Photo of the Week | Jamming with Kate in Argentina

Kate and the kids make some tunes during the 2006 trip to Argentina. Join us September 2012 when we head back to the same area! Trip details to be posted early 2012.

Argentina July 2011 – Our Last Thougts…..

I love the Tobas people very much, I will really miss them—Shirley

It’s always hard to say good bye. Even more when we may not see each other again at this side of eternity. To say it in one word naah-Kaishek. Thank you for your warmth, your smile your words of encouragement and prayers. You are family. Oh Argentina I’ll remember that I’ll always have a Toba family. May the Lord strengthen you and finish the good work He started in you. With the little you have you gave me so much. Danielle

Danielle with the church kids

Truly the harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few… the need for workers—people to do discipleship, teach Sunday school, minister to the women and visit homes—is so evident. Oh that we would heed the call to go!!!
Nicole

Nicole at the Feeding Program

We will never comprehend the power of a hug, a kiss, and a smile. The simplest actions of kindness affect not just the person but the heart. The Tobas have thought me a great lesson of “humility.” – Edwin

Edwin in the Toba Barrio

Dios nos permite de vez en cuando ser testigos directos de lo que El hace. En este viaje he sentido el dolor como parte del pasado de los Tobas pero tambien he visto la esperanza que solo Dios puede traer para proyectarnos hacia un futuro que va a sorprender a todos!! Douglas Calvano
God permits us to see when to be witnesses directly of what He does! In this trip I have felt the pain partly of the past with the Tobas, but I have also seen the hope that only God can bring in order to have us focus toward a future that will astound everyone! Douglas Calvano

Douglas Calvano

The Lord has introduced me to my spiritual extended family in the Tobas! It has truly been an honor to be part of what the Lord is doing in their community and pray for many new blessings to come to a people who stand in hope and faith. Cecilia “Ceci” Oliva

Ceci and Mauricio

I remembered how special the Tobas people were when we were here in 2006…but I forgot HOW special they are!!! It was an absolute privilege to work with again!!! I am so thankful to the Lord to have this opportunity to work with these humble and beautiful people!! Loretta Busch

Loretta and Pastor Leonardo and family

Argentina July 2011 – …And He Sat On It

July 27th Toba Service

Last night a local Rosario pastor, Pastor Albino, shared during the evening service. His message was focused on the stone which was used to cover the mouth of the tomb where Jesus was buried.

His taken from Matt 28:1-2 which reads:

Early on Sunday morning, as the new day was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went out to visit the tomb. Suddenly there was a great earthquake! For an angel of the Lord came down from heaven, rolled aside the stone and sat on it. [NLT]

For the first time in reading that passage, I realized that after rolling away the stone the angel of the Lord actually sat on it, perhaps signifying the complete domination of those obstacles and stumbling blocks which often arises during our lives.

Along a similar vein Pastor Albino, exhorted the community to look to God for the solution to whatever stone or stumbling block they were dealing with. Whether it is the stone of sickness, lack or prodigal children who have run away or who are on drugs.   There was a beautiful moment when the congregation was encouraged to stand beside their family members and to pray for each other.  Then the members of our team were invited to stand with Pastor Leonardo and to pray for him.

One of the most notable things during this trip has been just the sense of Christian love among our team, the members of the Toba church and the Argentine Christians visiting from Rosario and Buenos Aires.

The team assigned to do children ministry during the service had a very active group of boys. Thankfully, God had given Loretta the wisdom to bring tons of beads on the trip.  The boys became very quiet and focused when they were asked to make necklaces and bracelets. The team was particularly touched when Ruth, Mauricio’s mother came over and started helping him to work on the beads so that he would stay focused.  If you remember Mauricio was the boy who took a bath so that he could be with us.  What we didn’t share was that Mauricio’s mother went to jail when he was a baby and that his father is an alcoholic who often stands next to a broken down, tarp covered shack across the dirt road in front of the church.  Over the days that we’ve been here it’s become clear that he desperately needs attention and so it was really touching to see his mother just having that moment with him and loving on him. 

Nicole

Argentina July 2011 – Maricio Takes A Bath

Maricio has been coming to the services, but last night he actually took a bath before he came to the service. He is eight years old and according to Pastor Douglas, he said that he doesn’t think he has taken a bath for five years!!! But for us, he wanted to be clean!!! Too cute!!!

Maricio all clean!!!

Argentina July 2011 – We Don’t Know When to Leave Church!

July 25^th –We don’t know when to leave church….

Around 7pm we met with approximately 20 of the members of Pastor Leonardo’s church to have a training in discipleship, evangelism and worship.   The group from TSC led the session on discipleship while a local church from Rosario taught on evangelism and worship.  It was such a beautiful meeting. The church was unheated and it was raining quite hard outside, however, the people were so attentive and though culturally the Tobas tend not speak up, several participated.  I was personally just blown away by the humility of Pastor Leonardo demonstrated by his questions and participation.  After the training session the pastor from the local Rasario church encouraged us to worship God as one in our different language and at that point I saw Pastor Leonardo get on his hands and knees on the hard concrete floor and just cried. You could see his tears wetting the floor beneath his face.

Towards the end of the training sessions, I saw some of the members bringing in tea kettles.  I was a little taken a back to see these antique looking kettles being brought in to the back of the church and placed on the floor.  But it was a wonderful revelation to realized later that these kettles were for serving tea and coffee to the congregation. So there we were, a multinational team from NY and Columbia, non-Tobas from the local Rosario church and Tobas, sharing in fellowship, breaking bread together, drinking coffee and tea, hugging, dancing and kissing each other’s cheeks in the Tobas way and just loving each other in the name of Christ.   One of the most amazing things about being a Christian is that no matter where you go in the world, and no matter how different our cultures may be, there is this recognition and oneness that is felt when we encounter other believers.  We were having such a wonderful time of being each other that we didn’t leave the church until around 11pm at night.

Nicole

Edwin and Maricio

Argentina July 2011 – Play Dough Out Of Control

July 26^th – Play Dough out of control

In preparing and packing for this trip, God had me pulling arts and crafts, and kids games, etc.  We weren’t planning on doing Children’s Ministry, so I didn’t know why, but don’t you love it when we listened to God when He tells us to do something!!!  So often, we can say, “Oh God told me to do such and such, but I didn’t!!”  Well this time I listened, and I thank God for it, as the Toba church doesn’t have Children’s ministry during the service.  So I felt the Lord say, pull the kids aside during the services so that their parents can enjoy the service!!  Hence, the need for the arts and crafts!!!!  Last night I pulled out some small containers of play dough.  The children never had play dough so I started making animals, bowl, etc.  They were having fun then Pastor Leonardo’s son started putting the play dough on his face, which led to others doing the same!!!  Then Pastor Leonardo’s son put in on his baby nephew’s face….which the little boy really didn’t know what to do!!!  He just sat there and wouldn’t move!!!  I am not sure if this would be an approved use of play dough and something we want to add to the TSC children’s ministry???  Katie any thoughts???

Pastor Leonardo's son

Argentina July 2011 – Discipleship Training and Services

July 25^th, 26^th – Discipleship Training and Services

Monday and Tuesday night the local church in Rosario and TSC had some discipleship classes at the Toba Church.  The worship is so beautiful, as there is such a deep cry in the hearts of the Toba.  Nicole taught the discipleship training class that she teaches in SYP.  The Tobas need discipleship training for new believers.  On Tuesday, we did some small groups!!!

Toba Discipleship Class Small Group

Pastor Douglas Calvano teaching a small group

Toba Service

Argentina July 2011 – You Are Not Forgotten…

The afternoon was spent visiting different homes around the barrio. Before we got to our very first home we encountered some teenagers sitting on the side of the dirt road with their backs against a zinc fence.  Even though our goal was to do home visitation, we just could not pass these children without speaking to them.  As we spoke we found out that they were cousins and that one of them was named Jesus.  Hearing this I decided to ask Jesus if he knew the significance of his name.  Although I was a little surprised hear him say that he didn’t I took it as an opportunity to share with them about Jesus Christ.   Using the name as a springboard we shared about how 2000 years ago an angel told Mary that she would have a son and that she was supposed to call Him Jesus, because He would save the His people.  This also gave us an opportunity share that Jesus was not only the savior of His people but was also the savior of the whole world.  And that we are Christians because we follow Him.  Jesus’ cousin Manny was also told that his name came from the name Emmanuel which meant God with us.  While we were speaking with the children their grandfather came out of his yard to the front where were standing. This gave us an  and opportunity to invite him to the church for the adult service and tell him about the children’s and teen programs we would be having during the week.

The Tobas are an amazingly friendly and welcoming people.  We had the opportunity to visit the home of the god parents of one of the faithful members in Pastor Leonardo’s congregation.   The man of the house had come home for lunch and was enjoying his noon time meal of breaded fried chicken called locally milanesa de pollo.  Immediately as we entered this very modest home we were offered the best seats in the house and asked to partake in the meal.  There was no way we could refuse their hospitality. So we sat down and enjoyed this chicken which smelled like friend plantains but tasted delicious.  As we visited we invited the family to participate in the various activities being held in the church this week. The man of house started sharing with us, that he was a construction working helping to build homes that are a part of the project which was started in the community after the 2006 Crusade. He shared how some of his childhood friends who also worked in construction had given their lives to Jesus over the last few years. He was really impressed by them because these guys were really bad.  When they were children these friends were taught how to steal by their parents and now since becoming Christians they had changed and would often read the bible with him. It was so clear that God was calling this man.  Unfortunately he was very afraid of beginning to attend church because he didn’t want to start going to church and not be able to stop doing bad things.   We shared with him that church isn’t for people who are perfect but rather it is for those who realize that they need God.  Eventually, he indicated that he had to return back to work from lunch but he allowed us to pray for him and his family.

Another, cool experience was in meeting David Gomez.  When we entered David’s yard his wife  initially said that it wasn’t a good time for our visit because she was in the middle of hand washing a huge pile on laundry.  Ceci, (one of our team members) asked if we could stay and visit with her husband who was standing the backyard.  Her husband David said yes and invited us through the gate and we sat under this tarp a few yards in front of the train tracks which ran in the back yard.   The breeze under this tarp was such a welcome relief from the noon day sun.  As we sat, David mentioned that it was a little unusual for a group of women to visit with a man because in their culture women tended to visit with women and men with men. Ceci explained that we were a team of five women with two men from the U.S. and the guys who were travelling with us were visiting with other families.   Although it was unusual he welcomed us and we talked generally about God.   By this time, his wife left her washing and came over to where we were sitting.  At one point I asked the question  “Do you sometimes feel forgotten by God?”  Immediately David said “no, I don’t feel forgotten by God not at all.” He then shared with us this amazing testimony of how he was previously an alcoholic with a bad temper. As a result of this he was arrested and put in a holding cell. While he was there he got into an argument with his lawyer and threw the documents at his lawyer.  There was another man in the holding cell who saw what he did and asked him why he did that.  He explained that his lawyer couldn’t do anything to get the charges written on the documents against him discharged.  The other man in the jail (he never knew his name or saw him again), asked David if believed in God. David answered no. The man then asked him if he believed in the saints. Again David said no. The man then asked him if he had faith. David turned and asked the man “what is faith?”.  The man then said do you believe that I can have the charges against you dropped. He told the man yes.  Then the man said to him, take the belief that you have in me and put it in Jesus. David asked the man if that was what faith was.  He didn’t see the man again but after 2 days the charges against him was dropped and he remembered the man had told him to go to church. However, because his heart was so hardened when he got out of jail he didn’t got to church but rather went and got drunk.  The thought came in his mind to go to church but he rejected it. Then one day the thought came back again and just would not leave him alone. Over a period of 3 or 4 days he kept hearing “go to church,” “go to church,” he kept resisting until on Sunday around 9pm at night he couldn’t take it anymore. His head head was hurting, his heart was beating and so he finally gave in and went to church. When he got there, he wept like a baby and God changed his heart.    Today, he is a lay teacher of the word. He faithful helps his pastor and loves to tell people about Jesus.

David’s testimony is symbolic of so many others that we heard in the Barrio. Several men testify of God encountering them and delivering them from alcoholism and beating their wives.  Even in the midst of the poverty and evident suffering in this poor community, God has a testimony.

As we left his house, David’s wife had one simple request and that was that we would pray for their 13 year old daughter Veronica who had run away would return home. We prayed with the family and are trusting the Lord to return her safely to them.

Nicole

David Gomez and his family

Argentina July 2011 – You Never Know

Today Pastor Leonardo shared with me a very precious story.  This speaks to how we sometimes don’t know the depth of what we are speaking when we are out on the mission’s field.  In 2006 when the team was here, Kate Hughes (Conlon) then, spoke a word of encouragement to Pastor Leonardo.  It was from Isaiah 41:10-11.  After we left, Pastor Leonardo went through a very difficult time and was crying before the Lord.  The Lord reminded Pastor Leonardo of the scripture verse that Kate had spoken to him.  So he opened his bible and read the scripture….and God used that verse to help him through this very difficult time.  Pastor Leonardo said that he held on to this scripture and was so thankful that God used Kate to comfort and encourage him through the wilderness that he was walking through. 

So to all the missionaries…we never know how God will use us or to what extent our words and mean to those in need!!!!

Argentina July 2011 – Toba Church Service

July 24^th – Evening Service

We attended the Toba’s evening Sunday service.  The men are the ones to do the Praise and Worship, no ladies…it is the culture of the Tobas.  The local church from Rosario who is also working with the Tobas shared in song and a short devotion.  Then we shared and sang one of the Spanish songs that we prepared for the trip.

Pastor Douglas Calvano shared from the word, and many came to the altar broken and needing a touch from God.  And as always, God is faithful and came with such a powerful presence! After the people returned to their seats I looked down and the floor was literally covered with drops of tears.

After the service the team had a wonderful time in fellowship with the church.

Toba Church

Toba Worship

Worship at the Toba Church