|
|
News from ArgentinaMarch 2003Youth Camp ResultsWhile we read of the exceptional cold that has blanketed the USA, we are in mid-summer here, and have just completed another year of Youth Camp Activities. Our camp near Buenos Aires celebrated its 29th year. Missionary Richard Todd and I have been building this camp since we purchased a run-down pig farm in 1972. At that time we did some emergency repairs on some old buildings for a girls dorm, cooked in a lean-to, and the boys slept in a tent which we also used for services. This year there were four weeks of camp, each with a different age group, and the weekly average was 117. Everyone had adequate dormitory and bath facilities. Richard Todd has directed the camp—and done most of the work—since we moved to Rosario to start another church. Most important is that there were 14 professions of faith this year, and a great many other important decisions after the forceful messages each week on themes of personal sanctification. Our city, Rosario, is a four-hour trip from this camp, yet we had campers in three of the four weeks. I attended only the 20/30 year age group. Camp speaker was Pastor Diego Silvano. He became senior pastor of our church some months ago and I became pastor emeritus. His Power Point presentations were powerful and the pastors present enjoyed the clear presentation to their youth of the principles of separation and sanctification. New Youth Camp for Rosario Area
We believe it was of God that a suitable location was found just a half hour drive from our churches. We have signed the agreement to purchase and you may have already received a letter with additional details. The present economic situation has forced many to sell their properties and we have purchased this one for a third of its original cost. God has already supplied most of the balance on the purchase price. Now, we must begin preparing it for use. It will take a "rural electric" type installation for our electricity, and we must dig a well for water. We also have to put windows and doors in an unfinished building on the property. I am hoping to interest people whose lives have been enriched by a youth camp ministry somewhere, to invest with us in this new thrust to prepare and train more Argentine young people to reach the lost around them. Conference of Fundamental BaptistsOur yearly Conference of Fundamental Independent Baptists was held this year in Mar del Plata, Argentina, and the brethren there did a great job in all the arrangements. The messages were inspiring, and as always, the fellowship with brethren, some of whom we had not seen for as much as a year, was a special blessing. There were 72 pastors in attendance, many of them with their wives, and some with their children. There were some 250 out-of-town guests, and attendance reached 350 in some sessions. Several Fundamental Baptist missionary organizations were represented and they had an opportunity to meet with their own leadership for fellowship and planning. There was also a meeting of the Seminario Bautista Biblico del Cono Sur. This is a group in which 14 churches cooperate in five seminaries located in Argentina and Uruguay. At the close of the meeting, I was elected Director, Barry Courts as Vice Director, and Marcelo López was re-elected as Secretary. Please remember us in your prayers that God will guide us by His Spirit in every detail of this tremendous responsibility. Marie's HealthWe are thankful for your prayers for Marie. She had suffered several blackouts in the past months and was hospitalized in Rosario in December, and again in Buenos Aires in February. We were having a farewell dinner with a daughter and granddaughter who visited us from the States when Marie again passed out. She was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Buenos Aires. After extensive testing and comparison with previous tests, x-rays and MRIs, it was decided by a group of heart specialists that she needed a pacemaker. A temporary one was installed immediately, and before she left the hospital, a permanent one. We rested some in a hotel in Buenos Aires before returning to Rosario. Three surgeries in five days have taken their toll, but she is slowly regaining her strength. Your prayers for her are so important. Forty-Year Anniversary
Yours for souls, Jim Strickland |
