Advance the Gospel

March 2015 Missions Letter

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One Year!

We have now been on deputation for one year as church-planting missionaries to Argentina! In this year, we have seen God do incredible things! I don’t know how to put it onto paper! We have driven thousands of miles and been in many churches. We have met brothers and sisters in Christ who are making a difference for Jesus. We have been inspired, encouraged, and challenged. God has kept us safe in all of this. We have partnered with 34 churches with many others who have said they will be partnering with us in the coming months! We are now at 35% of our needed funds! Our goal is to leave between March and June of 2016. We are right on target for that goal. Please continue to pray that God will build our support.

This month, we have 12 scheduled meetings where we will share what God is doing in our lives and the great need in Argentina. We will be in four different states. This year of deputation has been a great blessing to us!

Serving Together,

Patrick, Leslie, Lily, Piper, and Ivy Henry

Meanwhile in Argentina

The Córdoba province is home to over 3.3 million people, and is the location of the city Córdoba, the second largest city of Argentina. In February, heavy rains caused the Ceballos River to overflow and flood the small towns in surrounding areas. People were trapped in their cars and homes. Electricity was shut off for days to prevent electrocution. Sadly, seven people died due to the floods. Large cities are in desperate need of the Gospel, but small towns and villages are also in great need! A missionary in Buenos Aires told me that there are over 100 cities with 50,000 people in them that do not have a Gospel witness in them! Argentina needs laborers!

Cultural Tidbit: The Kiss Hello

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In the United States, we usually greet people with a handshake, a nod and a smile, or in the case of a close relationship a hug.  When there are many people in a room, we may not even do any of this, but a simple “hello” or a “wave”.  Greetings are not like this in Argentina.  For one, when you enter a room, you greet everyone!  To not do so would be rude.  If you do not know someone, than a simple handshake will suffice.  If you are greetings friends, older people, or friends of friends, you greet them with a “kiss on the cheek”.  This “kiss” is the greeting of two men, two women, or a man and a woman. The kiss is not actually a kiss.  The kiss is putting cheek to cheek and making a “kiss” sound.  The lips never touch each other or even the cheek of the friend.  It is only cheek to cheek.

I love Latin American Culture!  I love how they are so loving and personal.  Each country is different.  To my knowledge, Argentina is one of the only countries where not only women and men and women greet each other with a kiss, but men greet each other with a kiss.  I am reminded of 2 Corinthians 13:12, “Greet one another with an holy kiss.” (Romans 16:16, 1 Peter 5:14 also say the same sort of thing).  This kiss is beautiful, warm, and even biblical.

Cultural Tidbit: The Sun of May

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Have you ever seen Argentina’s flag?  It is a beautiful flag with three bands.  The outer two bands are light blue and the inside band is white.  Inside the white stripe is a sun with a face on it.  This sun is known as “the Sun of May”.  The Sun of May can also be found on Uruguay’s flag and was on the Peru’s flag during a portion of the 1800’s.

So what is the “Sun of May” all about?

The Sun of May is named after Argentina’s May revolution in 1810, which led to Argentina’s independence from Spain.  The flag is best displayed in the city of Rosario, where the flag was first raised in 1812.  The national flag memorial is also located in Rosario.

Argentina can be recognized by the SUN of May on the Argentine flag.  May they one day be recognized for their love and devotion to the SON of God!

Cultural Tidbit: Jug on a Car

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I think culture is a beautiful thing.  I was in one country where for the birthday of a loved one, instead of him or her blowing out the candles, the friends would shove his face in the cake!  I was speaking with a woman from Nigeria a few months back.  We were talking about her country and she was telling me about some of the things they do there.  During a wedding, the bride walks around with a horn of juice and tries to find her husband as he hides.  The bride will be asked by different men, “Is it me?” and she will say, “No.”  Finally she sees her husband and gives him the horn to drink from.  What a beautiful thing!

Argentina, like everywhere else in the world, has a unique culture.  Here is something unique we saw…

While we were on our survey trip in Argentina we noticed something out of the ordinary.  We were riding down the road and saw jugs (of water) on top of cars.  The first one we passed by seemed strange, but I thought that somebody must have forgotten to take it off the car when they were cleaning it out.  Then we passed another one, and another one.  We got out of the car and were walking around a plaza and there was another one.  This was strange.  The jugs were not all the same.  Some colored, some clear, they were not uniform in size, most did not have label on it.  I could not figure it out.  Finally my friend (who was a missionary there for 10 years) explained to me what was going on.

Why are there jugs on various cars?

It means that the car is for sale.  Wow!  That would be easy to spot!  Instead of only putting a sign in the window that says “For Sale” (like we do), they put a large, used jug on the car.  People can see that from a ways off.  That could get someone’s attention.