Tucumán Province is located in
north-western Argentina right at the foot of the Andes mountain range.
This is sugar cane country and many little towns have grown up around the
large sugar cane processing plants. One of these towns is called La
Florida where I enjoyed ministering on Wednesday, day before yesterday.
It is a humble little church with a loving
pastor, Nicolas Torrente. The front row was all children in anticipation
of Felipe and Perfume.
Pastor Torrente's 1 ½ year old
granddaughter, Joselyn, fell in love with Felipe... or was it the other way
around? I'm not quite sure. Maybe a little of both. Anyway
she came up close and Felipe wanted to get down to her level for a better look.
Then it happened! It was love at
first sight and Joselyn wanted to give him a kiss. How could he refuse?
The romance ended quickly, however. She was obviously wanting to
keep him around, but she is learning that life is cruel. Her lover had to
leave town that very night.
With the children making up such a large
percentage of the congregation, I tried to give them all something that the
children could digest. I had them sing with my accordion and taught the
congregation a Bible verse. Six adult volunteers each held up a piece of
a Bible verse and all read it aloud... while the volunteers turned their page
around, making the words invisible. All were doing very well. One
bright little girl had it memorized in short order.
At the close of the service I called her
up to see if she still remembered the verse. She missed one word her
first try, but got it perfectly her next try complete with the location... and
the audience applauded.
After service and all had gone home around
11 PM, home made pizza was served out on the sidewalk in front of the church
building. I noticed that the neighbors across the street were also
gathered around their dinner table on the sidewalk. That's what you do
when it is too hot to eat inside in La Florida... Sugar Cane City!
I continue to minister 6 or 7 times weekly
to small and large congregations. What a joy to serve my Lord Jesus!
Your circuit-ridin’ preacher,
Ralph
