- Paso de L’Arena Church after renovations
- The kitchen that is desperately in need of renovation – this kitchen is always being used to serve the people
I remember when Pastor Herman Woelke and his wife Amalia, Pastor of the Bella Vista Church, had a vision to plant a mission/church in the Paso de L’Arena village. The neighborhood was a very run down place, drug infested, and the corner lot where they wanted to build the church only consisted of a small cement slab and a very small old house that had been abandoned for years. Sure they said the place had potential to it but this is what people said about Mount Rushmore and Stone Mountain before the colossal monuments were carved right out of the granite and lime stone.
There was much resistance from the neighbors to build this church on this corner. I remember there were voodoo “religious” activity taking place in this area. There were burnt chickens thrown in the church’s yard and many times construction materials were stolen from the property the moment the new pastor and his wife were leaving the church site to go to the grocery store. Discouragement set in. But with God all things are possible. Different groups of Canadians and German kids started coming to Uruguay on mission trips for ten days, thanks to the coordinating efforts of Siegfried Klassen, and the construction started to take place in earnest.
Marcos, the onsite Pastor and his wife Che Che, lived in the tiny house on the premises and Marcos literally built the roof of the church almost single-handedly. He is a talented carpenter by trade.
A security fence was placed around the church’s property, then the house was renovated, and all the while Bible studies, neighborhood visitations and clean ups were taking place. Movies on the lawn were played for the youth of the neighborhood, and all of the activities combined to spark a true interest in what was happening on “on the corner”.
Now, Pastor Marcos and his wife Che Che moved to Chile and the new Pastor Werner and his wife Olga along with their three children help to make the church a welcome addition to the neighborhood. I remember taking prayer walks in this neighborhood with the missions’ pastor of First Redeemer Church, Pastor Larry Aultman, and Don Booth and Gregg Embry, First Redeemer Church members, wondering if God heard us. Now in His timing, and when the neighborhood was ready, the Lord has blessed this work.
Over 100 members attend this church. They need large classrooms for their Sunday School classes. They need a larger kitchen (quite run down by our standards). It needs to be completely renovated but the people are in love with their church. Frankly, I am also.
The church has come along so far that we had to call it a “completed work” although more work needs to be done. The church seems to be taking care of the rest of the renovations “on their own”. Many came along side to provide help. This is how the work in Uruguay needs to progress… we help to start the work with their vision but they finish the work. They own the work and we helped to get it started.