Bound for Peru Mark J.H. Klassen
“We’ve never been to Peru,” said Pablo Chavez, “but we can honestly say that we are in love with the people there and the churches, and we can hardly wait to serve among them.” Pablo and his wife, Maricela, are from Orange Cove, California. This year, they started their training with Multiply to become full-time global workers. They hope to begin their long-term assignment in Peru in 2022. Both were born in Mexico. Maricela came to California with her family at the age of ten. As Catholics, the family didn’t know what to expect from the Mennonite Brethren church in Orange Cove when they moved into the same neighborhood. As farm workers, the family was impacted by the big freeze of 1991, which left the area in an economic crisis. It was the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) and the Mennonite Disaster Service that brought relief and assistance to many families in need, including Maricela’s. Through those efforts, Maricela’s mother was endeared to the church in Orange Cove and she came to a new saving faith in Jesus. Maricela was fifteen at the time and wasn’t ready to embrace the same. However, gradually she also came around and found her own expression of trust in Jesus. 6 | witness
In gratitude, not long afterward, she took an opportunity to serve on a short-term assignment with MCC. That assignment took her to Mexico City, where she met a young man named Pablo. At the time, Pablo was active in one of the local churches that assisted with hosting Maricela. However, his own path to faith in Jesus was a difficult one. With a father who was an alcoholic, Pablo had been on a similar path of substance abuse and religious hypocrisy. “I was also the product of a praying mother,” Pablo said, who came to faith in Christ as a teenager. “I really didn’t think I deserved a second chance but, by God’s grace, I gave up religion and started a new life of serving God and others.” After developing a friendship during Maricela’s stay in Mexico City, the couple continued their relationship at a distance until 2003 when Pablo came to the US on a fiancé visa. They were married in California that year. In Orange Cove, the couple became more involved at the MB church. The congregation appreciated Pablo’s leadership gifts and within two years he was invited to become their pastor. “I had been serving as a worship leader and I did not want to become a pastor,” said Pablo,
