Reverse missions team reaches out to Hispanics

NORTH AUGUSTA --- With the help of eight missionaries from Guatemala, TrueNorth Church spent the past week building relationships with the Hispanic community in North Augusta.

The project is part of a reverse mission the church developed with Iglesia Biblica El Camino in San Cristóbal, Guatemala.

"They told us if you send teams to us then we want to send teams to you," said TrueNorth Missions Pastor Mike Fiedler.

TrueNorth began a partnership with the Guatemalan church in 2006 and has sent construction, medical and children's mission teams to the country. This is the first time the Guatemalan church has sent a team to do field work in the U.S.

The two churches worked together to provide a three-day Vacation Bible School to Gentry's Mobile Home Park that ended Thursday.

Children created art, played games and learned about the Bible in their native tongue from the Guatemalan missionaries. It is the first step to the long-term plan TrueNorth has to begin a Hispanic service and to build a relationship with the Hispanic community.

Gentry's resident Elena Elias said, through missionary Gloria Melgar, that she appreciates TrueNorth reaching out to them. But without the Guatemalans present to translate she doesn't know whether she would have brought her 3-year-old son to the activities.

"If only Americans had come out here we wouldn't have been able to understand them," she said. "It was good some people came who spoke Spanish."

Ms. Elias said she thinks members of the Hispanic community at Gentry's park would attend a Hispanic service if TrueNorth began one. Most of the residents are Catholic and TrueNorth is Southern Baptist, but she said no other church in the community has reached out to them.

"I think it's very good," what TrueNorth is doing, Ms. Elias said. "No Catholic church has come to take care of the children."

Ms. Elias said that it will be hard to form a relationship with TrueNorth in the future but that she thinks their initial contact using the Guatemalan team will make it easier.

The two churches also worked together this week to reach out to the migrant camps at the peach farms in Edgefield, Mr. Fiedler said.

"I think it's a very good opportunity for us," said Ms. Melgar of being a missionary in North Augusta. "It's an adventure and we're happy to be here."

Reach Crystal Garcia at (706) 823-3409 or crystal.garcia@augustachronicle.com.