Summer 1960-1961

 

Rita's Third Year High School Class Photo

Summers in Argentina were intense, the weather hot and humid, and the schedule quite hectic. 

November marked the end of the school year and the beginning of summer events: December exams (like end of year piano exam, and/or opportunities to make up a failed course); evangelistic meetings; Christmas programs; vacation Bible schools; church camps in the sierras of Córdoba and the general conference in Río Cuarto. All in addition to the weekly church services and children's classes. Oh, and there was a wedding in our Templo that summer as well!

For some time my parents had been experiencing other stressors, such as lack of gas for cooking. As I read about this now in the letters they wrote, I realize how oblivious I was then of the daily life struggles they faced. 

November 18, my grandparents made reference to Dad's letter, "Solon writes about their difficulties in getting gas for cooking so they had to cook on a kerosene stove."  [In fact, this had been going on back in October when we had a house full of people.] Then Solon had to wait in a line for over an hour and 40 minutes just to get a bus ticket."

Dad wrote about his time in Huinca Renancó: 

Since Nov. 11 I have been here in this evangelistic effort. We have had many opportunities for personal contacts and we do thank the Lord for these. The meetings at night have been increasing in number and interest each night. To date we have had no professions but there have been several victories. Some have entered the church for the first time who have been against it formerly. 

One of the very interesting things here [in Huinca] is to see the fruit of seed sown years ago. God's word does not return void. About seven years ago the present pastor began dealing with a certain boy who said he would never go inside the church. His older brother was the first to make a profession, next came Eduardo who would not set foot in the church. Later, Eduardo won his mother and then his step-father. His mother also was very catholic but how faithful she is to the Lord now.

My heart is burdened for the innumerable towns that have no Gospel testimony.

Interestingly, years later that young man, Eduardo Coria, became the pastor of the congregation in Don Bosco and lived there for many years with his family in the parsonage that was added onto the Temple. A book could be written about his life and ministry.  

December 19, my mother wrote to her parents. She said Dad had left early that morning on the 7:30 bus to Río Cuarto for a special meeting to decide on a new pastor for one of the towns.
Her garden was doing well after the rain, growing lettuce, Kentucky wonder beans, Swiss chard and zapallitos. [I miss those little green squash.]
Mother also mentioned my music theory exam (solfeo) which would allow me to teach if I wanted to. All I remember is the fancy cuaderno (hardback exercise book, a fancy notebook) in which I had written out in India ink all of the theory lessons. Three more years and I could have the title of profesora.
Friday Lynn was to take an exam to get into the same school I attended.

In his memories, Lynn wrote :

School in Argentina is free up till 6th grade. Anyone who wants to go for more studies must pass an entrance exam, and many do not make it. I was the first alternate and was fortunate that someone dropped out to go to another school or my education would have been truncated right then. As it was, I was able to get into the school (the Normal School in Quilmes) but was not allowed to choose which languages I would study. I was assigned to a class which had English and Latin as their foreign languages. Two funny notes come from that experience.

My second year English teacher was a middle aged frumpy woman who had a teaching title but had not advanced very far in her pronunciation. If you were British, American, or even Australian, her accent was not even close. She was clearly an Argentine who had no ear for language. I got quite a bit of entertainment from her horrible enunciation of English words until she realized I was sitting in the back row laughing at her. For this behavior I was awarded a zero and barely made it through the course by getting a 10 in the other two trimesters. 

As for Latin, I barely made it through the course the two first years, and was meant to take a test just before my fourth year to be able to pass and go on to the next year. Since we left for furlough soon after November, the test is still pending.

 The joke is on me, though, as I went to college and chose as my major the Greek language for the purpose of preparing for the ministry. Greek is very similar to Latin in its grammatical structure, so I ended up having to take many tests which could have been even harder than the make-up exam in Latin.

Thankfully, I did not need to make up any subjects during December, although it appears from this report card that Zoology and History were not my forte. The subjects listed are: Castellano, Francés, Matemáticas, Zoología, Geografía, Historia, Dibujo, Cultura Musical, Actividades Prácticas, Educación Física, Educación Democrática. Grades were on a scale of 1 to 10.

Report card

The highlight of the month of January was going to camp Cerro San Lorenzo. There we met many dear friends. Mirtha, who had been bedridden for several years, was able to attend and participate.

Mirtha (above) and Rita (below)

Not long after, we met again at the general conference which took place in Río Cuarto, the denominational headquarters, February 12 -14.

February 27 I wrote to Mirtha and took a whole paragraph to tell her how much I missed her and needed to hear from her. Then I related the happenings since the Conferencias. Upon our arrival back in Don Bosco, the youth group friends were astir. One youth appeared on his bicycle to meet us and ran to tell another friend and together we went around distributing eagerly-awaited letters from the new friends from Córdoba.

I went on to tell Mirtha about the memorable wedding.

You know, last week we had the first wedding in our little temple. Mabel´s sister was married . . . María Carmen Devesa to Esteban Juan Raspe. They attended a church in another town, Iglesia de Constitución, but decided to have their ceremony here. . . it was very simple, took place in the morning. She wore a short dress. My mother, Mabel and I decorated the Temple and it was so lovely that people were amazed, they had not imagined that it could look so beautiful. The bride was very moved by our efforts.

 If I am not mistaken, that was the only time I played for a wedding on our little portable pump organ.

March 1, I wrote one last letter before the start of the school year. I described in detail my routine during the two-week Vacation Bible School.

So, every afternoon, here at home, I go over the lesson I´m supposed to teach, then I rest a bit, and drink something warm (tea without milk, better for your health, or for mine anyway), and then around 4:30 or 4:45 I go to the Temple and go over the lesson again  there, but this time placing the figures in their respective places on the flannelgraph background I chose, because we keep the backgrounds here in the Temple. . . After that I go to pick up "my kids," with 30 minutes or so because I usually have to wait for them to get ready and have their afternoon snack. 

The letter continued a few days later:

Today was the end of DVBS. It was a good time, I think; although the attendance was not that great. This morning I had a lovely time with about twelve kids. Roberto and Ely took turns teaching the older ones (because Roberto works and could only come Saturdays and Sundays). Mirtha Fischer also taught the class today and very well. Mabel gave the missionary story, one each day, and the days she couldn't (yesterday she had to take a typing test), Pirincha, Julio, and I gave the lesson.

 I include these quotes from the old letters because they are samples of our teenage correspondence that contain accurate records of events long forgotten, and above all they illustrate the involvement of our youth in the ministry. 

Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say,   “I find no pleasure in them” (Ecclesiastes 1:1).