In our small groups it has been exciting to see growth take place. People that seemed unchangeable are actually changing by the grace of God. Right now we are in book three of the discovery series that talks a lot about life as a body. We have been looking at the one another passages and seeking to live this out as a new small body of believers. I was encouraged by an article in the material by Gene Getz where as a church planter he describes how he has seen growth take place in numerous church plants by teaching and living out the one another passages. Some of our folks are beginning to experience body life for the first time.

Speaking of growth, our family has grown. Caro is pregnant! We will now be six! In fact I realized that we wont fit in our car anymore. What a pleasant surprise! Recently we were able to build an additional two rooms to our house: one for Febe and one we thought for hosting people but now we know who the room is for - the new baby. Though we will still enjoy hosting people.

We are receiving this weekend a few students from Dominican Republic and from Romania. They are from the Word of Life institute in Argentina (I have worked alongside several graduates to expand the BTCP ministry) They will be helping on weekends with youth and evangelism. This Saturday we are beginning to work on an empty lot that is right next door to our house to turn it into a soccer field that we can use for outreach and fellowship (its actually my brother's but he isn't currently using it and is allowing us to use it). We will be doing this as we have our men's ministry's meeting and begin a bible study for men that we will do monthly. At lunch time we will enjoy some "choripanes" (argentine sausages on the grill with french bread... yummy)

In our broad ministry we continue to pray on how to expand BTCP. I was recently on a trip to Bolivia and then spoke at a church in Buenos Aires and did a lot of thinking about what needs to be done to expand BTCP. There is a great contact in this church in Buenos Aires that has probably the strongest BTCP centers. I am hoping to meet soon with the BTCP teacher/leader there to interact on how we can partner for BTCP expansion.

Possible trip to the US? We would love to be able to go as a family to the US for the missions conference. We would love for Febe to be able to go as well. There are several factors that makes this humanly speaking very unlikely:

- We need to find out but we're not sure that Caro can travel (she is due end of March)

-Finances. Since our family has grown we now would need to buy five plane tickets to be able to go.

-Legal status of Febe. We would love for Febe to be able to go and be at the missions conference and meet our friends, family and supporters. We are meeting with a lawyer on Friday. Her sister who has the legal guardianship won't sign what we need for us to become her legal guardian (she has been living with us for almost a year now). We think she won't do it because she has been receiving money that is designated for Febe from the government. We believe that she doesn't want to loose this money that she kept for herself though it was assigned by the government as a scholarship through the legal guardian but to be used entirely for Febe. All of this affects two things: Our ability to travel with her and our ability to put her on our health insurance.

- Having said all of that we still want to pray that God would lead us and open doors if he would have us go. If so, we believe that He will provide all that is needed. It is always a great encouragement for the family when we have gone.

Please pray:

1. Family and personal schedules: Life has been hectic with the construction that lasted much more that we anticipated (right now we are delayed because there is a leak in the roof), adjusting to different schooling schedules (Febe and Alu), legal paperwork for Febe and our new stage of life in City Bell with a church plant. Pray that we could settle more and have increasing quality times both individually with the Lord and together as a family.

2. For God to continue to lead me in leading the church plant. Pray for effective evangelism, for us to live out the one another passages as a church and for God to begin to raise the future leaders and elders of this new church.

3. For guidance regarding our broad ministry with BTCP and other tools. I am hoping we can have a translated copy of a biblical counseling training program that is the best I have seen (John Henderson). We feel this can be a great addition to the BTCP program in helping pastors and leaders nationwide.

Thank you for your concern, your prayers and your financial support!

"No day, since the idea of a new church was first brought to mind until it becomes an established church is more crucial than the day the church goes public"

Please pray for us! We´re grateful to be launching our first public service this weekend for our new church in City Bell: Iglesia Bíblica de City Bell. Its D-day. We are invading the enemy´s territory. We are planting a church in a place where there are no Bible churches.

Here are the three events we are doing:

1. Forum: I will be sharing a forum with two catholic priests of the area. All three of us will be answering six questions related to Easter (How do we know Christ really rose from the dead? What is the central message of Christianity?) This gives us a voice into the catholic community. Many people will be there because there are Catholic priests there. But I will get to speak to them for about 30 minutes (5 minutes per question) This will happen on Friday night.

2. Jazz night: George Rambow will be playing Jazz and we will be serving coffee and medialunas (an Argentine pastry). I have a few non-Christians friends that have said they will be there. This gives people a chance to walk into our church building and get to know us some with the hopes of pointing them closer to Christ. This event is for a broader audience (non-religious folks). This will occur on Saturday night.

3. Sunday service: There will be several believers from a couple of churches joining us on this special occasion. We have already been meeting on Sundays (20-25 adults plus children). But this will be the first time our sign will be up (which will have our web page as well that should be running by then - ibcitybell.com)

Please pray for our protection, health (several of the team members have been very sick), all the details that need to happen, for many to hear the gospel and that God would continue to lead my preparations for these talks.

THANKS SO MUCH!!!! We really appreciate your ongoing, faithful support. Once again, sorry it has been so long since I wrote!

Warmly,

Greg, Caro, Febe, Alaina, Wendy

I wanted to send you two things:

1. A fun video we "made" as a family (you´ll really enjoy this - it´s less than a minute long)

http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/qXhswsFKcoBtTuduVYud

2. and a 20 minute short film that has a sweet message. Someone sent it to me and I started watching the first few minutes and it arose more curiosity enough to watch the whole thing. Enjoy!

http://www.thedoorpost.com/hope/film/?film=4dd298f102c77b625cf37a9e7744ac68

Thank you so much for your ongoing support and prayers! We are very grateful! Merry Christmas!