THE FRIENDS OF ISRAEL GOSPEL MINISTRY

Global Report

ARGENTINA | SPRING 2025

Dan Price

Director of International Ministries

Hope and Healing in Buenos Aires

On July 18, 1994, a truck bomb exploded in front of the central Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The blast killed 85 Argentinians, Jewish and Gentile, marking the country’s deadliest terror attack ever and, until the Hamas attacks in Israel on October 7, 2023, the largest mass murder of Jews since the Holocaust.

Dr. Alfredo Espinoza, lead doctor and director of The Friends of Israel (FOI) medical clinic in Buenos Aires, immediately arrived on the scene to treat survivors and coordinate other first responders’ medical treatment efforts. His work that day—combing the rubble, transporting victims, and providing emergency triage—proved to the Jewish community that Christians still care for them in the name of Jesus. It also showed FOI’s commitment to stand by the Jewish people in their trouble, opening doors to ministry for decades to come.

Alfredo and his wife, Dr. Asunta Espinoza, have been serving the Jewish community in Argentina for nearly 50 years. They pour out their lives to provide lifesaving medical assistance and critical soul care, while training others to do the same.

As I share more about Alfredo and Asunta’s ministry, I invite you to consider partnering with us to care for the people of Buenos Aires.

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Alfredo and Asunta

Calling to Buenos Aires

In 1954, when Alfredo was only 3 years old, his father, a Jewish believer and pastor, relocated his family from Bolivia to Argentina to serve the Lord. Growing up in Buenos Aires’s Jewish quarter exposed Alfredo to many new cultures. Jewish immigrants from Italy, Spain, Poland, and Russia filled the streets of the city. Alfredo was surrounded by friends who spoke Yiddish at home and Spanish in the classroom.

At a young age, Alfredo accepted the Lord as his Savior, and his hunger for Scripture grew daily. At only 18 years old, Alfredo led a small congregation of believers in the Jewish quarter. Simultaneously, he was admitted to the School of Medicine in Buenos Aires. He continued pastoring throughout his studies in medical school. But in 1977, when he and Asunta graduated, Alfredo felt he had only achieved “half of his goal.”

“I deeply desired to dedicate my life to gospel ministry,” Alfredo shares. So, he and Asunta accepted God's call to serve in the jungles of Bolivia, carrying out Christ’s Great Commission. For nearly two years, they ministered among tribesmen of the jungles who knew little to no Portuguese or Spanish. Despite the language barrier, they learned that caring for their neighbors’ medical needs opened doors for the gospel, a lesson that would become the backbone of their next ministry calling from the Lord.

“God revealed work to me that needed to be done in another jungle—the asphalt jungle of Buenos Aires,” Alfredo says. God opened the door for the Espinozas to join FOI and build a medical clinic within the heart of the Jewish community in Buenos Aires.

Alfredo with a young patient

Alfredo treating a patient

Caring for Body and Soul

The FOI clinic is unique because it offers all medical services free to patients. Dr. Alfredo explains, “Day after day, patients stream through the clinic, and in addition to the cure for their physical problems, they find the divine remedy for their sin-inflicted souls.” Each person who enters the clinic receives prayer and is read Scripture before receiving treatment. Every day patients come with pain and sickness, and they leave with healing and hope.

Alfredo is a cardiologist, cardiac surgeon, nephrologist, and critical-care specialist, while Asunta is a pediatrician and dermatologist. In 2013, their son, Juan Carlos, a cardiac surgeon and internist, joined their team. Located in the heart of Buenos Aires, between two Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods, the clinic now provides care for more than 20,000 people each year.

For Alfredo, house calls regularly turn into Bible studies with patients and their families. Physical illness often mirrors spiritual sickness, and Alfredo is incredibly gifted at transforming medical conversations into spiritual ones.

Continuing Today

2025 marks the 40th anniversary of the clinic’s School of Nursing. The education provided there is a vital part of how Buenos Aires’s medical community trains the next generations of nurses and medical professionals. Most of these students are unsaved, and Alfredo and his staff have open opportunities to share the truth of the gospel with these young, aspiring professionals.

The Espinozas continue to fulfill the Great Commission, just as they did back in their early days serving in the jungle. Ministering among God’s Chosen People on the streets of Buenos Aires for decades, Alfredo and Asunta are leading people to the One who can heal both body and soul.