Comodoro, Argentina: Building a Child Care Facility

In 2006 a group of 15 from Bethlehem Lutheran congregation of Minneapolis, including Senior Pastor, Chris Nelson, took their first trip to visit their partner congregation San Juan Bautista (St. John the Baptist) in Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina. They spent several days at the church building installing a playground and painting the facility.

Since their first trip, the partnership has grown. Through a recent capital campaign, that netted over 2.7 million in pledges, Bethlehem selected (among several other projects) San Juan Bautista to receive $40,000 for the construction of an addition to its church to house a preschool day care center. According to ELCA seminary intern, Kari Reiten, the Comodoro congregation greeted the news with tears of joy. This tiny congregation would never have been able to build without outside financial help.

The addition was almost complete when the second group of travelers went in 2007. They worked on some final touch-up painting and furnishing and had a grand celebration with the congregation at San Juan Bautista once it was all complete. Now the small congregation in Southern Argentina looks toward a promising future in their ministry to children while enjoying the encouragement of new-found Christian friends from America.

To learn more about the congregation San Juan Bautista and this partnership check out their website (http://www NULL.sanjuan-bautista NULL.org/English/index2 NULL.htm).