This Is What I Know…

In Community of Christ in Central and South America we’re focusing on mission as never before. A new group of ministers will be there to help. Even though our church has been established in this area for more than fifty years the first indigenous evangelist here was ordained just two years ago. She is Sister Digna Altamirano of Honduras. Sister Fernanda Corsi de Carvalho of Brazil joined her in the order of evangelists in November of 2010. And now three others are preparing to be ordained as evangelists and to add their ministry to our field.

Evangelist Digna Altamirano

Evangelist Fernanda Corsi de Carvalho is on the right

One of the mission initiatives teaches us to seek peace. One of the first things that come to mind when I think about this initiative in our part of the world is how God has been leading us towards a fuller expression of the ministry of the evangelist here in Central and South America. There is indeed something wonderful about having some of our best, most mature leaders liberated from responsibilities of church administration to focus only on human relationships and bringing the ministry of blessing to people.

Sister Digna sharing with Community of Christ minister Yaneth Hernandez of Cartagena, Colombia

This weekend we held a field missionary leader’s training event in Honduras, on the shores of Lake Yojoa. Our three soon to be ordained evangelists met all weekend for an orientation to the specific ministries of their new office. Javier Bardales served for thirty-five years as full time minister and mission center president for the church in Central America. Simon Copa was hired as a “transformation 2000” missionary in Bolivia back in 2000. He retired in 2010. Virgilio Herrera of Peru was a young seventeen year old who met the early missionaries arriving in Peru years ago (as in like 50 years ago!). All three are preparing for their ordination as evangelists.

Javier Bardales of Honduras

Simon Copa with his wife Victoria in Sacaba, Bolivia

Brother Virgilio Herrera of Peru taking a turn piloting our tour boat out on Lake Yojoa in Honduras

Sister Barbara Mink came all the way from Dallas, Texas, USA to teach these new evangelists

This weekend was something of a homecoming for them. Evangelist Barbara Mink was in Honduras to lead the orientation for the new evangelists. She and her husband Darrell served as missionaries to Latin America for many years. In fact their first assignment in the area had them moving to Peru and meeting that seventeen year old Virgilio, way back when.

Brother Virgilio visiting with Sister Barbara Mink

Javier Bardales posing with Darrell and Barbara MInk

There’s a joke floating around our field that right now we already have two “evangelistas” (the Spanish word for evangelist) from Central and South America but that now we’ll have three “evangelistos.” (I’ve only got as much Spanish grammar as three weeks of intensive Spanish classes at Berlitz language school can buy you – not much! But I can tell you that in Spanish, some words have masculine and feminine forms. A cook can be a “concinero” or a “concinera.” A pastor can be a “pastor” or a “pastora.” But other words just stay the same. “Evangelista” doesn’t change form whether masculine or feminine so talking about our three new “evagelistos” always gets a laugh.)

Barbara Mink, the class instructor, with her husband Darrell, Evangelist Digna Altamirano and the three newly called evangelists from Central and South America

But be they men or women, five new evangelists serving in the church will surely be a great blessing to many.