Jon and Judy Grames

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Prayer Letter/Ministry Update

(NOTE: This page is updated about the middle of every month)

Photo: The Parana River at Corrientes, Argentina

Jon finally finished the Bible Academy course in our church on the Book of Hebrews that he began in June. Due to the swine flu outbreak and our travel schedule, the twelve lessons were pretty spread out. But the feedback from all of the students was very positive. They all had extra time to complete the assignments!

We were able to get away for a week of vacation in October. Argentina is blessed with lots of beautiful places for vacation but none are close to Buenos Aires. Most of the nicest places are between 500 and 1,000 miles away. With just a week to get away, we didn’t want to spend most of it in the car. So we went to two of the closest places- the thermal pools of Entre Rios Province are a little more than 200 miles north of Buenos Aires, and the Atlantic seacoast is the about the same distance south-east of the city. We spent a couple of days relaxing in both places. It was a needed break.

This month we were able to go up to Corrientes- almost due north about 700 miles up the Parana River from Buenos Aires (we went by bus, not by boat!)- to visit the church planting project where Bob and Sue Stern have been ministering. As we work on the plans for transitioning this project over to our Argentine Alliance Church, one key need has still not been met- a permanent property for this church. The rental location has space for about 40 people in the meeting room and it is usually full and often standing room only. The church has a good core group of members and has overcome some major challenges such as musicians for the worship service. A few years ago, the music was provided via a recorded CD that pastor Ricardo Conti prepared and used for the worship. Now there are musicians for guitar, keyboard and song leader, and there probably would be a drummer but there’s no room for the drums! We are praying and trusting the Lord that funds will be provided to purchase property for this church before all the missionaries are moved out of Argentina.

Thank you for supporting us through the Great Commission Fund of the C&MA, especially in these difficult financial times. Your gifts make it possible for us to be here building God's church in Argentina.

Prayer Requests/Answers to Prayer

Praise God for the progress being made in the Corrientes church planting project. Pray for funding to purchase permanent property for this church.

Praise the Lord that Judy’s last blood work shows that her glycemia curve is normal and the doctor says she is back to a healthy state as far as the diabetes II goes. She still has to respect her diet, weight and exercise but the twice daily blood tests are now down to three checks per week.

Pray for an outreach event at our church on November 21st called “Tango and Good News”. Luis Caroprese is an accomplished tango singer and has been a good friend of ours for over 20 years. In recent years he has developed an effective evangelistic ministry with his music. Pray for good weather, good attendance and open hearts.

In December we will be visiting the Mendoza church planting project where Joel and Lynn McGarvey are ministering. Pray for safe travel and wisdom from above as we discuss plans for this church. They are currently meeting in a rented storefront, but the contract expires next year.

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Previous month- Sept. 16 to Oct. 15, 2009

The Argentine Alliance Pastors' Retreat and Annual Assembly was held in October with 94 delegates from the approximately one hundred local churches (organized and unorganized). Of the delegates, 83 were full-time or part-time pastors. During the past year, the Argentine Alliance has grown to about 8,000 baptized members and added about ten new churches in various stages of formation. The ten year strategy that was adopted last year to plant 25 new churches was modified to increase that number to 50 new churches by the year 2020. Three important workshops on "Unity and Alliance Identity", "Pastoral Character and Integrity", and "The Challenge of Missions" provided moments of serious discussion and important input. Rev. Felix Jimenez was elected as the new president of the denomination. The outgoing president, Rev. Guilfredo Fanderwud, along with his wife Lydia, was honored for his ten years of denominational leadership.

In October, Jon began a series of sermons in the Florida Alliance Church on New Testament images of The Church. Our church is preparing for becoming an officially organized local church in the Argentine Alliance and these sermons will help the congregation understand the Biblical nature of The Church of Jesus Christ. In Argentine society, the concept of The Church has been very distorted by the culture.

In 1980 we began ministry in the Lugano Alliance Church, on the south side of the city of Buenos Aires- a low income working class neighborhood. At that time the church was only four years old and still in the process of being planted. Due to financial limitations this church has never been able to purchase property and has struggled with the limitations of rented storefronts. Through the years we have maintained contact with this congregation and enjoyed opportunities to minister there. (photo above) During October they focused on ministry to and by women (Mother's Day comes in October in Argentina) and Judy was invited to speak for one of the Sunday services.

Argentina

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