ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, November 20, 1996 TAG: 9611200048
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-15 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: ROANOKE
SOURCE: FRANCES STEBBINS STAFF WRITER
MEMO: NOTE: Also ran in November 21, 1996 Neighbors with photo in color.
Some of the Spanish-speaking Roanoke Valley residents who come to a new ecumenical congregation call Denise Huffman their madrina - godmother.
And the United Methodist pastor not only feels honored by the name, but sees in her friends of Latin American origin the fulfillment of her life's dream.
Huffman in late September became the organizing pastor of a group of about 35 Latinos of several religious backgrounds who have found jobs in the valley. They are among an estimated 1,500, she said, who have moved to the Roanoke area from Cuba, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Puerto Rico, Mexico and El Salvador.
Their Sunday morning service from 9:30 to 10:30 at Trinity United Methodist Church in Old Southwest has already expanded, Huffman noted, into a caring community. Estamos Unidos - We are United - is now part of the congregational logo of a circle surrounding a cross.
Felipe Jesus Martinez, a 30-year-old welder at FVP contractors, said, with Huffman assisting his English, that although he was from a Catholic home in Cuba, "Where God is taught, there is no difference to me. You preach God." Martinez also said he and his wife, Natacha, who works at Maid Bess Corp. in Salem, like the fellowship of the new mission. They hope soon to bring their three boys, now in Cuba, to a home they've just bought in Southwest Roanoke.
Rafael Ramos, another construction worker, and his wife, Olga, already have their two children, Orlando, 11, and Yunisleydi, 5, at their own place in Roanoke. All come to Huffman's services. Ramos said he owes his job to the networking "the pastora" has achieved. He, too, said he gladly changed his religion when his family found "such good treatment" in the Hispanic community.
Not only has Huffman's wide circle of church, college and business friends led some immigrants to jobs, but she also has been asked to perform house blessings. She spoke highly of the hard work and thrift of people like the Martinez and Ramos families who became homeowners quickly.
"Our people are poor because they have so little when they come to Roanoke," Huffman said. "But employers tell me they are wonderful workers. Some couples each work two shifts to save enough to buy their own home."
The little group has shared foods characteristic of their countries. This sense of community, Huffman says, distinguishes the Roanoke group from some other Spanish-speaking church gatherings that concentrate only on worship or Bible study. She has been told that the United Methodist-based congregation is unique in Virginia in achieving a sense of extended family.
Huffman is getting help from other denominations. The Rev. John Divers, a retired Southern Baptist missionary to Latin America, has joined her in preaching. So has Gary Powell, a licensed minister of Star City Church of Christ. Huffman says she welcomes such diversity in people who are brought together by their common language.
The pastor herself, born in Florida of French and American parents, moved to Venezuela as a child and learned Spanish. Leaving in a few years, she did not fully develop what she now realizes is a natural gift as a linguist. But when she went to Puerto Rico to teach in a parochial school, she began to study Spanish seriously. She spent 11 years there, and now speaks fluently.
Following her marriage to the late Maynard Huffman, she moved to Roanoke and studied at Hollins College. Involvement with United Methodist church work, the Education for Ministry lay theological education course and a gradual sense of calling to professional ministry led her to Duke Divinity School and ordination in the Virginia Conference. For seven years, Huffman was pastor of Lawrence Memorial United Methodist Church on Bent Mountain.
A few months ago, she recalls, as she sought spiritual direction at pastoral appointment time, Huffman sensed her need to use her skills in speaking Spanish as well as her longing to become part of a Latin American cultural family. Things fell into place providentially, she believes, as the Rev. David Tanner, the part-time pastor of the old inner-city Trinity parish, was seeking an additional use for the spacious building, which already housed two child-advocacy programs and the Third Street Coffee House folk music center.
The new ministry runs on a financial shoestring. Huffman has found a $9,000 grant to help with such needs as Spanish-English Bibles. Church people have given small amounts; it takes $30 to buy each Bible. Her enthusiasm for the project is matched, she said, by that of several families.
The pastor said Roanoke is attracting increasing numbers of Latin Americans.
In addition, the new services are bringing in some longtime Latin American residents who say they are happy to reclaim their heritage while offering friendship and economic and spiritual help to "the united."
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: NHAT MEYER/Staff. Felipe Jesus Martinez (left) andby CNBRafael Ramos (right) pose with preachers Gary Powell and the Rev.
Denise R. Huffman.