Buenos Aires has 3 Bishop Welfare units. The one in Escobar has clothing and food. The others in Villa Amelia and Adrogue just have food. Escobar is a suburb of Buenos Aires about half of an hour to the north on the freeway. There was a lot of morning traffic.
When we pulled into the parking lot there were people waiting outside of the building, ready for help. We chuckled at the old, beat up car in the parking area. It belongs to Brother Aguirrebarra, who is the director of the facility. He was working under the hood of the old rattle-trap when we got there and we asked him what was wrong, he said, "oh, nothing is wrong with the car, but each day when I get to work, I take the battery out of it so that nobody will try to steal it!" I laughed, but inside I thought, you know, the way that car looks, I don't think you have to worry about someone trying to steal it!
We enjoyed our tour of the facility. It is very small compared to what we have seen in Utah and Idaho. There is a little clothing shop, but it is not a Deseret Industries, per se. No one can shop in the store or purchase any clothing items. When someone comes to get clothing, with a Bishop's order, the person must first work for two hours and then the order gets filled. What work is done? Workers sort clothing, iron clean clothing, launder clothing items, stock shelves and put clothing items on hangers. Working on both industrial and home sewing machines, they sew new clothing items which have been donated by stores, do hand stitching as needed, and help to put clothing on shelves and displays. Sister Trapp is the director of the clothing shop. She has a son who lives in Provo, Utah. She has worked in Deseret Industry stores up there. It is actually very impressive.
Brother Auirrebarra runs the actual Bishop's Storehouse. Here again, those who come with an order for food scrub up and then get dressed in gown, hat, mask, and gloves. They are responsible to fill plastic bags with product (rice, flour, sugar, milk, beans) from big bulk bags that are trucked into the facility. The bags are sealed and placed on shelves. Unlike the ''storehouses" at home, they only have non perishable items and the only canned item is tuna fish. No non-food items like soap or TP are available. Once two hours has passed, workers can proceed to the "store" where their orders are filled by church service missionaries. It was interesting to learn that the product is all manufactured right here in Argentina.
We jumped back into the van and drove across Buenos Aires, being guided by our faithful GPS, Adelina. It took us about 45 minutes and towards the end of the trip we wondered if Adelina knew where she was headed, but Sister Knapp and I have been to Villa Amelia for Open Chapel purposes and were relieved when things started to look familiar.
We were greeted by a delightful staff of workers at this Bishops' Storehouse. The directors are Brother and Sister Ahumada. They were so fun and anxious to welcome us to their little facility. It is located in 4 rooms of an LDS Church house. It is run just as the other one is, where workers must first work for two hours before they are allowed to have their food orders filled. Sometimes if a member is ill or unable to work, a family member can work for them. Sometimes this is not a member of the church and they told us that there have been many great missionary experiences as a result of this kind of service within families. Brother Garcia and Sister Lasso are not members of the church due to strict rules regarding divorce, which prohibits baptism. They are anxiously awaiting approval of divorce from her first husband, so that after many years of service in the church, they can take their 16 year old daughters, who are church members to the Temple. They are loving, kind people who volunteer at the Bishops' Storehouse every day.
We learned much today about the way the Lord provides for the poor in His church in Argentina and met some of His humble, awesome servants.
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