The DeWeese Family

Some of you have expressed a desire to get to know the DeWeese family better as a result of our decision to serve alongside them in Buenos Aires. Here is their contact information and you'd be welcome to include them in your circle of friends, as we do!

(Photo, L to R): Greg, Jaden Luke, Ethan Bud, Laile

DeWeese@worldventure.net

We are blessed to know them and to have them in our lives. We encourage you to get on their email list of prayer supporters so you can get their updates and photos. We would enjoy seeing them receive that kind of a response from those who know & love US!

Here are some of the things that we had to say to WorldVenture on our debrief forms about the DeWeeses (the posted comments are parts of longer answers we had on the forms so it might not all flow - just go with it!).


Jordan said: I wanted to encourage Greg and Laile DeWeese as they continue to work in Buenos Aires which I had heard was a very difficult field to work in ... Our goals were met and exceded in almost every way. I believe that we were very encouraging to Greg and Laile, personally and in their ministry ... Our friendship and compatibility with Greg and Laile is very strong. Greg, Marie and I had known each other well in college, but our friendship deepened as we shared our lives together over the course of the 2 and a half weeks in Argentina. Our passions line up with their passions and our style is very similar, even down to the way we parent our children ... There was a period of time when Megan and Jaden realized that they had a sin nature and it started to come out against each other. It was interesting because I don't think either of them had been in a situation where they spent so much regular time with another person of their similar age. It became a bit of a challenge to parent Megan as she showed selfishness toward Jaden, while we were in a culture where we wanted to be discreet about how we parented our child ... I was very encouraged and motivated in my spiritual life and my life as a parent by being with Greg. He is a passionate disciple of Christ who loves the Word of God. Being around him made me love the Word more and motivated me to study it more ... Greg and Laile were fantastic. We felt very much welcomed by them and they were great in taking us around to learn about the culture and their ministry. I would be honored to serve with Greg as the field chair of my ministry and also after hearing him preach on Sunday, I would be honored to have him as my pastor ... One specific way the experience changed me was to see how many opportunities I miss in parenting Megan and Micah. Greg and Laile are very intentional in their parenting and I realized that I can be much more so in my parenting as well ...


Marie said: Greg & Laile expressed and showed much encouragement and excitement as a result of our visit and interest in their lives and they have expressed that they want us to come back and be part of "Team Buenos Aires" ... we thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the DeWeeses on a deeper level ... I loved hearing Greg DeWeese preach the Sunday we attended their English speaking church in Buenos Aires. God has been so faithful to him. I've known Greg since college, but to see him as a husband and father and a gifted, passionate, holy man of God - a true pastor - was a blessing to the depths of my soul ... It was good for me to spend some time alone with Laile DeWeese and to get a perspective from a wife and mom of young children about missionary life which is so different from my memories of my own MK experience. I walked away from Buenos Aires wanting to pursue a deeper friendship with her … which, after 17 days of being together constantly, is probably a gift from God - for both of us ... Greg and Laile were wonderful to us … they opened up their home, time and their lives to our very loud family, on the heels of some rather crazy weeks of traveling, hosting another family, and a decent-sized change in ministry obligations. I can imagine that we threw a few wrenches into their routine and rhythm, but we never once felt as though they resented it and we felt very welcome to be ourselves around them. I noticed that Greg is a great team player and when he had an idea of how to go about doing something, then another idea would be brought up that was different, he was always humble enough to entertain or go with the new idea if it worked. It empowered me to speak up and say what I really thought instead of worrying about "what is he going to say about this idea?" I learned to trust Greg's heart while we were over there and how to communicate with him and that was a blessing to me. I also learned how to entrust my heart to Laile while we were there. I shared some really deep and personal things with her on several occasions and I felt understood and loved, not judged or ignored. I also appreciated Laile's honesty about her frustrations about living in Buenos Aires, so I got a more realistic picture of what life there could be like for my family. She and Greg didn't try to paint such a rosy picture that we would fall in love with a city without knowing the truths about life there. It was nice not to be pressured to make a decision either. I think God had more freedom to work in our hearts because of the open invitation, without the pressure. They shared with us that their philosophy of team ministry would look more like a cohesive team all working together, living their lives together, instead of having two or more couples who are called a team, but are functioning in totally separate locations and ministries. This is a perfect fit with how we view ourselves working with a team in the future. We know that even though we would have different roles than Greg & Laile would on a team, we would still be working together, not apart. That really appeals to us ...

Mud pies in slums or a holiday at sea? A somewhat funny story from Iguazu ...

Jordan just told me a funny story from the end of our trip to the beautiful falls. As I shared in an earlier post, Megan had a great time celebrating the goodness and majesty of God while we were watching the waterfalls in action ... and we were in awe of God! On the way home, Megan reminded Jordan & Greg, once again, that she is still a kid after all ...

Greg: Megan, weren't those waterfalls that God made amazing?!
Megan, looking at Greg coolly and with a slight pause: I want a cookie!

So ... it's a good reminder that, as much as we try to teach her the glory of God ... she is still a four-year old with a VERY sweet tooth ... and sometimes, the goodness of God just doesn't quite cut it in her world - not when the promise of a delectable treat is around the corner. (At least she was in awe when she was actually looking at the falls!).

One of my favorite writers and Christian THINKERS, C.S. Lewis, once spoke in his sermon entitled "The Weight of Glory" about this idea of being consumed by the 'unmagnificent' things of life when the glory of God's ALL is at our fingertips:

“It would seem that our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Lest you miss my point ... I'm not saying that Megan should be perfect in every response to seeing God's creation (let me say it one more time - she IS four years old and human!) ... I'm saying that Megan's response of awe one minute and wanting a cookie the next is much like ours spiritually - consumed by God's goodness and holiness and majesty one minute, then being anxiety-ridden the next by what Jesus called "the cares of the world": What will I eat, drink, or wear? What TV show should I watch? Which person shall I please before Him today? How shall I meet MY needs?" And all the while, our Creator stands above it all, watching, listening, waiting ... for us to remember that while cookies are a good thing ... watching waterfalls thunder and flow are much, much better and much more satisfying in the end. In what am I reveling today which keeps me from enjoying a greater Pleasure from His hand?

Anyway, enjoy the picture (above) of one of those magnificent places where Megan did express awe (I have no idea where she was standing when she told Greg she wanted a cookie!).

We're back ... sort of ...

The famous obelisk at the intersection of two of the world's largest streets

You know that song, "I left my heart in San Fransisco"? Well, we're singing that song around here these days, but the syllables of 'San-Fran-sis-co' have been replaced by 'Bue-nos-Ai-res.'

An aerial view of Buenos Aires we WISH our camera had taken!

As many of you have surmised by now (most likely), God did confirm in our hearts with a resounding YES that our family is being called to serve Him in His kingdom work in Buenos Aires, with WorldVenture and the DeWeese family. Micah hasn't had much to say on the subject, but the rest of us: Jordan, myself and even Megan, have found our hearts very much filled by the things we saw, heard, experienced and learned in Argentina. Even when we're not bringing it up, Megan often reminds us that we were just in Argentina and she has not allowed us to forget that we long to go back one day, in God's time. It has been a blessing to our hearts to see Him working in Megan's little heart, even though she does not yet fully comprehend the meaning of this decision. We know even WE do not fully comprehend it, but as God's goodness has been poured out upon us, He has given us a peace that does, indeed, pass all understanding. He IS guarding our hearts and minds with it, as we continue to seek Him in prayer, the reading of His word, and godly counsel.

Please pray for us all the more now. We are slowly updating this blog with pictures and our thoughts and experiences from the trip, so if you haven't heard from us personally yet, we're getting there. Some of you have had the opportunity to ask us in person how things went. We are grateful to God for your interest in our family's life! There is much before us as we adjust to our "new normal" of living here in Colorado, but having our hearts "turn southward" as our friend, Greg, put it. We are leaning on the Lord for all that He will require of us in the coming days. It has not been easy so far - and we know we're only beginning the process - there is much more to challenge and stretch and grow our faith as we proceed, with faith and obedience, towards all He has for us.

You're probably curious about a time frame, among other things. At this point, we foresee that it will most likely take us sometime between 3-5 years to pursue long-term appointment with WorldVenture, finish paying off our debt, discover our support team, prepare for the missionary life overseas and go through language study (most likely in Costa Rica). We are excited, of course, but we are also mindful that through all this ... our main goal is still becoming the family God wants us to be: Christ-like messengers of His love to the world around us, whether in Colorado, Buenos Aires, or somewhere in between. We hope you'll continue to pray for us in this way!

We'll post more updates about this down the road. For now, though, the Foote Rest is gladly enjoying being 'at home' in Colorado, while we prepare to, one day, make our new earthly home south of the equator ... until He leads us elsewhere ...

"Mommy, we forgot!"

The first afternoon we were in Buenos Aires, we stepped out onto the balcony of our 9th floor (noveno piso - is what the computerized voice would say when we would arrive at our floor) and I pointed out to Megan all the apartment buildings which surrounded our building. I told her that there were many people there who did not yet know Jesus. She looked at me in horror and said:

Megan: Mommy! We FORGOT to tell all those people that Jesus loves them!
Mommy: Honey, we've been here only 6 hours ... and we haven't met a lot of them yet. That will come later.
Megan: Oh, ok.

The rest of our time in Argentina, she would ask almost everyone we met and spent time with: "Do you love Jesus?" If they said yes, she'd point to the people around us and say, "Do THEY love Jesus?"

On a bus ride one Sunday night, Megan turned to the lady sitting next to us and opened her mouth to say something, then she got shy and hid her head in my shoulder. I asked her what she was going to say to the lady and she told me she was going to tell her about Jesus' love, but she got shy. We prayed for her to have courage and my heart was overflowing to see how the Spirit of our living God is moving in her heart to tell people about Him when she becomes aware that someone doesn't know what we do. We pray that as she grows older, this innocent desire to tell everyone will not lessen with peer pressure, nor a lack of boldness, but will only increase as her love for the Lord increases, by His grace!

To give a complete picture ... she has had her moments of missing home and melting down because we weren't in Colorado and also having a tough time sharing her things with Jaden, but overall, Jordan and I have had many moments and opportunities to pray with her and instruct her about her heart as she has wrestled with her usual 4 year old struggles ... we are grateful to God for this chance to parent her together every day, instead of me being alone between the hours of 9 and 6, then being too tired to deal with it all when Jordan walks in the door. It has been a blessing to be together as a family all this time … the TV has been off (with the exception of a couple of ½ shows in Spanish) and the phone has not been an interruption … we’ve really been able to focus on some things as a family – it has been wonderful – praise God!

Where there's smoke ... there's fire ... and a good God!

We haven't had a chance to blog about much of our time in Argentina so I'll try to bullet point some of it while I can. You know me ... the details will follow, as I like the details more than the general ideas in my writing!

When we stepped off the plane in Buenos Aires on April 18, the city had been subjected to a month's worth of smoke from the burning of grass (and possibly trash) in the surrounding areas. Every Argentine, including the DeWeeses, were sick of the fumes as they were incredibly pungent and the morning Greg came to pick us up at the airport, the smoke made visibility only about 1 block and a ½. Having grown up in Manila … I felt like I had stepped off the plane and landed in the Philippines. I actually felt quite at home! =) It was quite bothersome, but thanks to Greg’s warning before we left, we brought our allergy meds and it helped out a lot with the sneezing. Unfortunately, there were many people who were hospitalized due to smoke inhalation … I can only imagine what a month’s worth of it would do.

Our first night there, Jordan and I prayed for the burning to stop, for rain to come, or for the winds to blow the smoke away. On Saturday morning, there was still smoke. On Sunday … and every day we were there after that … there was no smoke! PRAISE GOD! Either the burning had stopped or the winds had taken it towards another area, but we enjoyed some beautiful weather and clear skies the rest of our time in Bs. As.

Greg preached a sermon that following Sunday at International Baptist Churchand he commented on how the smoke and everyone's typical reaction of repulsiveness to that smoke was just a small picture of the ugliness and stench of our sin before God. Interestingly enough, my first thought upon smelling the smoke as we exited the airport was, “This is a tangible reminder to me of the reality of hell … and how many people here in this city who will be going there because they have not responded to (nor heard) the gospel of Jesus Christ.” So, even though I was glad that the smoke did leave our area and did give us some reprieve, I was thankful for the picture it gave me of the reason we were there in the first place … to point people to a Savior who can save them from an eternity apart from him.

Pray for the people of Bs. As. There will be a long list which we will share later, but I’d like to close this post with a request for prayer for those who have no idea of the spiritual ramifications of their sin and their lack of surrender to the Savior of mankind. How gracious is our God to bring all this to our attention because of some smoke …

Iguazu Falls

Greetings from the beautiful rainforest of northeastern Argentina! We are winding down our time here in the province of Misiones, specifically the city of Puerto Iguazu, where we have been attending WorldVenture’s Latin Field Leaders Conference. It’s an understatement to say that the four of us have had a wonderful time here. First of all, we’ve experienced the joy of having a multitude of “aunts” and “uncles” around to love on us and our children. All of the missionaries who have attended this conference are missionaries whom we had the joy of serving while I was Ken Flurry’s assistant at WorldVenture (then CBInternational), but it's been great to interact with them as a family, after being out of the office for four years, especially since several of them had never met Jordan, Megan & Micah. It brought such a deep joy to my heart to see my family developing relationships with some incredible people ... and to dream about how those relationships may deepen in the coming years. As the week progressed, we got used to "losing track" of Megan as she would be a few feet away, in the arms or lap of yet another aunt or uncle ... of course, interviewing them about their lives and asking a million"why" questions. The big joke of the week was that it was such a shame that Megan wasn't more outgoing! =) It really is a wonder that she didn't come out of my womb ... she is EXACTLY the way I was at her age - just ask my parents!


Unfortunately, we aren't able to post our pictures from the falls today - our camera won't hook up with laptop we're borrowing from a missionary to Brazil - but as soon as we can when we get home, you'll see the amazing CREATION
we got to see up close and personal on Wednesday. We took a whole day as a group to go and visit the falls on the Argentina side from 3 different view points ... we were in complete AWE as we saw and heard the power of God displayed in those powerful waters and beautiful vistas. So many times, I said to myself, "How can ANYONE see all this and NOT believe that there is a God? I think it takes more faith to believe all this happened by accident than to believe that there is a creative and sovereign being behind all this beauty. We took more pictures than we needed to , but we didn't want to leave any of it up to our memories ... Iguazu Falls is truly one of the most amazing places we have ever visited in our lives! Someday, we'd like to return when the kids are older so they can actually remember it. =) My favorite part (one of many) was looking at a particularly beautiful view and I leaned down by Megan's ear and we had the following conversation:

Me: Megan, isn't this amazing? Who made it all?
Megan: GOD DID!
Me: Is there anyone else in the whole wide world who can create all this?
Megan: No! No one else can make this, Mommy - just God!

Oh gracious Lord, may this faith in my four year old remain in her heart forever, for your GLORY and her JOY!

We'll post pictures on Monday!