Teaching and preaching the Bible is a wonderful blessing and privilege. Doing so in another language is challenging. The problem is teaching and preaching the Bible is what missionaries do. So teaching and preaching the Bible in Spanish is a big part of what I do. In discipleship, I am teaching the Bible. In the church I am also teaching and preaching the Bible. I love every bit of it, but it comes with adjustments that I am learning to make. First I must make clear, I am still learning Spanish and I make mistakes…a lot! That being said, those who are going to the church are people I am also discipling. I have asked them in our times of discipleship to correct me in the language when I am wrong. They do exactly that and it is a great help to me as I grow.

Last Sunday morning we had a great service. We had several families with us. During the message, a few people would speak out and say, “That’s not how you say that” or “You mean to say____”. A few times they just corrected me by saying the right word or the word I was using correctly (of course all of this is done in Spanish). It isn’t very constant, but it is 4-5 times during the message.

So the big adjustment is how I react to this. How should I react? I almost always repeat the word or phrase the right way, and say “Thank you”, if there is more than normal I say something like “We are going to preach this message together!” People laugh and are very gracious toward me. In order to continue in this adjustment, I try to keep in mind two Biblical principles.

• Gratitud – In everything it is important to be thankful. The Bible says, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18
• Humility – Pride will keep me from continuing to grow in the language. In Proverbs 26:12, we read “Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him.”

Yet another adjustment we experience. If we are not corrected, we will not know when we are wrong. The only real way for us to continue to grow is to welcome every correction knowing that it is for the better.

This Sunday will be our “Friend Day”. Friend Day is actually a special day here in Argentina. The actual day was on Thursday, but we are celebrating it this Sunday. Thus far, we have a few families that are planning to attend that have not yet visited the church. Tomorrow will be another opportunity to invite more people to this special day. Pray with us that we have a great day on Sunday!

Most of the adjustments we are making are about living in a new culture that “does life” in a different way than we are accustomed. This specific post is more about life as an “extranjero” (Spanish for “foreigner”). So those who are from other countries that live in the States are going through a very similar process. As a foreigner, there is lot of paperwork to complete. This past week or so we have been working on the paperwork for our baby daughter, Isla. Isla was born in Argentina, so in the eyes of the Argentine government, Isla is an Argentine! Because we are American citizens, Isla is also an American (in the eyes of the US government). While both of these things are true privileges. They do not come without paperwork and a few hoops to jump through. To get her American citizenship (officially), we must first…

• Obtain her Argentine citizenship (officially). We did this last week.
• Obtain her Argentine passport. (I don’t know if this is really necessary, but she cannot get her US passport without first obtaining her Argentine passport, so we did it). We did this today.
• We must then fill out an application for her Social Security number, a US passport application, and a “born abroad” birth certificate application. (we have filled those all out today as well).
  • We must email all three applications to the US Embassy in Buenos Aires. 
  • We must also provide proof that we have lived in the USA. We must send these “proofs” by email along with the applications. We sent all applications and the “proofs” today.
• We will receive an appointment from the US embassy, to which we will show up with passport photos printed out (of Isla) to officially submit the applications. We have not yet received the appointment to do this. This is out next step.

Once we complete all of these things, our little bundle of joy will be an official Argentine citizen and an official American citizen. We are also in the process of applying for residency. This is another whole set of paperwork that includes multiple background checks, as well as other documentation with apostille seals, and everything translated into Spanish by an approved translation service here in Argentina. So our lives are filled with paperwork but that is a pretty normal thing for foreigners.

It can be frustrating when we are told we need something else before we can receive what we are looking for. I am thankful for Leslie, who is patient through it all and helps me to try to remain patient. It is part of life in another country, and it is a necessary part of our lives.

Faith Baptist Church will be 3 months old in just a few days. I believe God is blessing. We have had many who have visited us already and have a few families who are starting to form a core group. Although I take a part of each service and explain the salvation that God offers us through Jesus, we had not seen anyone saved. We have had several people acknowledged they are lost, but no one had responded to the Gospel by believing on Jesus…until last night! We had our midweek service last night. A woman has been coming for about three weeks, she brought her boyfriend last night for the first time. At the end of the message, I explained the Gospel and our need for Jesus. I asked if anyone was lost, and would like me to pray for them. The young man raised his hand. He was attentive the whole time. I prayed for him and others, we closed the service with a song. After the service, he and I sat down and I explained the Gospel further. He repented of his sins and believed in Jesus! While that was going on, his girlfriend was upstairs doing the exact same thing. We were blessed to have two people saved last night. These are the first fruits of Faith Baptist Church, and we are thrilled!