Rotation of International Visits
We use several biblical inspirations for the ways in which we fulfill our vision to equip women to connect to God and one another more deeply. One of those patterns was established by Paul through his missionary journeys.
Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” (Acts 15:36)
Our goal is to visit a location consecutive years, providing teaching, training, and encouragement. While maintaining the relationship and providing additional resources from a distance, we make a return visit a few years later, each time providing greater depth.
Bogotá, Colombia #1
2014 - Salitre Hosts Area-wide Ladies’ Day
Michelle J. Goff accepted an invitation by the Salitre Church of Christ to speak on “Communication” for women across the capital city. This was also the first opportunity for Michelle to begin distributing small group Bible study materials in Colombia (Humano Y Santo).
Pictured is the group of Salitre women that hosted the event.
Bogotá, Colombia #2
2018 - Back to Bogotá for Reestablished Relationships
“Falling in Love with Jesus” was the theme, but it paralleled Michelle’s sentiment of “falling back in love with Bogotá.” The congregation in Salitre hosted the area-wide event again. Relationships were reestablished with the women and with other local congregations, all anticipating a subsequent visit the next year. Many women were excited to be able to receive additional resources since two more books had been published by this point.
Bogotá, Colombia #3
2019, North Bogotá Congregation
Michelle was part of a team that planned to move to north Bogotá in order to establish a new congregation. While the team did not move there together, a Colombian family, the Valderramas, continued with the plans, assisted by missionary Bob Brown. Michelle was blessed with the opportunity to be a part of the first meeting of that “Unicentro” congregation in March 2000.
While Michelle lived in Venezuela, she was using a tourist visa and therefore had to leave every 90 days. Usually three times a year, she would return to Bogotá from the neighboring country’s capital city of Caracas, and visit the church.
Therefore, the pattern of return visits to encourage the brothers and sisters, was familiar to Michelle and became a foundational pattern in the early plans for Iron Rose Sister Ministries.
Bucaramanga, Colombia #1
2018 - Venezuelan Extended Family
Luis and Faby Gómez, along with their two boys, Daniel and Andrés, were church-planting partners with Michelle in East Caracas, Venezuela. The situation in Venezuela forced them to leave and move to Luis’ home nation of Colombia (also pictured with Dinora Salazar and intern Faith [Bailey] Todd).
Michelle’s visit to Bucaramanga and time spent with the local congregations laid the groundwork for her to be invited as the primary speaker for the National Colombian Women’s Conference the following year, hosted by those congregations (pictured next).
2019 - National Colombian Women’s ConferenceBuenos Aires, Argentina #1
2014, City-wide Ladies’ Retreat
The Redentor and Caballito congregations co-hosted the Ladies’ Retreat that boasted participation from 10 congregations in the area! The women were hungry to “Delight!” and also to gather for the first area-wide ladies’ event in more than 12 years.
Buenos Aires, Argentina #2
2015, Iglesia de Cristo Redentor
A new congregation with diverse international representation was established in 2014. Michelle continued the teaching with that congregation through small groups and individual women. She had met some of the women from the Redentor congregation the previous year when they co-hosted an area-wide retreat (described in the previous picture). And Michelle had met yet others in her first visit to the Southern Cone, in Uruguay, in 2013, while speaking for a Christian Women’s Renewal Retreat.
Buenos Aires, Argentina #3
2019 - Digging Deeper into the Word Together
After the two consecutive year visits, Michelle maintained ongoing communication, sharing resources and sending materials. The relationships built continued to grow long-distance and then, when Michelle returned in-person four years later, she worked to develop even more small group teaching and training. Classes were held with smaller groups of women, as well as a small conference with the participation of four area congregations.
Tegucigalpa, Honduras #1
2014 - Ojojona
The Ojojona congregation, just outside of the capital, Tegucigalpa, is located near a former children’s home and U.S-supported ministry that received many campaign groups providing humanitarian aid.
Iron Rose Sister Ministries was invited to conduct a Ladies’ Day to encourage four nearby congregations on the topic of “Christ’s Wisdom in Relationships.” Women of all ages were challenged to think of relationships in a different way than the Latino or machismo culture might indicate.
Tegucigalpa, Honduras #2
2015 - Baxter Institute and three Seminars
Michelle was invited to conduct three one-day seminars hosted by the Baxter Institute. One was with the women whose husbands attend the school of preaching. They discussed “Women’s Spiritual Health,” especially as it relates to the ways in which the devil attacks the families of preachers and how to maintain the priority of one’s own spiritual health.
The second seminar was a training session for the students and their wives on “How to Minister to the Women in Your Congregation,” specifically in the areas of depression and discouragement–common and constant battles amongst women.
Tegucigalpa, Honduras #3
2017 - Baxter Lectureship
The Baxter Institute hosts an annual lectureship on their campus. Michelle was invited as a featured speaker for a women’s track of classes at the 2017 lectureship. In alignment with the overall theme, the women studied “Jesus’ Encounters with Women,“ learning how to look at the biblical and cultural context, then bring it into the personal and practical application for our own lives.
Cochabamba, Bolivia #1
2015, Ladies’ Classes at Family Camp
Cochabama is strategically located in a central geographical location and with the right local congregation to host an annual national family camp.
For the 2105 Family Camp, a women’s track of classes were offered about “Falling in Love with Jesus.” It can be challenging to maintain our first love! Through the small groups, women of various ages shared their wisdom from the ups and downs of life, the challenges and blessings of maintaining a loving relationship with the One who first loved us.
Pictured are women from the local Villapagador congregation who were always diligent about their homework in small groups, as well as the guided quiet time.
Cochabamba, Bolivia #2
2016, Continued Relationships through Family Camp
The following year, Michelle returned to the same camp to build on the established relationships and develop new ones. Only one formal class was held for the women this time, but it also “happened” to be the opportunity in which Michelle met Sabrina Campos, Iron Rose Sister Ministries’ first Brazil Coordinator!
Santiago, Chile #2
2017 - Small Group Teaching in the Capital
During the second visit to Santiago, Michelle did some more intensive training and teaching with women from the same two congregations in the capital. She also took intern Mackenzie Lancaster with her on the trip! They stayed with two different missionary families, which was an excellent opportunity for missionary care, a facet of ministry that is close to Michelle’s heart.
Michelle welcomes opportunities to minister to missionary women. Whether single or married, they are missionaries with unique needs and it is a blessing to provide a safe space for processing some of the challenges faced cross-culturally, congregationally, or in whatever area of life.
Santiago, Chile #1
2015 - National Women’s Conference
Michelle was invited to be the keynote speaker for the Chilean National Women’s Conference in November 2015. It was her first time in that country, but God blessed her time richly as she shared with the Chilean sisters about being “Connected in Christ.”
Michelle shared other classes with two congregations in Santiago and traveled about an hour out of the capital to visit a new church plant, as well.
Chichicastenango, Guatemala #1
2015 - Partnership with Health Talents International
Serving since 1973, Health Talents International has always provided a more holistic approach to medicine, dependent on the Great Physician to heal physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
Doctors, nurses, surgeons, dentists, and other medical professionals volunteer their time to attend to the physical needs of the patients who go to the primary clinic, Clínica Ezell, near the Guatemalan coast.
In other cities, like Chichicastenango, there are doctors and nurses that live and serve year round, providing health services through mobile clinics in church buildings that have partnered with them for follow-up with the patients.
Michelle traveled to Chichicastenango to conduct a three-day seminar on the book of Philippians. She taught in Spanish and a translator spoke Quiché for the indigenous women to understand.
The three-day seminar became a two-day more intensive conference when one of the elders of the Paxot II congregation passed away. However, this provided Michelle the opportunity to go to one of the mobile clinics and pray over the patients who were being attended to by the doctors.
Chichicastenango, Guatemala #2
2016 - Growth of Relationships in Paxot II
You will notice from the pictures that the number of women grew significantly from one year to the next. Those who attended the two-day conference in 2015 were hungry to learn more and invited other women to grow with them.
Now more familiar with the Quiché culture, Michelle brought more in-depth resources and teaching for the women, especially in the area of small groups.
Ciudad de Guatemala #1
2016 - Amor Sin Temor Hosts Conference
First IRSM intern, Katie Lynn (Finch) Console spent summer 2015 in Denver being mentored by Michelle. The following summer, she dedicated her time to working with Amor Sin Temor, a congregation that also works with at-risk teens and partners with groups who visit to bring aid.
Michelle was able to partner with Katie Lynn and those with whom she worked to conduct a women’s conference at the church building, as well as visit the women with whom Katie had been in weekly Bible study over the summer.
Ciudad de Guatemala #2
2017 - Teaching Opportunity on the Way to Another Conference
“Making the most of every opportunity” is a verse and an expression that often defines our international trips. While on her way to speak at the Hispanic Missionary Women’s Renewal Retreat, hosted by Great Cities Missions, that year in Antigua, Michelle stopped in Ciudad de Guatemala to encourage one of the congregations in the capital, one she had previously partnered with during her travel through in 2015.
Lima, Perú #1
2016 - Salamanca Congregation Hosts Ladies’ Conference
Jonathan and Bani Cooper hosted Michelle for an area-wide conference about “Women’s Spiritual Health.” Additional time was spent with several smaller groups of women, in their homes, which allowed for greater depth of relationship and inspired more consistent communication between visits.
Lima, Perú #2
2017 - Word Spreads for 2nd Conference
Intern Mackenzie Lancaster, another mentored student, Megan Albers, along with her parents, all joined Michelle for this trip. Missionary care, ladies’ classes, an area-wide conference, and a small group Bible study kickoff kept the five American visitors busy in the equipping and encouraging that happens through these visits.
That concludes our fifth passport page, "Rotation of International Visits." Be watching our 10th-year-tour page for more passport pages!