Our best interest in the whole field (and the whole country at the moment!) is a group of around 20 people (members of an extended family mostly). This is how we came in touch with them:
One of our ‘hardy annual’ contacts is a lady called Raquel. She has been in touch for years, but unfortunately hasn’t received a revelation…yet! She has a son called Mario, who was a drug-and-alcohol addict – until he turned religious and turned his life around. He went to the Baptist church, and even studied to become a pastor, but they never accepted him in the church as a pastor. He was friends with Fabian, a man who has had a pretty chequered career in life. In his desperation to find help for his sick wife, he was looking in every ‘corner’ (spiritualism and witchcraft included), and Mario suggested he go to his church. However, after about a year, he became disillusioned due to a variety of factors, and the straw that broke the camel’s back was when one day the pastor announced to everybody that if they emptied their wallets out, God would fill them twice over! In disgust, he and his family left, and so did Mario, and a group of others.
At around about the same time, Fabian’s brother Nelson, who was a nominal Catholic, began to take an interest in the Bible, but not understanding anything about it, asked his religious brother Fabian to help him. In 2009 they began to have meetings in Nelson’s home, that is, the two families, and Mario (the wannabe preacher being the leader of the band), and a few other dissatisfied religious people).
Special meetings 2009, Monica and I had arranged that two sister workers who had been in this field a few years ago, go and visit their old contacts in that town. Yolanda Cicchini and Margaret Turkington. They went and visited Raquel, and while there, went next door to greet her son Mario. Right at that moment, Fabian was with Mario, and they were discussing John 10, asking themselves what did Jesus mean when he said ‘other sheep I have that are not of this fold, them must I also bring, and there will be one fold and one shepherd’. In come Margaret and Yolanda, and without knowing what they had been talking about, quoted that same scripture and explained it to them! This really made an impact on both men, and they began to ask lots of questions. Yolanda and Margaret told them to get in touch with us when we returned to the field after specials.
So in August 2009, we went to have the study as usual with Raquel, and they had let Fabian know that we would be there. He came to that study, with his wife Alicia and his two eldest daughters, Tania and Ana. I’ll never forget how Tania listened, she hardly took her eyes off us the whole time we spoke. Fabian said he was ‘hungry’ that he went to the church and never received anything to satisfy his hunger. We offered to have gospel meetings in the home that they were used to meeting in, they accepted, and that’s how it all began. Mario, by the way, lasted about 2 or 3 meetings! His idea we figured out, was to start a new church, he would be the leader, but as he didn’t really know how to preach, wanted us to be the preachers. Upon realising that it wasn’t OUR idea, he dropped off, and avoided us like the plague. Of course he wasn’t at all happy, because we stole his flock off him, and when we went away for conventions that year, he tried to take hold of the reins again. We were horrified on returning to the field in 2010, that he had taken them all off to a church to get baptised! Had hunted around and found a church that would baptise them even though they didn’t attend… Anyway, they must have ended up realising it didn’t do them any good, because they’re still with us today, and Mario’s long disappeared off the screen.
We began to realise that Tania was receiving real understanding. She told us about a year later, that she began to go to the Baptist Church from 10 years of age, as it was the only place their father would allow them to go on their own. She took her sisters, and her mother would go too. However, by 16 she was no longer comfortable there, and stopped going, had a boyfriend and became pregnant with Tobias. Obviously the situation was difficult, no money, and Mario encouraged her to go back to the church, because there she would receive financial blessing. She admitted that the only reason why she started to go back was for that. In that very first study, she realised it was all wrong, that everything about the church was false, and what we spoke was truth. She went away and told Mario about what she felt, he wasn’t in agreement at all, but she wasn’t about to be persuaded against her conviction! She said that in the 10 years that she went to the church, she never knew she had a soul, and that it needed salvation…she said she was always afraid to die, ‘but now’ she said, ‘if I die, I KNOW where I will go’. She’s now 24, she married her boyfriend Samuel (one good thing the church did!), and has two little boys, Tobias and Alejo. She has a very clear revelation of truth, and strong convictions of what’s right and wrong.
Fabian wasn’t so fast in understanding, we always felt that while he had a real desire to understand, and please God, he always remained ‘religious’. Until this year. One day just before the gospel meeting, he said that he had something to tell us. He confessed that from the beginning he’d always had doubts about what we preached, as it was so different to what they’d learned in the church. ie the natural blessings of health, wealth and happiness! We said it wasn’t that way at all! (they are a poor family, and have received a lot of help from the church. He told that the rich people would bring things, put them all on a table, and it was for the poor people to help themselves). So he began to pray with desperation that God would show him where he needed to be, who he had to listen to…and then while reading John 6, he got a very clear answer. He saw it all in the miracle of the loaves and fishes, and those same people who had benefited from the natural miracle, but turned aside at Jesus’ words. He was SO happy as he told us, that God had given him an answer, and now he no longer had any doubts as where he should be. He’s just gone from strength to strength, and it’s been an amazing experience for us to witness the spiritual birth of two people! We still haven’t started a Sunday am fellowship meeting there yet, we’re working on it though. Remember, these people live about 200kms from the nearest Sunday morning meeting (Rosario), have been twice to Special meetings now, and are hoping to go to convention in Buenos Aires.
OK, that’s enuff writing, here are some pictures:
This is one of the buses we travel on regularly. They serve us sickly sweet coffee and ‘alfajores’ (a biscuit sandwiched together with dulce de leche usually and covered in meringue or chocolate.)
Some photos from Crespo…
She’s a cutie! A little girl in Crespo, lots of blue-eyed blondes here
This is Carolina, a young woman who we study the Bible with in Crespo. The sisters lived in Crespo for quite a few years. So far the only one that came out of this town is a young man Federico Fuchs (now married to Stuart Cottee’s sister-in-law, Michelle), and living in Brazil. He professed and was baptised in 2005.
Now some shots of Ramirez. Norma has been a contact for a few years now, doesn't seem to get anywhere.
Tania Zapata
Tania is the eldest girl of 10 children, here are some of the others…
These little girls are cousins. Rocio is the eldest although Camila looks like she is! They stand and watch for us at the door, when they see us coming they have a race to see who gets to us first. Rocio always wins and Camila comes puffing along behind her!
Horacio began to attend the meetings this year. He is a friend of one of Nelson and Zulma’s sons (who, by the way is the only one of their family who DOESN’T come to the meetings!). They told Horacio about the meetings and he started coming…later he and Maria decided they quite liked each other…(Maria is one of Fabian’s daughters).
Thanks for posting a picture of me with food in my mouth :-) Those muffins were REALLY good tho!
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