Missions in Argentina

In Argentina, the Assemblies of God has a missions program that is similar to the program in the United States.  Like BGMC (Boys and Girls Missions Challenge), Argentina has Manos Chiquitas (small hands).  Argentina kids use a Mate gourd to take offerings (where kids in the states use "Buddy Barrel").  The slogan that Argentina uses is on the poster below, which translates to "Missions is done with the feet of those who go, the knees of those who stay, and the hands of those who give."

Doorbell

Do you have a doorbell?  We finally have a doorbell here in Argentina.  It is customary to clap your hands instead of knocking on the door here in northwest Argentina because everyone has fences/gates and dogs.  At times, it is difficult to know that someone is clapping at your door - especially if you have music playing or are out in the backyard.  Not everyone uses our doorbell, but it helps for the most part!

So the next time someone knocks or rings your doorbell, imagine if they had only clapped!  It was difficult to catch someone clapping at our door, so we made a "mock" video to give you an idea!

License Plates and Double Parking

Everyone in our city double parks downtown. There are traffic cops that write tickets if you are there too long or not in your vehicle.  Your vehicle may even get towed if it is there too long.  Most people double park for something quick - like picking someone up/dropping someone off or going to the cash machine.  (By the way, we try to never double park).

We recently found out that there is a system in place that we didn't know about.  There are people that get paid for writing down license plate numbers of vehicles that break a law.  But there is no paper trail and the people don't realize that there are fines until they try to sell the vehicle.

Reality is though, that these people are writing up these "tickets" especially for business vehicles - whether there was an infraction or not... so that they can get paid.  They are figuring that it is for a business... therefore the business has money.  In fact, they have also offered to take a bribe (for a lesser amount) to not turn in the infraction.  But remember, they are getting paid for every infraction that they write.  (and there is no actual ticket nor proof needed - only their word). A friend of ours recently tried to sell a business vehicle and found that there were $5000 (or $40,000 pesos) of fines that he had no idea about.

French Fries

Every time we buy a bag of french fries here in Argentina, we are reminded of living in Othello, WA.  You might ask why... there is a potato processing plant in Othello that makes french fries.  In fact, it is a McCain processing plant!  It's a small thing, but it makes us smile every time! 

Bottle Caps

In Argentina, we still use many glass bottles for drinks.  Some kids asked me during itineration what they do with all of the bottle caps.  As you might have guessed, some are recycled.  But, in our area, they also use the bottle caps to secure areas of the ground (especially near sidewalks) that are deteriorating due to the massive amount of rain that we receive each year.  The bottle caps that are stuck into the ground create a safe area to step on that will not slide even when covered with a puddle of water.  (Oh... and my kids love asking waiters for extra caps so they collect them) 

Ralph Hiatt Visits Alto Comedero

Ralph Hiatt, a "retired" missionary to Argentina (from CA), visited Alto Comedero on Wednesday and Thursday. He is VERY well known in Argentina.  He has done many crusades, especially for children, with his gauchito friend, Felipe. It was great advertisement for our church plant.  We are using this to launch our kids' club on Saturdays at 5 pm.

Impacto de Fe

The new church plant that we are working with is called Impacto de Fe - Impact of Faith.  It is in a part of town called Alto Comedero.  We are currently meeting in a house until we have enough people to start expanding.  This area of town does not have many paved streets (only one sort of concrete main street).  We would like to find a property to buy at the beginning of the year!
Pastor Omar and Paola have attended the Bible Institute in Córdoba and returned with a heart for Jujuy!  We are excited to parnter with them.