Missionary Conference in Virasolo (The Conference)

Arrival Having arrived at the church, we were shown to our rooms. Mine was the pastor's office, converted to a bedroom with two beds. The girls lived in a house attached to the side of the church. My room was located in the middle of everything. Next to our dining room, immediately behind the stage wall to of the church, and above the kitchen and meeting place for church members. The facilities were basic, providing the necesities, but their hospitality was excessive. We were always fed with newly cooked food, even if there was enough left over to make another meal out of it, and were given enough drink to quench even the driest of thirsts. There were always people around to make sure that we were comfortable and to check if we needed anything else. And people were always available to show us around the local area, which they did. But they were never overbearing or crushing. I felt very comfortable here. Having organised myself for the night, I wandered into the main church building, following a narrow hallway with several doorways on the right leading into the auditorium. I choose the third and enter into a large area filled with over a hundred people. The opening service had begun. The church that held the Missionary Conference. The First Night During the course of the night, each of us were introduced to the people attending, making our way to the front to say a few words and then returning to our seats. Nancy spoke that night, about Missions and the importance of it. My turn would come the next day when I was to speak at a workshop at 10am. Exhausted after the meeting, I turned in for an early night almost immediately afterwards. No sooner had I fallen into bed than there was a knock on the door. Upon dressing I discovered that it was somebody concerned that I would not be able to get out to the toilet without a key for the outside door. They offered me the key and left. I quickly fell back into bed again. Half an hour later there was another knock on my door. Again, after rising and dressing, I open the door to another person checking that I was able to get out to the toilet that night should I need to. I assured them that all was well and that I had a key so they could rest easy. Then fell back into bed. The normal hour for sleeping is normally close to midnight, so these calls from people around 11pm were very common and they would have expected that I would be still awake. I wasn't, and at a few minutes to midnight, a persistent knock at my door finally dragged me out of my deepening sleep. Upon rising, I discovered the the group who had been making a bunch of noise downstairs, almost directly underneath my room, were now leaving. I thanked them for informing me, turned and grabbed my newly given key, and followed them out, bidding them farewell and locking the door after me. Sleep came very easily. Delivery Day It was only a little after 6am that I awoke to my alarm. Underneath my room I could hear noises and movements of a number of people. Things were scheduled to start at 8am, so I wanted to be sure that I would be ready in time. A quick shower and I was ready to go and it was still only 6.40am. So after some morning routines I join the people downstairs for some mate and a chat. At around 7.15am I overhear some worried ladies talking about how the two girls have not yet risen. The girls rose only shortly afterwards. Around this time, one of the men rises and announces that he is going to search out some "facturas" for breakfast. These are sweet croissants and other concoctions from the bakery that make for a very standard breakfast here. Then looking over my way, he offers me a ride around town to show me a little of the place. I don't wait for a second invite and quickly climb on his scooter for the ride. We head down the streets looking for an open bakery. Heading out to the bakery on the bike. Today is the Day of the Virgen and very few places have opened. We finally find what we are looking for in one of the only 24 hour shops in town. It is filled with young people who have come from the clubs where they were partying throughout the night. Some are well dressed and others very casual in their clothes. They are mostly all noisy and boisterous, although a few are trying to find a quiet corner to sleep. After finding our facturas we return back to the church after a quick journey through some other parts of the town. There was nothing greatly distinctive about this place, but the brisk air of the morning felt refreshing at the speeds that the scooter managed. It was the only time during our stay that the temperature was so kind, as everything got much hotter after this. A man's home is his castle. This one needs some repairs. Seen on the way to town. I waited at 8am for the seminars to start, but nobody had turned up yet, so we continued to wait. Around 8.30am we had people waiting in the church and others starting to turn up. It was time to start. When it came to my turn to speak, sometime after 9am, there were around 40 people present. My Speech My chat was on using technology and communications in missions. Unfortunately, all of the equipment that we were expecting did not arrive, so I replaced my computer presentation with a blackboard and chalk. We talked about the link between these themes, and how much technology we are already using every day and that has been used in missions. Construction techniques in Bolivia to remove some of the worst diseases in the area, boiling of water to cleanse the water supply, transportation, and many of the other fundamentals that we often take for granted. It was hard to go into a great amount of detail about some of the areas of communication, but we covered how cell phones are changing the face and power structures of rural Africa, how Internet has opened the doors for instant communications around the world, how radio has been broadcast into closed countries, and how rich we are compared with many others in the world. After talking about some practical ways that people could start to use technology in missions now I brought my time to a close. It was only as I sat down that I realised the time had just reached 10am, the scheduled time to finish. Day of the Virgin Just before lunch Nancy and I wander over to the bus station to pick up another of our group that was due to arrive shortly. When we get to the main street, it is completely blocked off to traffic. Being of the inquisitive type, I head off with camera in hand in search of the reason for closing the main street. Only two blocks further on I find a huge gathering of people, celebrating the Day of the Virgin. The virgin service in the middle of town. The city of Corrientes is the destination for many people who are celebrating this day, as here is where the virgen has her home. So on the one day that I headed out to another part of the country, the biggest event in all of Corrientes took place. Most of the town was out for the event. This day is now a national holiday where the Catholics gather to celebrate the day that the virgin was resurrected, and they all carry with them an idol of the virgin to whom they pay homage. Everyone in the towns are involved, from the police, army, and politicians, to the townsfolk. When I arrived at the scene everybody was standing around the virgin during the middle of a special service dedicated to her. As I took some photos of the event, the looks people gave me said that they would have come over and beaten me to a pulp if they were not involved in such a holy event. I took my cue and left promptly. Worshipping the virgin. The Conference Continues After meeting Norma as she got off the bus, we headed back for lunch and a relaxing afternoon until our next session due at 3.30pm. I had already inquired about the buses back to Corrientes now that my commitment was completed, and was left with either a bus at 2am in the night, or 10am the next morning. Common sense prevailed and I arranged to take the bus the next day. The church had a radio station on their premises which they used to broadcast to the local areas around Virasoro, and we were asked to make an appearance on this station to let people know about what was happening during the conference. When it was my turn, the first question was indecipherable. Well, to me a least. I asked for the question again, and still did not understand it. A big silence ensued. Nancy on the radio, just before it was my turn. Around me were people flailing their arms and mouthing various kinds of words, but in the midst of the whole thing I could not work out what was meant. My best guess was that it was something about the governor of the town, so I replied that I had never met him or her and so could not provide an answer. It turned out that the township of Virasoro is actually called the "Gobernado de Virasoro". I had been asked what I thought about the town, and replied that I didn't know her. Even though I was not giving any more seminars, we made use of my laptop to show a video and presentation during the remain events of the day. It surprised me afterwards that many people came to me to find out if my laptop was a real computer or not. Apparently they had all been introduced to the bigger desktop computer through the Internet cafés that had sprung up around the town, but none had seen a laptop before. They were all very impressed. Using my laptop in the seminars. By the time our evening presentation was finished it was already very late. We enjoyed yet another delicious meal, kindly provided by our hosts, and then headed to bed. Fortunately for me everyone downstairs had gone home and there was nobody to interrupt my sleep this time. I slept well. Returning Home In the morning I rise and pack, ready to go. There is still one more seminar remaining, after which we need to rush to catch our 10am bus. At a quarter to ten the seminar finishes and we farewell our new friends. It was not until five minutes before 10am that everybody appeared and we climbed into the car with our bags to head to the bus station. The first time this happened to me I was freaking out, thinking that there was no way that we would make it in time. Now, after so many similar experiences, it seemed quite normal to be leaving at this time and I did not feel even remotely concerned. Even though we reached the bus station a little later than 10am, our bus had not yet arrived and we had to wait another 5 minutes before we could climb aboard. This was the same regional bus that had brought us out here only two days earlier. As we journeyed home there were few people waiting along the side of the road. This meant that our journey time reduced from five hours to four. Being that early caused me to wonder how many people would be waiting on the side of the road in vain because we had already passed them by. It was certainly great to be back home again though. The conference in Virasoro continued, and other people from our YWAM Mission station would be heading over there to speak in the remaining seminars. My seminar was finished. Now it was time to focus on the things that still lay ahead, including the DTS graduation which was tonight.