Here are some pictures from our time in Buenos Aires in December. :-), the Cabildo on the Plaza de Mayo and the Obelisk

Diego Maradona look alike and Tango musicians in La Boca, Buenos Aires

Happy 2007 and December News

We hope 2007 has started out well for you! It's been awhile since I've written and I'm glad to be able to post today. We enjoyed Christmas with all our kids at home. :-) Ben traveled from Taylor University in Indiana and Beth has been here for a few months now after graduating from Taylor. Andrea finished 8th grade in December and is very happy to have her brother and sister here. Dick's brother Dave, Nancy and our nephew Josh were here for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. We had fun spending time together celebrating our Savior's birth, shooting off fireworks (Christmas Eve is not a "Silent Night" here although sometimes I wish it was....), eating right before midnight and opening presents.

The week before Christmas we were in Buenos Aires as a family. Dick,Beth,Andrea and I drove there to meet Ben at the airport. It was fun to see different parts of the city and visit with our colleagues Greg, Laile and their little boys. I'll see if I can post a few pictures of our time in Buenos Aires. :-)

This month is the main time for summer vacations here in Argentina. Since we already had our long trip to Buenos Aires and back, we would like to take some short trips in the province of Tucuman and maybe to Jujuy. There are a lot of beautiful places to see! Ben returns to Taylor University on January 28. We hope you have a great January whether you are enjoying snow or a hot day by the pool. :-)

Until the next time! Lori

Two Best Friends

Sebastian and "Kitty"

In Memory of Agatha or "Kitty"

In October "Kitty" came to live with us. :-) Beth found her at church and brought her home. She was a joy to have here with us and became a good friend to our collie Sebastian. This week Kitty's short life ended unexpectedly in a tragic accident. We miss her. Even Sebastian is sad. We had so much fun watching her and marveling again at God's creativity, making each animal and each one of us so unique. Thank you Lord.

Ken Flurry and friends accompanying Dick as he cooks the "asado" and having fun eating together with our colleagues. :-)

October and November Happenings

Wow, it's hard to believe that December is here. A lot has happened in the past few months. In October Beth arrived in the US and will be here until next July or so. It's nice to have her here at home. Early in October Claudia Alvarado, an Argentine missionary to Mozambique and I went to the ladies' retreat in Jujuy. We facilitated a workshop about listening with love. Claudia also spoke about Mozambique and the need for missionaries to go out from Argentina to the rest of the world. The ladies responded enthusiastically. The association of Baptist churches here in the northwest has a project to send a missionary to Mozambique within the next two years. It's very encouraging to see how the churches are supporting this new endeavor!

In November we had our field conference meetings with WorldVenture colleagues who work in northwest Argentina, Dick helped organize the men's retreat at Camp Lozano and a few days later traveled to Bolivia to meet with our colleagues Dan and Daryl Collins and WorldVenture's Overseas Director for Latin America Ken Flurry and his wife Arlene. Dick arrived home a few hours before Ken and Arlene arrived here in Tucuman. It was nice to have them here in our home for a few days. Last week Dick and I traveled to Salta with Ken and Arlene to meet with our colleagues. On Sunday we had a great asado (cookout) at Cerrillos Conference Center (formerly the mk school Hogar Bautista). :-) I've included a few pictures of our time together. :-) Thank you so much for your prayers for us during the past few months. We've had a full calendar with lots of ministry activities! God is faithful and has worked in us as we spent time with colleagues and our brothers and sisters here in Argentina.

Córdoba Sunset in September

One of the perks to facilitating workshops is seeing new places and great scenery. :-) Read more below about the workshop and other news....

Workshop setting in Cordoba, Argentina

Workshop Facilitators-Lori,Charo,Daniel,Betty and Paul

September workshop, October ladies' retreat and family news

Wow, it's the middle of October already. I had a great time facilitating the Spanish Sharpening Your Interpersonal Skills workshop in Cordoba last month. There were 16 participants from the north, south and central Argentina. We saw God work in everyone's lives during our five days together. It was great to watch the participants encouarage and pray for each other.

We are looking forward to Beth's arrival here in a few weeks! It's been at least a year and a half since she's been here. Lots of people are looking forward to seeing her again. :-)

Last weekend I attended the tri-province ladies' retreat. Claudia Alvarado, an Argentine missionary to Mozambique and I facilitated a two hour workshop about how to listen well and with love. The theme of the retreat was missions. Claudia talked about Mozambique and missions in general. A lady from Cochabamba, Bolivia was the main speaker and also talked about missions. The ladies really see the need for sending a missionary from Northwest Argentina to Mozambique and left the retreat very enthused to help with the Mozambique Project to send a missionary from the churches here. :-) I wish I could post pictures of the ladies' retreat but I took pictures with a regular camera. Maybe I can scan some pictures to post after I get them developed.

Thank you for your prayers. We look forward to hearing from you!

Dick and friends on Mt. Aconquija

Andrea and school friends on her birthday

Mountains, Family and Workshop

Hello again from Argentina! There have been a few things happening here since I wrote last. Dick climbed Mt. Aconquija with a few friends, Andrea celebrated her 14th birthday, Ben started his sophmore year at Taylor, Beth finished her course work for Taylor at the end of August and is now an official graduate. :-)

We would appreciate prayer for our family and ministry. Dick has meetings this month with church association leaders, a trip to visit the distance seminary students and is one of the four pastors here the Zona Oeste church.

I travel tomorrow to Cordoba to co-facilitate a Spanish interpersonal skills workshop. The workshop starts Monday Sept.11 and finishes Friday Sept. 15. People will be traveling from the provinces of Mendoza, San Juan, Buenos Aires, Cordoba, Tucuman, Salta and Chubut for the workshop.

Bye for now and thank you for praying!

Cow's head, Conference and Distance Seminary

What do these three things have in common? They are all part of ministry in Northwest Argentina. In July I went to Salta for the Argentine Ladies' in Missions conference along with ladies from all over the country. I gave a workshop on how to help missionaries in crisis times. More than 75 ladies attended the workshop and over 300 ladies attended the 4 day conference. It was great to see the excitment for missions and the desire to learn more about how to help latin missionaries.
Last week Dick visited the distance seminary students in Tartagal, Joaquin V. Gonzalez, Yuto, Quebrachal, Fraile Pintado and Libertador. He's been visiting them once a month to encourage and answer any questions that they have. In Fraile Pintado they celebrated Dick's presence with a feast that included a cow's head which had been wrapped in newspaper and cooked in a mud oven. Dick says the tongue was the best part. :-) Rene Ache, a deacon from our church here in Tucuman accompanied Dick on this trip and was impacted by the needs that he saw and by the generousity of the churches.
Thanks so much for your prayers for us! I hope to write more often now that winter vacation is over and we're back into our regular schedule. Bye for now!

July 12 Trip to Tafi de Valle

Hi! I posted some pictures today from yesterday's trip we took to Tafi del Valle in the province of Tucuman. It was great to drive up into the mountains. We left in the morning and were back by evening. It's about a two hour drive each way. Really not very far away. It would be nice to go there more often. :-) Brandon and Wizzy Heersink went with us and enjoyed the view and the sunshine. If you come visit us sometime, we'd like to take you there too. :-)

I hope you have a nice weekend! Bye for now!

Las Yungas on the way to Tafi de Valle

Valley of Cactus, Tucuman

El Mollar, Valle de Tafi, Tucuman

July-Independence,Winter Break, Conference

Wow, I haven't posted for a couple of weeks. That's amazing. Since I've written last Argentina won the game that I wrote about last but lost to Germany. Germany lost their semi finals game and Italy won the World Cup yesterday (Sunday). Quite a few Argentines were happy that Italy won even though they very disappointed that Argentina didn't reach the semi final or the final.

Yesterday, July 9, was Independence Day here. We had a rather quiet Independence Day but did watch the final World Cup match.

Ben had his 19th birthday on July 8. Happy Birthday again Ben!

Andrea's two week winter break started this past weekend. :-)

Beth is studying hard and will be going to the beach in South Carolina with my mom later this month.

Since I wrote last Dick traveled for four days to visit some of the distance seminary students. Brandon and Wizzy Heersink traveled with him and had a great time.

Next week I travel to Salta with some other ladies from here to the Mujeres en Misiones Mundiales conference. I'm speaking at the conference on Thursday, July 20, about how to help missionaries who are going through a crisis time. The conference is for latin missionaries and churches that are interested in missions.

I'll look for some interesting pictures that we've taken lately and post them soon. :-) If you're reading this blog please let me know. We'd love to hear from you. Bye for now!

World Cup Fever!

Hello again from Argentina! If you're checking the blog this week, I thought I'd tell you a little about life here during the World Cup soccer competition. :-) Today Argentina plays Holland and as in the first two games that Argentina played and won, most of the school kids either go home to watch the game or watch it in school. World Cup fever is running high! This afternoon we'll watch the game here at our house with Brandon and Wizzy, the couple that are here for two months. I bought an Argentine flag yesterday at a traffic light. Unfortunately the light turned green while I was still paying and a few people behind me were pretty upset with me. The flag will be hanging in the front window today during the game like it was yesterday for Flag Day. :-)

I'll post one more picture of Buenos Aires that I took from the airplane before we landed there a week and a half ago. This is a closer look at the city from the air. :-) The darker blue between the city and the sky is the river Rio de la Plata.

Over Buenos Aires

High Over Brazil,on our way to Argentina

News-trip to Brazil and family happenings

Hello again from Argentina! We're enjoying a beautiful sunny fall day. It's nice to be able to rest some and get back into life here after our time in Brazil last week. On June 3 Dick and I traveled to Fortaleza for a field leaders' retreat. We had a great time connecting with colleagues from Latin America in a beautiful beachside setting. :-) See picture above. Barb Bentley stayed with Andrea until we returned home this past Sunday. Thanks Barb! During the week we participated in discussions and workshops about leadership. I led a workshop about listening and helping others solve problems. Before we returned to Tucuman we visited friends in Sao Paulo at the Antioch Mission. See picture above. :-) Marcia works in member care and training for the Brazilian mission agency. Her husband Silas is the director of the mission that Marcia's father started. They have two sons, Lucas and Andre (in the picture).

Andrea had a good time with Barb while we were gone. Ben had his first week with missionary kids last week at WorldVenture headquarters in Littleton, Colorado and says it went well. Yesterday Beth started her job as a Spanish translator for a clinic in Michigan. It's so good that Beth and Ben are enjoying their jobs. :-)

I'll sign off for now and include a couple of pictures. Thank you for praying!

Hello again from Tucuman! I just posted some pictures that Dick took during Beth's graduation from Taylor. :-) One is of Ben and Beth and the other is my mom Marlene on the left and Dick's mom Lois on the right with Beth in the middle. Beth is now moved in with her Grandma and Grandpa Greenman in Sparta. Ben arrived in Colorado today and will be working at WorldVenture headquarters with the Third Culture Kids' program. Dick arrived safely in Argentina this morning and is traveling from Buenos Aires to Tucuman tonight on the overnight bus. He'll be here in the morning Lord willing. I'm waiting for him and praying. As I write this Andrea is with the youth group kids at a special "quince", a birthday party for a girl from church who is now 15 years old. Thank you so much for your prayers for our family as we're once again spread out over a few states and two countries. Bye for now!