DELETE – Pat Bingle visits Uniontown
SMITHFIELD – A trio of Venezuelans and their host family believe it is a calling from God that got them where they are today. “God uses your life to touch and fulfill the lives of other people,” said the Rev. Eliecer Lopez, speaking in Spanish with his wife, Karolyis, translating. “God just moves me to that and makes that feeling in my heart. It’s God’s reason, not a personal reason.”
Norman Berkshire and his family from Smithfield opened their doors to the foreign visitors after they did the same in Venezuela for the group SonLight Missions, which Berkshire and his son Heath began in 2000 as a local way for people to embark on short-term domestic and international mission trips.
And to further welcome the visitors and educate the public about the importance of mission trips, SonLight Missions, the nonprofit group, will host a missions rally at 6 p.m. at the Faith Assembly Church of God at 690 Morgantown Road in Uniontown.
Lopez will serve as guest speaker at the rally before the trio returns to Venezuela on Jan. 15 to continue work with the church and its youth. Eliecer Lopez is the pastor in charge of youth in all 26 Latin American countries.
Karolyis’ mother, Maria Bermudez, said the main reason for her travels to America, specifically Fayette County, was to get to know their host family.
“It wouldn’t be possible for us to be here without his family,” Bermudez said. “They are a part of our lives and our family now.”
“They can’t imagine the blessing the family has been to my life,” she added. “God has just sent an angel to my house.”
Bermudez is referring to the first mission trip Norman Berkshire embarked on. He traveled to Venezuela in 1997 and helped build Eliecer Lopez’s Free Methodist Church. There was a blackout in the country when he got there on his first trip, Berkshire said.
“I flew into Maturin in complete dark,” Berkshire said. And when he arrived in Tipuro to Maria’s home, “here she was, standing in the door with a flashlight.”
Upon returning to America, images of the poor conditions he had seen flashed through his mind, making him unable to eat or sleep until he returned again to help. Berkshire said some people in Venezuela are the “poorest of the poor” and some make their homes out of cardboard boxes.
“It was something I never experienced before,” Berkshire said. “God just touched my heart and I said I’ll be back.”
After a couple of trips, Berkshire and Heath said to one another, “We’ve got to do this every year.”
They started SonLight Missions in 2000, and since the nonprofit organization has grown by word-of-mouth. Now, five years later, the group takes about 40 people on each mission trip. Since 2000, close to 200 people have gone on six trips to Venezuela, Mexico and Arizona.
“We haven’t found anybody who hasn’t returned from a trip and said, ‘This has been the best experience of my life,'” Berkshire said. “It gives such an appreciation.”
But it’s not just about restoring lost possessions or performing needed work, Berkshire said.
“We have to make sure we are looking at the spiritual side,” he said.
And meeting people like the Lopezes and Bermudez, who welcome you into their home, shows the trip was worthwhile, Berkshire said.
Workers with SonLight Missions constructed Sunday School classrooms for the youth.
The children learn English, how to work on the computers and receive help with their homework in the new church classrooms.
In his work with youth, Eliecer Lopez tries to help them find their purpose in life through finding Jesus Christ.
Catering to youth is a primary part of the church’s function.
The young pastor only wishes to further that mission.
“I can tell there are many young people wasting their lives on drugs and alcohol. Many are looking for a purpose in life and they will never find it unless they find Jesus Christ,” he said.
He explained that little involvement with youth is not only a problem in America, but in many countries. He said while in Mexico, he noted the big need of leadership to work with young people.
“It’s a family problem and it’s a government problem to show these kids good ideals because they will be the future generation and the future of the church,” Eliecer Lopez said.
And the message he spread during sermons delivered at local churches during his stay in the area was for Americans to not turn away from the purpose God has for you in your life.
“You can be confused by many things – a nice car, a nice house, and a good job – but going that way would be hiding from God. The first purpose is to worship him,” Eliecer Lopez said. “He’s knocking all the time on the door to your heart.”
For the trio, it is like a dream come true to come to America.
So far, the group has shopped at just about every area mall, including Century III and Westmoreland.
The group also stopped at Wal-Mart, where Eliecer Lopez waited, as he exited the store, for someone to stamp his receipt, as is the customary practice in Venezuela.
Karolyis said she is impressed with America’s technology and sense of patriotism and hopes Venezuela can some day display that same pride.
“You have a lot of technology compared to Venezuela and other countries,” Karolyis Lopez said. “You make your work easier because of it. …Your dollar says, ‘God Bless America.’
“Everything is very advanced,” Eliecer Lopez agreed. “They give the liberty of freedom. To get anything you want in Venezuela, it is a little bit more difficult. It’s not too much middle class. There’s just the high class or the poor class.”
Eliecer Lopez said Americans respect you for who your are, “no matter if you are a president of a big company or if you work at Wendy’s.”
Upon her first visit to America in 1997, Karolyis attended Albert Gallatin Area Senior High School, where she learned to speak English.
She stayed with the Berkshire family then and it was Norman Berkshire who offered her the opportunity to come to the states while he was in Venezuela doing construction on the church.
Learning English, she said, is a major help with obtaining employment as an industrial engineer in Venezuela.
“That trip was a blessing in my life,” Karolyis said.
Karolyis returned to her home country after her 1997 trip armed with stories of her experiences and travels here. Most of all, she told family of the caring spirit of the Berkshire clan, who the Venezuelan trio consider a part of their own extended family.
“What was amazing is how God put us together,” Karolyis said. “Our doors are open to missionaries. We feel like… Well, what can I tell you? They came to open the door. …God spoke to our life through a verse and just to say I have this invitation for you.”