Meet Raul Lopez Orellana

I met Raul in December in Norwalk, CT when I was still working for my company. He was an employee working at one of our accounts. I went to the account to meet with the client and to fix some problems that we were having. I ran into Raul as he was hard at work. In the course of our short conversation, I introduced myself and asked him a little bit about himself. He told me that he was from Guatemala. I shared some of the stories about our mission trips to Guatemala and he quickly realized that I was a Christ follower. He told me that he also was a follower of Jesus and we rejoiced together like brothers in our shared bond. I told him that we had started a Church in West Grove and jokingly I said, "Why don't you move to PA and join us?" He asked for my contact information and I moved on to my next account. About a month later, I received a call from Raul. He told me that he was coming to PA. I assumed he was coming to visit. To check out the area, to visit the church, etc. He said, "No, I'm moving." He told me that he has prayed a lot about this and he feels called by God to move here and be a part of Elk Creek Church!

I met him and his pastor in NJ yesterday to pick him up and bring him to our place. He's excited about connecting with the many Latinos in our area. He has a burning desire to see people come to Christ. I'm not sure what God has in store for Raul...Who knows, but maybe, just maybe he will be our first church planter that we send out to start a Hispanic church in our area!

I'm amazed at his level of spiritual maturity and his level of faith! He literally came with a suitcase, his bible, and copy of "The Purpose Driven Life", that someone at his church gave him as a going away gift.

It's funny how stuff works out. This Sunday we have a team of 10 going to Guatemala on a mission trip, and on Sunday we have a Guatemalan coming to us. God you are amazing!

Raul, welcome to the Elk Creek family!