LCMS Convention Proceedings St. Louis, Missouri — 1932, Page 100

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Proceedings of Thirty-Fifth Regular Convention,

Argentina.

It is indeed with deep gratitude to God and with a keen sen,
the privilege granted us that we are making the following report sel
tive to our work in Argentina. ee

Your Board has been in active and constant communication w}
the officials, boards, and individual men in this field and desites
say that the relations existing between these men and your Bo, °
have been very cordial. We have enjoyed the complete confidence vt
the men in the field and there was whole-hearted cooperation betwee,
us and them. Due solely to the blessing of God we can re ee
fine progress made in this field.

The preaching of the Word of God has borne fruit; for there is
an increased and intensified love and zeal for the Savior and His work
in the various congregations. A review of the work shows not only an
inner spiritual growth, but also an increase in numbers, as we see from
the statistics. Nineteen men now serve 83 congregations and
preaching-stations (an increase of 13), ministering to approximately
8,000 souls and 4,000 communicants and instructing 650 children in
17 schools. The value of the church property is approximately $80,000.
in U.S. currency. Three of the parishes are self-supporting. Our
college at Crespo, where we have two professors and one assistant will
graduate its first class of teachers this year. In addition to serving the
congregation in Buenos Aires the Rev. E. Jauck does Immigration
Mission work.

President G. Huebner of the Argentine District, while here on
furlough during the past year, met several times with your Board
and also gave illustrated lectures in various sections of our Synod on
our work in Argentina. He has returned to his field of labor in
Argentina. :

On his way to the United States he spent two months of his
furlough in Chile on a tour of exploration. Conditions do not seem
to warrant the beginning of work there immediately, but the field is

to be watched closely for a possible opening and expanding of our
work in this South American country.

At the present time Pastor G. O. Kramer is in the United States
on furlough after fourteen years of faithful and conscientious service
in our mission-fields in Argentina.

During the past year five new men have been sent to labor in
Argentina, three from the United States and two from Germany. The
two from Germany went there as vicars and after a year’s work
passed their examinations.and remained there. At the time of this
writing efforts are being made to secure additional men from Ger-
many. Your Board has made several attempts to obtain men from the
United States, but- was not successful.

port very

Kv. Luth. Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and Other States. 1932. 127

One of our faithful and consecrated workers, Pastor Wolff, while
in the United States on furlough, was urgently counseled by your
Board to resign his charge in Argentina because of illness in his
family and to accept a call to a congregation in the United States.
Reluctantly he did this and is now working faithfully in one of our
congregations in this country.

With the consent of the officials of the Argentine District and
the Mission: Board of said District, Teacher Groth, who was sent to
Argentina to guide the District in its parochial-school matters, ten-
dered his resignation and returned to the United States.

In 1930 the Argentine District celebrated the twenty-fifth an-
niversary of the beginning of the work in Argentina. Special services
were held throughout the District, and the Call of the Hour was
prought to the attention of the congregations during this celebration.

May God continue to bless our Church and its work also in this

ission-field !
miss Brazil.

This is the thirty-second year of our Synod’s mission-work in
Southern Brazil. It is the nineteenth year of the Brazilian District.
The little mustard-seed planted by Pastor Broders and first watered
by Pastor Mahler has by God’s grace grown to be a robust tree. The
first mission was founded in Southeastern Rio Grande do Sul. In
that state many congregations have been added. The work was ex-
tended northward into the state of Santa Catharina, then farther
northward into Parana, and now northeastward into the states of Sao
Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Espirito Santo. The last three states form
the ocean line of Central Brazil. Thus a veritable chain of missions
has sprung up from Southern Rio Grande do Sul to Espirito Santo,
a distance of over one thousand miles.

Fifty-three pastors minister to twenty-one thousand baptized
members. Thirteen synodical teachers with forty-two male assistants
and six woman assistants instruct twenty-four hundred pupils in
Christian day-schools. The missionaries are dedicated to their work,
laboring with love and zeal for the cause of Jesus Christ. Many of
them are working under trying conditions.

A marked inner growth is to be noted. Church attendance has
generally improved, Christian life is more evident, and laymen are
becoming interested and begin to put their hands to the plow. Young
people are thankful to God for being Lutheran Christians. Contribu-
tions are constantly on the increase. The pastors are untiring in their
labors.

It is deplorable that, despite the sacrifices brought by pastors,
traveling over rough roads and weary miles on muleback, some