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

Christmas and such

Here is our new neighborhood called ¨Barrio Elfelen¨

Ritter´s Christmas gift that I had to exchange because it broke the first time he tried it

We live on the bottom floor in the middle of the picture



Another view of the barrio after a rainstorm

A family picture at our friend´s house for Christmas

Here is the parilla we smelled most of the day- lamb cooked over coals

Amelia in her crib with a mobile we made as a family for her

Here are the brownies we gave out to our neighbors

My first batch of homemade empanadas!

Our neighbors preparing the lamb for the parilla

10,000 gospel tracts ready to give out. Please pray for the people´s hearts as they recieve them


Cheri writes- This year for Christmas things are a bit different as I’m sure you can imagine. No Santa anywhere to be seen, no elves, no Rudolph, no Christmas carols, no massive crowds at Walmart, no Christmas light wars with neighbors, no Christmas cards you receive and immediately check to see if they are on your list, no kids going bonkers over what the latest fad in gifts is, none of that. It’s actually quite refreshing to us. I dread Christmas chaos every year and I’m glad to be out of it. Of course I miss family and friends and even pulling out the ornaments for the Christmas tree as they are fun trip down memory lane. Here in Argentina things are much more mellow and people don’t seem nearly as rallied up over the holiday season as in the states. There are a few decorations up here and there, stores are having sales, the grocery stores are well stocked with various fruit cakes and candied nuts, but other than that you probably wouldn’t even know it was Christmas time. Last night we went to our church for the Christmas service and live nativity scene. Amelia was asked to be the baby Jesus, so we committed to going regardless of how late it started (8 pm) or how long it went (11pm!). I think if a church service in America went till 11pm it would cause a small uprising and it certainly did in our family. Ritter started melting down at about 10pm and they hadn’t even started the nativity scene. Amelia did ok with Mary for a while, but then had her own meltdown shortly before it was over. It was a long night and today we’re laying low to try and recover. So for Christmas Dylan and I decided to save the money we would have spent on each other or on Christmas in general and do something different. Since we just moved to a new neighborhood, I thought I could make a bunch of brownies and give them out with some scriptures in Spanish pertaining to Christ’s birth. Today was going to be the trial run and I was super excited. I looked at the recipe on the back of the bag of flour and got all the ingredients. A few problems presented themselves as I went. For starters, I didn’t check to see how much chocolate I needed, I just got a bar of baking chocolate. So, I had to run back to the store. I rode my bike, didn’t have a bike lock yet (I just bought it yesterday and there were no bike stores open since it was Sunday), so I asked the guard at the grocery store to watch it for a few moments while I got more chocolate. He obliged grudgingly, but I was warned not to do it again. Then I got home and realized I didn’t have any measuring devices, so I had to down some yogurt to use the container of 200 grams and estimate quantities based on that. Then it occurred after I measured everything out that grams could be either the weight of the yogurt or the liquid amount. I didn’t know, but I figured that even if it turned out terrible, I could always put it over ice cream and it would be fine. Then the directions did not indicate what size pan I should pour the batter in… how lame is that! So I used I used what I had, and hoped it would work. The directions also failed to indicate what temperature I should set the oven to. It just said to bake in an “horno suave”….. what?!?? A smooth oven?? Plus it’s a gas stove with little adjustment, so I fired it up on low and hoped it would bake it eventually. The directions said 25 minutes, but I checked it and it was still gooey. I tried again in 45 minutes, then again in an hour and still gooey in the center and by then burned on the bottom and sides. Oh well, “A” for effort and it was still pretty edible. I’ll try again before Christmas and hopefully my neighbors will appreciate it more than a store bought fruit cake.


4 days later….

So I had a local friend of mine come over and go through the whole brownie process with me and it went much more smoothly. They turned out excellent, so I put huge squares on Christmas decorated napkins over green plates and wrapped it all up with a bow and card with Isaiah 9:6 and John 14:6. We made 11 bags and took them to our immediate neighbors. They were quite shocked at first, but we spent some time at each apartment and a few even invited us back for mate later. So that was our Christmas Eve, all that done after a long day of distribution of tracts on the streets. Christmas day we woke up reading about the birth of Christ in Luke, a lazy breakfast, then opened up our 4 gifts. Dylan got salt and pepper shakers that dispense so much at once that they’re not functional. I got a fun apron since the countertop we have is really low and water from the sink goes all over. Ritter got a bubble gun that broke the first time he used it. Bummer. Amelia got a butterfly mobile that we all pitched in to make: Ritter painted the butterflies, Dylan found some wire in the street to hang it and I put the contraption together. Later that afternoon, we went over to an American family’s house for chicken, stuffing and mashed potatoes. All in all, it was a blessed Christmas. God is so good and we’re so thankful to have the opportunity to serve Him down here in Argentina. What an honor and pleasure it really is for Him to have brought us here. Please continue to pray for the hearts of the people here that the good news of the Gospel will fall on rich soil.

recent stuff

Here´s me and Ritter building a clothing shelf unit for him out of free fruit boxes we found. Our landlady lent us the hammer and nails. Everything "used" in Argenita doesnt loose it value, so I figured better to save money and build something than drop a bundle on a real or used dresser. We had a lot of fun building it and it works great.

Ritter playing with Mattias, the Landlady´s grandson and some other little neighbor kid

Almost Amish quality, but not quite.

We had a parilla (BBQ), it was super tasty! I love MEAT.

Amelia was Baby Jesus for the church´s Christmas play last night. And when I say last night I mean it started at 9pm and ended at 11pm with both kids crying and wanting to go home.

We took Ritter and Mattias climbing today. This was Ritters first roped climb. I was really proud of him.

Lago Nauel Huapi.

New House in the Barrio

Well we've finally found a place and we moved there today. We aren’t sure how long we will be here. Right now we’ve paid for 6 weeks which is almost half the price of our previous tourist cabana. It's a 2 bedroom apartment on the bottom floor of a massive complex. It’s located right in the middle of town between the touristy nice stuff and the Barrio where the poorer people live. This location is really perfect for the upcoming mass distribution of gospel tracts we will be doing. We can walk anywhere which will save money on buses. It’s got a decent view and came partially furnished by the nice landlady who lives above us. Our American friends Ginger and her Swiss husband Hans, both previous YWAM’rs, helped us move here and even loaned us sheets and a small refrigerator. On Saturday we are going to have a Parilla, which is basically a BBQ, but Argentinian style. People in our new barrio seem to be nicer and easier to meet than the more affluent folks from our previous location. People are on foot here too so we fit right in. There are also lots of kids around for Ritter to play with and learn Spanish. Plus it has a washing machine for all of Amelia’s diapers so Cheri is happy about that. I am getting our 10,000 gospel tracts tomorrow so we will begin to saturate the entire city with them. 2 Corinthians 9:6, though talking about financial giving, applies just the same to our work with tracts. It says “…he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” Who knows what God will do with the tracts once they get into the hands of people eager for God’s truth. Hudson Taylor, the great missionary to China in the 1800’s was saved after reading a gospel tract. So one of our goals for the next 5 months will be distributing all 10,000 of them. We’ve got a couple of friends coming down in January that will be able to help out a lot. This last week I was able to have some great conversations with people. I went hiking with a friend named Diego who works at a Refugio Lopez in the mountains. We hiked to his work and then a bunch of local and foreign tourists showed up. I was able to speak in Spanish for ½ hour with a couple who actually knows and works with a guy we met on our bike ride 4 years ago. They gladly took a Done book and eagerly listened as I explained the difference between trying to earn your salvation through works and God’s free gift of life through Jesus. Cheri got to spend about an hour sharing the gospel with our neighbors before we moved out. They listened intently and were excited to receive a Spanish/English Bible to practice their English and also appreciated a Done book to further explain what Cheri had given an overview of. They were two young guys that had been dabbling in drugs, pray that the seeds she planted did not fall on dry soil. I also met an Israeli guy named Boaz on the bus who was curious to hear about Jesus the true Messiah. At the refugio Diego let me leave a Hebrew New Testament and a Spanish Bible along with a Done book. There are many trekkers who spend the nights in these places and I’m sure God will prick the hearts of some to read His holy word. One of my goals is to leave bibles in all of the 6 other refugios this summer. I was able to hike up Cerro Otto yesterday and do just that at Refugio Berghof. While there I spoke with Estefan the caretaker for 20 minutes about Jesus. I’m certain he’ll be opening the bible I left as he seemed curious about a couple things I had to say. Two of the neighbor dogs we call “Black dog” and “Yellow Dog” followed me 1000 ft up the mountain and back for about a 5 mile hike in all. The next morning they showed up to say hello, or I guess goodbye because we left shortly there after. Another objective I have is to place Hebrew bibles in all the hostels downtown where God might use them to reach travelers I’ll never meet. So that’s what we’ve been up to lately. Pray that as we go out daily God will go before us.



Our new apartment, only the lower floor, but it has a white steel rebar picket fence and a rose bush!
Black dog and Yellow dog on the hike

Not sure what she´s thinking here

Cheri and Amelia having lunch with an American girl we met

Ritter found this bamboo stick and immediately called it his ¨staff¨. He then said he needed to part the sea like Moses! He is starting to speak a few words of Spanish on his own now.

Sipping mate

Canyon hike up to Refugio Lopez

view from Refugio Lopez

week 3

Dylan writes- Well it’s been about a week since our last update so here goes. I went to the dentist the other day as is my habit in foreign countries. For $30 I was able to get a filling done. No X-Rays required here, truth is dentists in the US do that for liability reasons and possibly to do a better job. But a cavity is a cavity, and now it’s gone. The dentist asked me if I wanted pain medicine for before the drilling, uh, yeah I did. Before the dentist could drill, the shot had to take effect so I took that time to talk business with the guy. He was pretty open to spiritual stuff so we had a decent conversation about his eternal destination. Some might think that’s too personal and perhaps not the best timing or place to do have that conversation, considering he had a drill and could inflict some serious pain to me. That’s none of my concern. I’m finding out more and more that people really do want to talk about serious things like politics and religion regardless of what the old cliché says. So why waste our lives only talking about trivial polite things when the Bible clearly says that “it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgement” Hebrews 9:27. Shouldn’t we all be seriously interested in finding out our eternal destination or telling others if they don’t know theirs? Cheri and I have been reading a book lately titled “23 minutes in Hell.” It’s about a guy who God allowed to experience Hell for 23 minutes in order that he could tell the world what it’s like and wake people up to the reality of its existence. Needless to say it’s pretty eye opening and has lit a fire (no pun intended) under us to not waste time while people are perishing daily. So we’ve been passing out a lot of gospel tracts everywhere we go and purposefully engaging people in conversations in a biblical way. Jesus modeled a great way to approach people in the book of John chapter 4. He talked to the woman at the well about normal day to day stuff and used that to transition into spiritual things. Sometimes just giving someone a gospel tract is enough to start a conversation. We are running low on Hecho (Done) books. Only 3 left, so I ordered another 125 since they seem to be well received. We can get bibles here no problem, but I also ordered another 25 Spanish/English ones from the States since those aren’t available either. Well once I had my tooth fixed I figured the $150 I saved on X-Rays could be spent on my wife. So we went out for a nice steak dinner downtown that night while Lidia and Albida watched the kids. Boy it was nice to just have a date away from the kids, and steaks are really cheap here too! Next day was a family day downtown. We rode the bus in and walked all over, hit up a mall where Ritter played on some toys, then to a park where he played some more. Amelia slept the whole time it seems. We finished up by shopping at the big grocery store and getting a taxi home with everything. It was really fun and we’re getting better at getting out with the kids all together. It does help that things have warmed up and the wind has died down lately. The other night there was a huge fire at the school 5 houses down. We almost had to evacuate at midnight, but everything ended up fine for us, not so much for the kids the next morning. I went down to El Bolson again for the day to look at some places to live. I figured if the Lord wanted us there He would provide something. I literally spent 2 hours walking in circles in a small neighborhood trying to track down the one really good lead we had. I could not find it and the landlord never answered either of her phones. None of the neighbors even knew about the place. The English guy with a car who we know down there who said he’d help us didn’t answer his phone either, nor did the Rental Agent who’s job it is to help people like us. So I was pretty frustrated and at a loss for ideas. I called 10 places from the Classifieds and got nothing. So I got on the bus and went home. I think that door is shut, at least for now. We will still pursue El Bolson but in the mean time there is work to be done here in Bariloche and God has already provided a place to stay. Though not ideal in size or location it does allow us the freedom to go to El Bolson if something opens up between now and then. We are staying in the same complex just beneath our current condo. It’s only a 1 bedroom so that’ll be a little rough with two kids. But it is truly all we can find that’s furnished, has all utilities and needs no contract. Our searching has shown us that something will likely open up at the end of summer in El Bolson. Yesterday Cheri engaged two Israeli girls with conversation about the Messiah. Both of them seemed to be pretty skeptical about religion and Jesus being the one true Messiah of Israel. They did get to hear the gospel though and took Hebrew gospel tracts to read later. I’m going climbing again tomorrow with an American. When a little more snow melt up higher I’ll probably spend a few nights in the refugios/shelters where up to 40 climbers congregate and climb nearby. That will allow for some great witnessing opportunities. We are also working on translating some climber specific gospel tracts into Spanish. Along those lines too we will be printing our own gospel tracts soon for daily distribution. It’ll be cheaper than shipping and they will be of better quality than the local bookmark type that are available in the Christian bookstore. I want to use the same format as the Living Water material that Ray Comfort uses. It basically is a Good Person Test that uses the Law (10 Commandments) to show a person they are guilty before God and need a Savior. Then it will present the good news of salvation in Jesus only. Acts 4:12 says “there I no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.” That’s the truth, that’s what we share, and that my friends is the end of this story.

PS.We now have an address at which we can receive mail should anyone wish to send some peanut butter, tasty asian spice packets, real pre-ground coffee, or presents for Ritter and Amelia.

The address is:
Dylan y Cheri o Lidia
Avenida Bustillo n 5005
CP:8400
Ciudad: San Carlos de Bariloche
Provincia: Rio Negro
Republica Argentina


Bus ride to El Bolson out my window
Fire down the street
Always so cute, except when she's screaming.
On a date
Cheri being bold sharing with some bikers
Ritter's friend Samuel. Ritter said to us the other day "my friend doesn't talk" because really he only speaks spanish, not english.
Ritter's new Pirate outfit
The daily bus ride into town
Witnessing at the bus stops is always good