Rev. Donna Goff, Minister of Missions at McEachern Memorial United Methodist Church in Marietta, Georgia, just reeturned from a week of mission work in Punto Fijo, Venezuela. This trip was almost immediately on the heels of a week of teaching "Historical Books" at the Wesley Seminary of Venezuela. Here is her short report on her return from her most recent trip to Venezuela:
Well this has been a fast month for sure with 2 trips to Vz and Annual Conference. I wanted to reflect a few thoughts while they are still fresh in my mind.
Seminary
I really enjoyed the experience though I felt handicapped not being able to speak Spanish. Maybe that is motivation to learn more. Teaching 12 books in one week was a great challenge but I did my best. The students are really open and hungary for their education and that was refreshing. Raul did a great job translating and Samuel was so helpful with the Herrins to us. We enjoyed getting to know the family and taking the kids some American treats. They have a great family. I would be open to doing that again. Even though I was not up to where I wanted to be in my rehab, I hope to continue to strengthen the foot and leg doing physcial therapy.
Punto Fijo.
Warren, I knew when we asked Allen R. to come, it would have the potential to be explosive. He is at heart a iternant evangelist. He and Pastor Juvenal hit it off immediately. Juvenal asked me to bring him back soon. It was good for me to be there because I felt God was able to enlarge my vision of McEachern's role in Punto Fijo. The Jesus film for the children was quite successful. We had probably 25-30 old elementary kids come forward to accept Christ. On Sunday afternoon we had the March. They had a train like part of a circus with probably 100 kids in it, with police escort. We handed out 1500 tracts. We know 5-6 people prayed along the streets and in the crowd to accept Christ. That night we did the Jesus film but it was mostly the congregation there. Allen preached Mon-Wed every night on a platform outside beside the street. We feel grateful at 20-25 adults accepted Christ. We took Bibles and were able to give them to them and Pastor Nohely took names and got followup information. Out team was greatly moved by seeing people come to Christ in this way.
We are processing this week and evaluating how we can support Juvenal and his ministry. He has quite a vision. He had worked a lot on the building since we had been there before. He has proven a very faithful steward of God's resources. We pray that McEachern can also be faithful to what God is calling us to do. I could almost see Allen doing a series of revivals in Vz.
We are again grateful to be a part of what God is doing in Venezuela. Looking forward to seeing you soon. Serving Christ with you.
Donna Goff
Tuesday, July 04, 2006
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Pardon the Personal, But....
A most amazing thing occurred this week. I received a call from a woman (Dayana) in Alpharetta stating that her mother (Doris) and father were visiting from Punto Fijo, Venezuela and that they are members of the UMC in Punto Fijo. Their pastor, Juvenal Perez, had insisted they contact me for a time to get acquainted. (See earlier posts for pictures and stories of the Punta Fijo Church and the pastors.)
We made an appointment for this past Tuesday at 5:30. At the last minute, I invited my daughter in law to go with me to meet these unknown Venezuelans. She agreed. When we arrived at their home a surprise occurred to everyone. It seems the parents know our daughter in law's parents and have even hosted them in their home some 4 or 5 years previously, including our daughter in law, Lim. What a coincidence! But it is not over yet.
The daughter, Dayana, had worked with Lim's sister, Betha, here in Alpharetta. But there is even more. As we discussed the church in Punto Fijo, I discovered that the building the church used to rent was owned by Doris' husband. I had helped with the rent and here, sitting in Alpharetta, was the man who owned the building I was helping the church to rent.
It goes on... Doris was very insistent that I must visit Punto Fijo since I have never personally visited their city in all my trips to Venezuela. I was happy to inform her that since she left Punto Fijo for a month of visiting in Alpharetta, I had formalized plans to visit Punta Fijo in August, conduct a pastors conference and attend worship in her church.
Some will see all of this as simply a series of coincidences. I guess a statistician can calculate the odds of all of the above occurring between a nation of 30 million people and almost 300 million people. However, I choose to believe it was much greater than a coincident. I believe it was a God-Incident! It is indicative of how God has worked in our lives ever since Carlos Gonzalez from Valencia, Venezuela showed up at my office in 1994. This post would be too long and boring to relate how God has continually drawn us to Venezuela and to work with the United Methodists there. However, this most recent experience is further confirmation that we are blessed to join with Christ in the ministry in Venezuela.
If you are still reading this endless post, please consider that God may be calling you to work with our brothers and sisters in Venezuela. If you would like more information please contact me, Warren Lathem, at wlathem@aslangroup.com. I welcome the opportunity to discuss what God is doing in Venezuela! We serve the One who came to serve us.
Warren Lathem
Vacation Bible School in Punta Fijo
We made an appointment for this past Tuesday at 5:30. At the last minute, I invited my daughter in law to go with me to meet these unknown Venezuelans. She agreed. When we arrived at their home a surprise occurred to everyone. It seems the parents know our daughter in law's parents and have even hosted them in their home some 4 or 5 years previously, including our daughter in law, Lim. What a coincidence! But it is not over yet.
The daughter, Dayana, had worked with Lim's sister, Betha, here in Alpharetta. But there is even more. As we discussed the church in Punto Fijo, I discovered that the building the church used to rent was owned by Doris' husband. I had helped with the rent and here, sitting in Alpharetta, was the man who owned the building I was helping the church to rent.
It goes on... Doris was very insistent that I must visit Punto Fijo since I have never personally visited their city in all my trips to Venezuela. I was happy to inform her that since she left Punto Fijo for a month of visiting in Alpharetta, I had formalized plans to visit Punta Fijo in August, conduct a pastors conference and attend worship in her church.
Some will see all of this as simply a series of coincidences. I guess a statistician can calculate the odds of all of the above occurring between a nation of 30 million people and almost 300 million people. However, I choose to believe it was much greater than a coincident. I believe it was a God-Incident! It is indicative of how God has worked in our lives ever since Carlos Gonzalez from Valencia, Venezuela showed up at my office in 1994. This post would be too long and boring to relate how God has continually drawn us to Venezuela and to work with the United Methodists there. However, this most recent experience is further confirmation that we are blessed to join with Christ in the ministry in Venezuela.
If you are still reading this endless post, please consider that God may be calling you to work with our brothers and sisters in Venezuela. If you would like more information please contact me, Warren Lathem, at wlathem@aslangroup.com. I welcome the opportunity to discuss what God is doing in Venezuela! We serve the One who came to serve us.
Warren Lathem
Vacation Bible School in Punta Fijo
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
