San Juan UMC offers new praise service
By Robert L. Clark IIPharr and San Juan UMCs
The ladies arrived at the parsonage early Friday morning to set up for the yard sale that was to benefit the Pharr Community Outreach Project.
I put on a pot of coffee and went out to help for a bit before retiring to my study to work on Sunday’s sermon.
About an hour later the doorbell rang. It was Dora.
“Pastor,” she said, “there is a lady here. She wants to talk to you.”
The lady turned out to be Juanita Gallegos. Down the block from the parsonage, there is a house that was once used as a mission. The garage was remodeled to serve as a makeshift chapel. Juanita had come to see about renting it.
The garage/chapel was in very poor condition (translation: falling down), and the owner didn’t seem to notice, judging by the amount of the rent. So Juanita stopped at the yard sale, found out that I was the pastor of the San Juan UMC and thought
I might be able to help.
That afternoon Juanita and her husband, Joel, stopped by the house. Joel and Juanita had been leading a worship service at Manos Extendido (hands extended), a mission service project run by winter Texans. The 30 people worshiping there would be without a place to gather when the winter Texans left.
I suggested the group might be able to rent space from the San Juan UMC. During our conversation, Joel revealed that he was baptized in the Methodist Church of Mexico and that he was still a member of that church. We agreed that we would both talk to our congregations and meet again.
A week later, Joel came to me and said he had talked to the congregation. His members would like to become a part of the San Juan UMC.
That was three and a half months ago. The church now has several new members, a Spanish language service every Sunday at 11:15 a.m. and a Spanish language Bible study every Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Sadly, Joel and Juanita will be moving to Robert Lee at the end of this month. They will be missed, but we have every confidence that the work they have begun in San Juan will continue to flourish.