2nd month video

Here's a video, mostly of the kids, and mostly made for family or those who really like looking at our kids do kid stuff like cooing and giggling.

Asados and dumpster diving

Ritter beating the heat in his makeshift pool

Dylan beating the trash bin

Cheri writes…
The weather here has warmed up enough and the wind has subsided enough to finally get out and really enjoy the great outdoors. While Dylan was off trekking to Tronador, I stayed in town and hoped that something fun would come our way. Lo and behold we got invited to go to an “asado” (BBQ) by a lake with the church we have recently started attending since our move to the barrio. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but packed up what I thought would be needed and the pastor was kind enough to pick us up so we wouldn’t have to cart it across town. Being “car-less” does have it’s advantages such as keeping in shape by walking, but being solo with kids carrying stuff makes it quite a bit harder. We arrived at the appointed time (9am) and of course since we are in Latin America, we function on Latin time which means everyone else arrived at 10am, leaving by 10:40am and getting to the lake by 11. Slowly and begrudgingly I am adapting to this time shift, but my Type-A personality really fights this losing battle.
We pile into a car and head off to a lake about 20
Lago Mascardi is gorgeous with it’s striking peaks all around, lush woods, crystal clear water and beaches with smooth-ish stones to lay on. There are about 30 people in all from the church that have come. The men get busy building the fire for the parrilla and the women are trying to lather the wriggling kids with sunscreen before they reach the cold water. Once Amelia was down for what I was hoping was going to be a long nap, I got in for a swim and though it was very cold, I eventually was numb enough to enjoy the deep, clear water. Ritter was content playing with his pail and shovel with the other kids trying his best to communicate despite the language barrier. Kids are hard enough to understand at that age, let alone in a foreign language, so Kudos to him for keeping at it. Amelia woke up shortly after that (so much for the long nap), but the women were so happy to pass her around, wiping up her spit and making her laugh. Lunch was then served and I realized it was like no other picnic I had ever been to. There were massive, football sized slabs of beef, various kinds of sausages and other things that I didn’t fully recognize. What they call a “sandwich” was merely a hogie roll sliced open and a chunk of meat slapped inside. I’m sure this sounds like a vegetarian’s nightmare, but it was really quite good. The only kicker is that the meat included the tendons, ligaments, grizzle and who knows what else so it was a real challenge to tear off edible pieces. No one else seemed to mind, so Ritter and I fought the good fight and had fun doing so. There were also salads of all kinds which were fun to try and lots of soda to wash it all down. And of course no asado would be complete without the national drink of Argentina- mate. Despite the heat of the day, they still fired up their kettles and passed around the mate with the bombilla (metal straw), sipping what smells to me like an ashtray. Needless to say, I did not give in to the peer pressure, giving the excuse that I was breastfeeding and I didn’t want the caffeine to keep her up all night (half excuse, half truth because some Argentine women say that babies need healthy doses of both milk and mate to succeed in life).
Anyway, it was a great time that we all enjoyed. Hopefully they will do it again next month and Dylan can join us. Speaking of Dylan…… he earned some serious man points this morning as he tackled a very undesirable task. Our apartment is right next to the concrete trash bin that is starting to really reek now that summer has arrived. People should put their tied trash bags in the bin rather than just throwing loose trash inside so the trash-picker-uppers can just grab the bags and go as there is no trash truck that lifts and dumps like in the states. So this trash bin is about three quarters full of loose, decomposing, maggot-filled, mouse-inhabited, fly-swarming trash that leaves no room for the actual bags of trash to fit inside. The smell reminds me of our ministry to those that live on the city dump in Quito, Ecuador. Dylan said it reminds him of the open sceptic river of the Burigange River in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Either way, it’s pretty rancid. A while back I was convicted to attack and clean it (again, my Type-A personality!), putting all the loose trash in bags so that the trash guy could pick it up. Dylan had the same conviction, though neither of us mentioned it because secretly neither of us wanted to do it (obviously). Then, however, Brandon came to visit and he suggested us doing it as a way to serve our neighbors and set an example of Christlike servanthood. So, it was confirmed and we decided to buy some trash bags, gloves and get to work. All in all, it took a few hours and right at the very end one of our neighbors actually came over to help and sopped up the super nasty funk at the bottom. Our actions not only stirred up our neighbors, but also the newly evicted mice as two ran immediately ran into our house and had us chasing them around. Never a dull moment here in the barrio. Stay tuned for more stories later…..

Mt. Tronodor Hike

Dylan says- I recently went up to Mt. Tronodor (The Thunderer) for some trekking and evangelism with Hans and Daniel his son and another friend of theirs. Here's some fun pictures of the hike. Tronodor is the highest peak around here and has a refugio. I was able to leave Hebrew, Spanish, English bibles, and a Hecho book in their library for future trekkers to read. Tried to engage people in some spiritual conversations but it didn't go anywhere.


Crevasse jumping
Inside Refugio Tronodor with their library show in the upper part of photo

Tronodor Ice Fall

Refugio Tronodor

This is a long update

Dylan writes- I’m not sure where we left off last so I’ll just write about some things that have happened lately and hope not to overlap. The main thing going on in our lives right now is my friend Brandon from Oregon is down visiting us for a week. He showed up on Tuesday with three bags, two of which were for us. So now we have 125 Hecho/Done books, 25 Spanish/English New Testaments, and a lot of yummy comfort food and some new towels. The towels are so we don’t have to risk ruining our landlords white towels and the ones down here are super expensive. Anyways, we are excited to have more gospel material to give out, and most of all, my friend to help me deliver it all. On his first night in town we walked about 6 miles and passed out 400+ gospel tracts downtown. The next day was super windy and we went to the farthest barrio away from my house on a bus and distributed tracts up there in the fierce wind for a few hours while walking home. We’ve able to talk a lot about God and theology but even better has been to apply our theology and put it into practice through evangelism. One thing I’ve noticed about life lately is by doing what we are doing where we are, our theology has become more grounded in reality. That is to say, it’s no longer just words and sophisticated talk over coffee with friends. The application, or incarnation of those discussions solidifies the words and thoughts, they take on a new and deeper meaning. In a way it’s like God in Spirit form, becoming human in Jesus’ form. You take the invisible and make it visible. You incarnate it, give it flesh, like Colossians 2:9 which says “for in Him (Jesus) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.” Brandon has been bold to jump right in and help with the evangelism even though he barely speaks any Spanish. Needless to say he’s been really encouraging and also helpful with the kids. We even got to go out on a date last night and didn’t get home until past 11pm! On Thursday the weather was really nice and no wind so Brandon and I loaded up our packs and hiked up to Refugio Frey, a 3 hour hike. This is a mountain Refugio like the one we spent New Years at but there is a lot of rock climbing around Frey. I wish I had my gear to climb but we only had a limited time so we focused on talking with people about Jesus. One young man named Juan was open to things of the Lord and he was thankful to be given an Hecho (Done) book. We also met a Swedish couple with a 14 month old boy who we invited to a parrilla (bbq) tomorrow at our house. The husband, Andrew, is an agnostic, so we talked a little about that. Brandon is really looking forward to the parrilla and diving into some deep discussion with him more. The area around Frey is really magnificent as you can see in the pictures. It’s all these granite spires just perfect for climbing. Most of the climbers just hang out in the Refugio after the days climb and read and eat. So I strategically left some climber specific gospel tracts and a few bibles in different languages on the book shelf. On our hike out the next day we came to a beautiful view point when a group of Israelis came up and asked for some route information. I took the opportunity to proclaim to them Jesus as the Messiah of Israel. I was able to recite to one of them the first part of the “Shema” which is Deuteronomy 6:4-9. It goes “Shema Israel Adonai Elohenu Adonai Echad” which means in Hebrew “Hear oh Israel the Lord is God the Lord is One.” The Shema is the most common declaration of faith for a Jew so for a Gentile such as myself to walk up on a mountain top and declare it to them is a bit of an attention getter. Three of the Israelis accepted gospel tracts in Hebrew that spoke more about Jesus being the Messiah. Oh, on that subject real quick. We had dinner in town a few nights ago at the Israeli restaurant where we previously spoke with Avi the owner. This time I brought a Hebrew New Testament and talked with him more and he accepted it. This is a big deal because most Israelis are taught that the New Testament is a forbidden book and they don’t want anything to do with it. In reality it is a Jewish book written by Jews about mostly Jews and when it’s in the hands of a modern Jewish person God will do amazing life changing things. Pray for Avi to have his eyes opened to God’s truth through His word.

So today was really cool. We starting out by planning on going to El Bolson for the day to do evangelism at the Saturday market. Well by the time we got to the bus station we changed that plan and were headed north instead to Villa Angostura for some similar work but in a new place. Well the buses were sold out so we quickly hoped a local bus back up to La Catedral, the ski resort where Brandon and I were yesterday at the end of our hike. The whole day was just amazing to see how things unfolded for the purposes of God and the spreading of His word. Firs,t out of nowhere 3 different groups of Orthodox Jews came walking by where we were sitting at a café. I was wearing my blue tie-dye shirt compliments of www.wisedyes.com in Arcata, California. It says in Hebrew the entire verse of John 3:16 on the front. So the Hebrew writing really got their attention. They read my shirt and asked me about it and general type stuff like who I was and all that. As much as is possible in Spanish I told them about my love for God, the God they worship. Also that I am a Gentile but thanks to God choosing the Jewish people and giving them the Torah (Law) and Nevi’im (Prophets) I was able to know who Messiah would be. And through Him, Jesus, I can know God personally. A few out right rejected me and walked away pretty quickly. Two of them seemed open to talk and listen more and I read to them in Spanish from Matthew about Jesus fulfilling prophecies. I offered them the New Testament but they declined saying it was the Sabbath and they couldn’t carry the book because that would be “work.” I was saddened to see someone doing the same thing that happened 2000 years ago, the “law” (religion) kept someone from knowing God personally. So I thought our work was done for the day but Cheri wanted to go saturate the area with gospel tracts. We began to head in one direction but it started to lightly rain so we turned to go inside a restaurant for shelter. Once inside we decided to catch the next bus but didn’t know when it was. Cheri decided to ask a couple sitting near us who looked like typical Argentinians. They turned out to be much older Israelis, probably 60+ years old. The guy was excited to see my shirt and we recited the Shema together much to both our delight. Cheri began a conversation with the woman and I with the man. Brandon held down the fort by watching both kids, what a trooper he is! We spent about 15 minutes with them which was fascinating and in the end they took a Hebrew New Testament. I consider it a victory anytime a Jewish person takes a New Testament because it means they are open to finally learn about their Messiah. By now we are super excited for what God was doing with us today. We finished our time at the ski resort by passing out a bunch of gospel tracts and one Hecho book to an interested guy who was really into philosophy. During that time we bumped into Juan from Refugio Frey. He thanked me again for the Hecho book and told me he’d been reading it a lot. Then on the bus ride home for icing on the cake the elderly folks sitting next to us were from Colorado and I was able to tell them my testimony and about the saving grace of Jesus all in English. The self proclaimed “Liberal” even took an English tract and thanked me for my efforts here. Once back in town we passed out another pack of 200 tracts on the streets and ended up at home very exhausted. It was a day well spent in the service of our Lord. Many seeds went out and many people heard the true gospel of Jesus Christ. All is well with the kids. Amelia is starting to roll over, she smiles a lot and can giggle now. Ritter is using a few more Spanish words. Sometimes he will use a word like avion instead of airplane because that’s what his friend Emmanual says. So all is well in our neck of the world.




Uh, hello, is this thing plugged in?
Dylan talking with a man about the Lord

Brandon and Dylan at Refugio Frey

The area around Refugio Frey, these granite spires are about 6 pitches, or 600 feet tall from the base. My goal is to climb the tall one on the right.

Refugio Frey

Brandon walking across the snow

Trekking views into Chile

Dylan on the trek home from Frey

Brandon doing some distribution in the park

a group of teenagers reading gospel tracts

She loves to smile

Feliz Año Nuevo

Pictures are easier than writing long updates, so here are some of our last week. Though what isnt show in pictures is the daily work of tract distribution. We´ve put out close to 1500 of the new gospel tracts so far. It´s really fun, we take turns or go out as a family and try to target new areas we´ve never been. It makes for a great time of prayer for the people who receive the word. Usually we get into short conversations with people who have questions.

Enjoying apple strudel at a touristy lookout where Cheri laid out the gospel pretty well for a German tourist. Daddy and baby girl

A fitting picture of where we need to be

This is Ritter going pee in a water bottle on a public bus that was really crowded and wasn´t going to stop for him.

Us trekking up to Refugio Lopez with Diego, Carla, and their 5 week old Valentino. We went there to spend New Years with them. It rained the whole time and was really cold for summer months. But the weather kept us inside with a few other tourists and allowed for some really amazing conversations about the Lord.

we sipped mate with the locals. One guy Rodolpho who I shared with and gave a Done book to in return gifted me his personal mate(the gourd which holds the drink) and bombilla (the metal straw). It was a huge complement for him to give me his personal mate.

Cheri and Ritter arrive in the rain

3 girls from Buenos Aires who heard the truth for the frist time.

We had turkey for dinner! a real treat.They don´t have baking bags like the USA so they cover the bird in masa, a corn meal shell. It was so juicy and good!

A big communal dinner in the Refugio with about 7 countries represented.

Diego and Martin who work the Refugio lit the turkey on fire before they served it.

the two solar panels that power the electricity at the refugio

Refugio Lopez