Argentina | Missions Blog

Argentina

First we would like to thank everyone who have been praying for us and for the work going on in Argentina. It is amazing to see the work that the Lord is doing in the lives of His people.

The Lord saved me at the age of 16 and then called me to preach. In 1994, at the age of 18, I was licensed to preach by New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Kalamazoo, MI. Immediately after graduating from High School I moved to Texas to attend seminary knowing that the Lord had a plan and a purpose in where He was leading. While at seminary, the Lord blessed me in a great way by calling my father-in-law, Paul Clark, to preach and to attend Texas Baptist Institute and Seminary where I was studying. Through Bro. Paul, I met and married the love of my life, Anastacia (Stacie) in 1996. During and after graduating from seminary, the Lord gave us many opportunities to pastor His churches in the State of Texas as well as go on many short term mission trips. When we married we both felt that one day we would be on the foreign mission field. We did not know, however, that it would be after almost 20 years of preaching and pastoring inside the US. In 2016, Nevill’s Chapel Missionary Baptist Church became our sending church and after two years of deputation we arrived in Argentina with six of our seven children supported in prayer by many at home.

Before coming to Argentina, I spoke Spanish but had to do a complete overhaul on my vocabulary, pronunciation, and general cultural understanding. My wife spoke a little Spanish when we came, but had the furthest to go to get to a

conversational level. She worked extremely hard to learn, taking full time classes at the beginning of our first term and continuing her studies throughout. She is now able to read, write, and speak the Spanish language to the point that she can teach a class and carry on a conversation.

Our kids learned a lot as well. They had to adapt to a new way of life, new cuisine, new friends, and new ways of doing everything familiar in a foreign setting. They had to adapt to several things that seem strange to kids born and raised in Texas. There are no pinto beans, Jalapeños, spicy food in general, bacon, free refills on drinks, drinking fountains, okra, black eyed peas, Dr Pepper, Rotel, Velveeta, Frito’s, etc… Here are a few things that you will find in Argentina:

• You might see a man hole cover or sidewalk tiles floating during a hard
• You may have another individual, adult or child, drink out of your cup if you set it
• There are no big breakfasts and you will not find a cafe open until 9 or 10 in the morning.
• You are expected to NOT show up on time for many events and if you arrive early you could cause the hosts distress
• Some restaurants offer small sheets of waxed paper

for napkins.

• Every pizza slice comes with an olive and most pizza restaurants do not have pepperoni.
• You may receive candy for change in many
• Supper time is usually between 9 and midnight and snack time between 4 and 6 in the afternoon.

• There are lines to wait in for everything. Do not expect to run to the bank and back quickly. You generally will take a number for most places that you visit, even the butcher, before they will attend to Losing your patience while waiting in line will only send you to the back of the line.
• Whatever you have planned for the day may get interrupted by either the rain, a protest, or a holiday of

which there are many.

The city of Cordoba has a population of 1.5 million people. The task before us is great but our God is greater!

Our first term goals were to:

1. Learn the language and
2. Make as many contacts as
3. Love the
4. Let God work in their lives and through our
5. Develop solid biblical resources in Spanish that would be freely

At the time of this writing, we have completed and by God’s grace exceeded all of our first term goals.

• We spent a lot of time in conversation with individuals and groups, sharing the gospel, preaching and

teaching.

• We made and maintained many
• The people know that we love them even if they do not understand why we chose to come to
• We and many of our friends there have seen God work in amazing ways that amazes us
• We were able to develop free high-quality resources as well as hundreds of audio messages and videos that are available worldwide through the Internet.

As we return (on the 15th of February)to begin our second term, pray for us that we can take what we have prepared and add to it!

Please pray with us that the Lord:

• Would touch the hearts of three or four families willing to open their homes for a Bible
• Would lead us to and provide us a fixed place where we can have
• Will allow us to rent a house that will be better suited to our second term goals. Our current house is small and without a garage for our We currently have to rent a parking garage about three blocks from our house.
• Open the way for us to reach out to the many cities surrounding Cordoba without a gospel presence. For more information, please visit our website argentinabaptist.org and sign up for our monthly newsletter! On behalf of myself and all of my family, thank you for your continued prayers and support!

Scott Maness

For more information about our missions or to make a donation please click the link below.

https://www.abaptist.org/missions