Pachín

Reflections of Ángel Camandona, nicknamed Pachín.

My Trajectory—December 1963 - January 1966 

It was the year 1963. I was in post graduate studies at the Bible Institute in Almafuerte. 

For six months I had been living in the Brethren Church in the city of Río Tercero, Córdoba province, Argentina, where Ángel (Cacho) Díaz and his wife Sara Siccardi had recently begun pastoring replacing pastor Jack Churchill who moved to the city of Almafuerte to be director of the Bible Institute. 

I helped Cacho with the youth group, the Sunday School, and visitation. 

Around this time, I received a letter from pastor Solon Hoyt, of the Brethren Church in Don Bosco in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

The letter was an invitation to take the pastorate of said church as he and his family would be moving. 

I was greatly surprised, of course! 

Naturally, I prayed, seeking the will of God. I sought the advice of my fiancée, Ester Galli, and also pastors Cacho, Churchill, and Siccardi. 

It was not an easy decision, but I understood it was God´s will. 

The challenge was enormous.

I had no experience as a pastor . . . I´d be replacing a giant, Pastor Hoyt . . . moving to Buenos Aires, a huge city, and I, a farm boy . . . with only an elementary education and five years of Bible Institute . . . it was to be my first pastorate . . . and I was about to be married . . . and later become a first time father.  

Even so, I accepted Pastor Hoyt´s invitation. 

After graduation and taking leave of the beloved Bible Institute in Almafuerte, and of my pastor Luis Siccardi and his family, Cacho and Sara Díaz and the congregation I had grown to love . . . and, of course, my folks in the country, father and siblings . . . I began my journey to the great capital. 

Pastor Hoyt and his family welcomed me lovingly to their home on Chiclana 1074 in Don Bosco, where I stayed a few days while they introduced me to the place and people, some I already knew, especially the young people from camp. 

I also worked with him a little on the parsonage he was building next to the church on the corner of Cramer and Bermúdez. 

He also took me to see the two outreaches in Quilmes Oeste and Villa Domínico, not far from Don Bosco. Both met in the streetcars that Pastor Hoyt obtained when they ceased to be used as means of transport in the city of Buenos Aires. Ingeniously, Pastor Hoyt, very hardworking, and his wife and a group of young people, cut them down the middle and joined them to form a meeting place complete with their original seats, two streetcars in each location. 

Shortly before Christmas of 1963, the Hoyts were to travel to the US on furlough, and would not be returning to live in Don Bosco. 

An emotional commissioning ceremony took place in the church in which Pastor Hoyt commended me to the Lord before the congregation. The brethren welcomed me with fraternal love. 

Of course, the people were very emotional as they bad farewell to Pastor Hoyt and his family. He had founded the congregation, and served them with love and tremendous effort spiritually and physically for many years. 

At that moment, I could not grasp fully what was happening. Today, with the distance of time, I realize I must have felt very unworthy to take his place. 

A few days later, many of us went to the airport in Ezeiza to see the family off . . . and watched until the plane disappeared on the horizon. 

Thus began my first pastorate! 

Undoubtedly the congregation felt the impact of that loss, yet their love and understanding in Christ was a great support for me. The group of young people shared the ministry with me, preaching, and working in the two outreach locations, especially with the children. 

So the months went by until the end of April 1964 when I travelled to the city of Córdoba. There I had to get the paperwork in order for my marriage to Ester Galli. The date was May 30. The ceremony was performed by Pastors Lynn Schrock and Jack Churchill. 

Following that special event and the honeymoon, we made our way to Don Bosco. My beautiful new wife Ester, barely 20 years old, and I, recently turned 26 years of age, arrived in Buenos Aires. 

We lived in the Hoyt´s furnished house which they graciously and lovingly shared with us. We enjoyed that home for a whole year. Meanwhile work on the parsonage continued. 

With Ester, we led the ministry in Don Bosco, Quilmes Oeste and Villa Domínico, mostly among the children and a few adults in the latter two locations. Ester taught Sunday School classes and I preached and we did visitation together. 

Ester became pregnant with our first daughter, Adriana, born March 8, 1965. 

Obviously this brought us great joy. The people who had welcomed us so beautifully after our honeymoon, now rejoiced with our news. There were little gifts and loving greetings. Ester was able to keep up with all her household responsibilities and was only slightly limited in other tasks. 

I do have an anecdote. At that time, there was a young woman, Ana Podestá, who came to church. She lived a block away from the Devesa family. Her father became ill and had the beginnings of dementia. Ester and I decided to walk her home some nights. One time, Mr. Podestá was shaving with a razor. I came near the bathroom and he did not recognize me. He attempted to attack me. He was big and burly, had been a butcher. Although I am also strong, I do not know what could have happened. His daughter Anita appeared and calmed him down. The Lord protected us.  

Sometime later, Mr. Podestá made a decision for Christ in a moment of lucidity. That year 1964, he died. The burial ceremony was only my second funeral during my ministry. The first time, earlier, was Mr. Devesa´s. Even though his wife and daughters were believers, he was very hardened. However, the Lord saved him in time!

Both were buried in the British cemetary for dissidents in Quilmes, which I did not know. I repeat these were the first in my minitry. 

Pastor Nelson Fay

One day Pastor Nelson Fay came to our home. He brought me the gift of a bicycle, an original Phillips from England. It had belonged to his late father, missionary in Paraguay. Although it was a bit small for me, it proved very useful in the ministry. I used it to go to Quilmes Oeste to work on the streetcars or to visit someone. The same with Villa Domínico. I did it with much joy by the grace of God. I was young and strong.  

That bicycle, which now in 2023 would be about 100 years old, accompanied me through my 44 years of ministry. Ii is a keepsake. 

The day of Adriana´s birth arrived. It was only then that we knew it was a girl. Thankfully the delivery went well. Also thanks to God, Ester was taken good care of in a clinic in the capital, by a good Armenian Christian doctor, Eduardo Bedrossian, who knew I was a pastor and did not charge us anything the entire time. 

Back home in Don Bosco, the brethren shared our joy. 

Soon after, we moved into the parsonage. 

God continued to bless us as a family and in the ministry. 

We had no bed. A widow, Mrs. Siles, gave us hers. 

We had no refrigerator. Pastor Marshall from Villa General Belgrano, gave us a Servel kerosene fridge. They also gave us a crib for Adriana. 

The Churchill family, before returning to the US, gave us a play pen. 

We can never forget all of this. 

I must mention again the Hoyts´ kindness allowing us the use of their home and everthing in it for more than a year. They returned after a year but only to move to Almafuerte to take charge of the Bible Institute. 

While living in the parsonage, we hosted Maisie Boore and Loida Enrici from Almafuerte, Córdoba, as best we could for three months. They were taking a Child Evangelism course with Miss Krieger, the head of LAPEN (Liga Argentina Pro Evangelización del Niño). 

The church gave us some money and we received offerings from individuals. Without taking away from anyone, I will only mention Mrs. Josefa Devesa who often stopped by with an empanada gallega (type of Spanish turnover), or Mrs. Princic who brought fresh eggs from her chickens. 

Ester went once a week to the open market, a block away from the church, and bought vegetables, fruit, meat, etc. at good prices. 

The years God gave us in Don Bosco, Quilmes Oeste, and Villa Domínico, are fresh in our minds, even at my 85 years of age, Ester's 79, and our 59 years of matrimony, with five children and eleven grandchildren. We cannot, nor ought we ever, to forget the two years we lived in Don Bosco, and the patience and love of the brethren to put up with us. I am conscious, with the passing of time, that I erred many times. I am aware that some were not happy with me in Don Bosco. I cannot now make amends. 

We began to realize that the Lord was bringing our time there to an end. Our time in the place that had become very dear to us was ending. So we decided to return to Córdoba. Ester was pregnant once again. 

We left in January of 1966. I had accepted an invitation from Pastor Schrock to teach a session on Philippians at camp. That was the last study I prepared at my desk in the loft of the Don Bosco church, and seated on a chair given to me by Mr. Rocobertón, a carpinter friend of Mr. Hoyt. 

I failed to mention that we did not have a washer. One of Ester´s aunts gave her an old wringer washing machine. She hung out the clothes on the rooftop terrace of the temple that Mr. Hoyt built. 

Thus far the Lord has helped us! 

The LORD is just. He will judge my conduct and the ministry of those years. 

1964 - Changes

1964 was a year of many changes. My family, the Hoyts, were in the USA, yet Argentina was in us. How did we adapt or adjust to the unknown? Life and customs in the US were now the foreign culture, especially to us kids. 

    Coming from the heat of summer, we arrived in the cold of winter. How did we manage the  necessary wardrobe change overnight? A vague image floats in my memory of walking off a plane wearing heels and a summer dress and jacket onto an icy windy airport walkway.

    The decades have erased the details of settling into a new world. The transition drained our time and energy. Few letters remain to record the stories. I am grateful for the miraculous survival of my vast correspondence with Mirtha, my dearest friend. Years back when my brother and sister-in-law lived in Argentina, on one of their return trips to the US, they brought the letters that I begged to borrow for the duration of their visit. During that time, our house burned down and the binder-full was among the archival items recovered!

    I wrote one letter to Mirtha in 1964. It saddened me to realize that it was only in February that I began a response to her letter. She was the first to write after our family's departure in December. I was even more chagrined to note that it was not till July that I finally completed and mailed my letter, by then four long pages. 

    I thanked her profusely, and chided her, "Why did you write me such a beautiful letter when I haven't even written you in months?" then proceeded to explain: 

I only have 10 minutes before lights out. Because I don't know if you knew that I am in Grace College, Winona Lake, Indiana. I am studying and working. I barely have time to breathe. . . I've been waiting for free time to open up to write to you, but now I realize that it will never happen, so I decided to use the little moments.

    From what follows I understood that there was one person I was corresponding with faithfully, the boyfriend I had left behind.

I will not be able to tell you everything about how I came to be here, but if you wait a little, when Julio arrives in the Bible Institute [March] he will be able to tell you much more.

As I said, I am here. . . My parents wanted me to come, and I also wanted to do something rather than be home without anything to do, so here I am.

I am very grateful that since I moved out, away from my family, the Lord has guided me wonderfully and provided all my needs more than I could ask or think. . . I know that He placed me here.

He also gave me a job in an amazing way. I work part time for Spanish World Gospel Broadcasting, Inc.

 I worked part-time doing secretarial tasks for the founder and director, Florent Toirac from Cuba. 

    But, what was college life like for me? I had to find my way in the new academic setting without much orientation. I jumped into the middle of the school-year—second semester began January 27—and landed in a small dorm room in the Westminster Hotel. I didn't know whether I could relate to the beautiful, well-put-together roommate I was assigned. However, only a couple of weeks later the Residence Hall opened, Grace campus' first one. The "big move" took place February 8. "Although it was freezing cold outside, a warm spirit was everywhere." (Brethren Missionary Herald, 3.21.64)

    The new building also housed the dining commons which opened February 14. The first floor was for female students. The second floor for the men was still under construction and scheduled to open in the fall.

    I had a new roommate, Linda Crowder, who also enrolled second semester. I wrote about her troubled life to Mirtha. 

She's lived in thirteen different homes. The last three years of high school she also worked and had her own apartment. She met a pastor's family in September who welcomed her into their home. Their daughter was studying at Grace and that's how Linda ended up there. She has had many problems these months.

    As I read further, I recognized how far apart our life experiences had been. However, she confided in me and I prayed for her. Linda had a hard time keeping to a schedule and abiding by the rules. She was so used to living independently and doing her own thing. The dean of women, Mrs. Miriam Uphouse, was very good to her, like a mother, even when she reprimanded her. Linda appreciated the discipline. In fact, she said that all her life she had envied other children who were spanked or punished. 

    The story ended tragically. Linda tended to fall behind, get depressed, disappear, and get in trouble. She finally took her own life.

    After the end of the semester, Daddy and my brother Lynn came to Winona Lake to take me away for a two week vacation.  I joined the family in Evans City, Pennsylvania, for a visit as they packed and prepared to leave the Hirschy homestead and spend the remainder of their furlough based in Indiana.

Hoyt family, summer 1964
Rita wearing waitress uniform

    Other news in my extended letter to Mirtha, dated July 16, was that I had a summer job as a waitress at the Westminster Hotel. Winona Lake was a popular venue for a variety of Christian conferences. I mentioned that some weeks were busier than others depending on the attendance at each event. It seems that this particular week there was not as much work. I then dedicated time to write a page to each of my neglected faraway friends.

    I ended the letter apologizing profusely for not communicating all those many months and, despite my admission of total failure, finally determined to mail it anyway, including the outdated entries.

    How much richer these memories would be if all the letters I received from my friends had not gone missing throughout the travels and travails of many decades.

~~~~~

    I have one surviving letter in my mother's beautiful handwriting, written to her mother, December 2, 1964,  almost a year from the time of our arrival in the US. The date tells me that I was not the only one with time management issues during this transition year.  

    The family was based in the Winona Lake house Dad built during the previous furlough. And, not surprisingly, they continued to make improvements on the house, finishing areas of the basement--a bedroom and paneling.

    Dad was often invited to speak in the various supporting churches. Mother and the boys traveled with him on weekends if the distance and their school schedule allowed. I usually stayed back, very involved in college obligations. We did, however, spend a week together as a family at a camp during the summer. 

    Two of our uncles lived nearby. Some from out of state came to visit, and we stayed with others on our travels. Slowly we were getting reacquainted.

    We celebrated American holidays. Our neighbors invited us over for a sumptuous Thanksgiving dinner.

    I treated my family to one of Grace college's theatre events, "Father of the Bride." They enjoyed the performance.

        Interestingly, that winter Dad took up a  side job in construction working for Mr. Kaiser. He liked it, but not the cold. Brrrr! 

~~~~~

    Meanwhile, significant changes were taking place in Argentina. The Missionary Herald, in a June 13 article "ARGENTINA MOVES FORWARD" attempted to summarize what God was doing in each area---Bible Institute, literature, radio, Christian Day School, and more--recognizing that much more time and space was required to convey the complete picture.

The work here is in the midst of change--CHANGE--but not in the message we proclaim nor the purpose we pursue. . .

The change in the midst of which we find ourselves is a healthy one. Our Argentine Brethren are taking over more and more of the responsibilities of the work. Thus we need no longer speak of the "Brethren Mission" in Argentina, but of "The Brethren Church of the Argentine Republic," duly orgnized, functioning, and recognized before the government. 

There were several firsts that year, among them:

• The first family camp, added to the other three for children, adolescents, and youth.
• The first time annual conference convened at the denomination's campground, Cerro San Lorenzo.
• The Santa Rosa congregation met for the first time in its own meeting place on March 1. And in April, Alberto Sotola was ordained there.
• The Cover family moved to Río Cuarto to initiate the evangelical literature ministry. The bookstore El Heraldo opened in August.
• Another Christian bookstore, La Buena Lectura, opened in Lomas de Zamora in September.
• The first printed special edition of El Heraldo Evangélico Argentino came out in October.
• Two recent graduates of the Bible Institute began serving in Buenos Aires area churches: Angel Camandona (Pachín) in our own Don Bosco, and Benjamín Enrici in Mármol. 

    Margaret Marshall wrote, Sunday March 14, about a very difficult circumstance that Pachín suffered which almost caused him to give up. The pastors from the Buenos Aires congregations had traveled to headquarters in Río Cuarto for the Field Council meeting. Missionary Don Bishop drove his vehicle. Jim Marshall and Martha Bettinalio rode with him to the interior. However, he had to leave before the meetings were over to take care of important business in the capital. Two fellows rode back with him, Pachín and Juan. They drove through the night Thursday. 

Pachín is such a fine young fellow, and very unfortunately he happened to be driving and went to sleep (at 5:00 in the morning) and they plowed into the back of a truck. It really wrecked the car but could have been much worse. The car went out of control and went for about 100 yards, into a ditch, but didn't turn over. Pachín had his hands cut badly from the glass from the windshield, and the other fellow, . . . received a blow to the head. He was unconscious all the next day, and the doctor wasn't sure he was going to live, but the following night he awoke and it looks as if he will be all right. He and Don were sound asleep when it happened. They notified the men who were still in Río Cuarto, and Jim and Hill left as soon as they could in Mr. Shrock's car and got to the town where they were about 8:00 Friday night and stayed with them Friday and came on home about noon Saturday. Jim sat up with Juan Colle all night. He [Juan] was to preach all this week in special meetings in Don Bosco [correction: Villa Domínico].

Poor Pachín. Jim said that their hardest job was trying to cheer him up--he naturally felt so badly about it. Said he'd never preach again, never drive a car again, etc. Juan is one of his best friends and he was afraid he was going to die and felt responsible. Well, it was just too bad, but we know some good will come of it all.

Jim said it was really impressive how nicely everyone treated them, the policemen, hospital people, believers who opened up their homes to them for eating and sleeping, the mechanics, just everyone.

     Both Pachín and Juan went on to lead very fruitful ministries and raised wonderful families. 

    And now, decades later, from the perspective of many weathered trials, I too am encouraged to keep on keeping on!

"Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up (Galatians 6:9 BSB)."