I spent Summer 2000 in South America on a missions trip with Global Missions Fellowship; one month in beautiful Argentina, and one month in even more beautiful Chile. The focus of the missions trip was church planting. Church planting is a funny term that basically refers to starting up churches in towns or neighborhoods that do not have one yet. During our two months in South America, our group of 13 "Gringos" from across the States participated in five different week-long church planting "campaigns". Each campaign focused on helping start up a new church in a community.

Describing how these campaigns worked will take some effort; bear with me. First of all, there were the thirteen of us who came from the United States -- all twenty-somethings near college age and all entertaining thoughts of becoming career missionaries. Secondly, our group travelled with varying numbers of beloved translators. Our translators - all Christians - came from a college-level Bible Institute based in Buenos Aires. Now, this traveling group of ours would team up with predetermined local church fellowships at each of the localities we ministered at. And thus a motley crue of locals, translators, and North Americans was formed.

This group would spend the whole week ministering in a community. During the day, we would go out in groups of 2 or 3 (American, translator, local) into the neighborhood and go door-to-door in order to share what the Bible teaches -- how, through Jesus Christ, sins can be forgiven and how men can come into relationship with God. Unlike the expected cynical response in the USA, at many (even most) of the homes people were interested in talking and/or listening. During each evening our group held a one-hour long "church" service for the community, replete with dramas, kids activities, worship songs, and preaching -- all for the purpose of teaching about Jesus Christ. The goal of the whole week was to connect those in the community interested in Christian fellowship and Bible study with the local leaders, forming the beginnings of a new church congregation.

Well, this is pretty much our group, plus a couple of translators and one older guy I don’t really know. The group leader, David, is the short guy squatting in the middle of the picture. You can pick up on the rest of the names later…

Pablo, Vince, Daniel. To help you understand these three amigos, I provide this handy lingo translator: 1) "Te gusta la lechugita" = "Man, you sure like the lettuce here, don't you?" = "It is apparent that a lady in the vicinity is very attractive to you" 2) "Mi ya-yo" = "My brother" 3) "Tiras plumas" = "You are throwing feathers" = "You are blatantly flirting" (used together with #1) 4) "Help me Holy Ghost!" = "God, I need assistance!" (Sometimes used with #1 and #3... j/k) 5) "And you know why that is!" = "It's because I'm black" (Vince only, of course) 6) "Kim Basinger" = "Brooke Shaughnessy"

My friend Kim Basinger, flanked by two translators: Daniel and Pablo. Aside from being completely loco, Daniel and Pablo utilized interesting means to mark jokes that had bombed: cricket noises. If you are in a comedy house and a joke falls completely flat, what do you hear? Nothing, of course, except for the sounds of the crickets in the background. Hence...

Nestor (at right) and his family in their Reconquista, Argentina home (below). This beloved family opens up their home for a weekly neighborhood Bible Study, and they housed and fed a few of us for the week we were there. It was awesome to see how they are continually being used by God to teach others about Christ and demonstrate Christ's love in their community.

After long hours of working as a mechanic and sharing about Jesus, what better way to end the day? (just kidding, of course)

A puppet show of the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15) for children of Mendoza, Argentina.

Myself and 6-year-old Saul. Now, mind you, he may not appear like the happiest camper in this picture, but make NO mistake, Saul and I really got along well. And for me, that is an accomplishment. Usually kids hate me. But Saul and I were buddies, thanks to hours of the game of catch and hours of me nodding at him like I could actually understand his Spanish. I miss the guy.

Brooke and Roberto. Fluffy, a deceased badger or mink (or something cuddly), can be seen around Roberto’s neck. Brooke, you are like a sister to us! Remember, we reserve the right to screen all your future suitors.

The Argentine equivalent of the White House, of "Evita" fame. Madonna acted out her role on the lower balcony to the left, while the real Evita spoke from the top balcony. If only these were the pink houses Mellencamp sang about.... yeah, yeah, I hear the crickets in the background.

Saul, his father Miguel, and myself. Miguel and I were mutual teachers / pupils. His English and my Spanish are at about the same level (of bad). Miguel is truly a student of English at heart; whenever he grows frustrated with the language, he does not hesitate to return to those three special words: "I kill you." God’s grace be with you, Miguel!

Vince Campbell. Within minutes of meeting him, I placed Vince right near the top of my mental "Do NOT fight this person" list. Vince is a 6-foot-3 black belt and a numchucks and staff expert. Thankfully he is focused on delivering Christ, not punches. Here Vince is pondering how he'd lay the smack down on the pigeons if they tried anything funny. Hey, man, I don't think they'll eat any of your bread -- and you know exactly why that is!

Sheep and horses in the Argentine Andes, providing a brief visual distraction in the midst of a 26-hour van ride. In all seriousness, public transportation systems in Argentina are akin to time machines. You step into a van or bus in that country and - BAM! - you warp into the future; by the time you emerge outside one or even two days have elapsed. Argentina must be guarding some very effective time-travel secrets. Unfortunately, present technology does not allow for backward travel. Maybe Doc Brown and Marty can be consulted.

Rod, trying to read the Bible, and two dogs, trying to slobber on the Bible.

A residential road in Reconquista, Argentina

THE ANDES MOUNTAINS, ARGENTINA

Brent, hailing from Dallas, and Saul. "Brent, I need to have a word with you…" Thanks for your friendship, buddy.

The town of San Martin de los Andes, Argentina. San Martin, a ski resort town, was the wealthiest community that we worked in. Predictably, interest in Jesus Christ was noticeably lower there. Given a few dollars, it is quite human to trust in money to bring great fulfillment in life. However, money never has lived up to such expectations, and it never will.

The Evangelical Christian church at San Martin

All men under Christ’s Lordship: the guys of our group with some of the guys from the San Martin church.

Virginia and David in the Andes Mountains

Precious. Brooke is going to make a fabulous mother one of these days.