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From Argentina: Our 'pan de cada dia'

Josh Ebener, a product of St. Paul congregation, is serving his seminary internship year in Resistencia, Argentina (pop. 422,400). A third-year seminarian at Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago,25-year-old Josh is learning about pastoral ministry in this unique South American setting.

Josh spends most of his time with Misión Maria Magdalena (Mary Magdalene Mission, MMM) in Resistencia. The other church is San Mateo (St. Matthew) in near-by Corrientes. The congregations each worship about 10 to 25 people each Sunday. Both churches are part of the Lutheran expression in Argentina and Uruguay affiliated with the ELCA.

Josh gladly participated in this online “interview” — e-mailing in 100-degree Argentine heat into an Iowa ice storm. Part one of two.

Josh, tell us about your internship site.

MMM is a mission church located in the Barrio (neighborhood) Juan Bautista Alber-di of Resistencia, in the province of Chaco in northeastern Argentina. It’s a low-income area of the city.

The economic crisis in Argentina in 2001 shook the country, especially people here in the Chaco province. Because of tough economic realities, and almost non-existent industry, thousands of people throughout Chaco migrate to Resistencia every year, where they develop on the outskirts. This is largely because the land used to be utilized for cotton production, but now the land grows soy, which requires far less labor. After a few years, the soil is unusable.

In Resistencia, 112,000 people live on $2 or $3 per day and almost half of Chaco’s one million people live below the poverty line. The situation is even worse in the interior of this province, where neglected indigenous communities are dying of hunger.

To be church here at MMM doesn’t just mean getting fed spiritually. Amidst the uncertainty of where the next meal is coming from and the frailness of malnourished bodies, they can eat food. Church is both spiritually and literally the pan de cada dia (daily bread). It’s a place where a kid can come and find love that she/he can’t find at home. In a neighborhood where kids are pressured to fill themselves with drugs, they come to church to be filled with God’s love through the love of others. In the midst of vandalism and crime, they come to church to plant trees and paint murals and renew the respect and hope they have for themselves and their community.

Church here is a place where hymns of praise are sung amidst the sound of kids throwing rocks on the roof. It is a place that plagues them with poverty and injustice. They can come and feel how much God’s love transcends all of that. Not only can they be filled with a sense of their God-given dignity, but with the knowledge of their rights and resources. In a neighborhood that can leave one isolated, the church offers people community and communion.

How has your supervisor helped you understand pastoral ministry?

Pastor Raul (pastor of the two small churches) has told me stories about when he was a pastor during the military dictatorship in La Plata, Argentina. Thousands of Argentines, suspected in being a part of the political opposition, were seized and “disappeared.”

When he led worship during this time, visitors from the government sat in the back, listening for controversial content. (The government was particularly suspicious of Protestants.) Although it was difficult, through this time he preached the Gospel with conviction. Pastor Raul has taught me what pastoral ministry looks like when it is guided by this conviction.

We’re curious about the celebrations that mark Advent and Christmas in Argentina.

Often when I’m riding on the bus, little kids pass out little cards for freewill donations. The latest ones said, “Feliz Navidad (Merry Christmas)” with pictures of snow-filled evergreens. This is funny because we are beginning summer here, and it will likely be pushing 100 degrees on Christmas Day.

I also see Christmas lights and trees everywhere. It seems that certain Christmas customs have not only been commercialized, but globalized as well. The women at MMM told me that those who can afford it, put presents under the tree. One thing that has changed, especially in their neighborhood, is that people used to gather the whole extended family. Now they stay home, because if they leave their house unattended, they risk getting robbed. Fireworks are big during the Christmas season. I recently told a four- year-old boy why throwing fireworks at horses was a bad idea.

We have been lighting the Advent candles on the corona (Advent wreath), and we’ve now started practicing for the Christmas Pageant. Getting Maria and Jose (Mary and Joseph) to talk to each other is a strug-gle here too. I can only imagine how much the shepherds will be sweating in the 100-degree weather. Often they have a gallo (rooster) worship service at midnight on Nochebuena (Christmas Eve).

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"Whenever you are confronted with an opponent, conquer him with love." ~Mahatma Gandhi