March: Happy new year! April: Time for decisions

MARCH: Happy new year!

You are probably wondering… excuse me! I am confused! The New Year begins the first day of January, right? Well, don’t get me wrong; Argentines do not have their own personal calendar, like Chinese people, but even though it seems they do. Officially, the year begins in January, but off the record, the real New Year begins in March. Little by little, people start showing up again back in the city by the end of February. March is the month when everything starts for real. Kids go back to School, others go back to College, courts open, everything! The city is noisy again (We didn’t miss that part) and there is a sense of energy and renewed enthusiasm in people after their long and precious vacations.
During these couple of months, like I mentioned before, we went through the ‘rotation’ effect. ( I wonder: Does it happen in the US as well?) Some came one week, and the next one didn’t, but there were others to replace those first ones. And so on. In the meantime, during this rotation cycle Jared and I got to spend time with new contacts. God was opening ways for us to meet new people and we were excited to get very close with some of them.
Paula, a girl that I met at the gym last November, drew really close to us as her family lives far from Buenos Aires. One day, after working out (Yes, God works at the Gym too!), we started talking and I invited her home and told her that we were Christians. We became really good friends and we realized that she was seeking Jesus. She got really stuck to us! We invited her to hang out with our Christian friends and she also spent Christmas with us. We started sharing our experiences of living for Jesus, and she said that one had ever talked to her like that. We gave her a bible as a present and also ‘The purpose driven life’. She said that she had not touched a bible since she was a little kid. She was thirsty for more of Jesus. Paula has just moved to the States, maybe temporarily, because she had a job offer from the Argentine consulate in Washington DC. For this reason, we couldn’t study about baptism and Christian living yet as she was involved in all the craziness that means to move to another country. But, we know that God and other brothers and sisters over in DC will continue the work that has begun in her heart here.
Carolina, a girl that I met last year through a temporary job of one week, has also become VERY open to listening about Jesus. Jared and I have spent lot of time with her. She has just had twins and she is a single mom. She is a brave 32 year-old woman who does not count on much help from her family. We realize how many people are all alone in this huge city, but find it hard to trust people because usually nobody cares about others. Carolina is now very concerned about her babies (a baby girl and a baby boy) and their spiritual future. The same night she began labor, we laid hands on her belly and we prayed for the twins. Carolina had these beautiful babies that night and she said that she felt God by her side. Carolina is now living with her dad, as her parents are divorced, and her dad is such a nice man who is also very open to sharing about Jesus. In the very near future, they both agreed on letting us go over their house and study the bible together. We are very excited about this!
We can also mention names like Marcelo, Omar and Yasuo, new contacts that God let us know during these last times.
Despite this good news, we have also faced very hard times.
We knew that we were going to go through that part sooner or later. After spending a whole year together, two people in our group decided to step away. On one hand, we always mentioned Hernan, an agnostic guy who was very close to us. Hernan was becoming more and more disrespectful when he spoke about his belief in front of the other people in the group. He did not only criticize, but also hurt some of the people when he expressed his opinion. We kept on showing our love but, finally, Jared wrote a letter in which he asked Hernan to be considerate to others and that all those things he spoke against Jesus will have consequences, whether he likes it or not. Our love for him would remain the same whether he wanted to accept Jesus or not. After that, Jared tried to contact him several times but he just refuses to talk to us.
Enrique, another man who has always kept on coming to our group every week has stopped coming. Enrique is a very opinionated man who is very interested in Jesus teachings, although he welcomes to other ‘religions’ as well. We have always made clear that being a Christian does not only mean agreeing with the bible says but to live according to it. He has recently broken up with his wife. We talked to her as well as she had begun to come to group. Enrique is unwilling to compromise with his wife or reconcile with her, even though his wife is willing to. Jared asked Glen Henton, another missionary in Argentina, to help him to talk to him about what Jesus says about divorce and about stubbornness. Despite all what it was said and done, Enrique was and is not willing to change his position. We keep praying for Enrique and for God to keep working in his heart. We were sad to see him rejecting God’s word. He likes to interpret it in his own way.
Although it was sad, we were convinced in our hearts that we were not going to change his word just to please people’s needs. I was particularly encouraged by 2nd Corinthians 2:14-17. We don’t be workers, we want to be servants. Like Paul mentioned in 1st Cor.3:6-7 “ What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe…I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow…” Isn’t this beautiful? We can rest that He does the work!!

WHAT´S NEXT

We started advertising this week free lessons of English. The idea is not to promote English as a language but to get news contact by reading the bible together in English. Pray for us for God to draw people who are really seeking him!

PARTNERS IN THE GOSPEL

Again, we are already thankful for your support but please keep praying for us! It is not over yet, but just started! You are partners in the work here in Argentina! It is NOT our work! And we need your prayers! We are looking for workers full or part-time to come and work here with us. If you have time to come down and visit, and what you have is some time off, give some of your time to reach out in Buenos Aires, we will most delighted with your visit!

January-February... Where is everybody???

While December was a mess of people moving like crazy, going to get everything done before January..Finally January comes and peace settles on the city... Nice! but.. wait a minute? Where is everybody? It is just incredible the transition from, hot, noisy, crowded places to empty, silent, almost heavenly... It seems weird that in such a huge city almost everything is put 'on hold' till March, when kids go back to school. There is this urge in people to run away, no matter what, probably trying to leave behind in their minds the year that has recently passed.
However, we decided to keep on getting together every week. And that is when we suddenly realized that all these events did not stop us from starting one small group at home, one wednesday night in the middle of January of 2006. So, why should we stop this year? We knew that our main guest, Jesus, was definitely going to be with us before we started our time together as a church, I guess because he is not the main guest, but the one who calls the meeting right? Some of the people in our group even took a whole month of vacation (yes, believe it or not), and some of them less than that. The point is this: Have you ever been to a volleyball match? or Do you know the rules of volleyball? Well, for those who don't know it, there are six people in a team and sometimes seven, and depending on whether the team scored or not, they keep on moving and rotating positions. That is pretty much the explanation that I can give about how it felt our group was like during January and February. One week, we have two or three coming, but the next one, those three wouldn't come but 'no worries'!! there were some replacement! Back up to fill out those positions. Sometimes it was Jared and myself only! To be honest with you, we know that this situation repeats in almost every single church here in Buenos Aires. While someone is coming in, someone is leaving and takes turns, rotates and so on and on. It is sad to say that the church is also affected by this society's habit of leaving and taking a light commitment to meet with brothers and sisters on vacation times. We were told and advised by other missionaries here as well to not get discouraged about this situation. Therefore, during this time we tried to get more personal with those who stayed around us and are trying to deepen our relationship with them as friends. To learn to live in a community takes time. And we used these times to ask more personal questions on which point each one was standing at.

Added to all this, God also let us know more people and increased the good relationships that we've been having with our new contacts. Jared mentioned that not long time ago we made a new friend. Her name is Paula. Paula and I got to talk and I asked her if she would be willing to follow Jesus, to which she answered Yes! So, we were encouraged to see that God is getting us closer to these new contacts.

We are learning a lot. Please, pray for us! There are times that are not easy! We get tired, but then we pray for God to keep the fire in our hearts. And God is faithful! Our beautiful father has never left our hearts abandoned, although there are times that we get anxious looking for more answers from Above.. But he takes his times. And we are learning that we can not solve people's problems and we are not the ones that can draw them close to Jesus. Jesus, the almighty and powerful is the one and only answer to everybody! It is not going to be for our eloquence,enchanting words or charming personality (no way!), but because of his abundant love that people will come to him. The will be drawn to him! We keep on praying for Jesus personal revelation to each one of the people that we meet.

Unfortunaly, there were times of decisions. Hernan, one of the guys that Jared mentioned many many times, has stopped coming to group. Jared wrote a lovely and friendly letter to him, to let him know that no matter what they will continue being friends, but more than their friendship, Jesus was eager to be his friend. So, he asked Hernan to give this oportunity to Jesus to be his friend and lord. After that, Jared has been trying to contact him lots of times, but there has been no answer. This kind of situations can be sad. Not because we are taking this personal, but because that there is nothing that hurts more that when someone rejects Jesus plainly.

However, our hearts overflow with more love than before for our Jesus and for others who are willing to know about him. But, keep on praying for us! We want to stay firm and be called good servants at all times!

Our Christmas

Hot. Noisy. Lots of firework and food. Just a few words to describe briefly what our christmas in Buenos Aires was like. This was probably one of the hottest christmas' in Argentina in the last few years. We had a lovely time with family and friends. In the pictures, you will also see The Carim family. Gabriel, Jazmin and their mom decided that they wanted to share this Christmas with us, as they didn't want to stay at their house. They lost their dad not long time ago and they thought that staying at their house was not going to be a good idea. Good for them! We were delighted to have them with us! Jesus is what join us as family and we were happy to celebrate his bringing of our lives together!

A year together

Last December 9th, Jared and I celebrated our first year together. This is nothing compared to the 46 years that my parents have been together, however we are very proud of our 1st anniversary. It's been an exciting year, full of beautiful moments. As a couple, we learned not to think only as an individual, but we deepened our love for each other through different experiences (Who washes the dishes? Who takes out the trash? Who makes dinner tonight? etc, etc). Second, as servants of God, we enjoyed opening our house to welcome everyone!! That is when our house turned into our 'home,' not only because of the things and decorations that we put in it, but because of all the times and moments shared which made our home a pleasant place. We could feel God's blessing on us all year long. In our first year walking as 'one,' we can not help but be grateful for all the help God has given us.

Why a blog?

I guess some changes are good after a while. We thought this would be a much easier way for people to read periodically about what it is going on with us here in this faraway city called Buenos Aires, in the southernmost country of Latin America called Argentina. We also noticed that some of you really enjoyed seeing pictures and were asking for more, but we were unable to please you because on attaching them it made our email too big for some of you to receive it. Also, blogs have a space for comments. And we love hearing from you! So, please, let us know your comments, opinions, ideas, suggestions, and advice. They are always welcome! Hope you enjoy our 'Buenos Aires para Cristo' blog (Buenos Aires for Christ) by Jared and Karina. We love you!