April Prayer Letter

Dear Praying Friends,
It is hard to believe we have been in Argentina over a month already!

We are helping two works: one to start a deaf ministry in a local church and the other to help plant a deaf church. Up to now we have spent all our time in the hearing church since the pastor of the deaf church is away on a trip. We begin working with him as soon as he returns. The deaf pastor recommended that we work with the hearing church pastored by Missionary Jeff Bush. God worked in the church long before we arrived to instill a great desire to reach the Deaf in La Plata, Argentina. Every time we are at church we get asked about when we will start sign language classes so that the church people can get involved. As we are still learning the language ourselves, it is heartbreaking to have to tell them that it will be a few more weeks.

Our main need and prayer request in the work right now is simple: we need to learn the sign language quickly so that we can communicate with the Deaf around us. We have met many Deaf while on buses, trains and walking around town. I give them a tract with the church information on it and write that we have a ministry for them. Until we learn the language we only have brief conversations. Finding the Deaf has not been hard here; they seem to be all around us.

When looking for a house we wanted to find a furnished home that we could move into without having to buy (and later get rid of) much furniture. Other missionaries informed us that a furnished home was either unlikely or impractical since there are few and the ones they had seen were quite a bit more expensive per month. Plus, the quality of the furniture would not justify the extra cost. At the end of our second house shopping day we found one for a fair price. However the owner had a problem—he had more furniture than would fit in his new house. As a help to him, he asked if we would keep the furniture in our home at no extra cost! We thank the Lord that He led us to this house.

Even though we found the house on our third day in Argentina, it took another three weeks to complete the paperwork. We are just now getting settled. However the “homeless” time allowed us to visit some cities nearby and share our goals with other churches. We pray that these churches will also have a desire to reach the Deaf around them.

We appreciate everyone who helped us get to Argentina through prayers and finances. We excitedly carry out the task that you have entrusted us with.

PDF version of  the letter.


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