I wanted to fill you in on some of the training we have been doing. Parts of LST's training are:
- Read multiple books on missions, small groups, etc, and write reports about each
- Participate in FriendSpeak as an active reader
- Begin language acquisition
- Go through LST training videos
- Participate in an LST Training Weekend
There are a few other things, such as setting goals, etc, but this is a good summary. A few weeks ago Megan and I drove to Dallas to participate in a training weekend. We arrived at 3am in Fort Worth and slept at our friends' home (the Campbells). We were at LST's offices at 8am, and Daniel lead the devotional that morning, looking at Philippians 3-4. Afterwards, we participated in a number of team building activities, from building a tall structure (we failed) to a survey/scavenger hunt in the surrounding community (140 out of 150; that's what I am talking about.) We helped train a few new readers for their trips in the near future, and spent some time talking about the intracacies of traveling abroad. Megan spent time learning the accounting proceedures and learning how to keep track of our missions funds.
That evening we had dinner with the Altrocks and they answered a number of questions about our internship and time in Argentina.
It was a great weekend for training, as well as catching up with friends. We were blessed to think about what God is going to do in our future. Megan and I are growing more excited each day as we prepare for our time in Buenos Aires. Please keep us in your prayers.
Many of you know, but we officially have a sponsoring congregation. Northside Church of Christ in Wichita has agreed to be our spiritual and financial partner. We don't know how much they are contributing yet, but we already have over $12,000 of our support raised. Please keep that in your prayers; we are nervous about the rest of the funds. If you know anyone wanting to give, please put us in touch!
God bless you guys! Thanks for keeping up with our lives. We are blessed by each one of you. Hasta luego, y vaya con Dios!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
LST Training
For those of you who don't know, Megan and I attended LST training in Dallas/Fort Worth in the middle of February. We spent two days with LST teams headed to a variety of locations throughout the world (China, Argentina, and Estonia, to name a few.) Keep these groups in your prayers!
I will post more about our training tomorrow. God bless each of you, and thanks for keeping us in your prayers!
I will post more about our training tomorrow. God bless each of you, and thanks for keeping us in your prayers!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Caballito
I just wanted to share some pictures and some stories with you to talk to you about our work.
Buenos Aires is a city of 16 million people. There are approximately 40 million in the country of Argentina. The people are mostly European in origin, a mix of Spanish, Italian, English, Welsh, Russian, German, and Eastern European. Many of their families moved to Argentina in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Regardless of where you and your family are originally from, you are considered Argentine first. There are indigenous peoples as well, but most of these individuals are immigrants from Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and other South American countries. Only 2% of Argentines are indigenous peoples from Argentina.
Currently, there are 16 Churches of Christ (Iglesias de Cristo) in Argentina. The largest has approximately 55 members. That church is la Iglesia de Cristo de Caballito, the church we will be working with. It is located in the heart of the Caballito barrio, which is a middle-class neighborhood in the center of Buenos Aires. It is located right off of the tram line, and it is not far from the Subte (subway), Primera Junta stop on Linea A.
The people of Buenos Aires are friendly and kind, outgoing and personable. They love to talk, and they love to share their opinions (and they have quite a few!)
We are blessed to have the opportunity to work with these people for a year. Pray that God will continue to work in their hearts and lives, drawing individuals closer to him both before we get there and after we arrive. May everything we do be done to the glory of God.
Buenos Aires is a city of 16 million people. There are approximately 40 million in the country of Argentina. The people are mostly European in origin, a mix of Spanish, Italian, English, Welsh, Russian, German, and Eastern European. Many of their families moved to Argentina in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Regardless of where you and your family are originally from, you are considered Argentine first. There are indigenous peoples as well, but most of these individuals are immigrants from Bolivia, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and other South American countries. Only 2% of Argentines are indigenous peoples from Argentina.
Currently, there are 16 Churches of Christ (Iglesias de Cristo) in Argentina. The largest has approximately 55 members. That church is la Iglesia de Cristo de Caballito, the church we will be working with. It is located in the heart of the Caballito barrio, which is a middle-class neighborhood in the center of Buenos Aires. It is located right off of the tram line, and it is not far from the Subte (subway), Primera Junta stop on Linea A.
The people of Buenos Aires are friendly and kind, outgoing and personable. They love to talk, and they love to share their opinions (and they have quite a few!)
We are blessed to have the opportunity to work with these people for a year. Pray that God will continue to work in their hearts and lives, drawing individuals closer to him both before we get there and after we arrive. May everything we do be done to the glory of God.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Update 2/9/11
Hey everyone, just wanted to keep you appraised of what all was going on.
We are still continuing our fundraising, and have about $11-12,000 so far. (LST shows only about $5,500, but there is more that has been pledged.) We also have a sponsoring church, although you will have to wait a few weeks before we can reveal who it is going to be. (Stay tuned!)
We recently sent out another 80 pledge letters, and we are beginning to work on our thank you notes. Watch your mail for one! We are grateful for everyone who is sacrificing for our work. Thank you for all that you are doing for us and the ways you are blessing our lives. We are grateful that you want to be a part of this work, and know that you are making a huge difference for the Kingdom.
We also are going to an LST training event in the next few weeks. We'll post pictures about our time there so you can see part of our training. We have been reading Anthropological Insights for Missionaries for our training as well, and we'll post some thoughts on it in the near future.
I hope you all are doing well! God bless you, and we hope to hear from you soon!
We are still continuing our fundraising, and have about $11-12,000 so far. (LST shows only about $5,500, but there is more that has been pledged.) We also have a sponsoring church, although you will have to wait a few weeks before we can reveal who it is going to be. (Stay tuned!)
We recently sent out another 80 pledge letters, and we are beginning to work on our thank you notes. Watch your mail for one! We are grateful for everyone who is sacrificing for our work. Thank you for all that you are doing for us and the ways you are blessing our lives. We are grateful that you want to be a part of this work, and know that you are making a huge difference for the Kingdom.
We also are going to an LST training event in the next few weeks. We'll post pictures about our time there so you can see part of our training. We have been reading Anthropological Insights for Missionaries for our training as well, and we'll post some thoughts on it in the near future.
I hope you all are doing well! God bless you, and we hope to hear from you soon!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
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!
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!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
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
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
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
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.
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