Prayer Requests from the "Cuyo" Team in Mendoza Argentina
("Cuyo" being the provinces of Mendoza, San Juan & San Luis)
March 2000
Requests for the Cuyo Team
Please Pray...
- that we, as a team, "stand firm in one spirit, contending as one man for the faith of the gospel" (Philippians 1:27).
- for solid, good-paying jobs for those nationals that wish to work in the church-planting movement but are hindered by financial situations. (Cultural Note: Businesses here can hire a person for up to three months without paying taxes or insurance on their employment until after that time. It is a common practice to terminate employment at the end of three months in order to avoid paying these. Because of the high unemployment rate, there is always a replacement available and people are willing to work for any amount of time, just to work at all. This results in a continued state of job transition, financial instability and an incredible amount of time spent job-hunting for a large portion of the population.)
- for the Missionary Kids in each family starting school this month. Pray especially for Jolie Shelton and Tristan McKinney who are both attending new schools from last year.
- for Julie Hill and Amanda Ficklin, journeymen on the Cuyo Church-Planting Team who are beginning to strategize and network with other Great Commission Christian groups in order to reach university students for Christ and eventually form churches within this targeted, homogenous group.
- for team members and national pastors as they travel to Chile for a cell church conference. Pray that this conference increases understanding and vision for the church-planting movement in the Cuyo region.
- for wisdom in knowing how to raise the retention rate of students at the lay institute, encourage them to study and practice more, and to get the word out to more students so they will enroll.
- for Ariel Cordoba, a promising leader in the new work La Dormida, as he is being mentored and trained by the Cuyo Church-Planting Team.
- for Mara Barrera, a law student, and Estela Constantino, a lawyer, as they are being discipled and for their future participation in a new cell church among professionals.
- for the people that have been contacted among the professional community that they would be responsive to the Holy Spirit as the gospel is shared with them.
- for Roxana, a church member, who had a very difficult time delivering her first baby. Pray that God will strengthen and encourage her through this hard time as she was still experiencing a lot of pain a week after having the baby. Pray also for David, her baby, as his right arm appears to be out of socket.
- for more churches to respond to the need to plant churches out of their own resources.
- for those with leadership potential within Alicia Moreau de Justo and other mission points, that they would unite in vision and zeal to prepare and act as God's will for a church-planting movement in this region unfolds.
- for churches needing pastors in the area. As these are filled, pray that leaders who will be taking the responsibilities will do so with a vision of starting new independent works.
- that established churches will assume the responsibility to plant churches and to prepare men and women to be church planters.
- for the team as we face the challenge to develop cell church and house church materials that can be used to reach the people of Cuyo.
- for the Cuyo Team as they seek to plant churches using non-traditional methodologies.
- for our team to be wise in capturing those useful elements already present in the association that would aid in the flourishing of training new leaders for the church planting movement. Pray for us to have the wisdom we need in how to meet the growing needs of the church planting movement as people and churches are catching the vision.
- that the nationals in Mendoza have a supernatural desire to join in a church-planting movement and that God calls out leaders for this task from them.
Praise Report!!
--- The people of Mendoza are spiritually hungry. Our team is privileged to see the Lord at work as the lost are brought to saving faith. This past month a team member was preaching the gospel and during the invitation four people made decisions to receive Christ as Savior and Lord. Two of the people that got saved "happened" to be walking by the front doors of the church that were open at the time of the worship service. They were two older ladies who were sisters out for a walk. The ladies stopped, listened, entered the church and sat down as the message of salvation was being proclaimed. Praise the Lord for His wonderful love and salvation that is offered to all to receive. The ladies that same evening expressed an immediate concern for family members who were lost and need to be saved. That burden for the lost is the work of the Holy Spirit that often begins immediately in the hearts of new believers in Christ, even at that same hour that one is brought from darkness into spiritual light.
God really seems to be drawing professionals and college students to him and opening opportunities for the missionaries to minister in this arena. Discipleship is continuing on a one to one basis with the possibility of forming into a group meeting as others join and several unsaved professionals have expressed interest in attending. Also, relationships with several different college students that attend different universities are being established by the journeymen. They enjoy getting to know them, learning what college life is like for them, and learning more about the culture from them. We are all excited to see God’s plan to work with college students this year begin to unfold.
Personal Prayer Requests
Joseph & Valerie Cartwright - Thank you for your continued prayers on our behalf as we spent the better part of the last three months on the road between Argentina, Uruguay and Chile. Elisabeth handled all the bus/plane/boat/subway and car rides amazingly well and we are very grateful for God’s constant protection and grace as we traveled. We are also very grateful to be home! Joseph is continuing to log in time finishing his last semester of seminary classes for the 2 + 2 program we are in. Please pray that he would consistently have the wisdom of God in scheduling his time in order to complete not only his classes, but also the ministry opportunities and family responsibilities as well. Pray for increased opportunities to share the Gospel with those we come in contact with. We would also ask that you would remember us in prayer as we begin to make future plans for the end of this year. Finally, thank you for your prayers for Paul, the American we met in the park. Joe is meeting with him again this coming Saturday. Pray for his salvation and that "the eyes of [his] heart be enlightened in order that [he] may know the hope to which [God] has called [him]" (Eph. 1:18).
Amanda Ficklin - Thank you for your continued prayers. God has continually shown Himself faithful in my life and in the lives of those around me. I would like to share two special praise reports with you. The first is that a friend who faced surgery to remove a growth was healed after prayer and after her last doctor’s visit was told that the growth had shrunk and that she no longer needed surgery! The second is how God worked out so many details in such a short amount of time in order for me to be able to go to the States during my grandmother's illness and subsequent death. It was difficult, but I am grateful that I was able to see her once again and be with my family during this time. Please continue to keep my family in prayer. Please pray for me that the impediments to the moving process will be removed so that I can live downtown and closer to everything ASAP. Pray that I would have God’s wisdom and creativity as I begin leading English as a Second Language classes, home-schooling courses for the McKinney’s and Martin’s children, and a new Women Bible studies with university students. I also desire for God to open up new friendships among the university students.
Julie Hill - Thank you for your prayers as God was guiding me in decisions for this next year. I will be continuing my work in Mendoza for an extra year and am very excited to see what God has in store! The mission point I attend thankfully has a lay pastor now. Several members of the church really seem to want to grow, are interested in discipleship and are ready for the church to move forward. Pray that God answers these desires and calls out leaders to see these things accomplished. Pray for wisdom as I continue to teach Jolie, Andrew and Joshua Shelton and music students at the Lay Institute. Pray that God increases opportunities to work and build relationships with university students in order to share the Gospel. Also, please pray for a special friend who is having a difficult time right now and really needs God’s direct guidance and comfort.
Asbury & Hope Martin - Praise the Lord! - In only 6 weeks Justin completed the 10th grade studies and passed twelve final exams! He officially began the 11th grade this week! Thank you for your prayers during those very taxing weeks. We are very proud of the effort, discipline and consistency Justin showed throughout the entire time. Pray for Hope as she wraps up final details with the local WMU and a volunteer team from the States for an up-coming women’s meeting in April and as she continues to disciple several new converts, preparing them to be a part of a cell group church. Pray for Asbury as he continues to lead in the team’s church-planting organizational strategy and gathers reproducible literature for national use in the training and multiplication of cell groups/house churches. Please continue to pray for Asbury's mother, Mary Martin, who is recuperating from chemotherapy and for Hope's mother, Jean Clements, who has been having health problems.
Jon & Monica McKinney - Praise the Lord that we no longer have to have plumbers, electricians and handymen in our home everyday fixing and adjusting things! Our home is finally feeling like a "home" and we appreciate your prayers as all the details were (and continue to be) worked out. We have been able to build relationships with our neighbors (Sussana, Felix, Marcello, Virginia) and ask that you pray for their salvation and the opportunity to begin an evangelistic Bible study in their home. There is also a possible opportunity of another man who may want to have a Bible study in his home. Pray that the Lord would open his heart to hear the Gospel. Please keep praying for our language acquisition as we begin working with a language tutor. The kids are all getting settled in their studies for this year. Pray for Monica as she leads them in home-schooling on top of her many other responsibilities. We praise God for opening up possible contacts to share salvation and are very excited about the potential for a real church planting movement here in Mendoza.
Paul & Laura Shelton -
A personal word from Andrew:
So...I'm back home (in Mendoza)!! I've been told several times that I should write a final newsletter. First I would like to thank y'all for praying for the recovery to be quick. Your prayers were answered. Also, my operation was very successful. It's been healing faster than I thought. I don't know if I had already mentioned this, but the doctor said my lip was perfect after the surgery (before it got all puffed up), and my mom's family thinks that my nose looks like my aunt's, so it's still going to be in the family. Both my lip and nose were pretty swollen but have gone down quite a bit, as you could imagine. Now I have to massage my scared lip so that it will turn out softer. My dentist told me to get saliva from right after I wake up in the morning without brushing my teeth, put it on my lip and massage it until it hurts. Now I have something to look forward to every morning ... yeah right. We are all back from our traveling and appreciate all the prayers for us while we were gone. Pray for us as the kids all get back into the swing of school and the readjustment of schedules. Pray especially for Joshua as he spends some intense time preparing for the SAT and making final decisions about college. Pray for Laura to have the Lord’s leadership in opportunities to disciple student-age young ladies and for her continued culture and language work with the missionaries throughout Argentina. Pray for Paul as he completes the many administrative tasks necessary for the team and for wisdom in guiding and instilling vision for the church-planting movement within the many pastors of the local association. Continue to pray that we use our time in the way God wishes us to, for there are many ways to serve but we wish to be pleasing to God above man and fulfill His will for our lives.
May God Bless You,
www.byhisgrace.com/imb-argentina
You can reach individual team members at the following email addresses:
Team Members: Joseph & Valerie Cartwright mailto:jvcart@lanet.com.ar , Amanda Ficklin amandaef@hotmail.com, Julie Hill hilljulie@hotmail.com, Asbury & Hope Martin asbury_martin@lanet.com.ar, Jon & Monica McKinney mckinney@ciudad.com.ar, Paul & Laura Shelton shelton@lanet.com.ar
Thanks again.
Love, Andrew
The "Cuyo" Mendoza Team