Venezuela Support
Michelle’s initial firsthand experience in missions was a trip to Venezuela with the Harding University campaign, coordinated by Ava Conley. Michelle had grown up in a missions-minded congregation that had studied with and baptized Venezuelan students at LSU, who later became missionaries supported by the church to return home and establish new congregations in key areas.
First Visit to Venezuela
Summer 1996, Michelle joined a campaign group from Harding University, coordinated by Spanish professor Ava Conley. The entire group visited the cities of Maracay and Barquisimeto.
Michelle stayed an additional three weeks in order to follow up with all of the contacts made through the evangelistic campaign in Maracay. During that additional time, “the missions bug bit hard” when Michelle first experienced the Holy Spirit speak through her with a level of fluency and spiritual wisdom that she knew were beyond her own capabilities. She was hooked.
New Congregation in East Caracas, Venezuela
The first weekend in February 2003, Michelle’s apartment hosted the first meeting of the East Caracas congregation. For the next several months, the group gathered on Sundays for worship, Tuesdays for a prayer meeting, and at other times for Bible study.
After the congregation moved to a nearby hotel for the Sunday morning gatherings, Michelle’s home continued to host weekly meetings, ladies’ classes, one-on-one and small group Bible studies, team meetings, as well as a myriad of other church events.
East Caracas Team
Luis and Fabiola Gómez, with oldest son, Daniel, are pictured with Juan Carlos Martínez and Michelle J. Goff. These four individuals formed the initial team during the first year of the East Caracas congregation’s life. Many others consulted, guided, prayed, and walked alongside this team. The Gómez family and Michelle worked together for the entire time Michelle lived in the capital city.
First Ladies’ Retreat in more than a decade
For the previous twelve years, Christian sisters from the central region of the country would gather for a ladies’ day, hosted by a rotating group of congregations. When the rotation came to the East Caracas congregation, which was less than one-year-old at the time, they accepted the challenge of coordinating a return to a full weekend retreat.
Pozo de Rosas (Rose Well) was the rented campsite where the event took place, a beautiful backdrop for keynote lessons, breakout classes, worship, and even a big prayer circle.
Faby and Michelle co-lead a time of worship
Partners in the gospel as Kingdom coworkers, Faby and Michelle were the primary coordinators encouraging the women of the new congregation to help prepare for hosting sisters from across the region. Then, at the retreat, taught a new theme song and served in whatever ways were needed.
Coincidentally, Michelle and Faby dressed in almost the exact same outfit each day of the retreat!
Ongoing Visits to Puerto la Cruz
After returning to the U.S. to serve in campus ministry, Michelle took campaign groups from the South Baton Rouge Church of Christ to visit the missionaries they supported in Puerto la Cruz and Barcelona, Venezuela.
This is a group of students and other adults who joined on that first campaign trip in summer 2007.
While already in the country, a portion of the campaign group that partnered with the church in Puerto la Cruz, returned to the capital city to work with the East Caracas congregation where Michelle had lived and worked.Back in Venezuela with IRSM
Mere months after Iron Rose Sister Ministries started, Michelle was invited to speak at the Eastern Venezuela Women’s Conference, hosted by the congregation in Barcelona. While teaching on “Light in the Darkness” for the keynote and during breakout classes with the young women, she was able to share the Common Threads as a tool for making any lesson very personal and practical.
This was also the first opportunity Michelle had to bring copies of Humano Y Santo (Human AND Holy) into Venezuela.
Reconnecting in East Caracas
Always ready to return to her “home away from home,” Michelle rejoiced at the opportunity to reconnect with the brothers and sisters in East Caracas after having spoken at the Eastern Venezuela Women’s Conference. The women took advantage of the opportunity to hear Michelle teach a short series of classes during her visit, as well, deepening their relationships with God and one another.
Books and Studies
Even before Iron Rose Sister Ministries’ beginning in 2013, the country of Venezuela had faced political and economic turmoil. Michelle’s last in-person visit was in 2014 for another women’s conference, but her personal and the ministry’s support of our Venezuelan sisters has continued tirelessly, especially in providing small group Bible study materials across the country.
Pictured are women from East Caracas, Maracaibo, San Felix, Quibor, and Cabudare. All counted, they represent hundreds of women equipped and encouraged.
Ongoing Relationships in Other Countries
While unable to return to the country, Michelle always delights in reuniting with other Venezuelans, as well as those who have been Kingdom workers in that beautiful country.
This group is pictured from a women’s conference in Antigua, Guatemala, It is representative of groups of Venezuelans across the world, especially in Latin America, with whom Michelle reconnects.
Thankfully, no matter where she travels, she has encountered Venezuelans that have continued to faithfully worship and serve our Lord, no matter their migration country of destination.
Ongoing Relationships via Zoom
We like to say that we have been “Zooming” since before the rest of the world knew what Zoom was. Virtual or online gatherings made up approximately 20% of our activities before the global pandemic. Our “pivot” to a lower percentage of in-person events and greater virtual resources was not a challenge. For many women across Latin America, the pandemic forced them to learn this new technology and be open to virtual gatherings.
Venezuelans across the world (among many other nationalities) have built a network of Christian sister support, a group of Iron Rose Sisters, with whom they have fostered deeper relationships with God and one another. Praise be to God for how He used us during those trying times and continues to today and into the future.
That concludes our Venezuela passport page. Be watching our 10th-year-tour page for more passport pages!