Venezuelans ‘have brought revival’ to U.S. churches
WESTON, FLA. — One worked for a multinational tech company.…
After a harrowing journey from Venezuela, ‘God found him’
Desperate to help his family, an immigrant makes a dangerous journey to north Texas, where a Church of Christ helps him.
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PLANO, TEXAS — He came from Venezuela as a refugee at rock bottom.
He’ll go back a new creation.
Faiver Alejandro surrendered his life to Jesus in baptism on Jan. 4, a little more than 24 hours after he learned that U.S. forces had attacked his homeland’s capital and seized its president, Nicolás Maduro. The timing was a coincidence, he said. On New Year’s Eve, he made the decision to be immersed.
“If I go back to Venezuela,” he said, “it’s going to be as a different Faiver.”
Lenin Munguia, Hispanic minister for the Waterview Church of Christ, and Venezuelan immigrant Faiver Alejandro speak with The Christian Chronicle in Plano, Texas.
Alejandro spoke with The Christian Chronicle at a Chipotle restaurant in the bustling Dallas suburb of Plano, where he works as a delivery driver. Lenin Munguia, Hispanic minister for the Waterview Church of Christ in nearby Richardson, translated for the new Christian, who started attending the church’s Spanish services in October.
Related: Venezuelans ‘have brought revival’ to U.S. churches
About 10 families at Waterview are from Venezuela, said Munguia, a native of Nicaragua who earned degrees from Baxter Institute in Honduras in 2009 and Harding School of Theology in Memphis, Tenn., in 2014. Between those years, large numbers of Venezuelans had migrated to the Dallas metro, and more followed. These days, Munguia said, he encounters more Venezuelans than Mexicans as he reaches out to the city’s Latinos.
Alejandro and his wife earned university degrees in Venezuela. He worked in industrial security until the economy soured. Then he found work wherever he could, traveling to other parts of Venezuela. His wife texted him photos of their daughter, “and she was wearing pretty much rags,” Alejandro said.
So he looked for more lucrative work in Ecuador, then Peru and then Chile, where his family joined him. He found a good job there, but his father-in-law’s illness brought them back to Venezuela. Low on options, he decided to make the dangerous journey to the U.S.
In Cúcuta, Colombia, Venezuelans walk from the border in 2017.
He crossed the Venezuelan border into Cucutá, Colombia. There, as he slept, one of his traveling companions stole $500 — a third of his money — and disappeared. His brother sent him additional funds, and he made his way north to Panama’s Darién province, a strip of land that connects South and Central America. It’s a wilderness of swamps, dense rainforests, mountains and drug traffickers. Alejandro saw dead bodies along the way — refugees who couldn’t survive the arduous journey.
Missionaries from Alabama walk near the village Torti, Panama, a town close to the country’s El Darién, in 2009.
But “crossing the Darién is nothing compared to crossing Mexico,” he said. There, he walked from sunup to sundown, dodging drug cartels and police who threatened to turn him over to the cartels unless he paid them. Finally, he reached Juárez, just south of El Paso, Texas, and took refuge with a priest who ran a substance abuse recovery program. His weight had dropped from 260 pounds to less than 140. He applied for permission to enter the U.S. under the Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, program offered to Venezuelans under the Biden administration.
He made his way to Dallas but struggled to find work. Then the Trump administration ended TPS for Venezuelans. Work became harder to find and shelter harder to afford. Alejandro slept in his car.
Then help came from an unexpected source — a Church of Christ in Valencia, Venezuela. A member there started bringing Alejandro’s son to worship and learned of the immigrant’s plight. The Valencia church’s minister contacted Munguia at the Waterview church, and Munguia reached out to Alejandro.
“I offered to help,” Munguia said, but Alejandro resisted. He was too proud to accept assistance, but he was interested in studying the Bible. “He didn’t want to come to church because of material stuff. He said, ‘You know, I have hit rock bottom in my life. I’ve never been this in need of God.’”
“When Venezuelans or Hispanics turn to God here in the U.S., in my experience, they turn with all their heart.”
Many Latinos come to the U.S. “because they want to have a better financial life,” the minister said. “Sometimes that takes them away from church and God. … They get caught up in the busyness of American society and culture, and once they have what they want — better life and money — they easily forget God.
“So, when Venezuelans or Hispanics turn to God here in the U.S., in my experience, they turn with all their heart.”
Lenin Munguia, Hispanic minister for the Waterview Church of Christ, baptizes Venezuelan immigrant Faiver Alejandro.
That was the case with Alejandro. He studied the Bible with church members, and they found him a place to live. Finally, he decided to be baptized.
“After all the things that he’s been through, he didn’t find God,” Munguia said. “God found him.”
Related: With prayers, proverbs and psalms, Venezuelan Christians react to Maduro’s capture
As Venezuela faces a new and uncertain future, Alejandro plans to save up money in the coming months so that he can return and help his homeland rebuild its economy.
More importantly, “I’m committed to continue working for the church,” he said. “I’m 48 years old, so I have told my wife that we cannot waste time any longer because we’re not getting younger. Once I go back, I will stay committed to continue growing in my walk with God.”
ERIK TRYGGESTAD is President and CEO of The Christian Chronicle. Contact [email protected].
