Church in formation at Spegazzini

Spegazzini is a township located on the outskirts of Buenos Aires in the area around the international airport. About 1500 people live in the area reached by the church. The mother church, Nueva Vida (New Life) of which we are members bought the property in early 2005. It has a small storage building plus the shell of a house on it with quite a bit of open area. Right now decisions are being made about finishing the house - to roof it with an additional two rooms planned. The floor of the house is dirt right now so there will have to be concrete poured for a floor plus the windows and doors. The 14 members are ambitious in their plans to get the house ready by the time that winter comes. Right now the meetings are held outside under the tree with people sitting on benches. There is no electricity yet to the property and the water source is a well that requires a hand pump which Carlos puts on and takes off at each meeting since the possibility of its being stolen is very high since the property is left unattended. The street in front of the property is unpaved so after the heavy rain on Friday there were lots of ruts in it.
Clayton and I went out to Spegazzini yesterday for the afternoon service. It was Lord's Supper Sunday so they like to have a "pastor" lead the worship. A little more than 20 people gathered to worship and study the Bible. Two people have recently made professions of faith and are preparing to be baptized. A young Christian couple who live in the neighborhood has been visiting and are discussing joining the congregation formally. If that couple joins and the two are baptized the official membership would reach 18. PTL!
Meeting outside has its challenges as the sun shifts so do the benches. The noise from the planes overhead and the distant train can interrupt the prayers. Just as Clayton began the part of the service with the Lord's Supper, the neighborhood across the street turned on the folk music very loudly. Clayton said he didn't notice it!
The couple who lead the work there - Carlos and Beatriz - moved to that area a couple of years ago and could not find a Baptist church in which to worship so they began a Bible study in their home with the hope that some day it would grow to be a church. With the support of Nueva Vida where they are members, they began looking at different properties in the neighborhood and found the one that was eventually bought.
Carlos and Beatriz are very typical of people who begin new churches in that they are willing to do what it takes to grow the church. We are so glad to be a part of something this good.