Mother’s Day, Evangelistic Outreaches, and Our Travels

The September Family Conference was a huge blessing with many in attendance in each service. Pastor Hugo from La Plata preached the final message of the conference and it was well received! The men’s fellowship was also a great meeting! It is Spring now in Argentina and Pastor Matías and the church have several special events planned for this season to preach the Gospel to others. One is to hold special services in the public plazas (or parks). Pray with us that God works in these special evangelistic services. 

The big service for October is Mother’s Day. That may sound strange but Mother’s Day is celebrated in October in Argentina. This is special day and we are praying that Faith Baptist Church will have many visitors on that day!

October is one of the busiest months during our furlough. We have meetings in Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, and Florida. Please pray for our travels and that we are a blessing in each church we are in.

Serving Together,

Patrick, Leslie, Lily, Piper, Ivy, and Isla Henry

Prayer Requests

• Pray for Faith Baptist Church.  
• Pray for the Mother’s Day (Mother’s Day is in October in Argentina).  
• Pray for the
  upcoming evangelistic campaigns of Faith Baptist Church.
• Pray for our furlough travels.

Our furlough has been a blessing in several different ways. For one, we are able to share with churches we are partnered with how the Lord is working in the ministry in Argentina. Our girls have also made friends and are growing spiritually during this year. Lily and Piper have both surrendered their lives to be missionaries if that is what God has for them! Ivy believed on Jesus for salvation a few months back! Isla is only 5 years old, we are praying for her. Another blessing of furlough is that the church we planted in Lanús, Buenos Aires is continuing on and growing without us being there. Pastor Matías and the church are pushing forward and we are praying for them! Please pray for them with us.

We are on our way to a mission conference in Maryland. Please pray for our safety if it be His will and that God will use us for His glory!

Serving Together, 

Patrick, Leslie, Lily, Piper, Ivy, and Isla Henry

Missionary Spotlight: Dallas and Ashley Brown

Dallas and Ashley Brown are heroes! I love them and am so encouraged by them. They are missionaries out of our home church. I have been honored to have Dallas Brown as my friend for many years now. He and Ashley are being greatly used by the Lord. I recommend to any pastor to have them in for a meeting. He will be an encouragement and blessing to the church. I recently contacted Dallas, he shared with me a short update and a few prayer requests. The Browns are heroes and we are grateful to call them friends!

Update from Dallas and Ashley Brown

A man was saved at the church a few weeks ago week and he has been coming faithfully ever since. They are in the midst of constructing a church building and it is moving along steadily. They plan to add doors and windows this week. There are three guys interested in ministry who will be starting Bible college with Dallas in a few weeks.

• Pray for the construction of the church building.
• Pray for the three men who are interested in ministry.
• Pray for the Bible College classes that will start soon.

I have enjoyed this blog series on the characteristics of an effective missionary. I believe each characteristic is important! This week’s post will be no exception. An effective missionary keeps in contact. We are living in an era when staying in contact is so easy! With the technology and widespread use of it, we are able to communicate in an instant. If it is via email or website, most people don’t even have to wait to get home, they can get updates on their phones. This is so common place, that it almost sounds silly that I am making a big deal out of it, but this is relatively new. 50 years ago, missionaries could not communicate with ease. In 2022, we can be almost anywhere in the world and keep people up to date with what is going on in the ministry. 

Today there is no excuse that we have to not communicate with others and communicate often. There may be a few exceptions, but they are few and far between. At the drafting of this blog post, I am sitting in the airport in Los Angeles, California. Lord willing we will be taking off in a few hours to head back to Atlanta. We have enjoyed the meetings with churches we have been in through this past week, but we are also looking forward to Atlanta (even if it is for a day or two). This morning, from California, we have already been in contact with people in Argentina, Leslie spoke with a missionary friend who was just in New York City, and I am hearing from friends in other countries via a text message group. It is amazing how easy it is to stay in contact with others. 

With that in mind, an effective missionary should stay in contact. I am going to break this down into two categories. 

• Monthly prayer letters sent through the mail. Sending a one page prayer letter each month is easy. There is always something to share that is going on in the ministry. When a missionary is on deputation, he should be traveling and can share how God is working as he raises funds to go to the mission field. When he is learning the language and culture, there are things that he can share about things he is learning and the small opportunities he has to witness, and when he is planting a church, there are many things going on to share as well. Most churches ask that missionaries send a prayer letter a minimum of once every three months. I think we can do better than that. Prayer letters should be sent every month, there is no reason not to. If you want people praying for you and the ministry God has given you, then you need to keep people up to date with specifics, so they can pray for people by name, and pray for specific events, etc. An effective missionary sends prayer letters to partnering churches monthly. 
• Emails should be sent weekly. Physical prayer letters have a cost (although it is not that much). Emails are free! An effective missionary keeps people up to date each week. You do not have to write a novel, just a short paragraph about what has happened, or what is coming up. Be specific and be consistent. Be specific about the the names of people you are working with and about the special events that you are holding, be it a special day or an evangelistic campaign. Be consistent in sending quick update emails each week. 

There are other ways that missionaries can stay in touch. Some use social media, some directly message faithful prayer warriors. Both are great options. The point is that it is easy to communicate with others. An effective missionary keeps in contact with those who are “holding the rope” back home.  

I know it may sound strange, but Wednesday was the first day of Spring in Argentina (in the Southern Hemisphere, the seasons are reversed). It is a day that people celebrate throughout the country, winter is finally over and the flowers are beginning to bloom! To celebrate, the ladies ministry held a special Spring Bible Study at the home of one of the leaders. It was a blessing and encouragement to the ladies, they gathered together, prayed for specific prayer requests and one of them taught a Bible lesson. I am thankful to the Lord for special days like this! Thank you for praying for the ministry in Argentina.

Serving Together,

Patrick, Leslie, Lily, Piper, Ivy, and Isla Henry

Leslie and I are in California, we have meetings in Victorville, Sacramento, and San José. It is a blessing to be here and to enjoy this beautiful part of the country as we share what God has done and is doing in the ministry in Argentina!