Like normal, I receive a fairly late voice message on my day off by my supervisor with the standard next day urgence.
"Recuerda vestir tu clergywoman. . .jajajaj besitos" (Remember to wear your clergy shirt hahaha xoxo)
I laugh hard as it was in reference to the last time Tranquilo IELU all wore clerical collars that one time to an event while I arrived in a tee shirt. When I first arrived here, normally I was the overdressed vicar in all black. She mentions us receiving the Bishop of Hungary but I am more amazed that anyone from the Cedes is willing to drive all the way out to little ole Grand Bourg, let alone show off our quaint building. Considering there were three other Buenos Aires located IELU schools, rarely do we get to be on display.
10:00AM came however my colleagues did not. I do my normal rounds in the highschool and elementary school then make my way back to the office. Familiar voices come about; Miguel the General Director, Gustavo the IELU President, and soon after I hear Pastor Alan and my supervisor, Eva. She comes into the office, grabs the keys and heads to the Temple. Do I follow? I am so bad with non-verbal signals.
If I want to get to the Temple I need to cross the sea of children or rather the patio during recess. In the midst of the student tsunami stands a roughly 6'2 European man in a tie, a white button down shirt, and khakis while holding a very nice Nikon camera. I assume this is the Bishop we have been so eager to greet. Wait, are we speaking English or Spanish? Get it together Nic.
He greets me like a Westerner with a firm handshake and a request to take my photo with the children. You can tell he is very excited to be here. Truthfully, I too am happy to make his aquaintance. Six and a half years prior, while working at Lutherhill Outdoor Ministries in Texas, I met a Hungarian Lutheran and we became very close since we were the two progressive non Texans at camp. Over the years we stayed in touch and I later went to Budapest to visit him. Aside from absolutely loving the beautiful capital city, my friend inspired my Senior Thesis about the historical oppression of the Roma community in Hungary. For about five months my life revolved around Hungarian and Roma- Hungarian history. In fact, the following year I was in the process of applying for YAGM in Hungary to experience all that I had studied. Unfortunately I missed the deadline. For me, this encounter brings a bit full circle some of my previous life experience and rekindles a feeling of endearment towards something I once consumed.
Bishop Tamas Fabiny is a new Lutheran fave. He is a published theologian and fluent in three different languages; Hungarian, German, and English. BP Fabiny adores his daughters as anytime a child was remotely close to their ages he always made a reference to it. He is liked very much by my good friend and he is very committed to faith, education, and service. His church body does incredible work with the Roma community as well as other marginalized bodies. He is also a Vice President (I believe) of the Lutheran World Federation. Did I mention he enjoys coffee as much as I do? We're basically on track to be best friends in another ten years.
Ok, I might be stretching it.
Together we all tour the Grand Bourg school where he gets a good look at the unfinished 500 year mural in our indoor patio. (HYPE MOMENT) My art went international this year and is now being internationally viewed. AH! We take a turn towards the elementary school to check out some classrooms. Some of my lovely students still linger in the halls. The trip is not quite over as they invite me to eat lunch with the group in our neighboring Senior Center Armbruster. A major component to the Bishop's trip is exploring Hungarian heritage in Argentina. I learn quickly how influential the Hungarian Lutheran community was in the development of other Lutheran social programs here. They highlight certain shields and symbols in the hogar and a photo of the Hungarian Pastor that once served here. We speak to Hungarian elderly folk and BP Fabiny engages in a conversation with a older woman in pure German. Iconic. If that is not enough, we visit the other Lutheran School around the corner where Juan Pablo, the General Director, us also the son of another Hungarian Lutheran Pastor. To bring this full circle for our viewers at home, Juan Pablo's father was the former pastor in Grand Bourg.
I wish I can keep count of how many times I wanted to splurt irrelevant Hungarian words to reinforce my admiration of his country. Now I see why Argentines will say a few phrases in english when I tell them I am from New York. It takes everything in me not to fully embarass myself. That is quite a hard task. The Bishop and I tour the school with Juan Pablo. As many times as I have visited the institution, this too is my first time around the building. I find it interesting that BP Fabiny is experiencing these two very distinct Lutheran schools, Grand Bourg and Jose C. Paz as they clash aesthetically and financially. Within 3 miles of each other the two IEAs vary signficiantly in size and structures however both obviously embody the core Lutheran values of IELU. In reality they also put into perspective the very dramatic economic dispartiy amongst towns out here. Coming from racially and economically segregated Long Island, rarely does one see a street with such distinct differences door to door. In many ways it reminds me of Philadelphia and seeing well kept homes spaced out by abandon houses and broken windows. In the car ride we talk about how recently most of these roads have been paced and how many dirt roads are still in my area. I thought my side of the railroad tracks was well paved until I walked six six blocks further than my house. Oh. . yea, we still have work to do. I am not sure how much the Bishop picks up on although he asks a lot of questions about drugs and alocholism amongst students and their families in both Grand Bourg and Jose C. Paz. I wonder what his school system is like.
The day of accompaniment ends with hugs and signs of thankfulness. BP Fabiny hands all of us pins of the Lutheran Shield from his motherland. They are all beautiful. We take final photos together. I am elated. There has been a lot of Lutheran things I have done in the past but this might be on the top of my list until the Reformation. Regardless I am thankful. I am amazed at how I can go to Chile and spend the evening with the Bishop staff or fly to Texas and meet Lutherans from Europe. I love the connection we share through baptism and our similar understanding of justification. This is special.
 |
| Budapest and New York together in Buenos Aires #GlobalChurch |
#ReclaimMissionary
No comments:
Post a Comment