Argentina: DayThree of Unlooked for Delight

The church in Ramos Mejia (a suburb of Buenos Aires) celebrated its 25th anniversary on Sunday night. I was glad to be there and to be able to share a little bit of how the work began so many years ago. Even at this distance I remember the seeming impossibility of the task that had been given of planting a new church. Linda and I were new to Argentina, our Spanish was barely understandable, we hardly knew anything about the culture--and here we were in a city of 13 million people seeking to establish a new church where the good news of Christ would be spoken and taught. We didn't have a lot of sophisticated strategy, but as I look back after all these years, and other people have confirmed it, we did have and still do have a very strong love for the Argentine people. It wasn't something that we put on...it was just there and we lived it and expressed it on all occasions. The other thing that is of great significance is that we prayed. We prayed personally and we encouraged and taught the church the importance of seeking after God for guidance and power to do the work that he had called us to do. In the end it is God who establishes churches and builds his church, and I believe he wanted another work for the fame of his name to be established in Ramos Mejia.
The church now has an attractive building and all the trappings that go with an established work. But I couldn't help but think as I sat in the celebration that in the end the outer trappings are of such minor importance. For the church is a people of God who have been reconciled to God, a people who live in the power of the Spirit and under the guidance of the spirit. They are a special, called out people who truly love and support one another to such a degree that a watching world is amazed.
Linda and I have been stunned at how profoundly this experience of returning to Argentina has touched our lives. The worries and anxieties that we had at first have not come to pass even in the slightest degree...the old relationships have been renewed and reestablished and it has been blessing, after blessing for us both. We see so clearly that even though we thought we were chiefly coming back to Argentina to attend a celebration that God in fact had so much more in mind. It has been immensely satisfying...words truly do fail. And even Andrew is beginning to relax and seems to be enjoying himself immensely. More tomorrow...Royal for the family in beautiful Buenos Aires