Buenos Aires, Argentina

April 8- 17th I was in Argentina to research the Nikkei population and the churches in Buesnos Aires. There are 30,000 Nikkei living in Buenos Aires a city of 13 million people. The Nikkei in Buenos Aires are a mixture of Buddhist, Catholic, Athiest, and Evangelical Christians. In the 1930's a Japanese christian business man and his family ministered to the early migrants and was able to start a church. When he returned to Japan a Japanese pastor was sent to pastor the church. One interesting thing is that because this church was started early in the migration process and by a Japanese person almost all the Nikkei I met were aware of the existence of the church. There are four churches and two pastors in the Nikkei community. One of the pastors is currently pastoring two congregations and their is one small church that currently does not have a pastor. The majority of Nikkei that accepted Christ in Buenos Aires did so at a moment of crisis in their life. They had had a friend or family member share the Gospel but it wasn't until they had a serious crisis did they make their decision. Both pastors are very interested in outreach to the Nikkei community in Argentina, Bolivia and Peru. They have different services based on language. The original immigrants still worship in Japanese and the third generation is worshiping in Spanish. Please pray that there will be a movement of Nikkei people working together to evangelize other Nikkei. I am optimistic that this will take place in the not to distant future.