Update 1/20/11

Hey guys, thanks for signing up for our updates! We are blessed to have so many good friends and supporters.

Here is how things are shaping up for us right now.
- Fundraising continues. We have approximately $9,000-10,000 pledged, so we are a quarter of the way there. Keep that in your prayers continuously.
- We might have found a supporting church. We won't know "officially" for a few more weeks, although everything sounds promising, but we'll let you know as soon as we know.
- We are continuing our Spanish language learning, which is a blessing. I am really enjoying my time with the language.
- We are still working on our LST training. Keep that in your prayers, because between our two full-time jobs, my CPE class, and everything else, life gets really hectic.

Here are a few things to pray for:
1. Pray that God will continue to bless us in the fundraising. It is hard for me (Daniel) to give it all over to God, but I am learning to relinquish control (albeit slowly).
2. Pray for our training, that God will continue to teach us the things that we need to know.
3. Pray for our spiritual development, that we will continue to be drawn closer to the Father. Pray that God will allow us to dig deeper into our relationship with Him and desire Him more.
4. Pray for those in BA that we will be working with, that God will lead us to the right people and prepare their hearts even now.
5. Pray for the church leaders at Caballito, and the whole congregation. Pray that God will use them to be a blessing to their community.

Thanks again for all of your prayers and support. We love each of you!

Fundraising Efforts To Date

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your generous contributions! We are blessed to have approximately $1,400 thus far of our $44,000. We are blessed, but we also have a LONG way to go.

We have sent approximately 180 letters so far, and we have over 100 more to send out. We have also sent our information packet to 8 churches, and 6 have given favorable responses. We have asked a church to be our supporting congregation, and we are waiting to hear back from them. (Should be any day now...)

Again, thanks for your support and prayers. Here are our prayer requests for the week:
1. Fundraising: Continue praying that God will bring in the money that we need for our work.

2. New baptisms: The Caballito church has had four baptisms in the last month or so. Of those, 3 were at least a partial result of LST efforts.

3. Training: Megan and I are in the midst of training for this experience.
- We are doing LST training, from the DVD training series to book reviews of various pertinent books. (We are currently reading Paul Hiebert's Anthropological Insights for Missionaries, and we recently finished Celebration of Discipline and Pilgrim's Heart).
- We are also both studying Spanish using the Fluenz software. We are both progressing along nicely, but still have a LONG way to go before we would feel comfortable in the language. Please pray for these efforts.
- All of this is on top of the work we are already doing, Daniel in his campus ministry and Megan in her work. We both work full-time, and then also do training on the side. On top of that, Daniel will begin a CPE training class next week in order to study hospital chaplaincy more in depth in order to possibly begin a CPE residency when we return. Pray for our sanity, as much of our time is filled!

4. Buenos Aires: Pray for the people of Buenos Aires.
- If you are a fan of international news, you have probably seen that there has been some civil unrest in BA in the past few weeks. There is an energy shortage due to the huge rise in oil prices. This is coming during the holiday season (also their summer break), and temperatures are at record highs. The people are angry that their air conditioning systems aren't working because the power is off. Pray for peace and an end to their frustrations.
- Pray for the people that we will be working with. We don't know their names yet, but God does. They are all his children, and God will lead us to the people that he needs us to influence. Pray for those we have yet to meet.
- Pray also for the Caballito church, that God will continue to make them passionate for him. Pray for the missionaries and ministers as well, that God will continue to fill them with the Holy Spirit and empower them for Good Works.

Thanks again for all of your prayer and support. God bless you in all you are doing!

In Christ,
Daniel and Megan

Work Plans

Many of you have asked what our work plans will be. I am providing a quick two page outline that we give to churches concerning our work. I hope it gives you more information about what we plan.

Ministry Plans

1.      LST work:

a.      Provide follow up for LST readers who have previously participated in LST

b.      Conduct one on one reading sessions with those who are interested in continuing that model of learning

c.       Hold English conversation groups at various times during the week for those who are interested.

d.      Help lead and teach the English Bible Study on Sunday mornings at the church. This study is typically attended by some of the LST readers, and it is a good chance to dig deeper into what we have been reading

e.      Host parties each month to help readers and church members practice their English and build relationships

f.        Work with the other teams that LST is sending to Buenos Aires to facilitate a continuation of ministry from one group to the next

2.      Language and Culture Study:

a.      Part of our ministry is learning the language and culture so that we can effectively minister in our setting.

b.      Our language learning is two-fold:

                                                              i.      We are beginning our Spanish language study here in the States, working through Fluenz Language Software and practicing our Spanish with a friend

                                                            ii.      We will be taking language classes in Buenos Aires during our stay. (This information is still TBD).

3.      Work in the Caballito Congregation

a.      Young Adult Ministry: The church recently began a small group for young professionals in the church. We will be helping with that ministry, teaching, providing leadership, and building relationships with these Christians.

b.      English Small Groups: Part of our ministry will be English Conversation Groups, as we stated above. We will try to combine both spiritual and secular, doing a Bible study before hand, then breaking for coffee/mate and snacks (maybe a meal from time to time.) Then we will practice English in a variety of ways (i.e. ordering at a restaurant, watching a movie and discussing it, playing games, etc.)

c.       Men’s/Women’s Ministry: Megan has a heart for ministering to young women, and Laura Valdez recently began focusing her time on ministering to the women. She hopes that Megan will take part in this ministry. I plan on doing some men’s ministry as well, either formally or informally: organizing a men’s day, taking a men’s “retreat,” and possibly doing a small Bible study/prayer group with some men in the congregation.

d.      Singing: I have recently been talking to Jonathan Hanegan about helping with the singing ministry at Caballito. He has been working with one of the brothers to form a singing group, and he has offered us the chance to sing with them. I love music and enjoy singing and leading worship, and we will participate with this group as we are able. Some of the ideas include singing on the streets and subways, singing for other churches, etc.

e.      Partnering in Evangelism: One of the greatest needs of the Caballito congregation (and others in Argentina) is training in evangelism. Although this will not be a main focus of our ministry, we hope to involve church members in our LST work (parties, English small groups, etc) and give them the opportunity to see evangelism happening and begin to participate themselves.

4.      Campus Ministry:

a.      There are approximately 600,000 college students in Buenos Aires. Half attend la Universidad de Buenos Aires, which is located throughout the city on 13 main campuses.

b.      We are trying to ascertain whether campus ministry is a viable option for work in Argentina. We will be advertising LST lessons at the University’s language school, using LST’s materials and methods.

c.       We will also wait to see what else might be possible during our time there.

Welcome!

Welcome to Daniel and Megan's new blog for their upcoming trip to Argentina. We will post as often as possible with updates about our training, fundraising, and experiences as we plan to leave. We will also keep people updated on our work while in Buenos Aires.

We are excited to have you join our team. Please keep us in your prayers as we prepare to leave for this exciting adventure! We know that God will bless our efforts, because he is already at work in Buenos Aires and Caballito.


God bless each of you, and thanks for being a part of our adventure for God!