Meanwhile in Argentina

Alan (4) and Ivan (9)

My parents and three younger brothers lived in Almafuerte and worked in the Brethren Bible Institute. 

    The little brothers enjoyed life, and were good buddies. Ivan was in third grade, the equivalent of our fourth grade (first grade at that time was divided into two level: primero inferior, primero superior).

    Aldo, the 17-year-old, was a very busy teenager which is probably why I couldn't find a photo of him. He may also have been the photographer. In addition to his secondary school (high school) studies he was taking a Greek class in the Bible Institute. He was learning to play the guitar from an expert classical guitarist, Alberto Claro. He was also the go-to handyman and helped with projects in the workshop, located behind the house where my family lived, at the end of the driveway. 

    The workshop was a recently developed program to give the Bible Institute students an opportunity to work and pay part or all of their expenses. 

    Through an act of faith the students at the Institute had been promised jobs for the school year 1966. The existing picture frame shop and the carpenter shop could not supply enough work for all of them. Something had to be done!

    The ongoing need for printed materials led to an idea. What about adding a print shop? My father had worked in a print shop while in college. God answered prayer, provided the money and permission was granted to buy a printing press.

    

(Brethren Missionary Herald, 4.08.1967)

    

    My parents were ever on the lookout for new projects. In a year-end letter Mother asked family and prayer partners to save Christmas cards which were then creatively recycled into new ones. Aldo was helping Mother learn how to use a newly acquired knitting machine. And Dad came up with an innovative three-way teaching tool--blackboard, flannelgraph and magnetic board. The products were made available to the community and the churches. Even the Department of Education put in a large order for imanógrafos.

    "The shop program has been a real encouragement to prospective students," wrote missionary Robert Cover. However, he claimed that the teaching ministry of the Almafuerte Bible Institute was "a richly rewarding ministry as qualified graduates enter the various fields of Christian work." 

Missionaries Solon Hoyt and Nelson Fay are dedicated full time to this teaching ministry. Missionary Lynn Schrock drives down from Córdoba once a week to teach some of the classes. Eduardo Coria, graduate of the institute and former pastor, now serves as a professor. Other nationals help in the teaching and administration. ("Argentina,"Brethren Missionary Herald, 1.14.1967)

    In his article Mr. Cover asserts that the Bible Institute program was the most vital part of the missionary effort in Argentina. There were 15 full-time and seven part-time students that year. My parents were privileged to build into the lives of men and women who would then go out and impact others with the Gospel even globally. In 1967 a few new students came from other countries: Peter Peer from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Antonio and Georgina (mentioned in the last chapter) arrived from Chile; and Oscar Zapata from Peru, where Uncle Ed and Aunt Joyce were missionaries.

    A building program was in progress before the start of the school year in March, anticipating the demand for larger cooking and dining facilities, and additional housing. Construction continued throughout the year. I wonder if Dad, who had always been involved in building projects whereever he went, had any part in this one. I do know, however, from letters and photos that both Mother and Dad were working on a little church or meeting place for an outreach in Santa Isabel, a nearby town.

    Another educational endeavor, highlighted in the overview article "Argentina" about the work of the Grace Brethren, was the Christian Day School in Río Cuarto in its fourth year and with fifty five students in the primary grades, a lunch program and nine boarders. Though it was held on mission property, it was totally run by nationals.

    The Brethren Bookstore in Lomas de Zamora was also mentioned as very encouraging for its location in a busy shopping district of Buenos Aires, the wide variety of literature available, and the spiritual ministry opportunities.

    For me this mention held special interest because one of my dear friends worked in La Buena Lectura Good Reading) bookstore.

    She loved working there and people loved her. One of the missionary ladies wrote this:

The bookstore in Lomas continues to be a blessing to many Christians in the area and is a testimony to scores of unsaved persons. The young lady, Emilia Piaggio, who is working there now, is a member of our church in Don Bosco and has had some training in the Bible Institute. "Milly" is a good personal worker, and there are very few days that she does not have the opportunity to give a word of testimony or make clear the way of salvation to someone." (Brethren Missionary Herald, 11.04.1967)

    News came from my parents that Milly had become engaged to Carlos. Other close friends followed suit: Delia was engaged to Alberto, and Julio to Mirta. Mabel and Ricardo were married on June 16th of that same year! When would my time come? Were there any prospects on the horizon?   

Encontraron el verdadero amor

Permítanme contarles acerca del segundo romance de Georgina y Antonio después de veintiún años de casados.

El 4 de julio pasado ellos huyeron de Cuba, donde habían vivido los últimos ocho años. En agosto se trasladaron al conventillo donde algunas mujeres cubanas se reunían dos veces por semana para un estudio bíblico. Asistieron a la clase dos veces y les gustaron especialmente los cantos. Luego, la tercera vez se arrodillaron e invitaron a Jesucristo a entrar en sus vidas. Pocos días después, nuestro grupo de Operación Movilización, incluso el misionaro que había tratado con ellos personalmente, viajamos a Inglaterra para la conferencia anual--un mes de entrenamiento y oración. Cuando regresamos en octubre, muchas de las mujeres cubanas habían partido para los Estados Unidos así que las runiones lamentablemente se suspendieron, y perdimos contacto con ellos casi completamente.

En enero, Georgina llegó a estar muy enferma la internaron en el hospital. Había estado trabajando mucho, a veces hasta doce horas por día, en un ambiente extremadamente insalubre. Antonio no había podido encontrar trabajo por la edad y la artiritis, por lo que ella trabajaba para ganar alrededor de 2.800 pesetas y pagaba 2.100 por la reducida fría y húmeda habitación en la cual ellos estaban viviendo. Desesperada y exhausta, se enfermó emocional y fisicamente.

El Sr. Anderson, el misionero que los guió a Cristo, fue a visitarla y se conmovió al encontrarla tan decaída. Cuando oró con ella y le leyó la Palabra, pareció revivir. Antonio pidió que alguien fuera a visitarla a menudo. Yo fui al día siguiente, sintiendo mi propia impotencia pero orando y creyendo que El podia hacerlo todo,  y así fue! El Señor la había guiado a Mateo 6 donde leyó que no debemos preocuparnos por nuestras necesidades físicas. El las conoce a todas y se interesa en nosotros. Luego, cuando vi nuevamente la habitación pequeña, fría y húmeda y supe que no tenían casi nada para comer, los invité a participar de nuestra abundancia, por lo menos hasta que ella se recuperara. Era una oferta completamente inesperada, pero después de alentarlos y con alguna insistencia, vinieron a vivir con nosotros por "unos días". Ella se recuperó en pocos días; el doctor no podía creer el cambio.

Para entonces ellos habían usado casi todo el dinero que tenían. Sin embargo, cuando se cumplía otro pago del alquiler para la habitacion, Dios proveyó justo a tiempo! Nuestro director los invitó a vivir con nosotros el resto de su estadía en España, que era de un mes y medio.

El 25 de febrero les tocaba salir de España y zarpar para Chile donde vivirían con sus familiares, "Pero, yo no quiero ser allá una carga para mi parentela," dijo Georgina. "Dios proveerá,¨ le dije y recordándole Mateo 6. Oramos juntos. El día siguiente ella le dijo a Antonio: "Por qué no le escribes al alcalde del pueblo donde naciste (en el norte de España) para averiguar si tienes algún pariente desconocido allí?" Cinco días más tarde recibió una respuesta muy interesante de su propio primo, el cartero de la villa. Era uno de los hombres más importantes de la aldea que contaba con unas cuarenta casas. Había indagado buscando toda la informacion posible acerca de sus antepasados, consultando al sacerdote, los libros de la iglesia y los vecinos más antiguos. La carta leía, más bien, como una historia de aventuras. La conclusión era: ". . . sus dos tíos han muerto dejando propiedades, dinero y una pequeña herencia que le corresponde legalmenta a Ud." Pocos días más tarde el pueblo conmovido recibía al heredero que había llegado! Se armó un gran alboroto por el "hijo del comandante" y cada uno le dio algo, así fue que en una manera muy sorprendente Dios proveyó para todas sus necesidades en España y para el futuro.

Mientras vivían con nosotros llegaron a darse cuenta cada vez más de su herencia y responsabilidad como cristianos. "¿Sería posible que alguno de Uds. tomaran un poco de tiempo cada día para enseñarnos la Biblia?",  dijo Georgina una tarde después de nuestro estudio en grupo del Evangelio de Juan. Una hora por día sólo servía para despertar su apetito.

Georgina y Antonio trabajaban con nosotros en la casa, salían a distribuir literatura con nosotros de casa en casa, orábamos juntos, ayudaban tremendamente con los refugiados cubanos que venían a nuestra casa. Llegamos a amarlos profundamente, pero llegó la hora de partir.

Su último domingo con nosotros fue el moemnto cúlmine de sus ocho meses en España--su bautismo y casamiento por iglesia. Ahora que Dios les había dado un nuevo amor y comprensión el uno hacia el otro, y ya que nunca habían tenido un casamiento por iglesia, deseaban confirmar sus votos ante el Señor  y Su pueblo. Sin vestido blanco, sin damas de honor, ni ujieres, sin alfombra ni candelabros . . . pero con el maravilloso perfecto gozo y amor de Dios.

Ahora, tras la luna de miel a bordo del Rosini, colmada de oportunidades para testificar, y después de una corta visita a sus parientes, Antonio y Georgina están en el Instituto Bíblico en Almafuerte, Córdoba, Argentina, preparándose para servir al Señor. (El Heraldo Argentino, mayo-junio 1967)

1967 Still in Spain

While still reflecting on my sixteen-month-long experience in Spain, two stories stand out: a sight-seeing trip, and a love story.

    The above photo was taken by Rev. John Zielasko, a former missionary to Brazil and then recently appointed general director of the Grace Brethren Foreign Missionary Society. In his European travels for the Mission, he chose to visit the two Winona Lake girls in Madrid. Perhaps he wanted to see how I faring as the daughter of one of his missionaries. 

    Mr. Zielasko took us on a touristic expedition to the Valley of the Fallen now considered "Spain's Most Controversial Monument." Originally designed and built to honor all who died in the civil war, it has lately been labeled a mausoleum built for a dictator. Franco was buried there in November 1975 until his remains were exhumed October 24, 2019 by order of the Supreme Court. (See "The Valle de los Caídos: Place of Memory, Faith, And Polemic") 

    However, in early 1967, Franco was still alive and in power and the atrocities of his forty-year-long dictatorship had not yet been uncovered and exposed, the impressive architectural structure was a must-see. Now, as I revisit the site by means of many online resources and learn about the history, design, all the descriptive details and the current meaningful opportunities offered, I am ever more impressed.

    Located 37 miles from Madrid, I cannot remember how we traveled there, by car perhaps. In those days girls wore dresses or skirts, nylon stockings and shoes not necessarily meant for climbing rocky paths. I recall that we struggled on the rugged 354 foot ascent to the base of the 492 foot huge cross that dominated the landscape and could be seen from some 25 miles away. To add to our discomfort, it was a cold gray winter day.

    When we reached the top, the base of the tallest Christian cross in the world, we discovered that we could have taken an elevator. We smiled at the irony of the situation and promptly chose the easy way down. We descended into the enormous and very impressive basilica hewn out of the rock, surrounded by the burial ground for tens of thousands of those fallen in the Guerra Civil (1936-1939). 

    As we walked the 860 foot-long nave, monks walked by looking away and shielding their faces from us women. They belong to the Benedictine religious order chosen to live and serve the abbey because of their contemplative life-style. Their charge is to seek God, pray and work. Some twenty three monks of the Abadía Santa Cruz live there and follow the example of their founder, Ora et labora. The initial twenty monks arrived July 17, 1958, to "assiduously appease God, offer suffrages for the souls of those killed in the war and pray for the Spanish Nation."

   The supposed purpose of the monument design was to represent the redemptive work of Christ and promote reconciliation. Toward that end a "Center for Social Studies" was established in 1958. This institution studied the social problems that led to civil strife and the doctrines of the Church that would lead to peace and social justice in Spain. Said Centro de Estudios Sociales operated until 1982. A great number of scholarly projects originated there, many inspired by the annual roundtable discussions among prestigious sociologists and other experts in human sciences.

   Escolanía Santa Cruz is another prestigious school that opened in the same year and thrives to this day, a boys choir school.

    During that brief visit back in 1967, I had no concept of the extent of the massive complex that is the Valle de los Caídos. It has received much publicity in recent years.

    The second memory that stands out from that time in Spain is a love story. I had forgotten names and details until I came across the following article I wrote for the Argentine denominational magazine. Here it is in English.

They Found True Love

Let me tell you about Georgina and Antonio's second romance after twenty-one years of marriage.

    Last July 4th they fled Cuba, where they had lived for the last eight years. In August they moved to the building where a group of Cuban women met twice a week for a Bible study class. They attended the gathering twice and especially enjoyed the singing. Then the third time they knelt down and invited Jesus Christ into their lives. A few days later, our team from Operation Mobilization, including the missionary who had dealt with them personally, went to England for the annual month-long training and prayer conference. When we returned in October, many of the Cuban women had left for the United States so the meetings were suspended, and to our great embarrassment, we lost contact with them almost entirely.

    In January, Georgina became very ill and was admitted to the hospital. She had been working very hard in an extremely unhealthy atmosphere, sometimes up to twelve hours a day. Antonio had been unable to find work because of his age and arthritis, so she worked to earn about 2,800 pesetas and pay 2,100 for the small, cold, damp room in which they were living. Desperate and exhausted, she became emotionally and physically ill.

    Ron Anderson, the missionary who led them to Christ, visited her and was shocked to find her in great distress. When he read the Word and prayed, she seemed to revive. Antonio asked that someone come to visit her often. So I went the next day, feeling my own helplessness but praying and believing that God could do it all, and He did! [I discovered that before my visit]The Lord had led her to Matthew 6 where she read that we should not worry about our physical needs. He knows them all and is interested in us. Then, when I saw their small, cold, damp room again and knew they had almost nothing to eat, He led me to invite them to share in our abundance, at least until she recovered. She was completely overwhelmed by this completely unexpected offer, but after some encouragement and insistence, they came to live with us for "a few days". She recovered in a very short time; the doctor could not believe the change.

    By then they had used up almost all the money they had. However, when another room rent payment came due, God provided just in time! Our director invited them to live with us for the rest of their stay in Spain, which was a month and a half.

    On February 25 they were to leave Spain and sail for Chile to live with relatives, "But, I don't want to be a burden to my relatives there," said Georgina. "God will provide," I said, and reminded her of Matthew 6. The next day she said to Antonio, "Why don't you write to the mayor of the village where you were born (in northern Spain) and find out if you have any unknown relatives there?" Five days later he received a very interesting reply from his own cousin, the village letter carrier. He was one of the most important men in the village of about 40 homes. He had read the letter and looked up all possible information about all his ancestors, the priest and the church books and the oldest neighbors. The letter sounded more like an adventure story and ended like this: "Your two uncles have died leaving property, money and a small inheritance that legally belongs to you." 

    A few days later the town was abuzz with excitement, the heir had arrived! Everyone made a big fuss over the "son of the commander" and everyone gave him something, so in a very strange way God provided for all of their needs here in Spain and for the trip.

    As they lived with us they came to realize more and more their heritage and their responsibility as Christians. "Would it be possible for one of you to spend a little time with us each day to teach us the Bible?" Georgina said to me one evening after our group had studied the Gospel of John. An hour a day was only enough to whet their appetite.

    Georgina and Antonio worked with us in the house, went out door to door distributing literature with us, prayed with us, helped tremendously with Cuban refugees who came to our home. We grew to love them deeply. Then they had to leave.

    Their last Sunday with us was the culminating moment of their eight months in Spain--their baptism and church wedding. Now that God had given them a new love and understanding for each other, and since they had never had a church wedding, they wanted to confirm their vows before the Lord and His people. No white dress, no bridesmaids, no ushers, no carpet and no candelabra . . . but they had His wonderful and perfect love and joy.

    Now, after a honeymoon aboard the Rosini filled with opportunities to share their testimony, and a short visit to their relatives, they are in the Bible Institute in Almafuerte, Cordoba, Argentina, preparing for an effective service for the Lord. (El Heraldo Evangélico Argentino, mayo-junio 1967)