In Two Months…

In two months we will be leaving for the mission field. We have bought our tickets to fly to Argentina! We have been on deputation for 22 months now. We have seen God do incredible things! God has built much of our support. We still need more churches to partner with us before we can leave but we are closing in on our goal and we believe God is going to build the rest of our support before our departure.

January was a great month for us! We were able to share our hearts in 15 churches! We were encouraged in each church and we believe God was honored and His people were challenged in getting the Gospel to the world! February has us doing more of the same. Truthfully it never gets old. We are able to share what God is doing in our hearts with encouraging churches every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night (as well as a few other nights during the week). Thank you for praying for us as we labor to complete our deputation to reach Argentina!

Serving Together,

Patrick, Leslie, Lily, Piper, and Ivy Henry

In Argentina

I read an interesting article in January about the continuing fight against drug trafficking in Argentina. Drugs are everywhere, there is no doubt about that. Different countries and communities attempt to instate different methods in fighting this war. This new measure overhauls Argentina’s border security network, promising efficient coordination of customs and law enforcement. President Mauricio Macri said the army would be allowed to “identify, warn, intimidate and use force” against drug flights. While this fight is something people argue over, may I say the greatest solution to this problem is a transformation that only the Gospel of Jesus can provide. The Gospel is the answer to the worst of sins and most heinous crimes!

What is so special about the number 57? Read this blog post further to find out!

Yesterday was a big day for us. For one, we said goodbye to friends Ben and Crystal Johnson. They are missionaries to China. They have completed their deputation and left for the mission field yesterday. It was exciting to see how God has provided for them. We believe God is going to use them in China! As you can see from the picture below, we and a lot of other friends went to see them off at the airport. They will be missed but we are all excited to see how God uses them! As a dear brother put it, we are thankful that we are the group who is sending out the Gospel, not the group waiting for the Gospel. Ben and Crystal are being sent out to a people who are waiting for the Gospel, a people who don’t know it, but will find out as God works through the Johnsons to make His name known! Be praying for Ben and Crystal.

Now to address the number 57. Yesterday was a big day for another reason. We purchased our plane tickets for Argentina! We will be leaving on March 24, 2016! We are 57 days away from our flight. We are at 85% of our needed funds. We are believing God for the rest. Please be praying with us that God will build the rest our support through more churches that partner with us. Thank you for praying for us.

I was sitting in an ordination council. This was in October 2015. A man would be getting ordained in just a few hours. A dear brother and friend gave this counsel, “Our sufficiency is in God. Trust Him.” Those words mean something to me, I have thought about them almost daily. There is much more to this.

What does the Bible say? Trusting God is not just in salvation. Trusting God is for daily Christian living. The Bible tells us this in Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” I don’t know that there is much difference between believing God (faith) and trusting God. If there is a difference, it must not be a great difference. If there is a difference, the two have more in common than they have different. For this post, I am going to continue with the presupposition that trusting God and believing God are the same. Why can we believe God? The advice given pointed to our sufficiency in God. The Bible says “And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.” 2 Corinthians 3:4-6. This passage deserves much more explanation, but for the sake of keeping with the subject at hand, I will keep to the point. Paul tells the church at Corinth that his sufficiency is of God. God is the One who made Paul an able minster of the new covenant. God is the One that worked in Paul. Paul had nothing to boast of, it was all God. That is, and should be, the testimony of every follower of Jesus. The word “sufficiency” is only used once in the New Testament (Whereas the word “sufficient” earlier in the verse is actually a different Greek word and is used 40 times in the New Testament. Both words have the same root). It carries the connotation of being “adequate, capable, and qualified”. Please think about this, what makes you adequate, capable, and qualified for the ministry of the new covenant is God. He alone makes us sufficient!

What does this mean? Because our sufficiency is in God we can trust Him. He is the One that working in us. We cannot trust our own selves but we can always trust God. He is the One who makes us able. He is the One who uses us. This means you can fully trust Him. He will use you. He will guide you. Trust Him.

I am a missionary. I look back at my life and I am amazed at how God has guided me. I would have never thought I would be doing what God is using me to do, but He is and will! I can trust my God. My sufficiency is in Him! You can trust God too!

If you have ever seen pictures of Buenos Aires, then you have probably seen the Obelisk, or “obelisco” (Spanish). An obelisk is a stone pillar, typically having a square or rectangular cross section and a pyramidal top, set up as a monument or landmark (the Washington Monument is an example of an obelisk in the States). The Obelisco de Buenos Aires (Obelisk of Buenos Aires) is a national historic monument and icon of Buenos Aires. It was built to commemorate the fourth centenary of the first foundation of the city and is located in the Plaza de la República, in the intersection of avenues Corrientes and 9 de Julio.

In order to enrich the surroundings of the iconic monument, the government of the city started a project which created a zone full of LED signs. Since the Obelisk of the city is always associated with the night and entertainment of Buenos Aires, this project creates a zone similar to Times Square in New York and Piccadilly Circus in London.

Construction began on March 20, 1936, and it was inaugurated on May 23 of the same year. Its height is 67.5 m (221 feet), and 63 m (206 ft) of these are up to the initiation of the apex, which is 3.5 by 3.5 meters (11 by 11 ft). The tip is blunt, measuring 40 centimeters (16 in) and ends in a lightning rod that can not be seen because of the height, whose cables run through the interior of the obelisk. It has only one entrance (in its west side) and on its top there are four windows, that can only be reached by a straight staircase of 206 steps with 7 breaks every 6–8 meters (20–26 ft).

It is a beautiful monument in the city. It is also seen in the picture of Buenos Aires on our homepage. Here are a few more pictures of el Obelisco de Buenos Aires…