Argentina’s Bright and Joyous Day

By Judy C. Olsen

Long before the sun rises over Buenos Aires, Argentina, the moist morning air carries quiet sounds of students arriving at a chapel located in a busy area of the city. A key turns, and the door is opened. A group of students enter, and then the door is locked—a standard security measure in the dark hours before dawn. A soft knock, and someone runs to let in more students, whose smiles and cheer belie the early-morning hour. In all, 13 students arrive to begin their day by studying the New Testament. After class, they enjoy a simple breakfast prepared by one of the parents. Fortified in body and spirit, the students leave for school or work.

In the midst of the last-minute hubbub of parting friends, a woman walking down the street sees the meetinghouse gate open and hesitantly enters. “Are you Mormons?” she asks. “My son wants to be like his cousins in Mendoza who are Mormons. Can someone tell me about your church?” Coincidentally, missionaries arrive at the chapel, and arrangements are soon in place to introduce the woman to the gospel of Jesus Christ. This scene, illuminated by the early-morning rays of the rising sun, captures two sources of hope for the future of the Church in Argentina: the strength of the rising generation and a growing missionary harvest.

Gospel seeds were first planted in Argentina among German immigrants in 1925, when Elder Melvin J. Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated South America for the preaching of the gospel. Shortly after, he declared: “The work of the Lord will grow slowly for a time here just as an oak grows slowly from an acorn. … [But] the South American Mission will be a power in the Church” (quoted in Melvin J. Ballard: Crusader for Righteousness [1966], 84).

Argentina, as well as other areas of South America, is seeing the fulfillment of Elder Ballard’s prophecy. Those seeds have spread slowly but steadily over the years among this people, descended largely from European immigrants. Today Latter-day Saints in Argentina number more than 277,000 members in 64 stakes.

Argentina is a country of vast spaces that stretches from the windy beaches of the Atlantic Ocean along its southeast coast to the tall, snowcapped peaks of the Andes Mountains along its north and west borders. In this, the eighth-largest country in the world, where patriotism runs strong, two realities hamper the growth of the Church: traditions and economic challenges.

The first reality, deeply held cultural traditions, discourages family members from changing religions. “Life will be different for someone who joins the Church,” says Elder John B. Dickson, who served as President of the South American South Area until August 1997. “They will need to learn new religious traditions.” In a country rich with tradition, change comes only with sacrifice, and new members find the obstacles challenging.

The second reality, economic disparity, due in part to long-standing political unrest, has resulted in severe financial challenges for many people. “It is hard to learn the gospel if your family is hungry or lacking basic necessities,” says Héctor Navarro of the Maipú First Ward, Maipú de Cuyo Argentina Stake. Recently, however, with government affairs at peace, economic instability has been brought under control. As a result, banks have begun to lend money again, allowing people to buy homes, cars, and business equipment. The economy has grown over the past seven or eight years, as has the middle class. High-tech skills are in demand, and while financial challenges still abound, opportunities to prosper are increasing.

Despite the cultural and economic challenges in Argentina, the Church has taken firm root and begun to grow in earnest throughout the country. A look at the Church in three different cities shows how the Saints are using gospel principles to create new traditions and to bring economic relief to members.

Sowing in Salta: Teaching New Traditions

In Salta, stucco and concrete houses crowded side by side down long, narrow streets are home to about a half million people, many of them descended from early Indian and Bolivian people. This scenic town, nestled in the lush, green foothills of the Andes, lies about 22 hours by bus north of Buenos Aires. Salta and its neighboring city—San Salvador de Jujuy, farther north, also home to nearly a half million people—have three stakes. The stakes are similar to many Church units throughout Argentina in that expanding membership needs outstrip available leaders.

“The work is growing rapidly,” says Salta stake president Jacinto Roberto Díaz. “We need more people—and we need them to go to the temple.”

To help new and less-active members adopt a gospel-based lifestyle, the stake places great emphasis on two important programs: paying close attention to new members and helping youth set gospel-centered goals.

Helping New Converts. An emphasis on convert retention, which is receiving added attention throughout the Church, is significantly strengthening not only the three stakes in Salta and Jujuy but also other stakes throughout the country. To help converts adjust to the changes Church membership brings, ward mission leaders work closely with full-time missionaries. Stake missionaries give new-member discussions to recent converts and build friendships to sustain converts when missionaries move on. “We send members to meet with investigators and new converts,” explains Bishop Mario Rodríguez of El Portezuelo Ward, Salta stake. “The missionary-conversion process has a strong impact on people, but it isn’t the usual day-to-day experience of membership. Investigators need amigos—they need to make friends with people like themselves. In this regard, the responsibility for successful missionary work is really ours, not the missionaries’.”

While new-member discussions help build friendships and deepen understanding, the Area Presidency also felt a need to help recent converts learn specifically about Latter-day Saint traditions. “We have very much taken to heart President Hinckley’s desire to retain more of our new converts,” explains Elder Dickson. “One way we have found helpful is to extend the time missionaries work with a family after they have been baptized. They return to the home of newly baptized members and help them better understand Latter-day Saint traditions.”

“By extending the time missionaries spend with new converts, ward or branch leaders have an opportunity to work with new members, give them callings in the ward, and ordain men to the priesthood,” says Elder Carlos H. Amado, who has served as Area President since August 1997.

The Area Presidency directed missionaries to teach recent converts eight principles—one each week—relating to practices that come with Church activity. Some of the new traditions taught include weekly attendance at church; personal and family prayer; familiarity with Church hymns; consistent scripture reading; and paying a full tithe (the missionaries teach them where to get a donation slip, how to fill it out, and whom to give it to).

“Missionaries give each family a copy of ‘The Family: A Proclamation to the World,’” says Elder Dickson. Then, after explaining the eternal importance of family life, missionaries invite the family to frame the proclamation and hang it on a wall. Families are also taught how to organize and conduct a family home evening, they are introduced to family history work, and they are encouraged to set a goal to attend the temple.

“A big part of our work is in the area of retention,” says Carlos Pedraja, former president of the Salta Argentina Mission. “And it’s bringing results.”

For example, Víctor and Norma Soardo and their children, Lilian, age 12, and Marcos, age 15, were baptized in 1997. The Soardos are grateful for both the warm welcome and the lessons they received in how to be good Latter-day Saints. “From the time I came to know the Church, my life has had surprise after surprise,” says Brother Soardo. “Good surprises!” he adds, referring to his amazement at being called to serve in the branch presidency.

Shortly after the family’s baptism, the car Víctor used to make a living was demolished in an accident. It left the family without means of support, and soon Víctor became desperate. He had little money with which to buy a car.

One Monday evening it was his turn to plan family home evening. He gathered his wife and children around him and said: “Instead of our regular lesson, let’s pray tonight. Let’s put this problem before the Lord.” They took turns in petitioning the Lord.

“A few days later I heard about someone with a car for sale,” Víctor recalls. “As I drove down a street looking for the address, I passed an old truck parked by the side of the road, and the idea came to me to stop and ask the owner if he would be interested in selling it.” The owner was interested, and the two bargained unsuccessfully for several minutes before the owner finally asked Víctor how much money he had. The owner agreed to sell his truck to the Soardos for half his original price.

“With this vehicle, I support my family. I pay my tithing. The truck is so much better for my needs,” says a grateful Víctor. “I never thought I could own a truck. The Lord knew better what I needed.” Learning the specifics of how to live as a Latter-day Saint helped the Soardos face this and other challenges.

Partly as a result of continued attention after baptism, both Salta and Jujuy, as well as other areas in Argentina, have enjoyed significant growth in the last few years. This growth has produced a number of new leaders like Víctor Soardo, now serving as president of the Guemes Branch, Salta West stake. “About 80 percent of our leadership here in the north comes from first-generation members,” explains Pedro López, an orthodontist who joined the Church at age 25 and was called as Jujuy stake president at the age of 29. Helping converts adjust to their new Latter-day Saint lifestyle has significantly strengthened the wards and stakes in Salta and Jujuy.

Reaching Out to Youth. Helping youth prepare to become future leaders is also a high priority for Church leaders. “A large number of youth are recent converts and the only members in their families,” says President Díaz, who goes on to explain that currently about 60 percent of all adult male converts are young men between 17 and 20 years of age. Add to these the number of young men and women from part-member or less-active homes, and it’s understandable that young people would need much support and direction from Church leaders.

Part of the problem is economic. When youth have completed seventh grade—the current educational requirement in Argentina—they are often expected to go to work and contribute their earnings to the household. Because their salary helps support the family, many Latter-day Saint youth from part-member or less-active families are not encouraged to attend high school or to serve missions.

To surmount such challenges, Church leaders work to change young people’s sometimes limited expectations. They try to help youth see who they are and what they can become. “Our youth progress with the support of their bishops and seminary leaders,” explains President Díaz. “In every interview, they are given a vision of missionary service and temple marriage.” Educational goals are often discussed, as well as the need to prepare themselves for future responsibilities.

In Salta, the stakes rely heavily on the Church Educational System to assist bishops in giving youth needed gospel perspectives. “Teachers in the seminary and institute classes do a great work with the youth,” says President Díaz, who is grateful for these programs. These efforts are helping offset the considerable challenges in the lives of young people.

President Díaz truly understands those difficulties. Baptized at age 17, he was the only member of his family to join the Church. “What got me through was my branch president,” he explains. “He spent hours with me; he always had time for me.” That important contact helped young Jacinto Díaz decide to serve a mission. He left despite the opposition of his parents. By the time he returned two years later, his mother and 11 other family members had joined the Church.

Youth who persevere despite the odds, serve missions, and then return and set goals for further education and temple marriage are a great support to the Lord’s work. Marcelo Gonzáles set a goal to serve a mission, then returned and married in the temple. He was called as a bishop at age 24 and as a stake president at age 26, and today he is a counselor in the Argentina Salta Mission presidency.

Another member, Miguel Samudio, joined the Church while studying in Buenos Aires. He made the difficult decision to leave his girlfriend behind and serve a mission. “Her parents wouldn’t let her get baptized, and she didn’t want me to go,” he explains. “But I had to. I had found a great treasure.” Six months later he received a photograph of her dressed in white and standing with two missionaries; he realized she had been baptized. When he returned, they were married in the temple. He was called as second counselor in the Jujuy stake presidency less than five years after his mission.

“In the midst of problems, we maintain a vision of this great work,” explains President Díaz. “Problems are inevitable. But we must always maintain our joy.”

Like seedlings taking root and beginning to grow in earnest, Church members have doubled in number in the past five years throughout Argentina, thanks in part to convert retention programs and strong support for youth as seen in Salta and Jujuy.

Maturing in Mendoza: Meeting Economic Challenges

Approximately 950 kilometers west of Buenos Aires and tucked into the warm, dry side of the Andes where rain seldom falls, lies Mendoza, home to more than a million people. As in other large cities in Argentina, the Church in Mendoza is maturing and its programs are well established. Yet the ongoing economic challenges nationwide continue to test the Saints. Seeking ways to help members achieve self-sufficiency is a high priority, especially in the Maipú de Cuyo Argentina Stake, whose president, Luis Wajchman, joined the Church as a teenager.

While living in Argentina, Luis’s Polish parents, though not Christian, raised him in a good, religious environment. Invited one day when he was 17 years old to talk to a seminary class about the Old Testament, he gladly obliged. He felt at home with the youth in the class and continued to attend the early-morning meetings to answer their questions. “I thought I was teaching them,” he says, “but they were teaching me.” Luis became interested in finding out about the Book of Mormon, and one day he began reading it. “As I read, it slowly came to me who Jesus Christ really was—the Messiah!” he recalls. “This affected me profoundly. I read all night long.” After receiving an answer to his prayers, he decided to be baptized, despite the strong disapproval of his family. “I had a great desire to study and make up for all I felt I’d missed,” he says. In time he married Laura Moltó, the daughter of his seminary teacher, and soon after began serving in leadership positions, first in the ward, now in the stake.

President Wajchman’s stake, with busy city streets giving way to country lanes that lead to outlying farmland, includes a large number of families who struggle economically—a common plight in a country currently experiencing 17 percent unemployment.

Concern for the economic welfare of the people of his stake prompted President Wajchman to look carefully at Church programs and resources that could be used to help meet basic needs of members. “I know Luis well,” claims Jaime Moltó, President Wajchman’s father-in-law. “He worries about every member—every single person.” What resulted was a multipronged approach that addressed not only the underlying causes of poverty but also the immediate needs of the people.

Education, a vital key in helping people become economically stable, enables people to take advantage of the emerging economic opportunities available today. To help members of his stake qualify for better employment, President Wajchman called David Durán as the literacy specialist in the stake. Brother Durán holds reading classes. President Wajchman also made arrangements with the government to open a school for adults: the stake provides classroom space, the government provides teachers. “We are encouraging everyone—all members, not just youth—to get at least the equivalent of a high school diploma,” he explains.

Other Church programs also help: an employment specialist has been called to help people find work, and the Relief Society is teaching sisters how to sew clothing and can or dry food.

Perhaps his most ambitious plan is his pioneering effort at establishing a garden to help feed the people in his stake. Located behind a small meetinghouse, the garden takes in less than one hectare of fertile farmland, where crops are grown year-round. “Each week elders from one of the wards come out on a rotating basis to help care for the farm,” explains Bishop Silvio Valtolina of the San Martín Second Ward. “It is a sacrifice for them. The ones who come to work are not usually the ones who need the food.”

Though farming machinery is common today in Argentina, it is impractical for raising crops on such a small amount of property. So with help from the stake budget, which covers the cost of seeds and some tools, members of the stake resourcefully returned to older methods of farming. Many kinds of crops, such as beets, beans, onions, and celery are planted in the rich, black soil and are watered by snowmelt carried in canals from the Andes. “We were concerned that the birds would eat our seed,” says stake missionary Mario Durán. “But we have been blessed. The Lord knows of our sacrifices and of the needs of the people. The birds come to the farms around us, but few come to this one. And where we expect 100 kilograms of produce, we harvest 300.”

Such bounty has not only strengthened faith and filled tables but also produced an opportunity. Because some varieties of vegetables grown on the stake plot are less well known, some members are unsure how to prepare the produce. “President Wajchman gave pumpkins to the sisters,” recalls Jaime Moltó, “and asked them, ‘What can you do with this?’ Then everyone met together to sample recipes.”

The produce, along with chicken and rabbit meat from another of President Wajchman’s projects, is distributed through the bishops to the needy of the stake. “In our stake,” he says, “we teach people to sow that others may harvest.”

Church programs to improve educational levels and economic conditions are possible because of leaders and members who are willing to sacrifice, and those sacrifices are making a difference in Mendoza.

Blossoming in Buenos Aires: Second-Generation Blessings

Skyscrapers tower over a maze of roads—some extremely narrow and some extremely wide—in Buenos Aires, a city of more than 13 million people. Located on the Río de la Plata, Buenos Aires has strong European roots growing together today with people from many nations. In this interesting mix, the Church, with 25 stakes in Buenos Aires as of April 1999, is blossoming.

Because the Church has been established longer in Buenos Aires, first-generation Church members, willing to sacrifice for their children, have enabled a strong second generation of members to take on leadership roles. The stories of the Hofmann and the Salas families illustrate the advantages that catching the gospel vision brings.

The Hofmanns: Early First-Generation Members. In 1937 a German immigrant couple named Hofmann accepted the gospel and were baptized. Their son, Carlos Guillermo Hofmann, born a few months later, grew up as a Latter-day Saint. “We met in a small branch in those days,” he recalls. “I was raised with the beliefs of the Church. We always stayed on the pathway.”

Staying active in those days entailed meeting in homes and being the only Latter-day Saint in school, and then, as an adult, carrying heavy leadership responsibilities almost single-handedly.

After marrying, Carlos and his wife, Irma Scholz, made the needed sacrifices to raise their children in the Church. “I am grateful to my wife, who carried the responsibility while I was working and serving in Church callings,” Brother Hofmann says. “It seemed I was often away from the family, but the children never lacked. We were diligent in holding family home evening.” Today his children and grandchildren are strong and active in the Church.

The Salas Family: Second-Generation Leaders. Alfredo Salas, president of the Buenos Aires West stake, is an example of what is happening today in Argentina as a result of parents who have sacrificed old ways to adopt the vision of their new faith. “My parents joined the Church when I was 11,” says President Salas. “I grew up attending a little branch in Bahía Blanca.” When the seminary program was introduced, he wanted to attend, but his parents, already sacrificing to send him to school, were concerned it would interfere with his studies. To alleviate their concerns, he and his brother studied extra hard. To go to seminary, they would get up at 5:00 A.M. and run several blocks to catch a bus. After the bus ride, they ran eight blocks to the chapel. Then, to arrive at school on time, they ran the eight blocks back to the bus, which carried them back to their neighborhood, and then ran all the way to school. “This sacrifice cemented my testimony,” he reflects.

With the backing of his parents, a mission followed, which greatly deepened his testimony. When he returned, he faced a new dilemma because of his limited finances: whether to finish his schooling or get married. The choice was not easy. Nevertheless, he chose to marry, and it took seven more years before he finally received his degree in computer science. At age 26 he was called as a bishop and served in that calling during the final two years of his schooling. He subsequently went on to earn a master’s degree in business administration. As a result of his parents’ emphasis on learning, today President Salas is doing well as country manager of a computer programming company, and he is able to devote time to Church service.

Second- and third-generation Church members like Alfredo Salas are increasingly stepping into leadership positions, thanks to faithful parents. “We work hard to be good parents,” says Bishop Gustavo Berta of the Litoral Ward, Litoral stake, who was baptized in the late 1960s. “In every room of our home is a picture of Jesus Christ. We have our family home evenings and family prayer. We are teaching our children new traditions.”

This emphasis on education and missions is paying off in Buenos Aires. “In the past it was not common to see young men serve missions,” says Area Authority Seventy Elder Carlos E. Agüero. “We are seeing change with the generations. Now young men and women are going by the hundreds. Education and mission goals are becoming the new tradition for Latter-day Saint youth.”

From Salta, where new vision is changing old ways of thinking, to Mendoza, where Church programs are lifting economic burdens, the Church is taking root and maturing quickly. And in the early mist of dawn in Buenos Aires, seminary and institute students still arrive by the thousands at meetinghouses where keys open doors, letting the gospel light shine into their lives, bringing with it hope for the future. That light is bringing the promise of a bright and joyous day to the Saints in Argentina.

Photography by Judy C. Olsen

Above, left: Tres de Febrero Park, where South America was dedicated for the preaching of the gospel. Below, far left: The Buenos Aires skyline. Below, from left: Early-morning seminary students Claudia Vera, Sabrina Polanco, Sol Orquera, and Antonella Vera. Right: Cecilia Curbelo.

Above: Salta stake president Jacinto Roberto Díaz. Right: The Romero family (from left): Óscar Romero, first counselor in the Salta Argentina West Stake presidency; his wife, Susanna, early-morning seminary teacher until her death from cancer; their son Maximiliano; brother-in-law Miguel Montaña, counselor in the Tribuno Ward bishopric; grandmother Alviana de Romero, former Palerno Branch Relief Society president; and Norma Romero de Montaña, wife of Miguel and Tribuno Ward Young Women president.

Left: Argentina’s first patriarch, Antonino Gianfelice. Background: The Buenos Aires Argentina Temple.

Above: President Luis Wajchman and his wife, Laura; baby, Matías; daughter, Melisa; and sons, Pablo and Ariel. Below: Church members from the Maipú de Cuyo stake work on a rotating schedule at the stake farm. From left: Eduardo Durán, counselor in the Bombal Branch presidency; André Jofre, Bombal Branch president; Silvio Valtolina, bishop of the San Martín Second Ward; Nicolás Muñoz, elders quorum president in the San Martín Second Ward; Óscar Saez, counselor in the stake presidency; and Marco Durán, stake missionary.

Below: Buenos Aires Argentina West Stake president Alfredo Salas and family, Ezequiel; Noelia; Natalia; Gabriela (in front); wife, Elida Salas; and baby, David. Inset: Bishop Gustavo Berta and his wife, Mirta, of the Litoral Ward, Buenos Aires Argentina Litoral Stake.