Brother Kästner and I were once taking a train to Joinville for a camp meeting. About 30 kilometers before Joinville, the train car in which we were sitting derailed and slid along on the railway ties for about 80 meters. The track ran along a river, from which it was separated by a slope eight to ten meters deep. Thankfully, the Lord kept us from coming to any harm. Time and again, we experienced God’s gracious protection during our travels. He spread His wings over us, shielding my body and maintaining a profound peace in my soul. Glory and honor be to God for His gift of full salvation; it always gives me renewed courage to testify of the Lord and His grace.
When we traveled to Argentina, we often had to stay in Cruz Alta until we could continue on to Santa Rosa by train, via a branch line. Sometimes, we stopped at a hotel for a few hours to rest, but most of the time, we just sat in the train station awaiting departure the following morning. The wait was windy and cold. Once we arrived in Santa Rosa, the elder Brother Zielke often picked us up in his horse-drawn carriage and took us to his house. This family was always very loving and hospitable, although they were poor and their house was very simple. Brother Zielke also drove us long distances with his horse-drawn carriage, for instance to Brother and Sister Makus in the jungle or to Guarany; these trips often took the whole day. May God reward what these sisters and brothers and their families did for us. I have not forgotten it. Brother Zielke lived to see his 80th birthday, dying several years ago.
One especially vivid memory for me is of a camp meeting in Guarany in the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, where Brother David Meier and his wife had been serving for several years. There were people from other religious communities attending the camp meeting as well, and I was later invited to their church to proclaim the Word of God to them.
It fills me with deep regret that the meetings in Guarany, Candeia, and Tparendi had to be discontinued because the families gradually moved away. May God repay the labor and sacrifices they made in His service.
Brother Joseph Krebs, too, served in Guarany for nine months after Brother and Sister Meier moved to Argentina. From Guarany, it was about 40 kilometers to the Uruguay River, which forms the border between Argentina and Brazil. This distance was traversed in two stretches: first by horse-drawn carriage, riding about 20 kilometers to the next town, and then by bus to Porto Luzena. However, the road was so bad that the journey took a few hours, and sometimes we had to get out and push. Brother Meier once said that this was the worst road in the world.
A new congregation in Crespo
I would also like to discuss the origins of the Spanish-language mission in Crespo, Entre Ríos, Argentina. Brother Lautenschläger had been living in Crespo with his wife, who was Spanish (that is, she was Argentinian but not Indigenous); he exercised such a good influence that she, her brothers, and several Spanish locals were converted. A Spanish-language congregation formed, and I preached there several times through an interpreter. Eventually, it turned out that one of the Spanish brothers had a gift for preaching. This group later moved from Crespo to Leandro N. Alem, in the province of Misiones, where they now have their own chapel and hold their services in Spanish.
The preacher there, Brother Floreal Lopes, also serves as the head of the Spanish mission in Argentina. I grew to love the Spanish sisters and brothers. God’s grace certainly changes people! It connects us to even those who are very different from us, from other nations and languages, nonetheless binding us together more closely than to our unconverted relatives. It is the miracle of the blood of Christ! We can only imagine how much better yet it will be in Heaven, where all the redeemed, from all peoples and nations, are united in wonderful, divine love! Thankfully, a glimmer of this can already be seen on Earth, as our Lord prayed, “that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:21).
When I first got to know the work in Argentina, it was still in its infancy. The church services were hosted by the Radke family, who lived about 10 kilometers from Leandro N. Alem. When we served in that area, we often stayed with the Radkes, forming a particularly warm relationship with them and their children.
Construction of the chapel in Leandro N. Alem
At that time, there was some talk of building a chapel on the Radke property. However, I suggested building the church in the city center of Leandro N. Alem, reasoning that this would be better than their rural location in the long run. The brothers and sisters followed this advice, and it has since been confirmed to have been guided by God. May all glory for this be to the Lord!
In my life, I have experienced over and over again that it is good to be guided by the Holy Spirit, both in my personal life and in service to the Lord. This remains true even when we are spiritually older and more experienced. It is good to be guided more by God than by one’s own mind, and if you do not wait for God’s guidance, it is easy to make a mistake.
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