In the past I have heard missionaries talk about cultural adjustments and sometimes it has a negative connotation. I want to make clear that not all cultural adjustments are hard. I present to our readers the “merienda”. While in the United States we are accustomed to 3 meals a day, in Argentina we have 4! Breakfast, Lunch, Merienda, and Dinner. Breakfast is at a normal time, lunch is usually around 12:00 – 1:30 or so. But Dinner is not until 9:00-10:00 PM! So around 4:00-5:00 PM we have a merienda. The merienda consists of coffee or mate (mate is a local tea, but that is for another post), and cookies, pastries, or perhaps a toasted ham and cheese sandwich or some other time of small sandwich. I do love merienda! On Friday nights I disciple a family at 6:00 PM. We will start the time together going over some of the material, and in about 45 minutes in we have merienda together. I never know what it is going to be, but I know it is something we will enjoy. Last week we had coffee and something like a cookie sandwich with ricotta (sweetened) in the middle. If I am out I may get a coffee and a croissant (we call them “medialuna”). Yesterday I was with one of the pastors for merienda and I had a coffee and a croissant. Tonight we will be together again for merienda. It is a beautiful (and delicious) part of the Argentine culture. This is an easy adjustment for us as a family to make.

Next week we will publish another post on the cultural adjustments. Check back soon for more.

I remember Taco Bell’s old commercials that had the motto, “make a run for the border”. These words have a different meaning now. This morning we took what will hopefully be our last “border run”. A “border run” is when missionaries have to renew their visas by crossing the border to get stamped out and stamped back in to the country (giving you another 90 days). We are in the process of receiving our residency which would eliminate the need for such trips, but haven’t yet received this status. This morning was a especially different. It was the first time we have had to do so with our newborn, Argentine daughter, Isla. We left at 5:00 AM to drive 4 hours to the closest border (Uruguay). When we arrived, we gave our passports along with Isla’s Argentine Identification Document and her Argentine Passport. The immigrations officer asked for her birth certificate. We did not bring that with us. This is when things got complicated. Neither Uruguay nor Argentina would allow Isla to cross the border even though we had the proper identification because they wanted proof of her birth. As I tried to calmly discuss that she was obviously born and that the two documents proved her Argentine citizenship I was met with disagreement and then was handed off to other people. I explained what we were trying to do, just get our visas renewed, I insulted the Uruguayan immigrations officer. He took that to mean I didn’t want to have anything to do with his country, only to receive a stamp. I offered to hold our newborn baby outside of the border so that my family could cross, but by this point I had already made all parties mad. After 30 minutes or so of back and forth, asking for the same thing in as many different ways as I could, I finally received a little grace from the Argentine immigrations officer. Then we were met with more problems. My wife crossed the border and made an immediate U-Turn, technically not leaving the border-crossing compound (this was at the request of the immigrations officer). I was informed that she did so illegally. Even though we own the car, even though we have car insurance that covers us in much of South America (including Uruguay), because we do not have residency, we are not permitted to drive an Argentine car on foreign soil. By this point I was beyond aggravated, but I knew any arguing would only make matters worse. I begged for forgiveness, claiming ignorance. They finally stamped our passports and gave us the visas we requested, and led me out of the door.

An important guideline for missionaries to remember is: “I don’t have to understand it, I just have to accept it.” It is beyond ridiculous to ask for a birth certificate to prove someone was born when they are right there and have all the documentation needed to prove her citizenship. She had a passport and her Argentine documentation. She could not receive either of those documents without her birth certificate so by having them it proved that her birth certificate has been verified. But the important thing to remember is that my logic is not their logic. I don’t need to understand why they require her birth certificate, I just need to know that do. Part of culture shock is trying to understand or logically reason why things are the way they are by using “American logic” or reasoning. Today I had to step back and remember, “It is not important that I understand why the immigrations officers are not allowing our daughter to cross the border with her passport, it is important however that I accept that they require her birth certificate along with her Argentine Identification Card and her Argentine Passport. If the foreigner will be kind and keep calm, he will go much further than if he spouts off about how “they” and their “ridiculous rules” don’t make any sense.

The big adjustment here is accepting the culture even though you may not understand the logic behind the way things work.

The First Fruits and a New Baby

July has been a month of blessings. Our fourth daughter was born on July 06. Her name is Isla and we are very happy to have her! We also saw our first two people saved this month! These two are the first fruits of Faith Baptist Church! We are so excited to see God working in this infant church.

This month missionary Jason Holt from Chile will be preaching for us. This is a wonderful opportunity for the church as well as for me because we will be able to glean from this veteran missionary and friend. We also have “Children’s Day” this month and we are hoping to use the day to invite new visitors to the church. These are more opportunities to advance the Gospel.

Serving Together,

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

• Pray for our special day this month with missionary Jason Holt.

• Pray for the families we are in the process of discipling, including the young couple who was just saved.

• Pray for more visitors to come to Faith Baptist Church.

• Pray as this infant church continues to grow.

I can remember being a young boy. The weekend started as soon as school was over on Friday. This was what I looked forward to! My weekends used to be all about playing, not doing any school work, sleeping in, and just relaxing (I would be reminded of chores, but that usually wasn’t until Saturday morning). Years later, I live in Argentina as a missionary, and my weekend starts tonight in just a few hours. Instead of the weekend being all about relaxation, it is all about the church service for Sunday, but it starts tonight at 6:00 PM. I will be sitting at the table of a young family going through discipleship. We will probably spend 2-3 hours chatting, learning, and going through this week’s lesson, The surety and security of our salvation! I will be with another man tomorrow morning going through a different lesson, and perhaps another married couple tomorrow afternoon for more discipleship. All of this before Sunday! I am very eager for each opportunity. It will all start in just a few hours!