by Richard Dillard

I always insist that the Tucumán trip is the best translating trip of the year and strongly encourage all interested to try to go. A few things that greatly mark the difference between this trip and the rif-raf are:

1. LBC is selective in whom they bring. Many churches bring down a group of ten or so youth who think they are taking a free vacation. Many are not interested in doing ministry, and often the translators have to preach the gospel to some team members. The Lighthouse team comes prepared, they know what they believe, are secure in sharing the gospel (though some may be a little nervous, but the nerves go away after a day or so) and have clearly put a lot of effort into skits etc. to be able to effectively do ministry upon arrival in Argentina.

2. The communion/fellowship between LBC and IBM Tucumán is always a great blessing to behold, and though we translators are kind of on the ‘outside,’ we still are able to very much feel part of this fellowship. It’s always refreshing to be ministered to by some solid, reformed preaching and conversation. You guys treat the translators very nicely, and that makes us feel extremely appreciated.

Shout out to all my gringos!

by Pablo Daut

Well, for me the Lighthouse’s mission trip was the best evangelistic campaign I’ve been to. One of the greatest things was the fact that you guys came not looking for “decisions” or “numbers,” but to encourage the local church. You guys came with the priority of being a blessing to the local church, and NOT to be able to have a nice “street-preaching/emotional video” to show when you return back to the U.S. Secondly, I felt really comfortable when I had to translate the sermons because I was sure you were preaching with a biblical gospel and not a man-centered gospel, as we often listen to here in Argentina.

I really want to thank the Lighthouse team because you were all a HUGE blessing for me. I love you guys.

All of you are very godly and all I can say is that I know that my God glorified His Name through this mission trip. May He continue to work for His own glory, now and forever.

Rom 11.36

by Tiby

My name is Tiby, I am from Romania. It was a privilege for me to be part of what God did last year and this year in Tucumán through Lighthouse Bible Church. The thing I remember most from this trip is the joy and work of the LBC members and the love and care from the local church in Tucumán. I enjoyed talking to people and learning from the Americans I translated for. We had an intellectual exchange. 🙂

by Monica Iriazabal Liguori

Honestly, it was a blessing being part of the campaign. God gave me opportunity to translate for Lighthouse two years ago, but this time was very different. It was a privilege for me share with the members of the LBC team. I needed a time like that in the campaign. Translating for Keziah and Kara was very encouraging for me. The Lord gave me the opportunity to talk with Angela, and she helped me a lot and gave me some counsel. God used each one of you to help me, exhort me, and encourage to me. Thanks to you all. For His Glory.

by Eugene Park

Spending this past year in Argentina going to school really opened my eyes and helped me understand many things. One of those things was what life is like for a translator on a campaign. Before LBC came down to Argentina in July, I had the opportunity to go on two separate campaigns as a translator with other churches, one from Missouri and another one from North Carolina. There were obviously similarities and differences in the way they did campaigns.

I was also heavily involved with the LBC trip, but on the Argentina side, which meant taking care of transportation and the translators. In previous years the translators were randomly chosen. But this year, since I was there, I was able to hand pick the people who would come on this trip. As time went on, the translator team started to take shape and I was getting really excited because I was good friends with just about all of them.

Another advantage of me being in Argentina is that I was able to conduct meetings with the translators. This is something that’s unheard of. On the other trips I went to, all I knew was when and where to show up for the bus. I knew nothing about the church, where we were going, where I was staying, etc. It’s the Argentine way: show up and they’ll figure it out. But having meetings with the translators before the trip was beneficial because it gave me the opportunity to share about the trip, what they could expect, LBC’s missions philosophy, and what some of the team members were like (Yeah, I shared some funny stories about team members).

So things were going great until the “piggy flu” (“Swine flu,” coined by Pablo the translator) came to town. This caused a huge mess and scare because it was an epidemic that the Argentinean government tried to hide until after the recently held elections. Because of the flu, Word of Life told the student body that no one was allowed to leave campus during the winter break (which was when we were going to Tucumán) unless you were Argentine and/or going home for good. That stressed me out because that meant that about half of the translators I lined up couldn’t go and I had to scramble for replacement translators who were either Argentine or not students. But this drove me to God in prayer and pushed me to trust in God’s perfect plan. In my eyes my original group of translators was “perfect.” But obviously God had different plans and the group of translators that eventually went to Tucumán was the group He wanted there.

The translators (some of whom I met for the first time that day) left campus one cold morning to pick up the LBC team at the airport and then enjoy a lunch together. It was great having lunch together and seeing the interactions between the team and the translators. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought that everyone had known each other for a while judging from the warm and friendly interactions I observed.

After lunch we dropped the team off at the airport and then headed off to the bus station for our ride up to Tucumán. I’ve heard of the famous 16 hour bus ride form Buenos Aires up to Tucuman, but to experience it was another thing – and something that I hope to never experience again. Sleeping was very difficult because the seats were uncomfortable and didn’t recline very far. They also didn’t serve meals on the bus, or even stop for meals. We only stopped at one place for breakfast, which, as team members know, isn’t a very substantial meal. Fortunately I had my care package from the LBC Home Team and over the course of the trip the translators all devoured the contents. That experience made me appreciate the translators even more because they were willing to go on a 16 hour bus ride to serve as translators. This trip wasn’t about their agenda; this trip was about them being a part of the body of Christ and serving. However, I’ve made a mental note to explore upgrading transportation for the translators on fuure trips.

by Angela Kim

The women of Iglesia Biblica Misionera (IBM) are so very precious. They love to hear God’s Word being taught and desire to live it out in their daily lives. I’ve had the privilege of sharing with the IBM women there in both corporate and individual contexts. I enjoyed meeting the women of all different ages, from a 12-year-old youth gal and a 16-year-old mother of a baby to a 90- year-old grandma. The day after we arrived, a women’s event took place where we sang songs of worship, played an icebreaker game led by a couple of youth girls, drank tea with delicious snacks, and I got the chance to share my testimony as well as teach the women from God’s Word.

Looking at the faces of these women eager to learn and fellowship with the other women encouraged my teammates and me greatly. One of the translators, Noelia, did a wonderful job translating the message into Spanish. The following day, the whole church had a park day and we had an opportunity to fellowship with them. We formed as group of moms and they asked me to share regarding biblical parenting and to answer some practical questions they had. Though it was quite spontaneous, we ended up having a profitable time in discussing the issues we all face as moms (and grandmas). It’s interesting that the problems in Tucumán are very much the same as those in San Diego or anywhere else in the world. Many other women asked to meet with one of us individually to receive counseling and to share their burdens so that we might be able to pray for them and share from God’s Word in a more personal way. I was truly challenged to gain wisdom from the principles from the Scriptures to examine my own heart and life as well as to share it with the women there in Argentina. I met several women who love God and people so passionately. They live in such a way that represents Christ with the sole purpose of living out and sharing the gospel with their family and neighbors.

by Jenna Kim

Hola! My name is Jenna, and I had the unique opportunity during this trip to be a youth helping to minister to the youth of Tucumán, Argentina. Though one of the main focuses of the trip was the evangelistic campaign, we had the opportunity on both weekends before and after the campaign to gather for various activities with the “jovenes y adolescentes” (young adult group and the youth group). The first Saturday, we spent the whole day at the park, alternating between messages, soccer matches, and meals. That evening we had our first official youth meeting, where we gathered and listened to Cesar – who also works with the youth back at home in San Diego – speak on what it means to have a cross-centered youth ministry. It was very refreshing to see the consistency of the mindset towards ministry, in that, like we often say, missions is simply doing church somewhere else, and the way in which we would desire to teach and equip the youth here, we would make every effort to do the same there. Throughout the week, we got a chance to interact with some of the youth on a closer basis, as many of the youth girls ministered to the team by preparing and serving meals, and as many youth joined the door-to-door groups as we shared the gospel throughout the “barrios” (neighborhoods). That in itself was a great encouragement to me, and really caused me to consider if back at home, I really am taking advantage of every opportunity to serve the body in joyful humility, or if I use youthfulness as an excuse to only be catered to.

At the end of that week, we had a night youth gathering. That night, we taught them some classic Lighthouse games, including pantyhose wars and the screaming game, all of which made for a very fun and memorable time, with many memorable quotes (“Ay no!”). After all the games, I actually had the chance to share my testimony with the group, and then Teddy gave a message regarding love within the church body, an issue that is very applicable, particularly among youth, where social conflicts and insecurities are all things that youth in particular deal with a lot. But as Teddy shared, the love of Christ truly transcends all these things, and the unconditional nature of God’s grace on all of us as equally sinful rebels should truly cause believers to be unified in the cross and therefore desire to extend a reflection that same grace to one another. That same Christ-given unity was what really made this trip so sweet, in being able to join with like-minded brothers and sisters, all of us being equally in need of God’s grace and all desiring to present our lives as living sacrifices for God as an act of worship, and to do all we can to pass on the greatness of God, that others may worship as well, and partake of that great love.

by Alyssa Kim

Hello friends and family of LBC. I will be sharing with you about the children in Argentina. I have met some amazing kids in Argentina. A couple of reasons I call them amazing is because they are so unlike us! They are so content with what they have. Kids at Lighthouse Bible Church: imagine living in a house (the size of our regular living room) being your whole house. Imagine on the coldest night with no heater! On the hottest day there is no air conditioner and no one complains at all! You would also be pretty amazed if you went.

I also met some friends there named Diana, Vicky, and Selena. They are so kind and patient with me. I have learned all a lot from them and do my best to be just like them. I wish to see them as soon as possible. I hope you have been encouraged to make good choices in what you do, act, and say. Not just the kids, but adults too. Thank you!

by Kara Kim

Whoosh! Spike! Swish! Another goal! Another point! You may think sports are just fun and games, but not in Argentina. Every game was an epic battle between two teams fighting for the win. On sports/park days there were mainly three sports for people to choose: soccer (fútbol), volleyball, or basketball. Naturally, soccer was the most commonly played sport, for both men and women, and each played at their own vicious level. It might be because Argentina has such good meat, all the people, young and old, had incredible leg strength and astonishing shooting abilities. Scores wouldn’t be 1-0 or 2-0 like in the United States but rather, they would be 4-0 or 5-1 due to the Argentines’ awesome soccer skills.

Looking back I’m really glad that I decided to pursue soccer early in life, so I could use that skill to play fútbol with people in Argentina who shared a passion to play it. Even though playing sports with them was really fun, the whole team and I got many opportunities to meet new people, make Eugene and the Tucumanos playing futbol futbol training begins young in friends, and have a great time playing sports with them. I think it’s really amazing how a simple sport could be used to unite people from different parts of the world.

Personally for me, I got to experience playing fútbol with the men AND women. I come to the conclusion that the men play super aggressively, and the women, young and old, can kick the ball really hard.

One fond memory I have was one Saturday the women, from the team and from the IBM church, were organizing a friendly game between the married ladies and the single ladies, and once the game started, Pastor Jorge’s wife, Norma, was saying to me, “No tengo miedo de ti!” (“I’m not afraid of you!”) But my team ended up winning, and after the game the married women all walked off the field breathlessly.

For me, I thought it was amazing that all the way from the older men/ladies to the younger boys/girls would go out of their comfort zone to play soccer and it was encouraging to see that even when they get tired, they would still be willing to play, even the people who don’t know how to play. It was such a blessing to spend time getting to know people while playing sports and building friendships with them in the short time that we had. I look forward to the next time I will see them, but until then, it’s keeping in touch with Facebook!

by David Jung

Fellowship: that was definitely the defining theme of this trip. Not only did we have great fellowship with the people of the Tucumán church and the translators, but also we as a team had great fellowship with one another, having the chance to build each other up and to get to know one another. We saw each other every single day, and the only time we didn’t see each other was when we split up to go to different neighborhoods. Under this very close proximity, we were able to get to know each other’s quirks, likes, dislikes, convictions, personalities, and characters.

There were many instances where I saw my teammates willing to serve one another. One of the examples is how Grace Wu and Cesar Vigil-Ruiz were our unofficial translators. We relied on the two of them to translate for us at the hotel, the first night at the church when the translators weren’t there, and at Buenos Aires where we had our debriefing. Another example is taking care of Pastor John and Angela’s two youngest daughters, Alyssa and Olivia. Many people on the team were willing to hang out with the two Kim kids so that Pastor John and Angela would be able to focus on doing their individual ministries on the trip. It was very encouraging to see people like Kim Phan and Keziah Kim being with Olivia whenever Olivia wanted to play. Overall, the relationships between the team members were good. There were minor problems here and there, but those were quickly resolved thanks to the reminder of our Peacemaker Pledge that Lighthouse Bible Church strongly upholds.