Dear Friends and Family,

Life in Argentina is complicated, but God is GOOD!

I would like to start this report off with a list of prayer requests for the people with whom we are ministering. Gloria Patricia and Epifania, whom some of you may remember from our time way back in the early 2000s with the Hudson Avenue congregation, have both been diagnosed with cancer and are undergoing treatment. Epifania is being treated for cancer of the esophagus, and Gloria for breast cancer. Karina, a young lady who teaches teenagers at Alicia’s church, has also been diagnosed with breast cancer. Luis, a friend of ours who is a retired electrical worker, has heart issues due to his work and has now seemingly developed an infection that is complicating their continued treatment of his heart. Nicolas, a young boy whose parents are also members of Alica’s congregation, has a brain tumor and is in and out of the hospital as they prepare to remove it (early indications are that this tumor is benign, but the location complicates the surgery, especially due to his age). Finally, Monica, the senior member of one of our new discipleship groups, has asked for prayer for herself and those she knows who are retired because inflation is making it impossible for her to pay all her bills.

Discipleship Ministry

The expansion of the Discipleship ministry is coming along very well. I have more requests for groups than I am capable of hosting, honestly, though most of those are for “partial” studies and not a real discipleship relationship. What that means in Argentina is that, usually, the person involved is looking for a quick fix for their immediate problems without any real desire to invest in the change. However, enough demand has surfaced that I am actively praying that some of the people in my new, current groups will be able to run groups of their own faster than has been the case normally, because the book I am writing should be available as a resource by the time the people are looking to lead their own group.

The book itself is coming along well, and I have decided to divide it into 2 parts, the second of which is a workbook style. Once the podcast/video channel is up and running, I hope to have some of the podcasts dedicated to expanding the book material and helping people develop their own discipleship style, so that the “new” elements of the ministry reinforce each other in much the same way that the radio ministry and the original discipleship groups have done. In the meantime, we are doing a LOT of discipleship work in much less structured, informal ways. Vanesa uses WhatsApp and phone calls a lot, and while that works for me to some extent, there are situations that require a face-to-face meeting at a coffee shop or praying that the Lord lead us into a “coincidental” meeting with some of the folks who are having the hardest time. We are working with more people than ever before, often exhausted, and very content.

Radio Ministry / Podcast

The biggest challenge in the addition of the podcast to the radio ministry cycle has been funding the new equipment that I need to produce a quality program. The inflation rate has been impacting us more than at any other time in our married lives and has made setting “extra” money aside even more difficult. As a snapshot, 17 months ago, when the current Argentine president took office, a liter of gasoline for the car cost 286 pesos. Currently, it costs about 1600 pesos. In October of 2023, the cost of a whole chicken breast was about 105 pesos per kilo. This week the price for the same cut of chicken at the same store was slightly over 9200 pesos per kilo! Electronic items have gone up similarly, if not quite so much, so it has been a challenge to even know how much we need to save to buy the microphone and the stand necessary to start the program. At present, we are simply trying to keep ourselves current regarding the basic cost and set aside a minimal amount each month until we have enough to make the purchase. In the meantime, I continue to experiment with short videos filmed with our cell phones. I have yet to produce something I am willing to upload, but I have enlisted the help of several family members who are better at that kind of thing than I am, and I expect the quality to improve drastically, even if we cannot get the microphone soon. Assuming that is correct, we will start producing videos by July! If not, then we will look at getting a loan of some equipment from the folks that we know long enough to pre-record several programs and give us the time we need to complete the purchase of our own mic.

Figgins family

The year has had several milestones already for the family. Zoe and Vane survived their midterms in great shape, and Zoe even finished with the highest average thus far in 2 of her classes! We also celebrated Zoe’s 19th birthday this month, and a friend of the family who owns a restaurant produced quite a variety of sushi for the young lady’s family dinner! The first time Zoe had us order sushi for a birthday our beef loving family members were dubious, to say the least. By now, however, they are all fully behind the idea, and we all had a great time! Zoe was also able to participate in her first street evangelism project with a group from a local church, and all the kids did a fabulous job. Zoe was one of 5 people invited to speak about the project afterwards, and Vane and I were quite proud of the way she handled herself, both during the event and during the presentation at the church. Vanesa has been busy back at work and has had several clients start asking for large quantities of pizza, so she and her dad have been making dozens of pizzas each week in addition to the regular bread and pastry items. We have also been able to continue donating clothes, food and medicine to the folks in Bahia Blanca, Corrientes, and the group that works with sexually abused children not just out of our own resources, but because some of the discipleship groups have gotten behind that kind of outreach as well!

We have faced some challenges during the year. In addition to the record inflation, we have also all had health problems as Summer ended and Fall began. Vanesa developed a very nasty case of pneumonia, with almost no initial symptoms and was diagnosed by the grace of God. Zoe and I both came down with throat infections, and my back and ankle were very troublesome once the weather started to change. Thankfully, we are all pretty much recovered and back to our normal schedules!

Furlough 2025

Our plans for a quick furlough in July or August of this year have had to be modified again. I will be traveling alone, and the trip will be about 3 weeks. I will be in touch with as many of you as I can during the time frame, but we cannot travel as a family because of the holdup with Vanesa’s re-entry visa. We hope to see that situation change before the end of the year, but whether it does or not I will be back in the States in July.

Thanks to all of you for your partnership in this ministry. May God continue to bless all of you in your service to the King.

In peace,

Tim Figgins
Envoy Christian Mission
Florencio Varela, Argentina