Mirtha

 

Among the visitors that stayed with us in Don Bosco, was the Siccardi family. Mirtha, their youngest daughter became my dearest friend. I believe this is the first photo of us together. She is on my left.

  

Mirtha and I  must have met when we were very small because our fathers were pastors in the same fellowship, but we did not see one another very often as our families lived in different provinces and only got together at summer camp and/or annual general conference.

This one time, however, Mirtha and her family came to Buenos Aires for medical reasons. 

Mirtha contracted polio as a baby.  As she grew into adolescence, her spinal column began to deteriorate and deviate rapidly endangering vital organs--lungs, heart and spinal cord. The reason for their visit to the capital was for a consultation with specialists at the British Hospital where her eldest sister Eunice was a nurse in training.

I cannot pinpoint the exact dates of their stay, however Mirtha remembers that it was at the start of the "Revolution", perhaps September of 1955. 

I found a prayer request in the denominational magazine about the time when she was hospitalized.
 

(Brethren Missionary Herald, 18.08.56)

The final decision of the medical team was that Mirtha had to spend five years of bed rest during that critical growth period. Her wise father discerned Mirtha's gift of writing and encouraged her to participate in a contest sponsored by L.E.A.L. (Literatura Evangélica para América latina). Her novel won third place! Moody Publishers won over several that would have published it. It was a bestseller.

Our correspondence began as early as 1954 when we were barely 9 and 11 years old. Mirtha carefully preserved all my correspondence in a large binder. I asked to borrow the collection. My brother and sister-in-law were serving in Argentina at the time and were able to bring it to the US and as promised I would send the letters back with them when they returned after their few months stateside. Then our housefire happened!

Amazingly, God protected those letters, they suffered minimal damage--some burnt edges and water marks, but still mostly readable. I was able to scan most of the letters before sending the binder back to Mirtha. Thus, it will remain another treasured resource to draw on as I write my life stories.

But now, allow me to go back and add to Mirtha's story. I found an article published in April of 1944 telling of little Mirtha's very serious case of infantile paralysis and God's intervention in answer to prayer. 

Mirtha is almost two years older than I. Our correspondence began when we were children. 

March 3, 1954

At camp that year there were three of us little girls that hung out together. We adopted the following nicknames: Ester was ovejita, I was pollito (little chicken), and Mirtha was conejito (little bunny). My next letter, July 28, was appropriately illustrated.

The last letter in the thick binder is dated May 1972. By then, I was married and living in Germany. In the intervening years, Mirtha became a literature professor and for twenty years was totally in charge of  a Christian magazine for children, El Puentecito. Sharing the gospel with the young generation has been her life-long passion.

This is an early sample, published shortly before Mirtha married Aldo Ferro.

In January of 1997, I was privileged to travel to Argentina and spend a few days in their home.

Last year, Mirtha lost her husband of more than thirty years. The following is my favorite photo of this dear couple.

Amazingly, God has kept her all these years to spread love and care to others. 

June 17th is Mirtha's 80th birthday. In her honor, here is a prayer of blessing.

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26 - NIV

1955

 

Casa Rosada and Plaza de Mayo

The new year in the southern hemisphere opens the series of summer events, such as vacation bible schools (if they were not held before Christmas), summer camps, annual conference (always during Carnaval), tent meetings. 

In January of 1955, two camp sessions took place in Las Albahacas, one for youth (4-12) and another for children (13-21). It appears that our family attended one of them.

Conference that year took place February 20-22. Mother wrote Sunday afternoon, February 27: 

Last Wednesday we got home from Río Cuarto. . . We had a very good conference this year, good spirit and good attendance. The Lord gave me liberty in giving my message and I thank Him for it.

I located a file folder labeled Mother's Messages and was pleasantly surprised to find the very message she gave to the women that year, confirmed by her handwritten note on the back, Río Cuarto- Conferencia 1955.

I learned more about the "unity of the Spirit" from reading this meditation, and about my mother's ways and her ministry contributions. There was a stack of 5" by 7" carefully typed double-sided 6 to 8 page typed message notes. On every one she had written on the back the location and date of delivery, and sometimes the number of people in attendance. Always the rounded corners as well, perhaps to fit exactly in her Bible.

Dad also gave a message. Mother wrote about it, 

Sam was to speak to the Young People's meeting which was from 4-6 in the afternoon. At 10 minutes of 6 they gave him the platform. He says at that time he didn't have too much desire to speak . . . the young man from La Carlota was in charge of the meeting and he just miscalculated and made the program too long. It was all very interesting even though a little long.

The letter continues,

This Monday Sam is going back to the interior for a tent meeting in La Carlota. Then the 15th we are expecting to begin one here in Don Basco. I trust we get all the necessary permissions if not I don't know if we can have them. Lynn Schrock is coming to help us. 

Thursday Sam went down to the Custom's house to get the packages. They would only let the one with the toys come through. 

These were probably the Christmas gifts that Grandma Hirschy mentioned in her diary. 

Tuesday, January 4, 1955 Took the trimmings off Christmas tree and wreaths and packed it all away. Daddy mailed 2 boxes to Argentina. 

Often getting things out of Custom's was difficult and costly, almost not worth the trouble. Yet the items that did get through brought joy. I remember reading the books and Sunday School papers that arrived over the years. One favorite series of children's books made a strong impression on me. I recently located and purchased a reprinted set of The Susie and Johnny Series.

Marshall's in their correspondence also mentioned the many trips to another town to pick up packages, and only being allowed to retrieve one, often sending the others back.

Mother continues in her letter, 

This next Thursday afternoon we plan to have our second women's meeting. There are lots of women who are willing to come to a meeting when their husbands are at work whereas they won't come to our other meetings.

Dad added a note: 

The work continues to go along very slowly. We often wonder if we'll have the courage to come back to this field . . . 

Forgot to mention that I had a tooth pulled which left a hole up into the facial cavity.

Then in the April 3rd letter, he said,

I've been visiting the dentist quite regularly this past week and have about three weeks ahead of me. I had 7 cavities and I still have the roots of a molar to be taken out. When a young dentist tried to pull it, he broke off the top leaving the roots. Now I have the same trouble that I had on the other side of my mouth - that hole which goes up into the cheek cavity . . . Kathryn needs to go to the eye doctor too. Aldo needs his tonsils out.

And among all the events of daily life, was my second trip to St. Cecilia's Conservatory of Music, and Lynn's first for our annual piano exam. Mother certainly made us look very spiffy. 

In the April 3rd letter, the day after Dad's 34th birthday, Mother wrote:

Fall is here and soon it will be winter. Yesterday we had a birthday but didn't do much celebrating. I wanted to make a cake but Sam wouldn't let me as he said I had too many other things to do. 

The 15th of March through the 24th we had our tent campaign. There were several decisions . . . Brother Schrock brought simple clear messages but it seems hearts are so hard. We had a lot of trouble this time in the care of the tent - pitched on a public plaza so all the boys of the neighborhood felt perfectly free to do what they wanted to. They threw potatoes, stones, clods, and even pieces of cement. Happily none of these things damaged the tent. However, the next to the last night they robbed two ropes. The fellow who takes care of the tent [don Pedro Olthoff] couldn't leave to eat with us except early in the morning for breakfast. The rest of the time we took his meals to him. 

On this earth we will not know the extent of the effect on those who heard the gospel that week in the tent, or outside, or by word of mouth. Dad wrote of an interesting encounter they had with a Jewish man, astronomy professor of the University of La Plata. He listened with considerable interest and respect. He said that he stood outside of the tent with his little boy. The next day the boy was singing "Libre estoy, libre estoy" (Free am I) and at first he didn't realize what it was, then remembered that it was the special music in the tent meeting the night before. 

 In the next few May letters, the need for a meeting place is evident.

May 1:  Last night we had a young people's meeting. There were 21 young folks in all. They seemed to have a very good time and have asked to have it every 2 weeks. . . The young folks from Mármol came also. We showed a filmstrip, "He Took My Whipping." Afterwards we served refreshments and they played games until 10:15. We always feel so handicapped for space. There we were just jammed in the living room. Fortunately it was a nice evening and not too cool so they could play outside, if not I just don't know what we would have done.

We've been looking around for lots but all of them are above 60,000 pesos and are so small. We've been wanting to buy a house with a nice lot beside it but the board doesn't have the money . . . . If we'd be able to get that, I'm sure the people here could build a temple on it and it would be such an asset to the work. The man has come down 25,000 pesos on the price he offered us first. It is a lot that is exceptionally large almost twice the depth of the others.

May 30: Next week we are going to have a council meeting in Río Cuarto and will be talking over the possibility of building here in Don Bosco . . . I confess I don't know what ought to be done - may the Lord give us wisdom. Our house is small and it is a private home which I'm sure keeps some from coming. 

May 10, the Marshalls left for their furlough in the US. Our family went to the airport to see them off. Lynn and I rode along with them in the Model A Ford, while Dad and Mother and Aldo went by train. We all came home in the car. Dad wrote: 

It was so nice to be able to come back so quickly and calmly. We're sorta tired of depending upon busses and trains. We have the Ford A now but I don't know for how long. Perhaps they'll leave it here for us.

However, Dad goes on to tell of a blessing that resulted from riding the bus.

About a month and a half ago a girl of about 19 began to attend our meetings as a result of meeting her on a bus. She has been very faithful and we have gotten to know her story a bit better these past couple days. She used to be in the Salvation Army. She was saved about 3 or 4 years ago and when she accepted the Lord she was asked to leave home. She went into the Salvation Army and became an officer. Due to ill health she had to leave that. Now she is living with her grandmother but . . . they don't get along too well. Last night her grandmother became angry with her and told her not to present herself for the meals today. So after Sunday School today she stayed with us. She is trying to secure a job but needs to know how to type . . . so she is going to come here to practice. For several Sundays now she has been teaching the little tots S.S. and Kathryn says she does real well. She also sang a special number for the young people's meeting and for the preaching service tonight.

Could she be the young woman next to Mother in this photograph labeled 1955? 

The same letter made reference to political unrest.

I suppose you have read some accounts of the recent political movements here in Argentina. For the past several weeks they have been publishing some of the most direct and clearest statements with regard to the catholic church in preparation for the separation of church and state. Now they have the separation and are changing the constitution in every point where this separation would affect it. And just in passing they are changing a few other things which will make it possible for them to make some treaty or agreement with foreign oil companies to come in and extract and refine petroleum. Perhaps this is really the big item they were after, but the separation of church and state is bound to bring betterment to the country. Last year the catholic church received 83,000,000 pesos from the national budget. To divert that sum into other channels ought to help some.

I did not understand what was going on at the time and do not even now grasp the full significance of what was taking place relatively close to where we lived. I do remember that from our home in Don Bosco we could hear the bombings.

Juan Perón had been president almost for as long as we had been in Argentina, and had experienced periods of unprecedented popularity. At this time, however, there was increasing discontent. 

June 16, 1955, in an attempt to murder the president, Argentine Naval Aviation and Air Force airplanes dropped 9 1/2 tons of ammunition on the Casa Rosada (House of Government) and its surroundings, killing 364 people, mostly civilians. Perón had been warned and was nearby in the Ministry of War. It was a very dark day in Argentine history. Perón was later ousted in a coup September 19, 1955.

In her diary entry of June 28, Grandma wrote: "Got letters from Kate & Sam. They are O.K. Sam walked thru the Plaza de Mayo the day before the shooting."

I have no more letters for 1955 after May 30. However, an excerpt from my grandparents' archives came to me.

December 1, 1955

We got a letter from Sam and Kathryn this week. They write, "Since we last wrote, we have been doing our share of making a stopping place for missionaries. We had the Dowdys with us November 10 through the 15. There were four of them and the first night we also had another lady from La Carlota, a Mrs. Marín. It was a pleasure to have her for she had attended the meetings all the time during our ministry in La Carlota. She was perhaps one of the most faithful to the meetings but we could never quite decide if she was really born again or not. She never prayed and we couldn't seem to talk to her on spiritual subjects without it being a monologue. Just a few weeks back she was baptized and a few months before she was truly born again. While talking with her one day I asked her why it was that we seemingly could never get close to her during our time in La Carlota. 'Well,' she said, 'I just wasn't one of the family yet.' 

As to the meetings here they are all going much better now . . . The S.S. continues to grow. There were 38 yesterday, and we just did not have seats for all of them. Please remember this in prayer. We need a building . . .

The Churchills arrived on the S.S. Argentina, November 13 at 9 a.m. They are staying at the Maconaghys right now and will be there until something definite is decided as to their location. 

Next Monday the 28, I go to Corral de Bustos for 10 days of meetings."

Godly perseverance kept my parents going in 1955 through the struggles of daily life and in the ministry.  And they we were protected amid political turmoil.

. . . for you know that the testing of your trust produces perseverance. 

But let perseverance do its complete work; 

so that you may be complete and whole, lacking in nothing.

James 1:3-4