A Difficult Decision

Over the last few months Jil and I have had the privilege of visiting with many of you, reflecting on the good things that God has done in La Plata because you have chosen to partner with us in reaching the poor there with the truth and love of Christ.  First and foremost, I want to reaffirm our deep, heartfelt gratitude for each and every one of you receiving this email.  It is our joy to count you all as teammates.

Over the course of the last year, God has been prompting Jil and I to consider whether or not Argentina is the best place for us to be.  Obviously, with anything like this, there are numerous factors (too many to get into in an email like this), but at the heart of all of them, was an ever-increasing realization that Argentina was simply not where the Lord was continuing to lead us.  So, after much prayer, meditation on scripture, counsel, worship, journaling and many, many late night conversations, we’ve decided not to return for another term, as we’d originally planned.

We do not know yet exactly what is next, but we are excited, and eager to see how our great God continues to direct us.  We are in discussions with GBIM about possible ministry opportunities in the U.S., and will update all of you as soon as we have more definitive plans, maybe even with the next few weeks.

In the meantime, please don’t stop praying.  Tonight Jil and I head down to Argentina to wrap things up there.  Please, please pray that we will have good, Spirit-led interactions, even as we say many hard-to-say goodbyes.  Please also be praying that we will have success in selling our car and furniture, and closing up all loose ends.  And finally, please also be praying for our girls, Emerson and Greta.  They won’t be accompanying us on the trip.

Early on in our time in La Plata, Jil and I began to realize that we would never be able to give those we were working with more than we would end up receiving (either directly or indirectly) from them.  I recently heard someone say that “you just can’t out-give God”.  And he was right.  No matter how much we gave (and believe me when I say that we gave all that we had or knew to give), it always seemed that we ended up on the receiving end, blessed sometimes with wonderful friendships, other times with enriching cross-cultural interactions, and yet other times with deeper intimacy with our amazing God.  And in all of this, I can honestly say that it was an absolute honor and joy for us to have the privilege of building relationships with wonderful people half-way across the planet.

Thank you for your part in this.  We love you all.