You can not see Him or touch Him, but He is there. You see evidence of the wind: the leaves rustle, you can hear it, you feel it, but you can't see it or hold it or even prove it is there. God is the same way. We see evidence of Him everywhere, we feel Him, we see him move. All we have to do is chose to believe He is there, to just believe in Him. Sometimes it's only after we believe that we finally are able to understand many things. The way to God is through Jesus. Jesus said, "I am the Way, no one comes to the Father except through me."

After a while she seemed satisfied and announced, "I feel happy now. I'm going to try to make it a habit of praying every night when I go to bed!". And that was that. She happily bounced off to bed.

Oh, God is so good and He works in such unexpected ways! How can I not follow a God like that? Even if it means sacrifice, going to a third world country, to the ends of the earth? All we can do is be faithful to follow Him and share the Good News, it is only the Holy Spirit that can bring conviction, and Christ new life. Our work is to share and to love, God's work is to save souls.

:)

Chris's Testimony

We officially applied with OM!

But before I clicked "Send", I copied my testimony. Here it is (in 250 words or less) as taken from my application:


"I became a Christian in December of 2000. I was living in Argentina, newly married and a new mother, and it was all very hard. After trying everything else to help myself to be okay and to be happy and finding that nothing worked, I began reading the Bible out of desperation. A friend had shared the Gospel with me 5 years prior in college, so when I read the Bible I had a basic understanding of the Gospel and how to become a Christian. While reading Deuteronomy 27-30 I was convicted of my sin, repented, and gave my life to Christ. I had heard about Jesus my whole life but I never KNEW Him or even who He truly was according to God's Word. It was at that moment that I began a true and real, life-changing relationship with the Lord."


You can read Tony's testimony here.

Tony's Testimony

In filling out all 33 pages (each!) of our applications with OM, we had to write our testimony in 250 words or less.

Here is Tony's asnwer to the question, "When did you become a Christian and how did your relationship with Jesus begin?" (dictated in Spanish and translated by me):


"I became a Christian 7 years ago. My relationship with Jesus began with the book of John. At a difficult moment in my life, I felt that I was empty inside, that I wasn't happy, that I didn't have anything. My wife had been praying a lot for me, as well as many people from church had been praying for me. That is when I felt like I needed spiritual help, and a friend of mine from my church, Jerry, told me to read the book of John. That is when I met Jesus, while reading John. That is why...I mentioned John [John 3:36, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.]- because I realized that if I didn't have Jesus in my life I was heading to hell. I didn't want that for my life nor for my family. This has been the most beautiful experience of my life because, through Him, I was born again and because of Him I have my family, I have everything. He is everything."


You can read Chris's testimony here.

My New Hero

I am adding Wess Stafford, President and CEO of Compassion International, to my ever-growing list of heroes. This excerpt of an article sums up why:


"A humble leader

Stafford and his wife, Donna, live a quiet, frugal life on a 35-acre ranch in Black Forest, where he likes nothing more than to mend fences, dig drainage ditches and perform other outdoor duties — a respite from the long hours and frequent travel he puts in for Compassion.
The couple own one car, a 1995 Subaru with 180,000 miles, and a 25-year-old Honda motorcycle. A large chunk of Stafford’s salary — listed by Charity Navigator as $206,673 in 2008 — is given away, Donna said. Some of the money goes toward the eight children the Staffords sponsor. Some goes to other programs within Compassion, and some goes to other missionaries and nonprofit groups, she said.
While in the field in remote villages, Stafford blends in with other Compassion workers, said Mark Hanlon, senior vice president of Compassion International USA, the marketing and fundraising arm of the organization.
“He likes to see how long he can mingle with people before they realize he is president and CEO of Compassion,” Hanlon said. “He is very down to earth.”
But beneath the friendly and engaging exterior, Stafford has a broken heart. “I am never more than 10 seconds away from tears,” he said.


Learning forgiveness
The heartache began thousands of miles away from his birthplace, Chicago.
From age 6 to 15 he lived in Nielle, a sweltering shanty town in the Ivory Coast of Africa where his parents were missionaries. There, he lived among families enduring brutal poverty, an experience that helped foster his lifelong commitment to help needy children.
But something else he rarely speaks of also informed his passion: For nine months of the year in Africa, Stafford attended a Christian boarding school where he was verbally, physical and sexually abused.
Two years after the family left Africa and returned to the U.S., Stafford — a confused teenager with low self-esteem and deep emotional pain — attended a Christian event in Colorado. He listened to a pastor talk about forgiveness, and chose to forgive those who abused him. After that, his life began to change, though to this day Stafford sometimes wells up when talking about his past.
Stafford went on to earn communications degrees from three Christian institutions, including Moody Bible Institute, and a doctorate in education from Michigan State University.
He joined Compassion in 1977 as a relief worker in Haiti. Two years later, he married Donna and soon after started a family, raising two daughters. In 1993, at age 44, he became president and CEO of Compassion.
“He’s legit,” said Mark Yeadon, senior vice president of Compassion’s international program. ““He is one of those wounded heroes that God is using, and it’s bearing fruit.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Read the whole article here.
Listen to his own personal testimony of child abuse here (click on Why Children Matter, then Radio Special: Silencing the Lambs)

Amazing Testimony

Alice Cooper and Alcoholism

Alice Cooper speaks about his Christian faith and his deliverance from alcohol in this interview on BBC radio. Well worth the listen.

:)

Alice Cooper and... Christ?

*If you have trouble viewing this (the audio went out on me here on this blog for some reason) just view on YouTube by clicking HERE or on the video title - well worth the watch!

What Jesus Can Do

Wow, what a testimony!

Thanks, bloggy queen, for posting! :) I hope everybody watches this one!

On Angels and God's Protection

This story sent chills up my spine and gave Tony goosebumps! The following excerpt is from my latest $0.75 find at the local Library Book Sale. Well worth the read.

Light in the Jungle by Leo B. Halliwell, pp 10-13

setting: Amazon River, Brazil, 1930s

"It was our first trip up the river in our own boat, heading west from Belém. I was new to navigation, unused to the river, and unaware of the location of shoals and dangerous rock that could destroy us. A river guide could have guided us safely through, but a pilot is a professional man and earns a good deal more than we or any missionary could afford to pay. As neophytes on the river, we had no choice but to feel our way along and trust we would be guided.

In some areas the river is fairly well populated along the banks. This is particularly so in the tidal areas within a few hundred miles of the mouth.  There canoes come and go frequently, and at times we could see dozens of them going upstream close to the banks or downstream farther out in the river. Often the occupants would ask us to tow them along behind our boat; but because there were frequently so many and we couldn't take them all, we established from the start a policy of no hitchhiking.

Yet on this very first trip we broke our rule. We had reached a desolate area where the jungle closed in deep and green along the banks and there was no sign at all of habitation, only a kind of forlorn tropic hush, when suddenly we noticed, not too far from our boat, three men in a canoe. They were respectably dressed and when they called to us and asked us if we could tow them along behind us upstream, something impressed me. Something I did not understand led me almost involuntarily to reach out to the throttle and stop the boat.

"Jack," I called to my son, who was then about fifteen years old, "throw them a line." They came alongside and we made the canoe fast. One of them stayed in the canoe. The other two came aboard our boat and stood with Jessie and Jack and me near the wheel while we talked about the jute crop and the weather and the hazards of the shifting currents. They were friendly and we were having a pleasant chat when suddenly one of them said, "Which side of the rocks are you going on?"

I saw no rocks at all - only the green bank with its lovely Pan Rosa trees off the port side and the gray-yellow water of the Amazon. "What rocks?" I asked.

Without answering, the man grabbed the steering wheel out of my hands and turned it completely around. Our boat wheeled giddily and shot out away from the bank into the river. Then I looked back and saw, not twenty feet in front of where we had been heading, the jagged points of hundreds of rocks just beneath the surface of the water. One second more and we would have plowed into them and ripped our boat to shreds. We had no idea that these rocks were there and without our hitchhiking friends we would have lost our boat and, in all likelihood, our lives.

Our visitors seemed to take our expressions of gratitude almost casually, however; and a few moments after we had passed this dangerous section of the river, one of them said, "Sir, thank you for the ride. If you don't mind stopping here, we'll get out."

It seemed strange, for there were still no houses or any other sign of human habitation to be seen along the banks. But I stopped, and the men climbed into the canoe and pushed off into the current.

"Look out and see where those men go," I said to Jack. "There's no house around here."

It had been only a moment since they had left us. There were no bends in the river. But after scanning the river in all directions, my boy turned to me. "Dad, they've disappeared."

I turned from the wheel in amazement. There were no rocks, no debris, no sign of struggle or overturned canoe, no cry for help. Only the emptiness of the river and the mute green banks a hundred yards away - too far for them to have reached in that time. Yet the three men and their boat were nowhere to be seen.

We have always believed, Jessie and I, that these men, whoever and whatever they were, were sent to us, the protecting angels of Providence. Man's extremity - and sometimes even his ignorance - is God's opportunity."


*photo credit to my friend Leti, on our trip to the Amazon, 1998*

...more pics from the boat...

Fasting

I'm fasting. I've decided to just do it after two long years of pregnancy and no-end-in-sight nursing. I thought the baby would be weaned by now so I could go ahead, but it doesn't look like she is even close to ever weaning, so I'm just going to do it. I highly doubt it will affect my milk, because I eat way more than I need to anyway.

Fasting is such a neglected spiritual discipline and exercise. Since my conversion, I am amazed at how few Christians regularly fast, and even at how many have never fasted. Tony sometimes asks other Christians if they fast, and more often than not they say, "No..." and trail off as they stare out into space, or, "I can't do that! I need to eat!". Like, "Are you crazy or something?".

I wonder what Bible they read...

Want to know God more? Want to see His hand in your life, in others' lives, and at work in the world?

I read that Esther fasted (Esther 4:16). I read that David fasted (2 Sam. 12:23). I read that Jesus fasted (Mat. 4:2). I read His first coming was marked by fasting (Luke 2:37). I also read him talk as if He expected and just assumed his disciples would fast (Mat. 6:16, Luke 5:35, Acts 13:2).

I heard someone say once that you shouldn't fast just to get something from God, but should only "seek His Face". To this day I'm not sure what that means... but, I can be dense. But isn't that what we often read in the Bible: fasting to obtain something or a certain outcome (see above Scripture)? Jesus himself told his disciples that they could not "cure" the demon-possessed boy (Mat. 17:21) because "this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting". I remember before Tony's conversion when he shared with me that he was seeing shadows and hearing voices, that he felt like there was someone inside him telling him to do bad things, that there was someone with him all the time, someone bad. He felt like there was someone riding in the back seat of his car and breathing down his neck. After totally freaking out, I went into prayer and fasting overdrive. And enlisted others to fast for him, too!

Guess who loves Jesus now?

I'm just saying... God uses fasting.

There are many different kinds of fasts. Some say you can fast TV, or Starbucks, or your computer, but I read in my Bible that fasting is always about food and drink. But, that's my interpretation and this post in only my opinion, I'm not trying to teach the Bible or doctrine here. Just telling you what I read and what I do. That's all.

There are fasts where you can totally abstain from food and water like Jesus and Moses did (I have never done this, and for the record, would never tell anyone to do this). There are fasts where you can abstain from only food, and drink water. I read once that fasting means going off coffee, too. I do not do this, but include coffee as one of my liquids (big smile). There are fasts where you can abstain from food, but drink juice, tea, and water. You can fast for one meal, one day, three days (someone fasted six days for my conversion:)). You can fast Burger King, and eat only vegetables like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I don't know. I guess it's not a science, do what God is speaking to you to do.

I usually fast for a specific reason, specific time frame, and in a specific way (full, partial, juice/no juice, one meal only, all meals in a day, one day, or more than one day) . This time I have 2-3 years worth of things building up on my mind and on my heart that I have no idea what I'm doing this time, or for how long. I trust that the LORD will guide me as I walk this one out, and give me peace when I am done interceding for all these things!

So, I won't tell you what it's for (I want the Lord to reward me openly and I want my reward in heaven:)), but I will tell you that I started two days ago. Fasted solid food for breakfast (but I forgot and cheated with milk in the coffee), and fasted what I REALLY wanted for lunch, and just had a healthy, light, and cleansing salad. Blah. I know it's good for me, but I just wanted real food lol! This time I am eating a full dinner because I am still breast-feeding.

I have to confess that my motives this time are not 100% spiritual. I don't think God will not answer my prayers because of it, I've already confessed what I am thinking. I don't think it's EVER possible to have 100% pure motives ever, as long as I live in this body in this fallen world. The Bible tells me that my heart is deceitful above ALL things. So I accept that and thank the LORD He already knows that and accepts me anyway. I find grace here. I read and am sure He wants me to take care of the temple of His Holy Spirit, which is the body of the believer. So there you have it: I also need to detox and lose 5 pounds. A spiritual and physical cleanse this time. Is that so wrong?? Daniel and his three friends were glowing after their vegetable fast...

I also have another reason for fasting. I want to know and understand what hunger feels like. But I want to be more than just thankful that I have enough to eat: lifting my hands, praising God, and that's it. I'm tired of just being thankful and not doing anything that shows my gratitude to the Lord. I'm tired of being selfish, complacent, lazy, and completely useless for the Lord who gave me two hands and two feet. Maybe reading this, this, and this will help you understand what I mean. I hope it has the same effect on you as it has on me.

One thing I've learned over the years is to be prepared for the spiritual backlash. Fasting is powerful, and we have an enemy who hates us and doesn't give up easily. We are indeed soldiers in a battle. When you storm the gates of Hell, you can expect resistance and onslaught. I have learned to be extra vigilent when I am fasting and try not to fall into those traps the enemy seems to set for me. Fear is a big one that seems to come at me. Fighting, short tempers, discord, and impatience seem to flare up, too. Cars can break down, bills seem to flood in, even the kids have said they are scared to go in their rooms alone at high noon because "there's someone in there"... okay, creepy! Word of caution.

But is it worth it? Oh, yes! Just ask Tony!

Tony's Adoption Story

A lot of people don't know that Tony is adopted. But he is. It's a CRAZY story. Amazing crazy. In a good way, I guess. It just shows the hand of God on his life. He used to not like me telling people, so I didn't for a long time, but now he's okay with it, and he freely tells people himself that he is adopted.

Tony was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the seventh out of eight children. His mother and father had moved from the country to the city, both looking for work and a better life. His dad "rescued" his mom, who was barely 19 or 20 at the time, from an abusive marriage, and took her to live with him. She already had two daughters. One day the girls went for a visit with their father and never returned. The father had disappeared with them. She never saw her daughters again. 

Tony's biological mom

She went on to have eight more children with Tony's dad. Tony's oldest sister tells of how she remembers when their mom started getting "sick". One day she found her mom standing in the kitchen talking to someone that wasn't there. No one knows what she had, but it sounds a lot like post-partum depression turned psychosis, or schizophrenia. Some say it was because she never recovered from losing her first two children. No one knows because no one payed attention to those things back then. With each baby she got worse and worse. By the time Tony was born, she was completely unable to care for her children or for herself. The oldest daughter, Carmen, was taking care of her mother and all 7 children by the time she was 8 or 10 years old.

One day their 18 year-old cousin, Vilma, came to visit and was appalled at the conditions in which they were living. She told Tony's father to just give her the 8-month-old baby, she would take of him. So he did. Just like that.

Vilma says that she had to shave Tony's head because he had fleas.

His adoptive family was actually his uncle on his dad's side. They already had six children of their own. They didn't have much to offer by way of material things, but they did have love, and they welcomed Tony as one of their own.

They didn't tell him that he was adopted until he was 12. I'm sure that, at the time, they thought they were doing the right thing by keeping the whole truth from him. But Tony says that when he learned the truth, it just completely blew his whole world apart. He had often wondered, when they had gone to visit his "cousins", why he looked more like them than his own "brothers" and "sisters". After his adoptive mom told him the truth, she asked him not to tell his younger brother, who they had also rescued three years after they rescued Tony. He kept that secret from his brother for three long years, until someone else slipped up and spilled the beans. To this day they think that part of his brother's problems (of which he has many) is due to his inability to deal with it all.

Several years ago we were all able to go back to Argentina for a visit. We sat at Carmen's table for hours as she related some really amazing, cover-you-in-goose-bumps kind of stories she remembers from that time.

She said that when their mom got sick, their dad just went downhill. He went from hard-working, happy, and in love with his wife, to drinking, playing cards, and barely working. He just couldn't handle what was happenning to his beautiful wife. The money he did make he squandered on alcohol and gambling. Sometimes the kids only had flour mixed with water to eat. His mom was eventually institutionalized. The neighbor lady, who could see what was going on, would bring them food. Some nights their father wouldn't come home at all. He would just disappear for days, leaving them all alone in their one room, dirt-floor house with no food. Carmen recalls how scared she was. She said every night a white dog would appear at sundown and sit down across the street from their little house. He would just sit there and stare at the house. All night. The dog scared her, so she would throw rocks at it and yell at it to go away. It wouldn't, and would just continue to sit there calmy looking at the house until dawn. When Tony's dad would eventually come home, it would disappear.

Another time their grandmother, who had nothing of her own with which to help them, was trying to care for the children. Carmen tells of one day when Grandma was standing at the well scrubbing clothes between her hands praying out loud because she had nothing to feed them, "Oh, Lord, what am I going to do with all these children? What am I going to give them to eat?". Now, Grandma had 10 or 12 of her own children, all grown. One of her sons was a big drinker, gambler, and just all around not a kind or generous type of guy. They owned a small store. At about the same time Grandma was praying, her son, who was not exactly known for his generosity, suddenly stopped what he was doing bagging groceries, looked at his wife, and said, very uncharacteristically, "Go take these groceries to El Nene's house (Tony's dad's nickname)." He had never before done anything like that, nor did he ever do anthing like that again.

Looking at Tony today you would never know he comes from this. Physically he amazes me. He suffers no apparent signs of malnutrition or poor health. He has the most beautiful teeth I have ever seen. His immune system is amazing. He almost never gets sick.

Emotionally and spiritually the wounds were there, but the only one that seemed to see them was me. After I got saved, I used to tell him that he needed to forgive his dad and not hold onto any anger he had towards him for what he did or didn't do. At the time, Tony did not yet know the Lord and was unable to extend that kind of forgiveness to his father. Afterall, his father had never repented, never apologized, and never seemed to show any remorse or bad feelings whatsoever. Then his dad died. A year later Tony came to the Lord. To this day he regrets not forgiving his father while he was yet alive. Since then, Jesus has healed his heart, enabled him to forgive his father even in death, and show him how He works all things for good to those that love Him.

Sometimes we wonder why the Lord rescued him (besides the obvious: that He loves him), and for what earthly purpose. Really. What are the "good works that God hath foreordained that we should walk in"? (Eph. 2:10). "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works...". What are those good works for him, for Tony? I often think of a question someone posed once, "So, if God saved you to be with him, why do you think he left you here?". Tony often talks about and prays for all the children in the world that don't have a mother or father, or food to eat, or shoes to wear, or toys to play with. For many years he has talked about working with street kids and orphans. Wouldn't that be great? A life redeemed in order to redeems others from the pit.

"God setteth the solitary in families..." ~Psalm 68:6

*When I find the box the pictures of Tony are in, I'll post them. Hopefully this century. :)

UPDATE 4/16/10: Found ONE picture so far :)

Some of Tony's biological siblings: Carmen (the oldest), Rosana,

and Pichi (the look-alike "cousin")

{notice the clock says 1:40... that's AM, folks, Argentinians live at night, it's crazy;

 this b-day party probably lasted til 3 or 4am}

Making the Big Move to Missions

That's the subtitle of our blog, anyway.

Last night Tony and I were talking about the life we have been given and actually doing something with it. Not wasting it.

To fill you in, if you don't know the story... I became a Christian about 10 years ago. Tony, several years after that. Since the moment of my conversion I have always felt the burden, or calling, or whatever you want to call it, to missions. All Christians are called to missions, but what I mean is, I have always felt the call to overseas missions.

The three years between my conversion and Tony's were HARD. Maybe I'll write more about that later, but I do remember telling God many times that if it weren't for that call that I always heard so strongly, I would have been OUT of there. So many times I wished I could have just left. Walked out the door. Ended my suffering. Or kicked him out. Or put him six feet under. Or just wrung his neck for the satisfaction. But that's another post altogether (I'm joking here, just in case. Well, sort of... I really did want to wring his neck. Many times.).

Fast forward three and a half (pretty miserable) years. Tony gets saved! Hallelujah! It's a miracle! And believe me, it was. He was the LAST person ever to bend the knee to Jesus, let me tell you. Then we just floated around... kind of like Noah's Ark. No direction. Did you ever think about that? That Noah's Ark probably didn't have a rudder? I mean, where was it going? Where were they going? Nowhere! All they knew is that God had just saved them in a miraculous way from certain destruction. They had no idea what was to happen next. They were just floatin' around. And floatin'... and floatin' some more. Floated for a whole year. Boring after a while.

And so it was with us. For many years. The boat was saved and afloat and we were happy and thankful - just directionless. We prayed and waited, and were thankul in the process. We did what we knew to do, you know, go to church, pray, seek the Lord, read our Bibles, fast, study, raise our kids, share the Gospel with those around us, serve others, love your neighbor, be kind, go on mission trips, etc., etc., you know. But we always prayed that God would reveal WHAT it is he had saved us FOR. Uh, please be more specific, Lord? Isn't there more to life than this?

Well, Praise the Lord we think we finally have a clue. Finally! 6 years later. Whew. It's about time! And for that we are thankful. It's looking like it's Argentina again for us. I swore I would never go back there. Swore it up and down, forget it! I hate that place. And I don't love the people. Don't missionaries have to have love? Always had a bad time in Argentina. NO THANKS! Not goin'. NOT. Don't even suggest it, Lord, because I'm not hearin'. So the fact that we might, that I'm even open to it, that Tony is hearing the same thing, well, it's just a huge a miracle. Tony and I rarely agree about much. Oh, we compliment each other very well. He's strong where I'm weak, and vice versa. He is all the things I wish I were, all very good. And maybe he'd say the same about me. But as a friend of his said once, "Tony and Chris, they're like oil and water: they just don't mix." Haha. Well, somewhat true. We are Night and Day. The few times we have agreed on things, the big things, we know it is of the Lord, because we never do! We are actually agreeing on this. It's bizarre-o. It must be the Lord.

Where in Argentina? Well, I was shocked, I mean, absolutely shocked when Tony said one day a while back that if he ever were to move back to Argentina, he would not go to Buenos Aires. He would go to the campo, las montañas (for you non-Spanish speakers that's: the country, the mountains).

Shock-ah.

You'd have to know him to understand. Just take my word for it that that's another miracle.

The whole journey is just frought with miracles. But the blogger said to keep my posts short. That way people could click on, read, click off. Yah. I don't talk to adults all day, hello! We'll see how I do!

Toodles~! More to come. :)