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…

 

It is 2016. The dawning of a new year brings with it resolutions. I was reading an article on this subject and the article gave the top 10 new year resolutions people make each new year. They included getting out of debt, losing weight, becoming more healthy, quit smoking, spending more time with family, and getting organized. My new years resolutions are a bit different than usual.

I am in the last days of our deputation. We will be leaving for Argentina in just a few months. God has blessed our deputation. As long as things continue to go as they have, as long as churches continue to partner with us, our deputation will have lasted 2 years! We will be living three quarters of 2016 in Argentina. Because of that, my resolutions for this year have to do with leaving for Argentina and life in Argentina.  The top three resolutions I have for 2016 are…

• Finish right, finish strong. Deputation is very close to being over. That doesn’t mean it is time to relax. Our deputation has been very busy. We have enjoyed it, and it has been very busy. These next months are packed out with meetings. That is the only way we will be able to leave. As of the drafting of this post, we are at 79.5%of our needed funds. We must finish right and finish strong. Finishing right means that we end deputation prepared for Argentina. It means selling all that we have and storing the items we are going to keep in preparation for our departure. It means spending any available time we have with family and friends. It means completing the needed paper work for our visas. Finishing strong means that we complete our deputation fully supported. The truth is, the only things I can do about this is have a full schedule, share my heart, and pray to God that He will give the increase. Thus far, God has answered our prayers. We still do have a lot to raise, but I have a full calendar, I am presenting and preaching, and I am begging God to give the increase! By God’s grace, I will finish deputation right and finish it strong!
• Learn the language. We have 6 months of language school completed during our internship in Arequipa, Peru. We still have 5-7 months to go. Learning the language is not an option, it is a necessity. Learning the language does not mean that we talk like Tarzan, “Me want to go to store. You go church with me.” Learning the language goes beyond completing language school, it is effectively communicating with people. In one sense, you are always learning the language (I was reading a book in English a few days ago and came across a word I had never heard of. I had to stop and look the word up. I am still learning English!). My resolution is to be fluent in Spanish by the end of 2016. We will always be learning more, but this resolution involves becoming fluent!
• Encourage my family. I am reading a book about building a team. The author (a former missionary) asserts that every man has a team. Your family is a team that God has given you. The author encourages men to see the family God has given us as a team that God can use to do great things. My wife and three daughters are going with me to Argentina. They will assist in church planting. They will assist in church work. They are the team God has given me, and I think they are an amazing team! 2016 will be a life-changing year for my family. Moving to another culture, not just for a few weeks or months, but making a total life-change like this will be challenging. There are exciting elements to this change but there are also elements that involve sacrifice. I am resolute in encouraging my family through this year.

I hope that 2016 is a wonderful year for you. I hope you learn more about who you are in Christ this year. I hope you get more involved in your church. I hope you serve Jesus more than you ever have. If you are not a believer in Jesus, I hope you repent and believe on Jesus today! Make 2016 a year that changes your life and the lives of those around you for the better. Make 2016 about Jesus!