Argentina Missions Trip, Summer 2004

by John Bothwell

On Monday July 5, 2004, a team of eleven set out from St. Luke's Reformed Episcopal Church, Santa Ana, CA, for several weeks of missions work in Northern Argentina.  Our flight left Los Angeles at approximately 2 pm and arrived in Lima, Peru, eight hours later.  From Lima, we flew to Santiago, Chile, and then from Santiago to Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Once in Buenos Aires, we took taxis across the city to a small airport where we boarded a plane headed for the Northern city of Salta.  We arrived in Salta at around 9 pm on Tuesday, July 6.  Total travel time: approximately 30 hrs.

We were met at the airport in Salta and then taken to the diocesan apartments of the Anglican Church.  On Wednesday morning Bishop Humberto Axt honored us with a Eucharist service in the small chapel at the diocesan offices.  We met his staff and were told more specifically of the needs of the area.  When the service was over we set out for our first assignment.  A bus took us to a neighborhood called Finca where we assisted serving lunch at a soup kitchen. 

The church in Finca which serves lunch Monday through Saturday is located in a very poor part of town.  When we arrived we met the pastor of the church, Oscar, and his wife, Lydia.  We learned that Oscar had been ordained to the Diaconate some years prior.  Just before lunch Lydia told the team that the children who would be arriving needed a-lot of love.  She had us line up outside the entrance to the church and instructed us to give each child who came in a big hug and a kiss.  We did so and then helped serve lunch.  As everyone began to leave after lunch, Pastor Oscar had us line up again to hug and kiss all the children.  They were very grateful to have the affection and at times would not let go of us.  Once everyone left, Pastor Oscar and Lydia described how their ministry began.  The couple had eight children before they decided to adopt another twenty. 

Lydia explained that they did this because she had been an orphan and did not want other children to go through what she experienced as a child.  The vision which led to their large family then prompted Oscar and Lydia to begin a church ministry which gradually developed into what we saw.  Everyone on the team agreed that the couple were wonderful examples of faithful servants.  They have virtually nothing but give all they have in obedience to the Lord.  They simply obey, despite adverse circumstances, and trust that God will take care of them.  They attested that He certainly had.

We left Finca and then split up.  Fr. Howden and I went back to the apartments and prepared to travel to the province of Tucuman, while the rest of the group went to the other side of Salta.  We arrived in Tucuman around 9 pm on Wednesday and were greeted by Pastor Roberto Garcia of the local Anglican church.  He took us to an establishment run by the Church which acts as an outreach to college students.  The facility was a two-story coffee house and Internet café.  We were given a full tour and served some empanadas, which I thought were dinner.  After we talked for a while, Pastor Roberto told us it was time to have something to eat.  It was 11 pm by then and the time when most Argentines apparently have dinner.  We walked across town to a very nice steakhouse and had a wonderful time of fellowship.  After dinner, Pastor Roberto took us to a house owned by English missionaries who were on furlough at the time.  Fr. Howden and I stayed there the night and went back to the café early Thursday morning.  We met a number of Christians, many of whom were university students, before being encouraged to walk around the corner where the "casa historico" was located.  This is the house where the Argentine Declaration of Independence was signed and is a very beautiful place with traditional Spanish architecture and furniture.  We got there just in time to hear a military band play the Argentine National Anthem.  This was a part of the city's preparation for Friday's independence day celebration.  We walked back to the café and had lunch with everyone before being taken to the nearby Anglican church.  We enjoyed getting to know Roberto and his wife while being shown the church facility.  We learned that there is only one Anglican church in Tucuman, and that Pastor Roberto had been acting as a temporary minister for it.  We also learned that the Anglicans, at least in Northern Argentina, are very liturgically low-church.  They use contemporary worship styles and very little of the prayer book liturgy.  It is difficult to be critical of this given that it is impressive that these people even have a building for worship in their impoverished society.  When we got back to the café we said our goodbyes and made our way back to the bus terminal.  Fr. Howden and I agreed that the trip served to set up some great contacts for future mission work in Tucuman.  Incidentally, Tucuman is a major city in Argentina and an especially attractive place for missions work because of its large number of college students.

Fr. Howden and I arrived back in Salta around 9 pm on Thursday and collected our things from the apartments before taking a taxi across Salta to a small town called Campo Cijano.  We met the rest of the team at a hostal and learned that they had been in Cijano all day Thursday doing work on a church facility.  On Wednesday night they had apparently had quite an uncomfortable experience trying to sleep on the pews of the church!  On Friday morning, the team had Morning Prayer together before going out to explore the town.  We did not plan on doing much work this day because it was the Argentine independence day and therefore a nationwide celebration.  We enjoyed watching a parade of gauchos ride through Cijano, and then attended a local rodeo.  It was indeed an interesting cultural experience to see how seriously Argentines take celebration.

Saturday morning we awoke at 7 am to begin traveling to Mision Chaquena.  At around 3 pm Saturday, our bus arrived at Embarcacion, a small town about an hour away from Mision Chaquena.  We had lunch there and made a few friends before leaving for Mision Chaquena around 7 pm.  We rode a very old and noisy bus down a bumpy dirt road before arriving at our destination.  Getting off the bus was like stepping into a different world.  We found ourselves not amidst the European architecture and fair skinned people of the cities, but instead in a village of mud huts and Indians speaking something entirely other than Spanish.  The bus dropped us by the house where we would stay and we were greeted by a visiting American student.  The house where we stayed was built in the 1920's in memory of Anglican missionary, Captain Allen Gardiner.  Gardiner was one of the first Protestant missionaries to South America and is responsible for bringing the Gospel to countless individuals.  The house built in his memory was constructed as a living facility for missionaries to the area.  It was in bad shape when we got there and in need of some serious repairs.  A portion of the funding raised for the 2004 trip was used to purchase building materials for the restoration of this house.  It remains the hope of the St. Luke's team that the newly renovated house will attract more missionaries than had previously been going to the area.  We got settled in to the soon-to-be renovated house and quickly retired to bed.

The next morning we were awakened by the tolling of a nearby bell.  The Sunday Church service was being announced by the ringing of a bell tied to a high branch of a tree outside of the town's church.  A quick walk across the town square brought us to the church.  The facility was built by Anglicans in the 1920's and, although it is almost entirely adobe, was nevertheless built in an architecturally traditional style, with a clerestory, nave with pews, chancel, altar, pulpit, lectern, etc.  A service of Morning Prayer, complete with traditional hymns, was conducted in the native tongue of the Wichi people.  We didn't understand much of the service because of the language barrier, but it was very encouraging to see brothers and sisters in Christ participating in Anglican worship in their native tongue.  Despite some difficulties in communicating, we found that the village reflected an appreciation for Christianity.  This made sense when we learned more about the history of the Wichi people.  About a hundred years ago the Argentine government was less discreet about their dislike of indigenous people than they are now.  It was around this time that the Anglican church stepped in and bought some land in Northern Argentina, a part of which Mision Chaquena now occupies.  This guaranteed the Wichi a safe home.

We worked in Mission Chaquena for five days, before going back to Salta on Friday.  Our work consisted primarily of renovating the historic house we were inhabiting.  The old windows were removed and replaced, and several new walls were erected.  The construction methods we used were very different from those we use in the U.S.  Adobe bricks were used to fashion all of the walls.  The bricks we used came from a building across town which had fallen apart.  We spent hours just carrying bricks to the house in wheel barrows.  For mortar, we didn't use cement, but rather, mud.  The helpers we had seemed to know what they were doing, so we didn't worry much.  Several of the younger guys spent a few days digging a big hole in back of the house for a septic tank.  Thanks to us, one of the first toilets in Mision Chaquena has been installed in the Gardiner house.  Every night we held a soccer game for the local kids in the town square.  When we left, we gave the youth minister the portable goals and soccer balls we brought with us.  These sporting goods were an improvement to the milk carton they had been kicking around when we got there.  One night we put up a screen in the church and showed a Veggetales movie to the children, using a laptop computer and a projector.  The movie was very well received.  On Wednesday we had an especially memorable event in the church.  We cleared out all the pews and set up stations for various children's activities.  Fr. Paul told Bible stories in Spanish, Nicole photographed kids and printed the pictures, and Malachi and I washed feet and gave away shoes.  On Thursday, I went to a nearby village called Carboncito where a youth conference was taking place.  I gave a paper on the resurrection and was encouraged that there were plenty of questions afterward.  Thursday night we went to the church in Mision Chaquena for a send-off party, and it was completely packed.  A number of hymns were sung before each team member had a chance to give a brief testimony about their experience over the week.  Before we left, everyone in the church lined up and shook our hands.  Mark Howden got the honor of being carried out of the church by some of the young guys he had befriended. 

We set out for Salta on Friday morning and were back at the diocesan apartments that night.  We spent the weekend in Salta before flying to Buenos Aires and finally back to the States.  The experience of being amongst not only the Wichi, but also the European Argentines left a very strong impression on all of us.  We were made aware of how much need there is within the Church and were at the same time encouraged by the walks of those who, while being at a great material disadvantage, nonetheless faithfully abide in Christ, content with what God has given them.  Concern was also felt over the fact that so many urgent needs are remaining unmet in the South American Church.  We can attest to the fact that Mormons in Argentina seem to be doing a better job than Christians at fulfilling the Great Commission.  In any event, I speak for the St. Luke's team when I say that it is our prayer that ties will be strengthened between theologically conservative Anglicans in the U.S. and our like minded brethren in South America.  We have much in common and even more to offer one another. 

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