Harris Family Argentina: 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.