wfn.org | RAD team in Argentina

[BethAH <BethAH@mbm.org>]

June 13, 2001
Beth Hawn
Mennonite Board of Missions
(219) 294-7523
<NEWS@MBM.org>

June 13, 2001

RAD team experiences Argentine Mennonites passion for mission

NEUQUEN, Argentina (CHM/MBM)  When trying to explain serving
with the Argentina Mennonite Church, three RAD (Reaching and
Discipling) participants describe their experience as a
roller-coaster ride.  But thats only because they know the
average North American wont fully appreciate what it means to
travel by church bus in Argentina.

On a bus nicknamed Lazaro (Lazarus), recalling the man Jesus
raised from the dead, the Argentina RAD team joined the Iglesia
Evangelica Menonita (Evangelical Mennonite Church) congregation
in Choele Choel in an outreach trip to Los Berros, a remote town
in the barren plains and plateaus of the Patagonia region.

More than two months after the experience, team members cited the
trip as the single most-defining experience to date of their
seven-month RAD assignment  one that gave them rich insight into
the passion for mission and depth of community that characterizes
the church in Argentina.

The church here has a heart for mission  not only talking about
it, but doing it, said Sarah Ward, leader of the three-member
team and a member of Salem Mennonite Church in Hillsdale, Mich.
From my experience in the United States, you go to church on
Sunday and maybe Wednesday, and you have your separate life.
Here, church is your life.  I see a great level of commitment to
the growth of the church, and I see God moving.

The evidence of God in Los Berros was no exception.  In
partnership with Arm in Arm (a group of churches from Illinois
Mennonite Conference) and Mennonite Board of Missions, the Choele
Choel congregation is planting a church in the Patagonias region
of barren plateaus.  During a week in Los Berros, the RAD team
joined church members in visiting residents, operating a summer
Bible school, and building a toilet and shower for the church.
Sleeping on cement floors and without running water, the team
learned what it means to be content in all situations.

Although only 200 miles south of Choele Choel, the trip to the
remote village in central Argentina took more than 10 hours as 25
people packed into a 10-seat bus, making the journey mostly by
dirt road, with occasional stops.  Lazaro has a hard time
getting up hills, Ward said, so everyone had to get out and
push.  Owned by the Choele Choel congregation, Lazaro has been
resurrected so many times that traveling anywhere in the vehicle
is an act of faith  or, as the RAD participants learned, an
opportunity to see faith in action.

While others might give up in frustration, Argentine Mennonites
used the travel experience as a way to challenge themselves to
grow as the body of Christ, which must work in tandem to function
properly.  It is so awesome.  Theyre not complacent.  Theyre
praying and worshiping, Ward said, describing the experience
with the church members  even as they pushed Lazaro up another
hill.

God has been teaching us so much through the ups and the downs,
said Cherie Martin, RAD team member from First Mennonite Church
of Berne, Ind.  I have been very inspired by the churches here,
because they dont just talk about doing missions.  They dont
just say its a good thing, and they dont just support it
financially.  They go and do it.  They are fulfilling the Great
Commission that God has called them to do.

In Los Berros, the visit in late January/early February came in
the middle of Argentinas summer months, providing better
opportunity for the participants to interact with community
residents.

These kids had never heard about Jesus.  For us to be the first
people to plant a seed in their lives was so amazing, said Ward,
who previously served on a RAD team in Mexico.  I probably grew
more spiritually that week than I have in a comfortable
environment.   At the end of the week, we saw the fruit of God
working in us.

Rachel Sprunger, RAD team member from Scottdale (Pa.) Mennonite
Church, befriended a girl in Los Berros named Ayelen, teaching
the 10-year-old Jesus Loves Me and John 3:16 in English 
despite the fact that Sprunger struggled with learning Spanish
herself.

Im a very independent person, Sprunger said.  Here, I have to
really depend on people.  Im dependent on people to communicate,
for transportation, for a place to live, for water to drink.
Something that has really hit me is how gracious they are.

I have changed.  I trust God a lot more than I did when I came
here, Sprunger said.  Some of the things Im learning about
myself I couldnt do anywhere else but here.   Im learning to
be more faithful, more dependent on God.   Im going to be able
to find out who I am better than if I were in college.

RAD, a joint program of MBM and the General Conference Mennonite
Churchs Commission on Home Ministries, is operated by the Great
Lakes Discipleship Center.  Located near Fort Wayne, Ind., the
center provides three months of intensive discipleship training
to prepare teams for engaging others through service and
evangelism growing out of a foundation of prayer, Bible study and
worship.  Teams have served in the United States as well as
Chile, England, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Spain, South Africa and
Sweden.

Born out of a vision in 1996 from regional pastors, the Great
Lakes Discipleship Center is a partnership of area Mennonite
conferences and congregations, the Commission on Overseas Mission
(General Conference Mennonite Church), the Evangelical Mennonite
Church and MBM, as well as independent Anabaptist-related
congregations.

While RAD seeks to foster intimacy with God that impacts our
world, RAD team members in Argentina say their experience, which
began in January and will end in July, has opened new windows
into their understanding of God and the church.

The closer I get to God  he continues to shatter the boxes that
I tend to put him in, Ward said.  Recalling the bus trip, she
described an instance when the men from the church were not able
to push Lazaro up a particularly steep hill.  It took pushing
from all the women as well for the bus to clear the ridge.  What
did you learn from this? Juan Sieber, pastor of the church in
Choele Choel, asked the group.  It took the whole body of
Christ.  The guys alone couldnt do it, Ward said.  It was a
real metaphor that topped the whole experience off.  We were all
cheering.  We would go three feet, and Juan would say, Praise
the Lord!
* * *
Tom Price                      PHOTOS AVAILABLE