Argentine Conference by Roscoe T. Baer

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 9, 1915

Argentine Conference

By Roscoe T. Baer

SINCE my last report through the columns of the REVIEW, there has been quite a change in my field of labor. Acting upon the recommendation of the General Conference that I should take the presidency of the Argentine Conference, my family and I left the Chesapeake Conference June 14, visiting our parents in the West before departing for our distant field. At several places in the West public meetings had been arranged, and I had opportunity to address large congregations on the doctrines we hold.

On August 1 we left Rushville, Nebr., for the East, stopping at Washington and Baltimore. August 7 we sailed from New York on the steamship “Vestris,” direct to Buenos Aires, the capital of the Argentine Republic. We had a very pleasant journey, and made agreeable acquaintances with the passengers on board. After a journey of twenty-three days, we arrived in Buenos Aires, a city about the size of Philadelphia, Pa. Here the brethren knew of our coming, and Elder Casebeer and Brother Sherman were at the pier to meet us. We did not recognize these brethren until we saw them hold up a copy of the Protestant Magazine. We knew then that they were kind friends come to meet us and to direct us through the strange city. These brethren took us to their homes in Florida, a beautiful suburb of the city, where we were given a hearty welcome. Our headquarters in Florida well represent the message, in both equipment and workers connected with the various offices. The publishing house is located here, where literature for the Spanish people is prepared. Two papers are published—La Revista Adventista, our union conference paper, and El Atalaya, our special missionary paper.

We are now situated at the headquarters of our work, and believe we shall enjoy our labor here. Thus far I have met with five of our fifteen churches. The conference membership numbers one thousand, and pays an annual tithe of $20,000. There is an excellent class of young people to be developed for the work. Confidence and courage prevail among the conference workers, and we face the future with good courage.

The work is onward here, and the Lord is blessing the brethren with fruit for his garner. In Buenos Aires, Elder Casebeer with a good corps of workers has been conducting meetings in Spanish. From two hundred to three hundred people have attended the service each evening. Now the effort is being bound off, and a new Sabbath school of thirty members has been established, and we expect a good, strong church will be organized in that section of the city. Sister Cassie Dennis is one of the Bible workers connected with this city effort. Many in the Chesapeake Conference will remember her as Sister Cassie Wilson, as she was once a worker in that conference. Other workers in the conference have had success in winning souls, and the total for the year of those brought into the truth is encouraging.

The language of the country is Spanish, though a fair percentage of our constituency speak German. Really, to help the people one should be able to speak both Spanish and German. I hope in time to be able to converse with them. The people of the republic are not religious, and the educated and cultured classes boast of being infidels and atheists. Still, the Lord is doing a work for them, and the third angel’s message appeals to the honest in heart here as in every other part of the world.

We enjoy the weekly visits of the good old REVIEW, and are thankful that we cannot get out of reach of this splendid church paper. We solicit the prayers of its readers for the work in this large conference that embraces a territory equal to the Atlantic, Columbia, and Lake Union Conferences.

ROSCOE T. BAER.