September 2011
As of August 31st, my family and I will be arriving and traveling to churches in the United States. As we shared in our last prayer letter, we have many goals while being on furlough:
- Visiting and informing our churches of what the Lord has done in our lives and in the ministry of Argentina (we can be reached at 765-960-7793)
- Get my health under control – my first doctor’s appointment is Sept 12th
- Pray the Lord would allow us to encourage many more to give their lives to the cause of the evangelization of the world
- Raise funds for the property of the newest church (Hope Baptist Church). Our goal is $37,000.
Our last few weeks here in Argentina have been very encouraging. Here are a few highlights of what the Lord has done in the month of August:
- We have seen many saved and baptized, among those baptized was our daughter, Adriana. Many others are growing spiritually and becoming faithful.
- The Lord allowed us to have part in organizing the Berean Baptist Church as an autonomous, local Baptist Church. Pastor Hernan is being greatly used of the Lord and we are thrilled to see what God is doing. The church men worked hard to get the new church building up, which is twice as big as where they were meeting. It was exciting to see that this church building was constructed by the men of the church and they also sacrifiiced not only their time but also money to purchase most of the materials for the building. During this special service we heard many wonderful testimonies and goals from the church and it’s pastor on their desires to go forward for the Lord. They had a great turnout and their new building was full with around 75 adults and 32 children. The service was a great encouragement to our hearts!
- The Bible College is going well and we are thankful for those who studying and preparing their lives for the Lord’s service. In December, 4 students will graduate and I will return to have part in the graduation.
- The jail ministry has started once again. After a period of time not visiting the jails, the Lord has placed it on the heart of one of the Bible college students to enter in the jails once again. Along with a group of Bible college students, one of the young men that works as a security guard in the jail, has received permission preach to prisoners in some of the jails in Buenos Aires.
We thank you for your prayers and look forward to possibly seeing you on our furlough.
Here to Serve,
Jeff and Mindy Bush and family
www.reachingall.com
July – August 2011
We have much to praise the Lord about lately as well as a few prayer requests to share. We are in the middle of winter here and trying to keep warm! The end of this month we will be finishing the first semester of the Bible college and beginning the next semester a few week later. The Lord gave us over 20 students this semester and we are expecting an even greater 2nd semester. We praise the Lord for those studying and preparing their lives to serve our Savior.
We just recently came back from our annual Marriage Retreat with the churches. There were 29 couples that attended and the Lord worked in their lives. Pastor Austin Gardner from Alpharetta, GA, came down to teach the retreat. The Lord blessed in many ways and one man, whose wife has been praying for him for some time, received the Lord as his Saviour. While on the Marriage Retreat, one couple who had recently been saved wanted to get baptized in the ocean, so they were baptized… in 35 degree weather! The Sunday following the retreat we had a Vow Renewal service and around 15 couples renewed their marriage vows. Amen for the marriages that were strengthened!
The Berean Baptist Church continues to go forward. Pastor Hernan is doing a great job, winning souls and discipling! They are currently building a new building as the one they have now is just a small house with 2 rooms and is always full during the services. They had been buying, building and sacrificing to finish. As usual, the devil is looking to discourage and just recently, the church was broken into and most of their building supplies (tin for the roof, wood, etc) was stolen. Pray that the Lord will replace these materials and protect the church from further theft.
We had mentioned starting a new church, the Hope Baptist Church, in the last prayer letter. Praise the Lord we have found land and made the first of many payments. We ask that you would pray about helping us with the initial payments on the land and building. We need $12,000 as soon as possible so we can get this church going. One of the Bible college students who graduated in 2010 will be starting this new church with a handful of faithful church members who live in this area of the city. If you would like to help with this need you can send your donation to Macedonia World Baptist Missions and mark it Jeff Bush – Hope Baptist Church Fund.
This September we will be taking our furlough. It has been almost 4 years since our last furlough and time has flown, but our main reason for going back is to get a doctor’s advice on my Rheumatoid Arthritis. It was not our original plans to travel, but we have been strongly advised that it is time to get more medical help and then return with more knowledge of my health problem. We will be visiting many of our churches and will need to visit some new churches as well. If you would like to have us in, we would enjoy hearing from you – please give me a call at 770-456-5667 or you may email me at bush@reachingall.com. Thank you for your prayers and kindness!
Here to Serve,
Jeff and Mindy Bush and family
www.reachingall.com
April – June 2011
As always, the Lord is faithful! The Lord has given us some great months and allowed us to see some great victories and blessings. We have seen souls saved and Christians growing in the Lord and we want to share a few of these details with you.
The Berean Baptist Church is being used greatly of the Lord as Pastor Hernan Cortez is leading the church through construction and growth. The church is very young and already has seen many saved, baptized and growing in the Lord. Both the spiritual and numerical growth is a great encouragement to my heart. The church men are working on the construction and it is encouraging to see them use their time and funds to build God’s house.
May is Missions month at the Lighthouse Baptist Church. We were blessed to have a pastor, Bro. Juan Pacheco, come from Peru to preach the conference for us. We had a high attendance of 250 people one night with many visitors and and several who made professions of faith. The church is currently supporting 8 missionaries and is praying to support more. The Missions Conference was a big blessing and the last night the church gave a new pulpit to Pastor Hernan and the new church.
Months ago, the Lord put it on our heart to start another church. Both the youth pastor and I have prayed and are making preparation for the new church. We have talked to 6 or 7 families from the Lighthouse Baptist Church that are going to form part of the new church and are now working out the details. We wanted to rent a place to start out, but the Lord has led us to a piece of land that we are looking at and praying about. The price is $37,500, but the owner will allow us to pay it off over time. Our goal is to put up a temporary building and start this new church in a part of the city that has many souls with have no Gospel preaching church. We appreciate your prayers in this area.
Missionary David Peach has been teaching our people about the sign language ministry and our desire is that the Lord would allow us to see many deaf come to the Lord. We thank the Lord for how our people are learning to minister to the deaf.
The Lord is blessing the evangelism efforts through the radio ministry, tracts and just recently English classes. Josh Smith, missionary to Argentina who arrived in January, is teaching the English classes and we praise the Lord for those coming.
The Lord has given us a great group of Bible College students this year. We are praying that these students would serve the Lord with their lives, and that the Lord would use the Bible College to train future leaders in his harvest!
Here to Serve,
Jeff and Mindy Bush and family
www.reachingall.com
Jan – March 2011
Time continues to rush by while there is so much work to be done. I would like to take a few moments of your time to share with you some of the rich blessings God is doing and has done here in Argentina.
Since January and February are summer months in Argentina, the calendar was full of retreats and camps. Our youth was divided into 2 groups and attended camp with other missionaries a few hours away. Thank the Lord many came back with hearts stirred and decisions to serve the Lord. We then had a ladies retreat with Lighthouse and Berean (the newest church) and the Lord blessed with good fellowship and one salvation decision amongst the ladies. The men's retreat also was a blessing with over 40 men who attended and were challenged to serve the Lord.
The Berean Baptist Church is doing wonderful and just last Sunday held their first baptism with 9 baptized! Praise the Lord! The pastor will graduate from the Bible college this year and the Lord is using him in a great way to win souls and teach others. The pastor is now leading the young church into a building project on the land they have. It gives me great joy to see the church grow spiritually as well as numerically and have a desire to go forward for the Lord.
Near the end of March we have plans to formally organize the Berean Baptist Church. Pastor Hernan and the people are serving the Lord and we are excited to reach this goal and see how the Lord is going to take this church to another level.
While preaching a youth camp in western Argentina, I met a doctor who told me that he could help me with my arthritis. My family and I made the time and traveled to have treatment on my hand for one week. Although I am not 100% to what I would like to be, I can say that for the 1st time in over 4 years that I am using my right hand - and that is a big blessing! I would be very grateful if you would continue to pray for my health.
We are about to start up Bible College again (2nd week of March) and are looking forward to seeing what God is going to do. It looks as if the Lord is going to allow us to see around 20 students this year, many of them being 1st year students. Our desire is to see the Lord use the Bible College to prepare young men and women for the ministry of the Lord. Please pray that God will raise up a generation of servants to go forth and preach His Word.
We ask you to help us pray for a new church we are desiring to start on the other side of our city. We will be starting Hope Baptist Church alongside a young man who has graduated from the Bible College and a first-year Bible College student. We are currently looking for a place to rent and working out details and the next time we write we will be able to inform you of how the Lord is blessing at this new church.
Here to Serve,
Jeff and Mindy Bush and family
www.reachingall.com