“Brindarse”: What are you offering?

By Brian Utter

























Dirty little faces of shoeless children and big brown eyes peeking from behind the trees…that is who was waiting when we arrived after a 30 hour bus trip to the small Wichi community in Northern Argentina. For the past several years, Ruth Armagno, director of the Brindarse (Spanish for “to offer to do something”) Foundation and wife to David Mastronardi, pastor of the Piran Church of the Nazarene in Buenos Aires, has asked me to join them on their annual trip to minister in the Wichi community.

The Wichi community received the “white man” more than 100 years ago who told them about Jesus. The three chiefs of the tribes decided that from then on that the Wichi community would a Christian community. So, if you are born Wichi, you are born Christian. Unfortunately, many today do not know what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

The purpose of my trip was to train the Wichi community in radio. The Argentine government had put a radio station in the community several years ago, but never trained the people in how to operate a radio station. Most of the equipment has since broken, but they still broadcast with the basics. For three nights we trained 20 from the local radio station staff and 20 Nazarene brothers and sisters in many aspects of production and programming. Today, Pastor Rene Victorino and the Dios Wukwe (House of God) Church of the Nazarene broadcast team can be heard every Saturday afternoon at 4 teaching the Wichi community in what it means to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ through their program “Santidad A Jehova” (Holiness Unto the Lord).

The Brindarse Foundation group shared their responsibilities and completed many projects during that week including Vacation Bible Schools for hundreds of children in the La Esperanza, El Portrillo, La Paz, El Silencia, El Tronquito 1 and El Tronquito 2 neighborhoods. Isabel carted her tools and bag of seeds around the neighborhoods teaching gardening and giving away bags of seeds donated by the Argentine government. Carla led discussions with teenage girls during several afternoons. Two public bathrooms complete with showers were built directly behind the Dios Wukwe Church.



One free morning I found myself “offering to do something” (Brindarse). With several of the neighborhood children as my assistants, we found two dilapidated wheelbarrows and began hauling bricks to the construction site. The brick had been stacked neatly in the pastor’s front yard about 100 yards from the site. As my assistants passed me bricks over the fence to load on the wheelbarrows, they began passing many frogs and snakes they encountered. They giggled at the site of this “white man” receiving their special gifts.