Argentina - 2011

Argentina September 21 – October 2, 2011
Missionaries: Rocky and Sherry Grams; and Sam Fenton

The Team and Travel Schedule

I had the privilege to arrange for a team of 12 to go on this construction missions trip to the Instituto Biblico Rio de la Plata (IBRP) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In English it is River Plate Bible Institute. Missionaries Rocky and Sherry Grams head up the Bible School and Sam Fenton, who had left the country to itinerate, came back to IBRP just so he could work with our team as he had last year. This year's trip was motivated in part by last year's trip when team members came back all enthused about missions trips because of the great experience they had had. For sake of completeness, some of the information from last year's report will be repeated in this one.

Centerpointe Church sponsored this year's team by sending in $5,000 of construction funds. The team was comprised of the following members: Thom Clement, John Davidson, John Gay, Mike and Tina Giambrone, Nelson Rodriguez, John Spata, Jedd Trenum, Dennis Vance, Malcolm and Melanie Van de Riet, and I, Henry Weigel.

Pastor Keith Edwards sent us off with a congregational prayer the Sunday before we left. We departed from Dulles International Airport (IAD) late evening of Wednesday September 21 and arrived about 10.5 hours later in Buenos Aires on Thursday morning. We were picked up by Rocky and Sherry Grams. Thursday was spent just getting acclimated and we enjoyed a fabulous steak dinner in Buenos Aires that afternoon, followed by a brief time of shopping. Our last day at IBRP was Saturday October 1. We departed on an overnight UAL flight and arrived early Sunday morning October 2 at Dulles.

The Missionaries, Rocky and Sherry Grams, and Sam Fenton greatly appreciated the personal gifts as well as our team coming to work on the new building (the Living Learning Center) for the Bible Institute. I also heard that the students greatly appreciate our team coming because without the new building the students were crowded both in the dorms and the bathroom facilities.

Buenos Aires

Metropolitan Buenos Aires is a large city with a population of about 15,000,000. This is well over a third of the country's population of about 40,000,000 people. It has probably the widest boulevard in the world consisting of 18 lanes in some stretches. We drove on it. I should say Sherry drove on it. She is an excellent driver of a large Speed-the-Light van. Argentine men are not used to seeing a woman drive a van and are duly impressed when they see Sherry back this thing into a tight space. When shopping or touring it is a good idea not to do it alone.

IBRP

The Role of IBRP

(Taken from ) "We are involved in the training of servant leaders for ministry at Instituto Biblico Rio de la Plata in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The school provides ministerial education for over 400 resident students and over 800 non-resident students who come from all over Argentina and 17 other countries."

Extension Program

The Institute also provides for students that cannot personally attend IBRP by administering an extension program. In the neighborhood of 8,000 students avail themselves of this opportunity.

The Living Learning Center

(Taken from ) "Due to the tremendous growth of the school in the last few years we have undertaken a construction project which is a huge step of faith. The new Living Learning Center will provide a major expansion to the dining hall, three new classrooms and housing for 432 students per year in worthy quarters, conducive to study. At present, ten to twelve students live in one 9 ft. by 10 ft. Room 130 young men share one large bathroom. On the ladies' floor the situation is a little better: 54 young women to one bathroom. We are desperate for this additional space."

A Day at IBRP.

(Taken from ) "Students get up at 6:00 A.M. and by 6:20 they participate in a time of individual prayer and Bible Study. Breakfast is at 6:50 and classes start at 7:30. Corporate worship in chapel is a special time in midmorning, followed by another three hours of class. Lunch is at 1:30 P.M. and the afternoon is spent in study. Tea time is at 6:45 and supper at 9:00 P.M. On Thursday evenings we celebrate a service of worship and the Word together or have a time of corporate prayer for an hour or more. By 10:30 P.M. students are heading toward their dormitory rooms as lights out comes at 11:00 P.M. so they can rest and prepare for another intense day of life at IBRP"

Our work

The daily practice here is to have breakfast 7:30 -8:30, work, break at 10:15, work hot lunch at 12:15 PM, work, break at 3:15, cleanup at 5:00, dinner at 6:00.The breakfast is followed by a devotional brought by one of the team members. The devotional time gives volunteers an opportunity to share some faith-building moments in their lives, or a meaningful Scripture. Personally, I look forward to these opportunities.

Sam Fenton, the Construction Missionary from Builders International of the Assemblies of God laid out the work for us and provided expert supervision. Last year we worked on the new Living Learning Center by laying ceramic blocks. This year we did finish work consisting of a variety of jobs. We started by varnishing floor boards (about 800 of them). The rough side got one coat and the finish side got three coats. Of course we had to wait a day each before the second and third coats could be applied. Beams measuring about 4" x 8" and 16 feet long were varnished. We used 72 of them; each must have weighed 50 or 60 pounds. We cut the beams to size, notched them on each end to fit over the bolt heads holding the brackets to the wall and set them in the rooms as joists. Each end of a joist rested on bracket that our team cut from angle irons, then drilled appropriate holes to anchor to the wall and to anchor each joist to the bracket. The brackets were dipped into rustoleum before they were fastened to the walls. When the joists were in place the floor boards were nailed to them. This facility will increase the classroom space, dormitory space, administrative offices, prayer room, chapel and so forth by 60%.

We met our goal of the work that was laid out for us. In addition, our team worked on other tasks such as: a low-level masonry wall to define the parking area for motorcycles; painting various grates and the rack for holding the cycles with rust-resistant paint; and upgraded the sound system with parts brought from Centerpointe Church and some parts were purchased here that team members then installed. Also some sound suppressing panels for the walls of the area presently used for chapel services have been sewn and hung by team members.

After the first work day our tired bodies let us know that this was different than sitting behind a desk or pushing an occasional lawn mower. But it is a good kind of soreness--knowing we are doing this to aid in the furtherance of the Gospel. At times we are uplifted by the worship of services held in the student chapel. Even though the language is a barrier, the spirit of the students and of this place is not. We have definitely sensed a kindred spirit here that transcends the language barrier. The team members who are on their first missions trip are especially excited. The "old timers" also are excited because once this kind of ministry has been tasted, more is desired.

The King of Kings Church

Sunday (September 25) evening Rocky and Sherry Grams got reserved seating near the front row at the King of Kings Church in Buenos Aires. This church is pastored by Claudio Freidzon, an internationally known preacher. His congregation is about 20,000 — 25,000 people. He has five services on Sunday and three on Saturday. He was telling about starting a church in a community of 100,000 people. Christian young people were walking the streets with signs hanging on them touting various Christian virtues to stir up interest. He also interviewed Dante Gebel, who came from his church and now is a pastor of the Hispanic congregation at the Crystal Cathedral in California. Dante started with 200 people the first Sunday. The second Sunday he had 1000. (That was about three years ago). Now he has people lining up to get into the building at 8:00 AM for a 1:00 PM service. The secret seems to be the fasting and prayer and letting the Holy Spirit work. The English congregation numbers only 300. At the end of the service they had asked Rocky if our team would like to be prayed for. He answered, yes. Then he told me about and asked if that was OK. I told him that it most certainly was. He did pray for us and the spiritual impact on us was felt dramatically--some going down on the floor momentarily.

Testimonies

Usually at the lunch times Rocky or Sherry bring students or staff members to share their testimonies. These testimonies are very inspiring. Some deal with hard lives as youngsters, going through incredible hardships. Somehow they got in touch with someone that led them to Lord Jesus, the Savior. One young lad was led to the Lord by a 65-year old woman who had gone from door-to-door telling people about Jesus and to start a church. The boy became a Christian and in a few years helped run the Church. Now he is studying at IBRP.

The next two testimonies impressed me so much that I asked Rocky to send me the stories to make sure that I don't leave anything important out.

Horacio

Horacio's testimony has to do with his growing up on the Paraguay border where there is a great deal of contraband and drug trafficking. He was kicked out of his house when he was a boy. At that time his cousin, an IBRP student, let him stay at their house and invited him to church. He accepted Christ and received the baptism of the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues the one time he went to that church. But he was not discipled and, unfortunately, began to hang around with a group of people that dealt drugs and ran contraband across the border. One of the members killed another gang member and was selling his flesh on the street as pork meat to make money for more drugs.

One evening they were celebrating after a robbery and the girlfriend of one of the guys began to laugh in a satanic way. They all knew that Horacio had been to church so they asked him to do something. He had the idea to start praying in tongues but the demonized girl said to him in a guttural voice: "You are with me." They wrapped the girl, who had stripped her clothes off, in a blanket and took off in a taxi to the church. That day the pastor was still in the church praying at 1:00 A.M. and was used of the Lord for the team members to accept Christ and begin their Christian life.

Samuel and Celia Coronado

Samuel and Celia Coronado met at IBRP. She had a call to Mexico, but his response to that news was that she might go as a widow. They were assistant pastors in Southern Argentina and then in Lujan, Buenos Aires, and taught in Night Bible Schools. One day the Lord gave him a vision of the world that zeroed in on Central America and then Mexico just jumped out at him and the Lord said: "I love this land." God gave him a tremendous love for Mexico and provided in amazing ways for them to go to that land, despite the fact that they had not raised sufficient support.

He is now a presbyter over 25 churches, they have been asked to direct a Bible School and annex Bible school. His wife, Celia, was asked to pastor a church that was down to 7 members five months ago. In just five months, the church has grown to 45 members after evangelism and various baptismal services and the husband and missionary is helping the missionary wife and pastor to repair the building.

Fun Things and Shopping

Sunday (September 25) we went to a ranch to enjoy local culture and food. A variety of food was served, starting with empanadas and several types of barbequed meats with side dishes were served. The hosts provided horseback riding, rides in a horse-drawn wagon for the customers. A gaucho trick- riding show was put on.

One night we had pie night at the Grams: blueberry, banana, and chocolate, as well as a cake with cherry topping. This was followed by a time of sharing. Our team members expressed great joy in having come on this trip. Those, for whom this was their first missions trip, expressed a desire to go again in the future.

Several shopping opportunities were provided along with sight-seeing rides through Buenos Aires. The Argentine economy was enriched by the team members' purchases.

On behalf of the team and, for the King and His Kingdom, I submit this report.

Henry Weigel, Missions Coordinator
Centerpointe Church at Fair Oaks
Fairfax, VA