I'm too young for this.

I'm on my way to being an empty nester. Stephany and I have been in the States now for about a week now. This is the beginning of our journey to prepare her and leave her behind at college. It all seems so unreal that our little baby girl is old enough for college already. Thus, I'm too young for this!

But, I honestly have to say that it is a very exciting time in spite of all the uncertainty and sad good-byes. I remember my college days and my first years of independence with very special memories. I look at my two collegiate children and burst with pride as they bravely take a step into the waters of their own individual lives. I have all confidence that they will succeed in accomplishing their goals and a few of their dreams. They both love the Lord with all their hearts and are seeking His guidance in their future and in their service to Him.

Please continue to pray for our family. We all seem to be going in different directions at this time travelling around. Michael is in Springfield working this summer. Mike is in Argentina but will travel August 17 to join us here in the States.

Pray for the church in Argentina while we are absent that God will lead them and they will take the lead and keep marching ahead.  God bless.

Father's Day at Iglesia Bautista Nueva Vida

Well, it's been two Sunday's since our inauguration.  We're still all very excited! We have had two couples that have continued attending since then and we had a new visiting couple this past Sunday, Father's day.  It was a great time celebrating our Heavenly Father and all the father's present!  Below is a picture of the father's who were there and a video of father's and their daughters singing a special song.

This Saturday we have our monthly ladies meeting. Please keep us in your prayers. We have several unsaved ladies who have said they will be there!

Blessed Weekend

Our Saturday dedication service was wonderful! We invited all our pastor friends and family and we had over 90 in attendence! We didn't have enough chairs but no one seemed to mind. It was such a happy time and the spirit was just amazing. You could just feel the excitement oozing out!
We sang several hymns and choruses together and Pastor Galarza from our mother church in San Antonio de Padua (previously pastored by Richard Todd) gave a short message and lead the ceremony of postulating and electing of our Pastor. (Mike Todd of course!) Then all the members signed the church pact. We elected a church treasurer and secretary.  A small group from our church sang a special number and the children from the OANSA (AWANA) Club from our sister church in Junin also sang a special. My father-in-law, Richard Todd, gave a wonderful message on respect for the church and we concluded the whole meeting with refreshments.

Sunday we had our inauguration service where we invited our neighbors, friends, and family to attend.  We had 11 visitors.  Even though there were no professions of faith, we were very excited to be able to talk with them.  Many of them said they would be back and are excited about the different ministries of our church.

The picture below is of the Sunday service.  Some more visitors came in after this picture was taken. :)

The countdown begins...

Just 4 more days to the dedication/inauguration services!! We thought this day would never come.
This past Saturday we had our annual international supper (in our house). This time of year we always take and renew our mission's giving commitments.
Sunday morning we had our last Sunday School service with the children in our house). Next Sunday we will have S.S. in the building.
Sunday evening we had our regular service in the building. It was just our normal crowd this time. We wanted to try it out at least once to see if we need to correct any problems before we have our dedication and inauguration. Everything went well except for the heating. To make a long story short, please pray that we will be able to heat  the auditorium sufficiently. We think we have it worked out but we don't want Satan to spoil anything!!
The highlight of the service was when we made our commitments to mission's giving. The amount that came in more than doubled our promise from last year!!  I think that is a wonderful sign of more wonderful things to come in the future!


Here is a picture of us getting ready for the service last Sunday night.

Bad Girls

I had another ladies meeting yesterday. Last month we started a series of lessons called "Bad Girls of the Bible". And wouldn't you know that that title caught their attention! We studied the second lesson yesterday. All the ladies, as well as myself, are really enjoying a different way of looking at some of the women of the Bible. Some of the women of the Bible don't get a lot of attention because of their badness, but we are studying them to learn where their sin lead them and how we can avoid making the same mistakes.
While we were having our meeting in our house, Mike and a group of men were at the building working. They installed more electrical sockets, painted primer on the walls, and glued ceramic down in the bathroom. It's moving along but we still have so much to do the next two weeks.  Inauguration day - June 4-5!


Here's a peek at the bathroom tiles.

The fence is down!!

Finally the fences are down!! And... the gate is up!! It may not look like much is going on but it sure was a big and happy day for us.  This week we were also able to install more of the alarm system and our electrician was able to come to do some more of the electric installations. Soon, I will post some pictures of the lights we installed in the main auditorium.










This past Saturday we had a kid's activity in the building.  We had such a great time with the kids!  We had 16 children present and were able to give a clear Gospel message.  












    

We have all the windows!!!

At times we thought we would never be able to say that but... now we can!! Praise the Lord! Last week they finally delivered and installed the last of the glass. They even replaced one panel that they had cracked when they were installing them on the first day.  The gas installations were also finished.  Mike also has been working on the wall and the gate that opens to the patio. Now we are hoping and praying that next week we will be able to get the electric installed that we need to be able to use the building for meetings. This is the next big step. We need to finish out a little more at least one bathroom and then we are good to go. June is starting to look pretty good. And that's pretty good timing on the Lord's part. In June our church celebrates its 15th anniversary!

Meanwhile, the church marches on. We've had a drop in attendance of our children's ministry.  But we have seen an increase in our regular services and our teens have maintained.  We continue to have regular meetings on Sundays, activities for the teens and children, and a new ladies Bible study is starting up. Everyone is very anxious to inaugurate the building. Almost every Sunday someone will comment that they had a friend promise to come when we inaugurate.

Mike and I also had opportunities to witness this week and are praying that God will touch their hearts to make decisions.  Here are some pictures!! Be back soon.  Sandy