Into The Heart of Argentina - Blog

Impact Through Intercession

2009-10-05T11:03:00Z

Biblical Ministries Worldwide Vision and Core Values from Stephen McCullough on Vimeo.

Can you imagine a Prayer Force of 50,000 praying daily for BMW missionaries around the world?!

Our general director, Paul Seger, has challenged each of us to find 300 people willing to pray for us DAILY.

Some of you already pray for us. But we know how busy life can get, and it’s easy to forget to pray for someone when you never see them. If you’d be willing to pray daily for us, will you let us know? Just send us an e-mail to ihoyt@biblicalministries.org. What an encouragement if we knew you were holding us up in prayer on a regular basis.

And we will be more proactive in letting you know how to pray.

Some things you can pray for right now:

~ Kim’s struggle with Spanish. Without a doubt, the hardest thing she’s ever done!

~ the teenage boys who are coming to the Saturday afternoon soccer games and staying for a time of teaching

~ the men and women God has brought into our lives, who don’t know Him yet, for their salvation: Abraham, Julio & Magdalena, Ivonne, and many others

~ on-going team unity for the missionaries here in Carlos Paz

~ some health issues that aren’t a big deal, but prove distracting at times

~ for those who would commit to praying DAILY for us, to be faithful prayer warriors on our behalf

Another week in our life...

2009-09-28T15:26:00Z

On Sunday, September 20th, a group of Bible Institute students spent the day running Mufa Pufa games on the costanera again (we also did it over a weekend in August). We had lunch together first, enjoying the beautiful weather by eating on the patio. Pasta, salad and bread hit the spot and provided the energy we needed for the activities of the day.

For those who may not know, Mufa Pufa is simply the name they’ve given a bunch of crazy games using lots of props—oversized wooden “feet”, fabric tunnels, and good old inner tubes…

On September 21st the city of Carlos Paz hosted their annual fiesta del Día de la Primavera y del Estudiante and teens from all over the country flooded in. What teen wouldn’t want to go where there were free bands, a variety of sporting events and lots of other teens? Actually this year there weren’t as many as usual. Not sure if that’s because of the economic crisis or because they had better bands in Cordoba. I meant to find out if the anticipated 80,000-100,000 came but we left town the next morning before I had a chance to check the news. Anyway, it was tens of thousands, just not sure how many tens of thousands. While we were downtown Monday to hand out tracts, I stopped in the center of the sidewalk across from the bus station, near two band stands, and did a 360° turn with the video camera so you could get an idea of the sheer number of kids. Remember, this is just a fraction because there were things happening all over town. (Notice all the short sleeves? It was a beautiful first day of Spring!) Tuesday we took the boys and a trailer load of Mufa Pufa props back to Sta. Rosa. The temperature had dropped drastically overnight and it snowed in some places. As we came into view of the high Sierras, the panorama took our breath away! Snow covered the mountain tops and a low band of clouds hovering above made it seem like the snow extended into the sky.

Pesky wild parrots build huge nests with thorny branches. On one of our walks I stopped, aimed the camera at a tree with multiple nests and just recorded the sound of parrots for 12 seconds. I knew your life would not be complete without the opportunity to listen to REALLY LOUD parrots squawking. WAY more effective than a rooster in the morning. Several weeks ago Ivan and Tito (our co-worker) took 18 boys to a town about 1-1/2 hours away where several churches were hosting an all-day soccer tournament. Since then we’ve hosted several pick-up games on public playing fields near the building where we hold meetings. We play soccer followed by merienda followed by a time of sharing. Last week only a handful of boys showed up; this week the turnout was better with 13 and one dad. They quickly decimated the cookies, cake, cheese and crackers we’d set out.

We also showed a short DVD of a Christian camping program and several of the boys seemed excited about the prospect of going.

Before and after that initial soccer tournament, each family received visits and we plan to continue with those. Many of the boys are from one of the more difficult sections in town and they face a number of challenges. We are praying that God will tenderize their hearts and turn them toward Himself.

A glimpse of our life this past week...

2009-07-27T14:40:00Z

Last Monday we celebrated Dia del Amigo with friends and had so much fun talking, eating, enjoying music…

Wednesday it snowed!!! You have to understand, It.Hardly.Ever.Snows.Here. Seriously, they sometimes go YEARS without snow. You can see there’s a lot more snow up in the Sierras; we just got a dusting here in Carlos Paz and it was gone in a matter of hours. Folks who live higher up and received more snow followed the tradition of building a little snowman on the hood of their car. I kept trying to snap a photo of one but we were always in a moving vehicle which made it a rather difficult. This is the best shot I managed to get. “Bien grande!” That’s what my dentist kept saying Friday afternoon but I couldn’t open any wider. LOL Despite what some say about the size of my mouth, for dental purposes it could apparently stand to be a little bigger. Recently I had a root canal on a molar and now the dentist is preparing to crown what’s left of the tooth. Each Friday for the next three weeks this is what I have to look forward to—my sweet dentist saying “Bien grande, Kim, bien grande!”

While I was at the dentist’s, Ivan went under the knife at a nearby clinic. He had out-patient surgery on his knee to remove a cyst that was trying to pass itself off as an extra knee. Which, contrary to the sonogram, was not just on the surface but had burrowed into a tendon, requiring much cutting and scraping. Not an image I like to think about.

Nor is Ivan’s description of the operating room. Dangling wires obviously repaired with electrical tape, old and RUSTY equipment, and although we’re assuming the room was clean, it had a rather dingy appearance. The room is no reflection on the doctor though; Ivan’s very pleased with his work.

It’s been interesting to note some differences in medical care since we arrived. I want to preface this by saying: these things are not BAD, just DIFFERENT.

Even though there is nationalized health care, many people have an auxiliary insurance so they can go to “private” clinics—where the doctors might actually have tongue depressors and cotton swabs.

The process goes like this: you have to physically go and pay your monthly health insurance premium (no sending in a payment by mail) and then each time you have anything done, you have to take the doctor’s order to the same office where you pay the premiums and get it approved and pay your percentage of it, then take that slip with you to the doctor or hospital. If it’s just a regular doctor visit, you don’t have to have a doctor’s order; you just go to the office and tell them you need to see the doctor and pay your part (approximately $4 for a regular visit).

Yes, prices are much, much lower. What we paid for Ivan’s out-patient surgery is less than we’d pay for an office visit to the specialist in the U.S. (And remember, for that price we get the dangling wires and old, rusty equipment.)

While facilities and supplies might be lacking, doctors and nurses here are well trained and very professional. We’ve been extremely happy with the quality of care. Not that we want to spend any more time than necessary with them!

Anyway, Ivan was finished before I was, so HE WALKED TO THE DENTIST’S. Said he felt great. When the anesthetic wore off about 11 p.m. it was a different story. Saturday he was still in a world of hurt, but he peeked under the bandage and it looked fine. No excessive redness or swelling. Happy to report that by this morning (Monday) the pain is virtually gone.

On Saturday we had asado with our co-workers and some young men who came to help with a youth activity. We enjoyed grilled beef, pork and vegetables (have you ever had grilled butternut squash? DELICIOUS!). Ivan made fresh chimichurri with parsley from our garden. Excelente! Our co-worker’s youngest daughter (age 11) served not one, but TWO, fabulous homemade desserts!

In addition to these extra activities, we had the regular “stuff”... Spanish class, Bible study with another couple, I went to art class (where I’m the only English speaker so I get a good workout in Spanish!), Ivan spent time with different ones he’s gotten to know, we had a good meeting on Sunday evening…

And in the middle of the week our Vonage phone died. Our son already has a refurbished phone from Vonage waiting for us; we hope a young lady who is coming soon will be able to bring it (don’t really want to trust it to the mail since we know of at least one package that never arrived). Meanwhile folks who want to communicate will need to use either e-mail, facebook or skype.

The computer is just fine and now the car is fixed too

2009-06-08T12:15:00Z

It is my theory that God works in mysterious ways because we are so completely clueless at times.

Let me explain.

Ivan went into Cordoba last week to get my computer fixed after it went bonkers on Monday. That’s where the nearest Apple store is located. But after he dropped it off for them to look at, he decided to go back to Walmart to have them look at the tires we had put on recently. Despite having them balanced locally the car still vibrates.

I do not understand, nor will I go into detail here, all the problems that ensued. BUT I will just say that Ivan discovered some things had been done (or rather not done) when he had the tires balanced that could have led to a very dangerous situation. Plus other parts are in the process of failing too. This entailed a lot of running around to different places, both in Cordoba and later in Carlos Paz. He was a bit frazzled by the time he made it home, about 11 hours after he left. But we think he has the problem figured out and the parts we need to make things right.

When he went back to pick up the computer, they told him there was nothing wrong with it.

We would not have found all this out about the car, leaving us vulnerable to a serious accident or breakdown, if he hadn’t taken my in-perfect-working-order-but-bonkers computer in to be fixed.

So let’s just give a Hallelujah! to a God who protects us when we don’t even know we need protecting.

Around The City

2009-04-12T14:07:00Z

SORRY about the site being down for a while. Thanks Jon for getting it back up!

Ivan recently climbed to the top of one of the nearby mountains. He went with three young folks, all in their 20s. And then he came home, ate breakfast and took a two hour nap. But at least he made it to the top! I would have probably gotten 100 yards up and wanted to stop. I seriously don’t think I could have made it this far, just a bit above where the houses end. It wasn’t easy but he kept plugging along… ...until they arrived at the top! They started walking at sunrise so he took lots of photos and then stitched them together to create this panoramic shot. As well as this one, once the sun was good and truly up. So what do you think of our fair city?

When Ivan came to pick me up from art class he took a photo of me and my art teacher. Another Marcela! (My Spanish tutor is a Marcela also) No one speaks English in this class so I get a good Spanish workout several hours a week! I am really, really bad at art. But I’m having a great time ☺ I enjoy hanging out with other ladies, even if I only understand a fraction of what they’re talking about.

This week I took two Quilting Arts magazines to show my teacher because I wanted to know what they call it here. I’ve heard the term “patchwork” used in reference to quilts but I really didn’t think art quilts fell into that category.

They don’t nor do they fall into any existing category. The closest thing is what they simply call tecnica mixta where cloth can be used but, rather than being sewn, it is glued to a wood or canvas base (along with a variety of other materials). Which sounds kind of fun to try!

My art teacher also gave me the name of a famous Argentine artist, Antonio Berni, who is well known for tecnica mixta. She mentioned his Juanito Laguna series as a prime example and I found one of his pieces at The Museum of Fine Art in Houston, TX. So I’m learning a little history and culture along with the class ☺ But the primary purpose is to work on my Spanish.

In Spanish we’ve started working on the past perfect tense. VERY easy tense for which I am so grateful! I was more than ready for an easy tense. The only hard part is memorizing the irregular past participles that go along with the past perfect form of haber. Once I have those memorized, this tense will be a breeze.

Does the world need missionaries?

2009-01-14T11:32:00Z

Heidi, a friend who is currently raising support to return to Uganda as a full-time missionary, shared this article with us in a recent e-mail. She said, “it expressed everything I have been trying to explain to my patients and co-workers for two years but haven’t been able to articulate very well.” Matthew Parris, an avowed athiest, writes that “as an atheist, I truly believe Africa needs God”.

Please take time to follow the link and read the article. The point Mr Parris makes can be applied to continents other than Africa. Right here in South America the cultural walls are just as pervasive as tribal customs in Africa.

It’s refreshing to hear from an athiest who doesn’t demonize evangelical missions and missionaries ☺

At the opposite end of the spectrum, ministry can often be glamorized and those in ministry put on a pedestal by others who don’t see the inner workings. Recently another blogger posted about the reality and messiness of ministry. This example happens to be from our own home culture, but she pretty much nailed it for ministry in general, anywhere in the world.

In other news, over the past week I’ve felt so much better about how Spanish is going. Amazing what a difference feeling better physically makes on language acquisition!

Yesterday afternoon I decided to write a paragraph using verbs in pretérito y pretérito imperfecto. In the past I’d write it in English and then translate it into Spanish. But people, I realized part way through the first sentence that I was automatically doing it in Spanish!!!

I stopped and did a little happy dance ☺

For anyone who has learned a language, you know what a HUGE step this is and can rejoice with me. For everyone else, trust me, this is worth celebrating!

This doesn’t mean I’m “there” yet. I have so far to go that I try not to think about it because that simply overwhelms and paralyzes me. I just enjoy and rejoice in each baby step of progress.

While I’m in class the Ivan runs errands, doing any shopping or bill paying or whatever, and every day for over a week I’ve had him check our post office box but still no package from Tina. She sent some things in a large envelope three weeks ago. I can’t imagine anyone wanting the contents (cocoa powder, some seasoning packets, a book on worship and some nylon scrubby things for the kitchen) so I’m just hoping the delay is due to the holidays. I’ve just had such a hankering for vegies and Ranch dip. The original dry Ranch dressing mix is one of the things in the package so you can see why I anxiously await its arrival ☺ The book on worship is Ivan’s birthday gift, said event occurring last Monday.

Ivan picked up some parts he needed yesterday morning in order to fix his planer. That done, he’s back to working on the bed platform. Last evening he finished planing the pieces of wood scavenged from pallets we used in the move. He’s using the pallet pieces and leftovers from the garage loft project to build the platform.

He was so busy with that, and I was so immersed in Spanish that we both forgot the green beans simmering on the stove. Suddenly I caught a whiff of that awful scorched scent so common from the early days of our marriage. I salvaged about half the beans; trying not to be sad about the other half. We do love us some Southern style green beans—cooked to death with smoked pork. Forget al dente when it comes to beans! There’s nothing like beans so soft they melt in your mouth, and flavored with good old fashioned fat.

Hmmmmm, maybe I could write a paragraph about Southern food for my tutor. Now how would I say fatback in Spanish…

Look Both Ways Before You Cross The Street...Or Leave Behind A Year

2009-01-03T14:39:00Z

This is going up a few days late, but we want to take a stroll back through memory lane 2008 so sit back and relax. If you have any chocolate or cookies left, grab a handful. This may take a while.

Because honestly, this has been a year of HUGE changes. You know about the big move to Argentina in August but that’s only part of our story.

Okay, let’s back up to January. That’s when we hit 60% of our support. And just stayed there. For almost two months.

It’s also the month we had meetings in different churches every Sunday and every.single.weekend.we.were.socked.with.a.storm. Remember that? NOT fun! Our car heater just couldn’t keep up and there were days when we had to scrape ice off the inside of the windows. So we are NOT missing Midwest winters!

February was more of the same.

March brought glimmers of warmer weather and as the temperature edged up, so did our support level. 63%... 69%... And we continued our crazy traveling schedule every weekend as well as making plans to move out of the parsonage at the end of April.

April was INSANE and EXCITING. Packing boxes for Argentina, setting aside things to take to Indiana, Kim helping Tina throw a bridal shower…watching the support level rise week-by-week. Not knowing how long we’d be in Indiana with Ivan’s folks before we could leave for Argentina, it was hard to know what to pack for that mini-move.

The uncertainty was tied to the support. We couldn’t buy our tickets for South America and make firm plans until we hit 90%. And then, on the very last day of April we got the call. You know, THE call. The one informing us that a church was taking on a significant chunk of our support which would push us OVER the 90%!!! Woot! It was with merry hearts we packed up the car (to the gills!) and set off for Indiana on May 1st.

We wanted to spend as much time as possible with Mom and Dad before we left and the best way to do that was be right there with them. We also thought Ivan could help them get a few things done around the house. And that’s all true. But we hadn’t anticipated the amount of traveling we’d do in those final months. We had a number of meetings back in Michigan, some in Indiana and even a few in Ohio. Plus all the packing for the big move to Argentina was taking place back at the parsonage.

We got a bit of whiplash from all the back and forth.

How grateful we are for the time with Mom and Dad and for others in the family who came to see us (from Colorado and Georgia). God provided opportunities to see old friends as well, some from as far away as Uganda!

In July our home church hosted an amazing commissioning service and dear friends from another congregation joined us in praise and worship to the God who makes it all happen!

Goodbyes are hard, no doubt about it, but we were pretty excited to finally be on our way after FOUR LONG YEARS of deputation.

Since arriving in Argentina we’ve seen God continue to do powerful things. We were able to get the paperwork for our national ID cards done in one day. That’s unheard of! It usually takes weeks and multiple trips and standing in long lines for hours… While we won’t actually receive our cards until February or so, the paperwork was accomplished in less than six hours.

He provided a house with almost everything on Kim’s “wish list”. She also has an excellent Spanish tutor and although Kim is often frustrated with what she sees as painfully slow progress, there IS progress! We’ve enjoyed great fellowship with the other missionaries in Argentina, as well as wonderful times with our co-workers here in Carlos Paz.

We really don’t know what to expect this year. We know what we hope for: for Kim a higher level of fluency in Spanish, for Ivan to develop relationships and learn from our co-workers how to best help with the church planting effort, and a general settling in for both of us.

We hope to finish cleaning and painting and unpacking boxes until it feels like we BELONG here. We want to hunker down and make this house a home. After all the moves this past year, we need this.

We hope to make friends and start getting involved in lives. We hope to be a light for Jesus and make a difference. There’s a lot of darkness here…a lot of New-Age-feel-good-about-yourself teaching and believing going on. And that takes us back to the Spanish. Kim can’t do much if she’s not able to communicate.

So there you have it, a wrap-up of 2008 and our dreams for 2009.

Peacock Feathers, First Peaches & Surviving Christmas Away From Family

2008-12-27T19:39:00Z

What? You can’t see the connection between peacock feathers, peaches and surviving Christmas away from family?

Thursday was a good day. An excellent day in fact. It was also a hard day. I did pretty well but sadness lurked just beneath the surface of my emotions all day. I also realize that even had we been in the U.S. we probably wouldn’t have seen much of our kids anyway. Our son is married and (rightly so) starting his own family traditions with his wife in their home. No doubt our daughter would have taken off mid-way through the day to spend time with friends. It’s the nature of having grown “kids” who have lives of their own.

At least that’s what I tell myself. Makes the 6,000 mile separation a little easier.

But I have an amazing hubby who made me peaches and cream for dessert and bought me peacock feathers. So the sadness never overwhelmed and I enjoyed Christmas in Argentina.

Our picnic with co-workers in the Sierras was wonderful. We had a beautiful day for it, bright and sunny and warm (but not too hot). Aguila Blanca, a former mica mine, is now a scenic park with stone asadors tucked into the hillsides and a bubbling creek winding through. Poplars lined the area where we set up our picnic. The girls immediately headed for the water. Who could resist? While the men started the fire. We came prepared with our own wood and charcoal so it didn’t take long to get a good fire going, and the parilla (metal grate) fit perfectly into the stone base. Mmmmmm, doesn’t all that meat look yummy? Ivan isn’t venturing too far from it ☺ While they were manning the grill, a boy came to see if anyone would like to buy a peacock. Well…no. None of us have a big enough yard (and how do you take care of a peacock, anyway?). But Ivan bargained with the boy to buy a couple of the feathers. I wasn’t there but our co-workers told me that Ivan was practicing his African bargaining skills ☺

By the time we finished eating all the goodies and meat and potato salad, we were exhausted. As you can see. Eating is hard work!

And it was right about then that the sky started getting dark. So we quickly packed up and high-tailed it for home.

Hadn’t been home for long when Ivan saw peaches on the ground under our tree out back. Some were ripe so he peeled and sliced them, added some cream and voila! we had dessert. Yummy!

And so ended our first Christmas away from family. Our first Christmas with a traditional picnic and asado. Our first Christmas in a country that desperately needs to hear what Christmas is really all about.

Paperwork Is Done!

2008-08-29T22:10:00Z

On Thursday, knowing Tito and Adriana would pick us up as soon as they dropped their daughter at school at 7:15 a.m., we were up and out the door by a little after 6:30 a.m. so we could hurry down to YPF and ~~guzzle~~ have some cafe con leche to help us wake up.

We had no idea what we were in for, but we knew it might be a LONG and perhaps frustrating day. Doing paperwork here is an interesting proposition, usually requiring trips to many offices, finding out there’s always one more piece of paper you need (and another and another)...in other words, typical bureaucrazy at work. Yes, I misspelled that word on purpose because it defines for me how it’s usually characterized.

But not when you have lots of people praying for you! Y’all must have some serious prayer power goin’ down!

Not to say it was a cake walk, but WE WERE DONE IN HALF A DAY. Oh.My.Word!

First of all though I want to share a picture that Ivan took from the window of the Ramirez’ van (so it’s not the crispest photo). Cordoba, as well as being the provincial capital, is also the second largest city in Argentina with about a million and a half people plus all the ones like us who come in to take care of business. You can imagine what the streets were like as we were entering the city just before 8 a.m. And then we see this. These horse-drawn carts are a common sight as they pick up trash.

Anyway, the best way to explain the experience of filing the paperwork is in a time line format. So you see what a rush it was yet how God worked out the timing so that it was all accomplished before the office of Registro Civil de Provincia de Cordoba closed at 2 p.m.

8:00 a.m. In line to get a number.

8:30 a.m. We are #A80.

9:15 a.m. Our number is called. But we’ve been sitting there long enough to know everyone, no matter their business, is being told to go to the fourth door on the right. So we figure it’s going to be another line. We are right.

9:35 a.m. We are ushered into a cubicle. We FINALLY turn over the envelopes we have been carrying like precious jewels for months. Envelopes received at the Argentinian Consulate in Chicago back in April. Envelopes with special stamps and seals which we have been ordered NOT TO OPEN by every official and every missionary in numerous communiques. Repeatedly. And now they are opened. And examined. And then Ivan produces his old documents from when he lived here the first twenty years of his life.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

We take a break from the time line to report what a God thing it was that we found Ivan’s old documents just a few months ago. The documents had been misplaced YEARS ago and only found because I’m ~~anal~~ careful about going through things. Ivan often said, “Throw it out. We haven’t needed it for years, we don’t need it now.” But I can’t let go of stuff that easily. So I WENT THROUGH EACH AND EVERY BOX OF PAPER WE HAVE EVER COLLECTED—AND THAT WAS CONSIDERABLE.

And in the box of things from our first trip to Argentina in 1996, his various documents were tucked in among the pictures, souvenirs and receipts. Neither of us have any idea how they ended up there; just praise God that we found them!

The most important piece is his cedula, an ID issued by the federal police. It’s not like the ID cards today (even has a different name) but it’s still an ID card. With a traceable number in the system. And this card makes all the difference in the world. It shows Ivan had permanent residency status then, and because he never requested that such residency be rescinded, he continues to have it! This makes ~~our~~ his life much easier.
If it had only been him, we would have been done then and there.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

9:35 a.m. continued The nice woman at the office of Registro Civil tells us that my paperwork is incomplete. Of course. And it will be necessary to have my birth certificate and marriage license officially translated (we have already paid for this but it was by a certified translator in the U.S. and it must be by a certified translator in Argentina.)

10:00 a.m. We fast walk the two or so blocks to the office of Traductatores Publicos de la Provincia de Cordoba. With the understanding that we can get it done there. Silly us! At that office they merely give us a 7-page listing of certified translators. Single-spaced, with one per line, that’s a lot of translators!

10:20 a.m. After standing on the street making many unproductive calls, we decide to go into a little coffee shop on the corner and grab some coffee while continuing to make calls. May I just say how heavenly coffee shops smell? I have a hard time focusing on the task at hand when I am surrounded by the aroma of good coffee. Especially when they offer a little something on the menu called the Americano that includes coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice, croissants, ham and cheese. Tito keeps making calls while the rest of us dig in. Four hours since coffee at YPF and we are ready for more!

Did I mention the list of translators is single spaced and seven pages long? His coffee finally cold, Tito gives the phone to Ivan. Who decides to go backwards, and is successful when he calls the very last translator on the very last last page.

10:45 a.m. We fast walk back to the van and head to meet the very nice Cecilia on the corner of Lima & Maipu by 11 a.m. She tells us she can have the translations done in one hour! While we wait we walk around the neighborhood a little. Find a Personal store (cell phone company) and try to see what they know about getting the Ivan’s Blackberry activated. They say we have to go to the main office downtown.

12 noon We meet Cecilia on the corner again and she hops in the van with us for the quick trip back to the office of Traductatores Publicos de la Provincia de Cordoba where she gives the lady there the translations and her ID papers and then the lady in the office gives us the necessary stamps of approval. Much cash changes hands in these transactions and we are happy to pay for such quick work! As soon as we have our stamped paperwork we say goodbye to Cecilia and fast walk back to the Registro Civil office.

12:25 p.m. We find out that now we must go to the bank and pay the necessary fees, and also make photocopies of all the work we just had done. Because they will keep the originals and certify the copies for us to keep.

Oh, and thankfully the Banco de Cordoba two blocks away is open until 1:30 because the one at the office of Registro Civil closed at 12:30.

12:40 p.m. Fast walk to bank and pay fees; find a photocopy place next door and have the copies made. And see that Spring has come to the city. 1:00 p.m. Return to office of Registro Civil only to find out the four-page copy of my birth certificate and translation is missing the actual copy of the birth certificate. Adriana runs out to do that. And I find that they thought for a bit that I was Ivan’s sister because we have the same last name. It is not done that way here. So my national identity card will use the name found on my birth certificate. It will seem weird to go by my maiden name after 29 years of being called Mrs. Hoyt!

While waiting for Adriana to return, the clerk completes the paperwork on me and begins on Ivan’s. Where is the copy of his cedula? What do you mean? No one said anything about a copy of that! (This is all in Spanish so I am not alerted to the fact that yet another piece of paper is lacking. I am blissfully unaware of Ivan’s rising frustration.) One of the ladies in the office, in a show of compassion, says she’ll just do it, it would be a shame to make us run out yet again. And so it is done. Just like that. Then we cannot find Ivan’s photo that was in that sealed and stamped envelope from the Consulate. It had been in there when initially opened but now it is nowhere to be found. Aaaargh! But no worry, says the clerk who’s taking care of us. Just bring us a photo when you come to pick up your DNI.

You mean we’re done?! It is 1:40 p.m.

Yes, just come back in six months. Six months?

Yes, and until then you use your passport (in my case), or cedula (Ivan), and these two pieces of paper that show your DNIs are in process.

We leave the office in a daze. We are DONE! Incredible. Amazing. Did that really just happen? “Praise God from whom all blessings flow!”

We're Here! And We've Found A House!

2008-08-26T14:00:00Z

We left at 5 a.m. Friday August 15th and arrived at our apartment in Carlos Paz at 7:30 p.m. Saturday August 16th. Two very lengthy layovers in Miami and Buenos Aires made for one loooooooong trip!

Everything is much more expensive than a year ago. I about had a heart attack when we stopped for some basics at the Walmart on our way home from the airport. Yes, there’s a Walmart in Cordoba, a town about half an hour from where we live. AND a McDonalds, too. But after being reminded that meat and produce reflects KILOS, not POUNDS, the palpitations settled down. Still expensive but not as bad as I thought. Sort of like moving to California :-) About 20-30% more than we were used to paying in rural America.

A week ago, while still recovering from jet lag, we went to Aerosilla and took the chair lift to the highest spot in the city.

Have I every mentioned an unreasonable fear of heights that might afflict me on occasion? As in every time I get higher than three feet off the ground? Make that two feet. So. As you can tell, Ivan is in 7th heaven and I’m trying not to throw up since obviously bending over isn’t an option because then I’d be looking DOWN. Down is bad when you are up.

Once we arrived at the top, the panorama was breath-taking! The city spread out as far as we could see. I knew it was a good sized city but I had no idea how big it really was. Wow! This is looking toward downtown.

Thursday Ivan learned that because he still has his ID papers from way back when (we won’t say how long ago that was) he may be able to get permanent residency status right away. Before going to Cordoba to start the paperwork, though, we had to go to the police station here for a “certificate of domicile” that proves we live in Carlos Paz now. Our co-workers helped us with that piece on Friday.

We’ve found a rental house! So let me just tell you how God has provided a house with ALMOST EVERYTHING ON MY WISH LIST…

(1) On this side of town. This wasn’t a deal breaker but it sure was near the top of the list. Especially this first year while I’m taking Spanish lessons with Marcela.

(2) In a great neighborhood and only two blocks from the lake!

(3) THREE bedrooms, each with a built-in closet (an unusual feature here).

(4) Large kitchen.

(5) Living room AND separate dining room. There’s actually enough room in the dining room for a large table and chairs plus the perfect space for an L-shaped desk in one corner where we can set up our “office”.

(6) Covered parrilla and patio area. Argentines take their grilling seriously and you won’t be finding big American style gas grills. Heaven forbid! No, each house has a large brick parrilla with a grill you can raise and lower. This house goes one better and has a built in counter and storage area around the parrilla.

(7) Decent-sized yard with some landscaping [a number of rose bushes along one side of the house!] but also space to plant tomatoes, peppers, lettuce and so on. Remember, we’re going into spring here and we’ll be moving at just the right time to get some things planted. Yeah!

(8) The price is below market rate because the owner wants to rent “as is” without cleaning or painting. This is actually a plus for us—not only do we get to save money in exchange for some elbow grease up front, but WE get to choose the paint!

So a long wish list and just about every item checked off. Thank you Jesus!

We’ll have three weeks or so to clean and paint before the container arrives and Ivan heads to the port in Buenos Aires to get our things through customs. How’s that for timing?! God works everything out, right down to the last detail.

The renting process is very different here. Our co-workers had to serve as our “guarantors” and provide a copy of the deed for their house as collateral. They built two years ago but before that they rented. I asked how in the world they were able to rent in the beginning. They were required to pay six months up front! Glad we don’t have to do that. And before we can officially rent the house, the realtor will go into Cordoba (the provincial capital) and verify the deed.

We’re really grateful for the way God has provided abundantly in so many ways! Not only the house, but in great co-workers. We don’t know how other missionaries do it that have to go it alone. Tito and Adriana have chauffeured us around, helped us with the ins-and-outs of living here, and served as our “guarantors” so we could rent the house.

Here are some prayer requests:

1 For the folks who are currently coming to the Sunday meetings or are having Bible studies with our co-workers, that they would see their need for salvation, would repent and commit their lives to Christ. We’ll be talking about specific ones in coming posts.

2) That we would have all the necessary papers when we go to Cordoba and begin the process of getting permanent residency status as well as the necessary identity cards.

3) The upcoming missionary get-together in northern Argentina. It will be a time of teaching and encouragement. Please pray for safety in travel and for good fellowship.

Our goal is to post an update here once a week. So keep checking back!

Less Than A Week Left

2008-08-09T16:00:00Z

It is August 9th and we leave August 15th. Less than a week left!

With lots of help, everything we want to take is boxed and/or palletized. The 20 foot container arrives Monday around noon and it [should] be a simple matter of using a fork lift and pallet jack to transfer the nine fully loaded pallets from the garage into the container. That’s the plan anyway.

The car made it almost to the end. Last night the ball joint on the right side gave out. The same thing happened to the other side last year while we were in Atlanta for pre-field training. It’s been a good car and we’re grateful for God’s provision of trustworthy transportation over the past four years of deputation.

One by one we’re checking off all the things that must be done before we leave. Just a few things left to be done over the next six days.

Saying goodbye is never easy, but it’s been even more difficult than expected. The emotional roller coaster probably won’t ease until we’ve gotten settled in Argentina. It’s especially hard to say goodbye to Ivan’s folks (his dad is growing more frail all the time) and our kids. What can I say? We’re thankful for the close relationship we have with them, but at the same time it makes it that much harder to let go.

Our commissioning service on July 20th was a particularly emotional day. It’s impossible to describe the overwhelming sense of unity and prayer support we felt as those who have “raised” us in the ministry, commissioned us to go. Our daughter videotaped it and is putting together a DVD which we’ll try to make available to anyone who might be interested in watching it. She’s dividing it into segments, separating each special music and speaker ~~- so it won’t be necessary to watch the entire two hours in one setting :~~)

We just feel badly we didn’t let other folks know about the service ahead of time as we know more would have come to it. Quite honestly, life has been so hectic we just didn’t even think about it. So we apologize for the oversight and hope you’ll understand it wasn’t at all intentional.

July 29, 2008 we reached 100% of our monthly support!!!

We have the most amazing support team! Every one of our supporting churches and individuals are not only giving financially, but faithfully praying for us. And we know many others who cannot give but pray. THANK YOU!

Here are some specific prayer requests:

that everything will fit into the container so it’s not necessary to try and figure out last minute what to take out
for emotional and physical well-being as we finish our goodbyes and go
that we would not lose sight of the God Who has prepared and is sending us, in all the busy-ness of going
for a dependence on God alone, Who is our sufficiency, at all times and in all situations
for the process of getting our things through customs, that it would go smoothly and not be so costly
as we look for an apartment or house to rent and then get settled
for Kim as she learns Spanish

If you’d like to contact us, please e-mail us at: ihoyt@biblicalministries.org We’d love to hear from you occasionally, letting us know what’s happening in your life!

The Countdown Is On!

2008-07-07T16:39:00Z

Reaching 90% of our support this Spring meant making firm travel plans—we’re leaving for Argentina on August 15th! To give you an idea of how God is working, in May we heard from a church that felt led to give regular monthly support—and they’ve never even met us! We can only sit back in awe as God provides. Currently we are at 96% of our regular monthly support. This leaves just 4% ($134/month) plus the remaining outgoing funds to set up housekeeping and buy a car in Argentina. Thanks for your part, by both praying and giving! Continue to pray as the final amounts come in, and also that we’d be good stewards of those funds; with 30% inflation in Argentina, it will be necessary to carefully consider every peso spent. We have meetings scheduled right up until the Sunday before we fly out, so there’s still a lot of traveling to do. Thank you for praying as we visit churches in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio during these final weeks. Much of what we plan to take is packed, the garage has been cleared out and now it’s time to start loading the pallets. The plan is to have the pallets ready to load directly onto the container when it’s delivered since we have just two hours before they begin charging $90/hour. Fast and efficient! That’s the goal :-) Please pray as we finish packing the last of the boxes and arranging boxes on the pallets so the load is steady and level. Sort of like putting together a puzzle! It’s been eye-opening to see all that goes into moving overseas—a little more involved than anticipated! But we’re slowly knocking out all the little details, from updating our will to confirming Kim’s language course to lining up a despachante who will help us navigate customs in Argentina. The Lord is providing some wonderful opportunities to spend time with family and friends, including all of Ivan’s siblings, some of the cousins, an old high school friend of Kim’s, and a dear couple we served with from Uganda. Extra special blessings! Unfortunately, we just don’t have the time to visit everyone. So if we miss you this time around, let’s get together on our first furlough in about three years! These last few months we’re actually living with Ivan’s folks in Winona Lake, Indiana, and cherish this time with them and our daughter (who lives in their basement apartment). However, with a lot of meetings yet in Michigan as well as all the packing still to do, we can often be found “north of the border”. Some of you have been checking out our website from time to time and we’re embarrassed to say we haven’t posted anything new in a very long time. But that will change! We’ll be using the website to let folks know what’s happening and what to pray for specifically. So if you haven’t checked out www.hoytsonline.com, we invite you to do that now! The only way to keep in touch at the beginning will be through e-mail: ihoyt@biblicalministries.org Once we have a place of our own, we’ll let you know the address. For the first few months, we’ll be living in the furnished one-bedroom apartment owned by Marcela, Kim’s language tutor. Again, thanks for your prayers! This is such an important piece of the missionary endeavor—we need God’s people standing with us in prayer. Muchas gracias!

"Once Upon A Time"

2007-11-25T01:04:00Z

Finally! With Tina’s help we have a five minute missionary presentation. THANK YOU TINA!!!

Next Phase: Full-Time Deputation

2007-09-25T14:44:00Z

This fall, more is changing than the color of the leaves!

By the end of this month, Ivan will be finished with his job at the Manor and we’ll be “doing” deputation full-time. After talking with the area director and others at the mission, as well as the elders at church, it became clear that in order to meet our goal of leaving for Argentina in February, we really need to devote more time to putting together the support team. That’s why we’ll be working at this full-time in the coming months.

To give you an idea of how that will look: Ivan will continue calling pastors in order to line up meetings and, when possible, meet one-on-one with them. We’ll still be sharing wherever God opens doors, usually – but not always – in Sunday church services. In addition, we look forward to spending extended periods of time in different churches, helping out however we can…whether that’s lending a hand with remodeling or construction projects, cleaning, or serving in some way in the ministry, we look forward to getting to know people! The goal is to continue developing a solid support team to stand behind us with faithful prayer and financial support.

Currently we are at 60%. We are so thankful for those who have joined our team by providing on-going support, committing to pray for us, or giving toward the outfit fund. Muchas gracias!

A quick recap of our busy summer…

From June through August the calendar was full. How thankful we are for not only the new churches visited, but also the churches that invited us back!

The two-week Field Preparation Seminar we attended in July helped in so many ways. Not only did they provide great instruction on what to expect and how to prepare for being on the field, we were able to get to know other missionaries getting ready to go around the world…Vanuatu, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Ecuador. Our group (see photo inset) will be leaving sometime within the coming year to our respective fields. Plus we met several dozen there for Candidate Orientation who are just starting this process of preparing to be missionaries. Their excitement was contagious!

Our son was married in August, in a sunrise ceremony on the beach in Ft. Lauderdale with just close friends and family. (Press “Photos” button on bar at top of page to see wedding pictures!) Jon and Natalie have moved to their new home in Elkhart, Indiana. Pray for them, especially as they look for a new church home.

Please continue to pray for open doors to share the ministry with churches and individuals who want to be a part of this church planting effort in the Punilla Valley, Province of Cordoba, in the heart of Argentina. It would be great to have the calendar chock full of meetings and opportunities to serve!

Thanks for standing behind us in prayer. It’s exciting to see what God is doing and we look forward to what He will accomplish in the months to come.

PROJECT NEEDIA 2012

2007-07-23T17:16:00Z

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to reach the country of Needia for Christ. You have exactly four years and a team of up to ten, but no more.

What you need to know is this: Needia is a western European style country about the size of Belgium with a population of 1.6 million. They speak Needian, a Romance language that, in terms of learning difficulty, is equivalent to French. There are four major cities: Neediopolis, the capital, a port city, and the largest metropolitan area with a population of 600,000; Factoria, the manufacturing hub located smack dab in the middle of the country where the largest industry is iron ore and with a population of 220,000; Collegeville has a population of 200,000; and finally there is Funcitia where the tourism industry flourishes amid a population of 200,000. The literacy rate is high at 90% and they do have the Bible in their language, although it is not widely used. There is no visible Christian presence anywhere in the country.

What is your strategy? Who will you recruit for the team? Where will you begin? How will you go about reaching Needia for Christ? This message will self destruct in 10 seconds.

That was the situation posed to the missionaries this week at our Field Preparation Seminar. We’re gathered here in the Atlanta area for two weeks of instruction, training, and testing before we head out for various parts of the world in the coming year. This ‘game’ was the final piece of the first week, to see how we’d use what we’ve been learning.

A pretty intense week! We’ve had classes on everything from life long learning to designing an exit strategy to evangelism to emergency management to training national leaders to models for church planting…and so on. We go from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. every day, plus you’ll usually find the missionaries continuing their discussions and brainstorming over meals and into the evening hours. The testing wasn’t too arduous and we’ve discovered that between the two of us, we have one good brain  Seriously, the tests help us understand where our strengths and weaknesses are, and point out where we’ll struggle with cultural adaptation and language acquisition.

Now we are looking forward to a little down time this weekend before resuming our studies on Monday morning. We appreciate your prayers for us during this time, and for safety in our travels (have any of you ever had to drive in Atlanta traffic?!).

And if you have any strategy suggestions for Project Needia 2012, let us know!