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year later arrived Frank H. Westphal, Adventist pastor coming from the Illinois Conference, USA, sent by the Foreign Missions Board to organize the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Argentina.22 After taking a week to settle his family in Buenos Aires, he traveled immediately to Entre Ríos to take care of the small community of German-speaking believers, the main motive of his trip.23 His arrival produced a great sensation. Quickly, a group of listeners gathered. The first night a sizable group met to hear him preach. After hearing the first sermon and attempting to close the meeting with a hymn and a prayer, he was surprised that nobody left. He preached a second and even a third sermon, after which they let him close with the promise of meeting again the next day.24 This incident clearly shows the interest aroused by the Adventist message and the desire for greater religious instruction. A congregation was soon organized, the first in the Southern Cone, with 36 members but it quickly increased to 200.25 Westphal was reaping the work began by Riffel. There are testimonies that affirm that he had taught and baptized, together with Hetze, several interested people that became the core of the first congregation, as well as that of Diamante.26

      After the organization of the first Adventist congregations, the support of Riffel and Hetze to witnessing did not abate. The magazine of the church points out how Riffel contributed with evangelism in the cities of Entre Ríos by himself or along with pastor Godofredo Block, one of the first native pastors. They also participated actively in administrative meetings of the church, then in the organization of the South American Union. Riffel was member of the executive board several times. Both showed their commitment to the development of the church and its work, contributing with generous donations for the purchase of a press for the church in Chile. The organization of the church recognized the valuable contribution in time, dedication and material support granting them missionary licenses or credentials that authorized them to fulfill some ministerial responsibilities.

Qualities and Motivation

      In the personality of Riffel stands out the conviction with which he embraced the Adventist faith and the spirit he used from then on to share his faith and to support the beginning of the Adventist organization. He showed it first in his correspondence with Hetze trying to convince him to his new faith. In expressing this interest on the Sabbath and Adventist doctrines but making his affiliation to Adventism dependent on the support of other believers, Riffel mobilized to form a group of missionaries that would be willing to move for good to Argentina, including his family, to be part of the group of believers that would begin the seeding of Adventism in Argentina.

      With the development of a group of regular believers in Entre Ríos, he took the initiative of making contact with the General Conference insisting in the need of a pastor to organize and lead the nascent church. In the absence of an ordained pastor, he led, instructed, baptized and encouraged.

      On the other hand, Riffel showed a persistent and steady love for the salvation of people he met, and many times his efforts were crowned with success. Juan Riffel, his nephew, stated that Jorge Riffel financed his trip from Russia to Argentina, a cost Juan gave back with years of work. But besides helping financially his nephew, Riffel tried to convince him time and again of the truth of Adventist beliefs. In the words of Benjamín Riffel, his grandson, Juan Riffel said years later:

I also wanted to leave Russia and go to Argentina, but did not have enough money. Your grandfather sent me a thousand pesos that were enough to pay for the trip I did in 1906. I gave that money back working. I was two years with him as farmhand. Any time it was good or there was an opportunity, your grandfather talked to me about the truth. I was a Protestant and had my convictions and would not accept it. But he kept doing his part with unrelenting perseverance. One day I told him: “Grandpa, just leave me alone.” And tactfully, with love and firmness he answered: ‘To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin’ (James 4:17, NKVJ). He quoted the text and told me where to find it. That made me think and I reacted favorably accepting the truth”. And he added: ‘Today I am thankful for all he did for me”.27

      Likewise, Kimmel, from the Centenario Church, Entre Ríos, shared a talk he had with Jorge Riffel and that confirmed his persistence in sharing his faith with every person he could. In the words of Benjamín Riffel, he would have said:

Your grandfather always talked to us not only about the message, but also about the goodness of the fertile lands in Kansas, United States. He said: ‘We sowed wheat and corn there, that yielded abundant crops, to the point that we picked corncobs the size of my forearm and a few meters away there were oil wells.’ One day I asked him: ‘Since you were doing so well in the United States, why did you come to Argentina?’ He answered emphatically: ‘I came because I knew you needed to know the truth.’ I became an Adventist largely because of him and he was who baptized me and my wife. You have had a great grandfather, because he loved souls and made the best for them to accept Christ.28

Regarding the economic cost of the missionary enterprise carried out by Riffel and the other three families from the USA, a North American missionary asked him once whether he had lost considerably economy-wise with the move to Argentina. Riffel answered he had had a financial setback for several years, but finally had managed to possess more than he had in Kansas before leaving. Actually, Riffel was the first resident to own a motor vehicle in his neighborhood, what was seen by the inhabitants of the zone as a sign of great prosperity. On the other hand, this mission project, according to the same person, had been a big step of faith in the Testimonies of Ellen G. White about the need of volunteering as self-supporting missionary to advance the Adventist cause in the world among other cultures for those that had command of other languages.29

      Finally, Riffel is seen actively supporting the establishment of church institutions. First, the foundation of a college and two years later a sanitarium. Although these institutions were promoted by the missionaries of the church, Westphal and Habenicht, without the financial support of the prosperous families of the Adventist community in Entre Ríos, they would have never been a success.

Conclusion

Daniel Oscar Plenc affirmed that although Riffel was short, enthusiast, restless, extroverted and excellent preacher, he was a spiritual giant if measured by the abundant fruits of his evangelizing work.30 There is no doubt that he felt the calling of lay pastor that drove him to this work. However, it must be highlighted his pioneer vision and leadership skill in organizing the Adventist church among the Germans of the Volga. He also represents well the Adventist families that used their financial prosperity to support and strengthen the beginnings of Adventist institutions in Argentina, institutions that have been of enormous importance in the formation of future church workers and in the diversification of evangelistic methods. His life of efforts and achievements in the beginning of the establishment of Adventism in Argentina is an inspiration for new generations that work to finish the proclamation of the soon coming of the Savior.

      Jorge Riffel (right) with his son David, Julia Weiss, wife of David, and grandchildren.

      1 Geörg Riffel, usually known as Jorge Riffel, since documents and usage among Adventists systematically hispanize his name. This article will follow this tradition.

      2 The emigration of Germans to the Volga region, in the south of the Russian Empire, took place from 1763 thanks to edicts by Empress Catherine II, the Great, of Russia that offered several privileges to those willing to settle in the Saratov region by the Volga River. Immigration was sustained by approximately 100 years. The interest to migrate from Germany was favored by the hardship provoked by the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) and then by the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763). The new migration, this time from Russia to America, took place from 1872 caused by the loss of exemption from military service, the lack of land for descendants and a policy of Russification. Brazil and Argentina offered favorable conditions to attract German immigrant from the Volga. In Argentina, a significant group of settlers founded

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