It is winter in Argentina, and in the cold of winter our church had a baptismal service. We baptize new believers in a small “portable” vinyl pool. We have to fill it up the day before, and although we try to heat it, it stays very cold. That did not stop three new believers from being baptized! It is exciting to hear how God blessed this special service! I have included some pictures below.
Serving Together,
Patrick, Leslie, Lily, Piper, Ivy, and Isla Henry
We have been missionaries since 2014. Like every missionary I want to be an effective missionary, but sometimes it is not easy to understand how. Although it is clear that every missionary wants to be effective, how to be effective is not so clear. How can I be effective on deputation? How can I be effective during my first two years as an apprentice missionary? How do I become effective on the foreign field? How can I be effective to the churches that support me back in the States? These are all very good questions, but perhaps not all are easy to answer. That is what this series of posts aims to do, I would like to take a few weeks to share clear principles on how to be an effective missionary. I have accomplished some of these principles by God’s grace, while I am still working on others, but I believe they are all attainable.
As I said, I want to be an effective missionary and I am sure every other missionary has the same desire. I look forward to sharing a few principles about how to be an effective missionary.
We have used the same basic format for our emails since 2014, and have used the same blog outline since around 2016. I have thought about doing a redesign for well over a year and thought that I would have more time to invest in this project during our furlough. Well, here we are halfway through the year and we have finally transitioned into a new look. This includes our blog, our prayer letters, and our emails. Our goal is to send one email per week, in that email there will be access to a printable version of our latest prayer letter, as well as a link to the latest blog post. My goal is to release a post every week. These posts will be about Argentina, about missions, about serving the Lord, and about our family. I have already started writing blogs about deputation, church planting, and a few pointers on how to be an affective missionary. I will be publishing a new post each week.
I can remember being an assistant pastor at our home church. At one point, Pastor Lawrence asked me to be over the missions ministry. One of my responsibilities was to read the prayer letters, and contact the missionaries periodically. I can remember being frustrated as I read the latest prayer letter, but only to find that it was 6 – 8 months old! My frustration would continue as I looked for some way to contact the missionary but not being able to easily find that information (that was not the case with every missionary, many were very thorough and I understand there may be missionaries in some extreme remote location with little/no internet access, but at that time and even more so now, with the ever-growing technological advances, such places seem to be the exception, not the rule). I thought to myself, “If I ever become a missionary, I will make sure to keep everyone updated often and make my contact information clear and easy for others to find”. We have been missionaries since March of 2014 and we have tried to do just that! So with this new set up for our blog, weekly emails, and monthly prayer letters, we hope to take you with us on this important mission of church-planting in Argentina! You can expect our quick updates each Friday (excluding the first Friday of every month, that Friday is when we send a copy of our latest prayer letter). These quick updates our just quick, 4-6 sentence emails to keep you up-to-date on the ministry God has given us.
This is the new look for our blog, emails, and prayer letters. With it comes new opportunities to find out more about ministry in general, about what is going on in Argentina, and more about our family. We hope that you will walk with us weekly, come on this journey with us! Serving the Lord, whether in context of your local church or on the mission field, can have high “highs” and low “lows”, but I am sure if you are a child of God, you agree with me that it is an honor, privilege, and joy to serve Jesus!
Evangelistic Opportunities and Three People Saved!
I love receiving messages from Pastor Matías like I received this month! Matías is pastoring Faith Baptist Church and is doing a wonderful job. He has been faithfully guiding the church, and living by example. Earlier in June, he sent me a text about two young girls in our church. I have prayed for the girls. Abril comes because her uncle and mom were saved at our church! I had the privilege to baptize both of them! Abril received Jesus as her Savior! I rejoiced with this news. Pilar comes with her brother. Their mother is part of a cult, but she allows them to come to the church. Pilar also believed on Jesus! God is so good to work in Faith Baptist Church! Another night this month, Matías was talking to his cousin Leo and his cousin’s girlfriend, Micaela. Micaela was lost. They were not attending the church. Matias witnessed to her and as he was giving her the gospel that He could tell God was working. Micaela was saved that night! They both are starting discipleship together with Matías and Mica (Matías’ wife).
Our furlough continues and we are blessed to have meetings scheduled this month in North Carolina, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas. Thank you for praying for us the the ministry in Argentina!
Serving Together,
Patrick, Leslie, Lily, Piper, Ivy, and Isla Henry
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