Into The Heart of Argentina

Dear Friends and Family:

Living in Michigan has its ups and downs, especially when it comes to the weather! This last week began with summer-like conditions; the sun was shining and the thermometer edged past 80. But it ended with below freezing temperatures and snow.

Preparing for full-time missionary service has its ups and downs, too. We were really excited when God provided a way for Kim to resign from her job at the bank in February. Now there’s adequate time to study Spanish, help Ivan with church and pastor communications, as well as be more available for ministry opportunities.

Another blessing is the contact we’ve had with churches around Michigan over the winter and into the spring. What an encouragement to see vibrant, thriving congregations seeking to reach their communities and the world with the Gospel! Involvement in a recent missions conference at Decatur Bible Church helped re-charge our batteries, by spending time with other missionaries and hearing their stories, and by having more time to get to know the folks in Decatur.

Tito Ramirez is in the U.S. on a “mini” furlough and Ivan will travel a couple of weekends in May with him. It may work for Kim to go along, too. It’s great to have this opportunity to spend more time with a dear teammate. The rest of the Ramirez family remained in Argentina to carry on the work already begun in Carlos Paz.

But on the flip side… Kim really struggles at times with learning the language. Did you know there are 14 verb tenses in Spanish? And with six forms in each tense, that means you can conjugate each and every verb 84 different ways!!! And just the sheer volume of new vocabulary words can be overwhelming.

Ivan struggles to keep up with all of his responsibilities…traveling almost every weekend, working full-time, being on the pastoral staff at Countryside Bible Church… This is not to complain, but to ask you to pray for us. Daily we need God’s grace and strength, as we prepare, and later when we are in Argentina. We cannot emphasize enough the need for faithful prayer partners!

And please keep praying that God would connect us with churches and individuals that have a real desire to see churches planted in Argentina…who want to see their missionaries as more than faces on a prayer card…who seek a partnership with a reciprocal prayer relationship, frequent communications, and mutual accountability.

This spring marks the end of a journey for us. We began home schooling in 1986. Jon home schooled all the way through high school and then went to Hillsdale College, where he graduated last year. Now we are graduating Tina from high school on May 7th. It’s a little earlier than most graduations because she will be traveling to Uganda in early June on a short-term missions trip. And in the fall Tina will attend Word of Life Bible Institute in Hudson, Florida. So we prepare to let go of our little girl, who has grown into a lovely young woman who seeks after God. What a blessing she has been! Thanks for your prayers – each of you has been an encouragement and blessing. May God continue to use you in the lives of those around you and throughout the world, as you remain faithful.

During a break at the mission conference in Decatur, Ivan and Chris Green relax outside. Chris is a missionary appointee with BMW to the deaf community. Chris is profoundly deaf himself.

Some of the folks who get together every week for Sunday worship in Carlos Paz, Argentina.