Prayer Requests from Charlie and JoAnn Smith – July 13, 2012

Dear friends in Christ: We now are in our cold damp season that goes to the bone. June and now July seem colder than years past. So it is the time of layered clothing, lots of hot drinks in our hands, and as JoAnn stated just wishing one day to be warm again. Our Internet service has been down since last month. Getting news about what is happening up there in the States is infrequent as we go to an internet cafe every once in a while. We see that you all are having quite a number of forest fires and much heat. I am sorry to hear of the loss of homes and the storms. We are praying greatly that God use the Christians in our supporting churches in those areas affected to really shine for the Lord during these hard times. We are praying for you.

We finished our study of the Book of Revelation on Sunday mornings, which took six months and proved to our congregation that God’s Word is not difficult to understand if a saved person uses basic Biblical principles. It certainly is a great blessing studying it and applying it to our lives. I hope it will continue to bless our folks here, Proverbs 18:1, “Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.”

We were asked to participate with a Baptist ministry to the Jews in the Capital when four young people from the States and a mission director came for a couple of weeks. There were many who listened about salvation, thousands of tracts handed out, open air preaching in two plazas, and the highlight was a special meeting to honor Israel. Over all, JoAnn and I were blessed with their enthusiasm for souls and serving Christ. It was nice to have others with us in the Capital seeing what our hearts see.

We ask for special prayer for a pastor here whose name is Roberto Galarza, a true servant of Jesus Christ. He moved from a city in the south to take the pastorate where he grew up, here in the province of Buenos Aires. Since he came, squatters have moved into his vacant house. These squatters are drug dealers and have connections with government officials. Pastor Galarza is planning a trip to see if he and others can rectify the situation July 20th. Please put him in your prayers as this is dangerous for him and the others, but it is the only step that he has to regain his home so that he can sell it. Squatters have legal rights here in Argentina and it is one of the reasons why we are taking care of a dear brother’s home here in Santos Tesei, Buenos Aires.

As far as drug traffickers, they are trying to make Buenos Aires their central location for distribution and the newspapers say they are relocating from other countries like Columbia. We have seen a tremendous rise of drugs on the street in the last few months along with more violent and senseless muggings than ever before, especially towards the older people. Due to high unemployment and inflation the country is becoming more volatile.

Another missionary was pistol whipped and beaten unmercilessly for more than 20 minutes when he returned home from church a couple of weeks ago. Please keep every missionary here that you know in prayer – we, as well as every missionary, need God’s continual protection (2 Thessalonians 3:2, “And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.”) When you get mugged or robbed it is a great spiritual battle. As your body is healing your mind goes every direction trying to figure out the reason why God allowed it, what you did or did not do, and what can you do the next time. It takes some time to get back into what many would say is a “normal” mode, but you never do, as you get more skittish of strangers around you. Please pray for this missionary family as they now go through the physical and spiritual healing.

We continue to take two buses and a train into the city to minister during the week and Sunday, so we need prayer for souls not only in the capital but also as we travel to and fro. We have been blessed to attend services here in Santos Tesei on Thursday evenings; they have such a sweet spirit. The congregation in the Capital is doing well and as always we pray God would increase both in their walk with Him and in numbers (Luke 10:2). Thank you so much for your prayers and please let us know how we can pray better for your church.

In God’s grace, Charlie and JoAnn Smith