A Week in Review: Fausto and The Sisters

The focus of our work right now is making contacts. Contacts are people in the city who we know. In order to “know” them, we need to know their name and how to contact them. In order for them to be a “contact” they can’t be a Christian who attends a different church. We have to be able to get to know them better, and we can’t steal them from another Christian church. We work to make new contacts and build our relationships with the contacts we already have.

The magnet I designed for the event. I think it has a bit of a
Steve Thomas feel to it. The verse is John 4:13-14.

While the short term team was here, we had several events that focused on making new contacts. One day, we passed out magnets with the church’s information to people in a plaza. It worked really well, but we talked to everyone in the plaza in the first half hour of a two hour event. One of the contacts I met was a man named Fausto who was with his two small children playing at the playground. Juan and I chatted with him for a while, told him all about our children’s event we had planned for the next day, and learned the names of his kids. Then we left him to play with his children in peace. Ten minutes later, their family moved to a different part of the plaza where Dámaris gave them another magnet and the same information. Juan and I intervened, and we all laughed it off. Fifteen minutes later, Fausto and his kids walked on the sidewalk toward their house where Dani stopped him to give him another magnet and the same spiel. Poor Fausto.

Celeste and me talking with people in the plaza

Since the short term team left, we have been busy making our second contacts with all the people we met during the events. This is a discouraging process as we realize how many fake numbers and uninterested people we have on our lists. Dani and Juan had been stood up by a couple contacts over the weekend. Sunday night, they came back from a visit to announce they had actually met their contact and he wanted them to come back every week to meet with his family. This is the best news we can have: a weekly meeting with a family that can become a Bible study that can influence the friends and extended family of the initial contact. After soaking in the encouraging news and congratulating Juan and Dani on their prospective small group, I asked the question, “Who is this contact?” “Some guy named Fausto.” Oh Fausto. Dani and Juan went back last Sunday and spent more time with their family. They would appreciate your prayers because, although Fausto and his wife are very interested in learning more about God, Fausto’s wife has had a very negative experience with Christians in the past and is cautious. Pray God will soften her heart and show her how much He loves her.

Beatriz, Mabel, me, and Pastora Jaci at our first Bible study

Monday was our day off, but Tuesday Pastora and I took time to go visit the homes and work places of some of our contacts. One such contact was Beatriz. Beatriz is an older woman who we met in a butcher shop a couple weeks ago and have been in contact with ever since. She is a Catholic woman with some concerning misconceptions about God. The Catholic church in South America is very different from the Catholic church in the United States. Where Catholicism in the States holds beliefs very similar to those of protestant denominations, the Catholic church in South America could not be considered Christian. When Catholicism was originally brought to South America, it was mixed with the pagan and idol based religions of the native people. This culture of Catholicism makes our jobs as Christian missionaries easier because the people are generally open to Bible-based teachings. However, we must be very attentive to the comments and beliefs of our contacts so we can clarify misunderstandings and guide them to the truth. During this visit, we got to meet Beatriz’s not so devout younger sister Nene. She was very suspicious at first, but quickly warmed to us and shared about her beliefs in God and her resistance to religion. Both are interested in learning more about the Bible and spending time talking with us about God. When we needed a witness to go with us to the immigration department yesterday to verify that we live in Córdoba, Beatriz made the journey and signed countless documents to help us out. We are grateful for her friendship and the great changes God is going to make in her life.

On Wednesday, Rachel and Dámaris went to a small group they have started in Belén’s home. Belén is 19 years old and lives with her husband and two small children. This week, she invited her twin sister, Erica, to the small group. Rachel and Dámaris shared about finding our identity in Christ and the way He wants to change our lives. Belén and Erica were both very quiet during the evening. At the end of the presentation, Dámaris asked hesitantly if the women were interested in accepting Christ into their lives. Both Belén and Erica immediately answered yes. Dámaris led them in praying for God to forgive their sins and give them a new identity in Him. These are our first two new believers in Córdoba.

We took the day off on Thursday to recognize Argentina’s independence day (one of our three work-free holidays during the year!). On Friday, Pastora and I headed back out into the neighborhood. This time we focused on the shop owners we know on the street where we want to rent our church building. There is a party store that is owned by Lucia and run by her two daughters Dayana and Nadia. We had already met and started a friendship with Lucia and Dayana. Lucia is a committed Catholic and Dayana is studying English in college. This day, however, Nadia was alone in the store. We had never met her before and she didn’t really seem all too eager to get to know us. After trying to chat for a while, we invited her to a Bible study we were having the next day in Pastora’s apartment and left it at that. Well, all of our contacts were busy with valid and invented excuses the next day (Beatriz and Nene were out of town at their niece’s quincenera) and Pastora and I were left sitting alone in her apartment. The doorbell rang about fifteen minutes after our start time and who should walk in but Dayana and Nadia. We sat and talked and ate and drank maté (have I told you about maté yet?) for about an hour and a half before we had to excuse ourselves to get ready to visit a church service in another town. They were very open to talking about God and asked good questions, but they were obviously more comfortable discussing English classes and the activities of Nadia’s two year-old daughter. We are excited to get to know them better and lead them closer and closer to God. 

Rachel, Dani, me, and Ashley
The North Americans waiting to fill out more residency paperwork.

Starting a new week, we are very aware of the end (hopefully) of our application for residency tomorrow. It has been a whirlwind of a process because we just realized last Thursday that our due date for residency had been moved up a month due to some paperwork mistakes. Through a lot of prayer and walking all over the city, they process has gone relatively smoothly so far. We pray tomorrow will go equally well. We are also still concerned about renting our church building. Pastor will be meeting with the district superintendent tomorrow and we hope to at least know more if not be further along in the process after that meeting. In the midst of all the frustrations and disappointments, we praise God for all He has done in us and in Cordoba during the past six weeks. We have four (very) small groups meeting regularly and two new saved souls before we even have a church building. God's miracles are my favorite thing.