The Vargas'
Henry, Judy, Michael and Christopher make up the Vargas Family. Keep reading about how God has lead them on their
exciting journey to the mission field in Nicaragua.
Background and Experience
God has given Henry and Judy the right background and experience in each of the areas that they will be involved in while in Nicaragua.
Judy was a missionary in Venezuela for six years. She was involved in the secretary/bookkeeping areas as well as teaching children and youth.
Henry grew up in Venezuela and was deeply involved in the youth ministry there as a teen. After Judy and Henry married in 1979, they became involved in beginning a youth group in a rural area of Venezuela and working with the youth in the city of Maracaibo. While there they also formed a youth music group which traveled all over Venezuela performing in churches and youth rallies.
In 1983 God made it very clear that Henry and Judy were to return to the United States. Although they didn't understand at the time God needed to prepare them for a new ministry in Nicaragua. Henry stated his own bakery business in 1988 and through the normal ups and downs gained valuable experience which he will us in setting up a bakery in Nicaragua.
In the past years while preparing for missions, both Judy and Henry have been very active in teaching children's Sunday School.
Vargas Family Call to Missions
How does a family go from attending and even working in their local church to becoming missionary candidates? It's a process. It doesn't happen overnight. There are many ups and downs on the road, and God wanted to teach us lessons on the way.
For our family the process began in 1992 at a missions conference at our local church in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Missions committee quickly got us involved in a Bible study made up of others who had the same interests in missions. This Bible study lasted for two and a half years and prepared us for many of the things we would face along the way.
In 1995 God allowed Henry to go on a short-term mission trip to Nicaragua. He came back excited about what God was already doing there and felt that He wanted our family to be involved.
In 1996 Henry organized a project team which included his own family as well as two other families from Greensboro and five singles from Moody Bible Institute. At the end of this trip the Vargas family returned united in their desire to serve the Lord in Nicaragua.
The next two years brought many tests. By the beginning of 1998 we were no closer to our goal and were feeling quite uncertain about how to proceed. By the middle of 1998 God once again began to move and when our bakery business sold on October 19, 1998, the last obstacle was removed.
Following Hurricane Mitch in November 1998, we were involved in 2-1/2months of relief effort which helped expand the ministry we will have upon our return.
In March we under took the necessary ten weeks of training at Equip to prepare ourselves for the job the Lord has for us. We now feel prepared both spiritually and physically to heed the call.
Training Course Completed
On June 4th, 1999, the seven adults who had been involved in the Equip training, stood to receive their diplomas.
We received one from ATI (Appropriate Technology Institute) and the other from CHE (Community Health Evangelism). It was a relief but at the same time hard to believe it was finally over. Well, for most of us!
Judy, returned to the farm on Monday, June 7th to begin MMI (Medical Missions Intensive). This was a two week course which ended on June 17th. Let me go back a moment and expand a bit on the last week of training. CHE is a program which helps missionaries have a integrated ministry - physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual. After the first day of training Judy felt this program would tie together all the things we wanted to do in Nicaragua. It will enable her to become involved in training, teaching, evangelism and discipleship.
At the end of training, Henry and Judy had a meeting with the Equip team going to Nicaragua as well as the creator of the CHE program. It was decided that Judy would be on the training team going to Posoltega. They will be going to Nicaragua this July to take the CHE program in Spanish along with the 28 nationals. This will allow them to pick other team members for the job in Nicaragua.
Henry was just as excited about CHE as Judy was, but for a different reason. One of the aspects of CHE is that it is participatory. Henry immediately saw how valuable this would be while working with the youth in Nicaragua. The possibilities are endless and Henry can't wait to get the local nationals involved as well as other Latin American countries.