To start off the summer Amanda and I got married on June 4th! It was really great to have our families and many friends in town to celebrate with us.
It was an amazing time to pause and reflect on the ways that God has brought us together.


Next, things have been moving forward on the restoration of the Franklin Center. On June 25th we brought the neighborhood together for a potluck celebration at the Franklin Center. Over 100 neighbors ate and celebrated the Franklin Center together and began to dream of a new future for the building and the broader neighborhood. The neighbors gathered in small groups and discussed questions such as: Why is this building important for the life of our neighborhood, or - How could the restoration of this building change or restore our neighborhood? There were three rounds of discussion with sharing from each group afterwords. The time came to a close with a video of neighbors telling the history and dreams for the future of the building. The movie and evening finished with a chorus of cheers- “Si Se Puede” or yes we can chanted over and over.




Since then we have begun to have neighborhood work days for residents to come and help in taking part in restoring the beauty of this building.

This summer has also been filled by hosting youth groups coming to Argentine for mission trips or what we call missional journeys. These trips include a number of different things. First, the students helped us as we remodel the new Youthfront School of Formation home that we bought in the spring to house our college students starting this fall. But beyond simply doing work in the neighborhood these trips are an opportunity for the students to be immersed into the life of the neighborhood and begin to break down stereotypes that students may have. This is done through trying to have times to work, play and eat along side the our neighbors.

Please pray for us as we finish up this summer and prepare for a new round of college students to move in late August.