Learning a language is not done without hours of learning and practice. The ability to communicate fluidly to the people around you is essential in reaching people with the Gospel. How can I explain the truths of the Bible if I cannot speak the language? Communicating is essential in life. To communicate in Argentina, you must know and understand Spanish. This is my life these days. I spend my days learning Castellano (Spanish). I attempt to say things (inevitably I say it wrong) and attempt to understand what others are saying as they correct me. I am growing in the language, but have very far to go! I pray in Spanish, read my Bible in Spanish, and talk in Spanish. Today’s post is more about language learning. For this post we will look at language school.

Language school is a formal setting. I firmly believe you cannot learn a language by language school alone. But that is not to say that language school is not important. Language school is very important. Our language school teacher’s name is Alfredo. Alfredo was born and raised in Argentina. He was saved in his 60’s. He loves Jesus and works to make Leslie and I fluent in the language. He heard the Gospel at Iglesia Bautista El Faro (the same church we attend now). Shortly after he believed on Jesus. He loves Argentina very much and loves talking about the culture and different cities. He corrects me constantly and I love it. I am learning so much from him. Our language school is 3 hours per day. In those 3 hours we work through a curriculum, talk about what we did last night, what we are going to do tomorrow, or what we read or saw. We sip on Mate (an herbal tea here that is delicious) and everything done is done in Spanish. Alfredo knows the vast majority of the people in this country are lost and have never heard the Gospel before. Today he was urging me to stay in La Plata because there are so many parts of this city that have never been touched with the Gospel (we are praying about where to go, but this is a subject for another post). We learn the rules of the language during this time.

Language school is a portion of language learning, but there are other things I do daily as I am learning this language. There will be more to follow on language learning.

A Cold July

I grew up in Georgia. Whenever the month of July is brought up, thoughts of the hot sun, pools, vacations, humidity and long summer days flood my mind. This is not how things are in July in Argentina. When south of the equator, July is actually winter and we are in the midst of it! Jackets and scarves, seeing your breath, and very short winter days are the themes of this time of year. School is in session here for children and for us as well. These cold days are spent learning and practicing Spanish. Everyday we are growing as we practice the language. Please pray for us as we learn the ins and outs of the language and as we practice each day.

The Laborers vs. The Need

Jesus said it and I am seeing it. “The Harvest truly is plenteous but the labourers are few.” The question of where we will start planting churches is in some ways easy and in other ways not so easy. This is so because there are very few places where we could go to start a church where there already is a Bible preaching church in that area. The need is great here. There are laborers here and God is at work, but there are millions of people who have never heard the Gospel and further more have very little chance of ever hearing it. Pray for more laborers. We will start churches and train men to send out and advance the Gospel further. Pray for us. God bless you!

Serving Together,

Patrick, Leslie, Lily, Piper, and Ivy Henry

We have been in Argentina for three months now. In three months we set up and are are in language school. So what is life like for a missionary in language school? My life is in Spanish. Everything that is done is done in Spanish. Language school only lasts a few hours but language learning continues throughout every day. I have been told that learning the rules of the language is important, but it is more important to get out and “practice” Spanish. If you think about it, our children did not learn English by being in a formal classroom setting learning the rules of when to say this and how to say it. They learned by being around us, by listening and trying to say a word here or there themselves. Before long our children were speaking fluently! The most important thing about language school is not just the rules, but the practice! How can we practice Spanish? Practicing Spanish is two-fold, you listen, and you speak. It is best to converse with someone because in doing so you are listening and speaking. So how are some ways we practice Spanish. In Argentina it is easy. We listen. Any message, announcement, prayer request or anything else in the church is how we can listen to Spanish. Listen to the talk radio. If someone is talking on the radio, it is in Spanish, so we listen. Watch the news. All of the news is in Spanish. What about talking, how do we practice speaking in Spanish. Again this is very simple, if you see a human, that human speaks Spanish! Talk with people. Talk with people you know and talk with people you don’t know. Talk about the weather, shoes, food, customs, holidays, the community and city, the country, talk about Jesus and the Bible. Talk about anything and everything you can possibly think about. At first it is very slow. It may be a “Hello, how are you?” sort of thing. In time you will be able to say more and more. I think you get the idea. Just talk to people. Ask them to correct you (I am finding people are very kind, they want to talk to me and many of them don’t mind correcting me).

Our days are filled with Spanish. Some times it is overwhelming. Some times we speak and understand much better than other times. We continue on and we are loving it! The next few weeks I will address what it is like to be a new missionary learning the language in Argentina.

This is the final post on The Master Plan of Evangelism. It has been great for me to re-read this book. I firmly believe we can be used of God to change the world by taking the “Master’s plan” and making it our ministry. The epilogue of The Master Plan of Evangelism is entitled “The Master and Your Plan”. The world is looking for someone to follow. Will you pour your life into another who can go out to make a difference. Make “The Master’s plan” your plan! I end this series with a question my mentor asks, “Where is the guy that you are training?” Here is a final snippet from the book…

What is the plan of your life? Everyone has to live by some plan. The plan is the organizing principle around which the aim of life is carried out. We may not be conscious of the plan in every action, or even know that we have a plan, but nonetheless our actions invariably unfold some kind of a pattern at the center of things.

When we actually get right down to it and try to see our objective and how we are going about to achieve it, what we discover may not be very satisfying. But an honest appraisal should cause us all to be more concerned for our calling, at least for those who believe Jesus’ way is the rule by which every action should be tested.

It might well be that some cherished plans of our own making may have to be redirected or perhaps abandoned altogether. Equally agonizing may be the adjustment of the congregation to the Master’s view of the ministry. In all probability our whole concept of success will have to be reevaluated. Nevertheless, if the principles outlined here have any validity at all, they should be understood as guidelines for action. It is only as they are applied to the everyday work of living now that they have any real significance for our lives. To regard them as true means that they must be relevant.

 Coleman, R. E. (2006). The master plan of evangelism (pp. 99–100). Grand Rapids, MI: Revell.