Friends

 

The deeper I dig into this project, the more I uncover--photos I missed, new outside resources, information that fills in or corrects what I've written previously. This blog format is like a first draft, should these stories ever become a published collection. For example, there was a discrepancy regarding the date of the first baptisms. In Dad's ten-year review of the work in Don Bosco, he wrote January of 1954. But as I read his letter to a supporting church written February 3, 1955, he stated that they took place, January 2, 1955. The latter date confirms what I remember, that I was 10 years old at the time I was baptized.

In that same letter:

We have been laboring in this field now for over two years. The message has gone out in the form of tracts from house to house, tent meetings, our regular weekly house meetings, and over the P.A. system from the top of our house. The average attendance for the first year was 17 and for the second, 18. In the Sunday School we saw a jump from 14 to 23. And the S.S. continues to run along nicely. There are quite a number of parents in this neighborhood who recognize the value of the S.S. for their children but do not consider that there is anything for them since it is in their minds just sort of a training in good, moral living.

This is a photo of one of the Sunday School groups of those early years. I am on the top far left, next to me is a dear friend, Delia Princic. If I remember correctly, she lived around the corner from us and we walked to school together. In any case, she attended Sunday School, we grew up together in the Don Bosco church, and shared many youth activities including leading children's Bible clubs, going to summer camp in the sierras of Córdoba, and so much more. Delia's father died of lung disease when he was 54. Her mother, Agustina was a believer and lived a very long life. Delia married a young man from one of our churches in the interior. They live in General Deheza, Córdoba. She loves music and learned to play the piano, organ or harmonium, whatever was available in the church. For years she was an accompanist. Her husband, Alberto Claro is a classical guitarist. 

As time goes on I hope to introduce each one of these my dearest friends. 

This blog also helps to reconnect with old friends. Since writing the last chapter I've had a delightful conversation and exchange with Mirta Fischer whose family was featured in that post. (She is next to Delia in the photo above.) Her experience growing up in the church in Don Bosco and her life story would make another wonderful chapter, if I could persuade her to write it.

Dad mentioned in his letter that during those summer months, Mother and I went to visit my schoolteacher. That is another distinct memory. In retrospect I think that the teacher in her affability toward me must have said something like, "I'll miss you this summer. Come and see me." I must have taken it quite literally. I remember insisting several times that my teacher wanted to see my and that we should go visit. Finally, Mother acquiesced, we took the bus to Quilmes, and appeared at her home. She was surprised! But we had a good conversation. I must have given her a Bible and she sounded interested in reading it.

In a later letter (April 3, 1955), Dad mentioned that our piano teacher and her husband attended the Sunday evening service in our home. And now I know her name, Mrs. Jones!

Both Lynn and I had just started school. I was back in the public school, but Lynn had a private tutor. He needed to see an eye doctor as he was having trouble focusing with his left eye.
In May I had a tonsillectomy in the British Hospital. That is another memory I have retained. Dad wrote:

Kathryn went with her and stayed most of the day. Then she went back the next day to bring her home. Everything went along just fine. . . she also had her adenoids out. I guess they were quite large and were causing most of her trouble. The operation cost 480 pesos which would be an equivalent of about 17 dollars at the present exchange.

Around that time, there were two Bible Institute graduates who were in nurses training at the British Hospital. They visited us often. I looked up to these beautiful girls and listened to all their fascinating stories and decided then that I wanted to be a nurse when I grew up. I am happy to say my life took a different path. I would not have made a very good nurse. However, these two remained very dear friends to our family throughout their lifetime--Eunice Siccardi and Hebe Bettinalio. Both led very interesting and fruitful lives.
Eunice was very involved in an international Christian nurses' organization.
Hebe had an unusual and fascinating love story. She married one of her patients, a British mariner! Their long-distance courtship spanned three years, kept alive by 300 or so beautiful love letters. They emigrated to the US where Ray attended Grace College and Seminary and became a pastor. Hebe got a degree in Counseling.

It is not surprising that Lynn mentioned them and many others in his handwritten memories.

My recollection of those years was the effect of music on me. Songs that I learned in those days are still engraved indelible in my memory. One song which always brought tears to my eyes was "God be with you til we meet again." We always used that as a send-off song for people who had been visiting and were returning to their homes.
Many very lovely friendships were formed at that time. I think of Hebe Bettinalio (Davis) and Eunice Siccardi, nursing students at the British hospital in B.A., César Cabral, who was in the year of mandatory military service, Nélida Zanetti one of the Bible Institute students who did an internship with us, Dora Saldaño (another nursing student) and many others throughout the years . . . 

There were always so many comings and going in our home: Bible Institute students who came to help with vacation Bible school; speakers for evangelistic meetings; Brethren young people who came to Buenos Aires to study; missionaries passing through or doing business in the capital, and visitors of all kinds. 

I don't know the occasion for the following photo, but recognize most in the group. Standing behind us three children are sisters Raquel and Hebe Bettinalio,  and Sara Siccardi. Rudy Fischer is on the right. I believe Raquel and Sara were training with Child Evangelism.

My father explains some of the difficulties in his ten-year summary. 

Not all the memories of the four years of the ministry in that house were pleasant. We cannot forget the times when because of the mud, no street lights, and no sidewalks, only a few attended the meetings, at times no one. Still my right hand was partly closed due to holding the knife so long after scraping the mud off the children's shoes as they came to Sunday School. Even brother Maccio will remember the night when he was walking very carefully so as to avoid the mud then suddenly slipped and his whole foot (not to mention his leg) sunk into the ditch. There was a time when the work was so discouraging that the pastor would have given up, and that is what he told brother Maccio. That discouragement spoke elocuently of the pastor's need for growth in his life. After exchanging ideas, we agreed to pray every morning at eight o'clock wherever we found ourselves, each one on our own until the Lord revealed His will about the matter. Not long after the Lord responded and thus the ministry entered a new phase.  [That is a subject for future chapters.]

Carlos Maccio worked with Child Evangelism in Argentina (LAPEN = Liga Argentina Pro Evangelización del Niño) and became a good friend to our family, a ministry partner. The Bible clubs he led faithfully in Don Bosco were very influential in the lives of so many, mine included. I remember the one that met in the garage of a Christian family from another church, a Danish family, the Clausens. They also became great encouragers to my pioneering missionary parents. I chose the opening photo to represent the truth of Hebrews 10:24-25. Mrs. Clausen and two of their children are pictured with our family and another little friend. Among their acts of friendship were the Sunday afternoon walks. They would show up and invite us to join them on a stroll of the area. What a wonderful way to share fellowship!

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (Hebrews 10:24-25). 

1954

 

Lynn (6 1/2) by gospel poster

At the very beginning of the work, in the year '54, we made a post with its corresponding frame for posters. Mrs. Fischer spent many hours preparing the posters we hung there. Only eternity will reveal the eternal results of sowing the gospel in this way. (Paragraph from Dad's farewell message to the Don Bosco congregation at the end of ten years.)

    I always admired Mrs. Fischer's art and now looking back even more as I recognize the time and dedication that went into this very creative way of sharing Bible messages. Each poster was an exquisite work of art. I wonder how many she made over the years and where they ended up afterward?

Mr. and Mrs. Fischer, Rudy and Mirta

     In another paragraph, Dad talks about an early milestone event.

In January of 1954 we had our first baptisms. We had a canvas pool made to use in a hole dug to the same measurements. Because they had a larger yard, and also because some from there asked to be baptized, the event was held at Maconaghy's place in José Mármol. So, among those baptized were Mr. and Mrs. Rodríguez, Mrs. Ravera and Rita Hoyt.   

Margarita, Camilo
& Graciela Rodríguez

First baptismal celebration in Mármol

    Hill and Dorothy Maconaghy were the second missionaries to settle in the Greater Buenos Aires. They settled in Mármol sometime after returning from furlough in August, 1953.  This was their third term of service. They first arrived in Argentina October 28, 1938.

    March 22, Dad wrote about another first and high point - the start of an evening class in our home on March 19. 

Last Friday night we had a very nice meeting here - it was our first Bible Institute class. There were 12 who came - some, in fact 4, I was not expecting. There are others I would like to get interested and see them come into the work as pastors later on. We're studying the doctrine of Salvation including the doctrines of grace, election, calling, faith, repentance, conversion, justification etc. Some of the boys want to extend the time to two hours weekly so I think we'll take up Bible Synthesis or the Analysis of some book. This means lots of work for me because I forget many of these details as fast as I study them. But it is good for me and helps in every way.

    Dad, always busy with his hands, also commented, 

Brother Maconaghy was here just a while ago to get some more of the chairs which we made for their meetings. In all we made 45 folding chairs - 20 for here and 25 for the Macs. They are quite a blessing for us because our quarters are so reduced that everything has to be folding. We'd like to have a set of book shelves . . . but we can't seem to find any place for the bookcase. 

    The missionaries in Buenos Aires often welcomed visitors from the interior: believers from other congregations; missionaries and pastors who came for fellowship or needing to do business in the capital; and any new arrivals from the US.

    March 31, we went as a family to meet a new missionary couple, Don and Hazel Bishop and little Gail. They sailed on the same ship we had come on, the S.S. Argentina. 

    Meanwhile, family dailiness and special events continued. March 23 I had my first annual piano exam which involved going with the teacher by train to the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in the city, waiting my turn to enter the examination hall alone, playing my pieces from memory and waiting for the judges decision. Even though I had not been taking weekly piano lessons for an entire year, I was now in second year. The  teacher lived nearby, around the corner from our house. I wish I could remember her name. If I could ask Lynn, he would know. 

    May 17 Dad wrote a note that reveals little Lynn's exuberant nature, six years old at the time. 

Lynn began to study paino this morning. We are so satisfied with Rita's teacher that we thought we'd start Lynn also. He's just thrilled -as to whether he'll continue time will tell. He just couldn't wait to go for his class this morning. Ever since a little before 8 when he got up, he kept asking how soon he was supposed to go. Finally at 20 of 10 he went.

    Both of us had renewed our English studies following the Calvert Course. Mother tried to spend three hours helping me and one with Lynn. Afternoons, I attended the local elementary school, Escuela 42, and was in cuarto grado, equivalent to fifth grade because the so called first grade was spread out over two years as primero inferior and primero superior.

    Mother also sewed our clothes. Dad wrote, "Kathryn has been busy sewing a suit for Lynn, long pants for Aldo and a dress for Rita. Since we have been trying to get out some every afternoon to go from door to door, you can see how busy she has been."

    Mother was especially grateful when one of the many visitors, a trained seamstress, remade an old coat for her. Mrs. Rosetti was a dear friend from La Carlota,  converted during Dad and Mother's ministry there.

    For the second year, Mrs. McLeish, who had hosted us in her boarding house when we first arrived in Buenos Aires, invited my parents to sing and play for the elderly women in the Brittish American Home. They spoke and sang many songs in English and were invited to come back. Among the hymns was the one about the ninety and nine sheep. A few days later, little Aldo was coloring a picture of the shepherd who went out in the desert to find his one lost sheep. Mother wrote what happened next: 

He came to me and said "Mama, where in the song does it say about the little sheep out in the desert?" (He had heard his Daddy sing that song just the week before.) I got out the hymn book and read to him the hymn until we finished the phrase that says "Out in the desert He heard its cry--Sick and helpless, and ready to die." Then he said, "But, Mama, that makes me cry." He began to cry and until we cut the little lamb out and pasted it under the shepherd's arm he wasn't soothed. What tender hearts little ones have.

     I spent considerable time reading the letters my parents wrote to family and friends reporting on our life in 1954.  I also had an additional borrowed resource - Jim and Margaret Marshall's abundant correspondence - to help me understand life within the context of the Grace Brethren mission in Argentina back then when I was merely ten years old.

    As I read, I sensed a growing weariness and discouragement, almost to the breaking point. These servants persisted in doing missionary work as they knew it, faithfully sharing the gospel message at every opportunity, canvassing their towns more than once, engaging in meaningful conversations and relationships, yet so little fruit resulted. 

    Jim wrote in October of '53: "The work is so hard at times. People show so little interest in spiritual things. They take advantage of all we have to offer materially but aren't interested in forsaking their sins and living for Christ . . . they are tied to their superstitions and traditions."

    "So few folks come that one gets discouraged," wrote Jim on May 10 of '54. Once jokingly he said, "I just asked Margaret if she would have her nervous breakdown because if she could hold off while I have mine it might be better."  My father shared similar feelings, "Mr. Hoyt wrote that he is so discouraged that it is hard to prepare messages." For some time Jim seriously contemplated not returning to Argentina after their term was up.

    The dire spiritual conditions listed for Argentina in 1954 confirmed what I was learning. Here are a few:

• Argentina was considered by mission boards to be the least fruitful mission field in the Western Hemisphere.
• Spiritism was dominant in many cities and towns, with churches being unable to get a foothold in those communities.
• The occult had a grip on millions, influencing every level of society. Christians frequented witch doctors for remedies to their sicknesses when they didn’t have the money for modern medicine.
• Roman Catholicism, being the official state religion, discriminated severely against Protestant churches. Protestants were often forbidden to use radio and television, as well as to gain permission to conduct large evangelistic campaigns. 

    However, an unprecedented enormous event took place that year which “broke the back of the rigid Argentine resistance to the evangelical witness” (according to missiologist and statistician Arno Enns).

    Dad and Jim both made mention of Thomas Hicks' campaign in their letters. Their comments aroused my curiosity so I did some research. I found the story of American Healing Evangelist Tommy Hicks (1909 – 1973) fascinating.

    In 1952, he was not very well known yet. God impressed him with the image of South America as a wheat field ready for harvest. He kept this to himself but wrote in his Bible prophetic words to the effect that after two winters he would go to that country, not by boat, nor by land, but as a bird flies. Three months later, God's word was confirmed to him when someone he did not know, repeated those very poetic and prophetic words in her prayer.

    A group of Pentecostal and Alliance pastors were organizing an evangelistic campaign in Buenos Aires in 1954. The chosen evangelist had to decline, so Hicks was invited to take his place. 

    At the Los Angeles airport, he and his friends prayed for a harvest of 50,000 souls. During the flight, a name was on his mind. He asked the flight attendant if she knew anyone by the name Peron. She informed him that Juan Perón was the president of Argentina. When he met with the evangelism committee organizing the campaign, he informed them of two prerequisites: he must have a meeting with President Juan Perón, and he must have a stadium that could hold at least 25,000 people.

    The organizing committee considered these suggestions preposterous, absurd, and impossible. 

In obedience to God's directive, Hicks went with his interpreter to the Casa Rosada (office of the president), and met with the Minister of Religion. When all seemed lost, the minister's secretary came limping into the room. Hicks asked if he could pray for him, to which the man replied, "If Jesus Christ were here himself, he couldn't heal this leg." However, Tom prayed, the man was instantly healed, and Hicks was invited to come back the next day for an audience with the president.

President Juan Perón

Tommy Hicks and Argentine President Juan Perón

    When he was ushered into the presence of the feared leader, he explained that he wanted to conduct a salvation-healing campaign in a large stadium, with press and radio coverage. President Perón was suffering from a persistent skin disease so noticeable that he no longer allowed photographs. Tommy Hicks prayed for him and the power of God immediately healed Perón’s skin condition.

So it was that all Tommy's requests were granted:

1. Use of the 45,000 seat Atlantic Stadium
2. Free access to state radio and press
3. Freedom to preach anywhere they wanted.

    The services began April 14 with only 6,000 in attendance. For fifty two days the Gospel was preached every night followed by prayers for healing. The crowds filled the stadium and overflowed into the surrounding blocks so the campaign was moved May 22 to Huracán stadium with a much larger capacity. Thousands of Bibles and New Testaments were sold.

The Christian Brethren denomination continued to grow, even though they had mixed feelings about the theological leanings of Tommy Hicks. Decades later, Argentina is still reaping the benefits of the outpouring of His Spirit in 1954. (1954 Argentina Revival)

    Every great revival is preceeded by extraordinay prayer. The 1949 Argentina Revival was the spark that prepared the way. 

    God in His meticulous sovereignty had led Jim Marshall, in charge of programming, to choose Revival as the theme for camp that year.

Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know. (Jeremiah 33:3 NKJV)