It is 2016. The dawning of a new year brings with it resolutions. I was reading an article on this subject and the article gave the top 10 new year resolutions people make each new year. They included getting out of debt, losing weight, becoming more healthy, quit smoking, spending more time with family, and getting organized. My new years resolutions are a bit different than usual.

I am in the last days of our deputation. We will be leaving for Argentina in just a few months. God has blessed our deputation. As long as things continue to go as they have, as long as churches continue to partner with us, our deputation will have lasted 2 years! We will be living three quarters of 2016 in Argentina. Because of that, my resolutions for this year have to do with leaving for Argentina and life in Argentina.  The top three resolutions I have for 2016 are…

• Finish right, finish strong. Deputation is very close to being over. That doesn’t mean it is time to relax. Our deputation has been very busy. We have enjoyed it, and it has been very busy. These next months are packed out with meetings. That is the only way we will be able to leave. As of the drafting of this post, we are at 79.5%of our needed funds. We must finish right and finish strong. Finishing right means that we end deputation prepared for Argentina. It means selling all that we have and storing the items we are going to keep in preparation for our departure. It means spending any available time we have with family and friends. It means completing the needed paper work for our visas. Finishing strong means that we complete our deputation fully supported. The truth is, the only things I can do about this is have a full schedule, share my heart, and pray to God that He will give the increase. Thus far, God has answered our prayers. We still do have a lot to raise, but I have a full calendar, I am presenting and preaching, and I am begging God to give the increase! By God’s grace, I will finish deputation right and finish it strong!
• Learn the language. We have 6 months of language school completed during our internship in Arequipa, Peru. We still have 5-7 months to go. Learning the language is not an option, it is a necessity. Learning the language does not mean that we talk like Tarzan, “Me want to go to store. You go church with me.” Learning the language goes beyond completing language school, it is effectively communicating with people. In one sense, you are always learning the language (I was reading a book in English a few days ago and came across a word I had never heard of. I had to stop and look the word up. I am still learning English!). My resolution is to be fluent in Spanish by the end of 2016. We will always be learning more, but this resolution involves becoming fluent!
• Encourage my family. I am reading a book about building a team. The author (a former missionary) asserts that every man has a team. Your family is a team that God has given you. The author encourages men to see the family God has given us as a team that God can use to do great things. My wife and three daughters are going with me to Argentina. They will assist in church planting. They will assist in church work. They are the team God has given me, and I think they are an amazing team! 2016 will be a life-changing year for my family. Moving to another culture, not just for a few weeks or months, but making a total life-change like this will be challenging. There are exciting elements to this change but there are also elements that involve sacrifice. I am resolute in encouraging my family through this year.

I hope that 2016 is a wonderful year for you. I hope you learn more about who you are in Christ this year. I hope you get more involved in your church. I hope you serve Jesus more than you ever have. If you are not a believer in Jesus, I hope you repent and believe on Jesus today! Make 2016 a year that changes your life and the lives of those around you for the better. Make 2016 about Jesus!

Happy New Year

2016 is the year we’ve been working towards! I picked up the phone for the first time on March 17, 2014 to call a pastor to request a meeting as missionaries to Argentina. Our goal was to leave in two years. 2016 seemed a very long way away. We are now in 2016! We are winding down our deputation. God has raised over 75% of our needed monthly support. This is the tail end of our deputation. We will be leaving for the field soon. So what are we asking of you? Pray.

• Pray for us! Pray that God will keep us safe. Although we are approaching the end of our deputation, we are not slowing down! We have a full schedule in churches every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night (and services on other nights as well). We have a lot of traveling to do!
• Pray that God raises the remainder of our support. We have over 75% of our needed support. We still have a lot that must be raised before our departure. This will only be done by churches who partner with us. This will include churches we have already been with and churches that we have scheduled meetings with.
• Pray that we complete all preparations for departure before we leave. Leslie and I have been married 11 years. We have accumulated a lot of things we need to sell/give away. We have paperwork that must be done prior to our departure. All of this is to be done in between meetings with churches from the southwest to the northeast and in many places in between!

We are months away from our departure. 2016 will be an incredible year. Please pray for us! Thank you for your prayers.

Serving Together,

Patrick, Leslie, Lily, Piper, and Ivy Henry

What a year! I have seen God move in our lives this year! We have been on deputation for all of 2015. It has been a very busy year. We are just a few months away from our departure to Argentina! The end of the year is usually a time of reflection, and that is exactly what I have been doing the past few days. Here are a few words that help describe 2015 for my family and I…

• Growth: I have grown spiritually. I have grown in faith. I have stepped out and believed God. Believing God has brought growth. I have seen our daughters grow, both physically and in maturity.
• Love: We meet brothers and sisters in Christ every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. We have friends who pray for us from coast to coast. Leslie and I are very close. I love her very much. I have been reminded how important it is to keep our marriage right and to love her as Jesus loves the church! Our family is very close. Leslie and I have three daughters. We travel together and are very close. I am blessed by the love we have all together.
• Safety: We have seen horrific wrecks on the road. We have seen wreckage that was so bad, we could not figure out what kind of car was involved. In all of this God has kept us very safe. We have not had any accidents (with the exception of a run in I had with an owl). God has kept us safe.
• Partnering churches: That is what deputation is really all about. We need churches that will partner with us in prayer as well as churches that will partner with us financially. God has blessed this year with many partnering churches. We are still in need of more churches partnering with us and we believe God will bring this to pass in the coming months.
• Calling: Part of deputation is spending hours on the phone requesting to schedule meetings with churches of like faith to present what God is doing in our hearts. Multiple hours have been spent on the phone calling and re-calling churches.
• Traveling: We have had meetings in 21 states in 2015. We have travelled…a lot!
• Preaching and Presenting: Every church we are in I have the opportunity to present. The majority of the time I also am given the opportunity to preach as well. A preacher’s dream is to travel around the country and preach in different churches. That dream has been my life through 2015!

These words help describe 2015. What words will describe 2016? Departure. Argentina. Language learning. Preparing to plant churches and train men. Although we are not assured tomorrow, if God allows us to live and continues to bless, we believe these will be some of the words that will describe 2016!

I am sitting here in front of our Christmas Tree this rainy morning. My daughters are sitting around me. We are enjoying this morning together. It is unusually warm here in Atlanta. The local news meteorologist forecasts that this Christmas will be the warmest recorded in Atlanta’s history. I share this warm scene, sheltered from a nasty rainy day with you because this is our last Christmas in the states for a long time. We will be leaving for the mission field in just a few months. We have worked very hard deputation and God has given the increase. We are still in need of a little less than 25% of our needed monthly support. We are believing God for the rest.

We have tried to make this Christmas Season special since it will be our last one in the states for several years (until a furlough). This does not invoke bitter-sweet or somber feelings, it brings about excitement! With this being our last Christmas here for a long time, I will share with you a thought I am trying to live by to make this a wonderful Christmas season. This thought was advice given to me by a Pastor (a post already published a few weeks ago).

It is all about Jesus.

It is so easy to get caught up in everything else and neglect what matters most. Jesus is the reason for Christmas, but really Jesus is the reason of every season. Our lives should be about Jesus. He is the motivation of our lives. Jesus bought us with a price, we are no longer our own. It is sad that Christmas can be a time where believers neglect Jesus and make our lives all about everything else. Presents get in the way. Our finances can make Christmas a burden rather than an enjoyment. Christmas parties with family can be fun, but can detract from Jesus. It seems that Jesus is put up against everything else this time of year and if we are not careful, everything else gets our attention.  Jesus should be the focal point of Christmas! Make Christmas about Jesus in your own life and in your family. Talk about Jesus, listen to Christmas music about Jesus. Read the Christmas story in Luke 2 and in Matthew 1. Think about what Jesus’ coming to Earth means for us! Pray for the billions of people who do not understand what Christmas is about because they have never heard the Gospel of Jesus. Make this Christmas about Jesus.

Merry Christmas,

Patrick Henry
Missionary to Argentina