Iglesia Bautista El Faro (Lighthouse Baptist Church) is the church we attend while in language school. We love the people here. Pastor Jorge and the church have been very kind to us these past 5 months. We had a “kermesse” on Sunday in honor of Dia de los Niños (Kid’s Day). I am learning Spanish and quite often I come across words I have never known before. “Kermesse” is one of those words. A “kermesse” is a festival (or a carnival). Think of a “Fall Festival” (many churches have them in the States). We had inflatables, hot dogs and snacks, musical chairs, cup stacking game, matching game, futbol (soccer) game, and more. Our kids loved it and so did all the other kids that came. I also saw a lot of people from the community that I did not recognize. To conclude the kermesse, a presentation of the Gospel was given. It was a great day.

We will be planting the first church when we are fluent in the language. Because we are in a thriving church, we are learning so much more than just language. We are learning culture and customs. I will give you one example in the form of the kermesse. Dia de los Niños was actually a week ago, but we didn’t have the kermesse on Dia de los Niños. I didn’t quite understand why we waited a week for the kermesse. I didn’t know if it just worked out that way this year. Pastor Jorge taught me that this is done on purpose. Dia de los Niñ0s (Kid’s Day) is a national holiday. Places all over the city will have fairs, carnivals and festivals on that day. It is a great day for the family. It is a big day in the city, but the next week there isn’t much going on. Because of this, we have many more families visit. I can learn these kinds of things by experience, but it is much better to learn them by participating in a great church like El Faro!

The truth is our family is already looking forward to next year’s kermisse. It made for another great day here in Argentina!