DIVIDE, Colo. – In the dark years, when Joseph Allen was spending his days playing video games in his basement—a coping mechanism from post-traumatic stress triggered by active military combat—an other-centered life seemed elusive.
But little by little, light broke through that corner of misery, and this summer, it streamed brightly during a trip to Guyana, where he and his wife, Marcia, walked along a sea dam abutting the Demerara River, offering food and faith to Venezuelan refugees living in flood-threatened homes built from scrap wood.
“I’ve been in war, and I’ve seen a lot of hurting people, a lot of poverty, but never that many in one spot,” Joseph says. “I went into the military to fight for my country, but also to help people.”
Now, with Marcia and the support of his church family, he’s rekindled that desire. “I want to go to these foreign countries crippled by bad governments or whatever and do what I can to help.”
The trip didn’t start out as a missionary venture. On break from Charis Bible College near Colorado Springs, where they’re training to be pastors, the Allens were simply eager to see Marcia’s family, after a three-year closure due to Covid.
But thinking more about the visit, set for June 9 to July 13, Joseph grew restless. “There’s not a whole lot to do in Guyana,” he says of his wife’s home country. He had, however, been following the encroachment of socialism in the area from Venezuela, and the marked influx of refugees from neighboring countries, and begun wondering if he could help.
A community responds
Committed to this idea, the couple turned to their hometown church, Christian Fellowship, in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, and raised a surprising $15,000; the equivalent, Joseph says, of $3 million in Guyanese money.
Marcia explains that fundraising like we’re able to do in the United States just isn’t possible in Guyana, with Joseph adding, “What we raised in one day, it would take them a lifetime. We were able to do that because of people in D.L.”
Poverty is rampant there, Marcia continues, noting that a Guyanese with a bachelor’s degree typically earns about $300 a month, and many live with their parents until marrying.
“It was amazing for Joseph to go there and have a heart for another culture, to see the need of the people,” she says. “It was a mission trip for him, but for me, I’m just going back home.”
However, even she had never seen Venezuelan refugees living there, and in squalor. “It was heartbreaking to see the conditions,” she says. “They were so thankful for anything we gave them, and so very grateful.”
Hotdogs for the homeless
Before departing, the couple connected with a local pastor, the Rev. Ray Garrett, whose humble shanty church measures 15-by-18 feet. “We wanted to build up the church there, so that when we leave, they can continue the ministry,” Joseph says.
During their five-week stay, the Allens helped feed 300 refugee families from the thousands of pounds of food they distributed—rice, oil, salt and sugar—and spent time in the city at a prison, and feeding homeless on the streets with the help of a hot-dog stand, both while sharing the Gospel message.
“That was one of my favorite parts,” Joseph says, noting that most street people in Guyana are not there due to addiction, like they often are here. “When you look into their eyes, they are clear.”
Ignited with clearer vision themselves now, the couple plans to return next year with even more resources. “Next year, I’d like to deliver 1,000 bags of food,” Joseph says. “It would be roughly $30,000 to pull that off.”
But for him, it would be worth it to help the refugees find hope.
“We walked for two and a half miles each day, and every 20 feet, there was another family living in a little hut,” Joseph says. “So, we just started giving away bags and bags of whatever we had to give. We didn’t have enough, but we did what we could.”
More than one miracle
While Joseph sees a miracle in the way his community responded, others see another: a friend’s life transformed.
The Rev. Tim Rice, Joseph’s former pastor and mentor, says he finds it “astounding” how God has moved in Joseph’s life. “Four or five years ago, we couldn’t get him out of the basement, let alone send him to a foreign country,” he says. “There’s no way short of saying it’s been a movement of God in his life getting him to this point.”
Referencing the Apostle Paul, Rice says that some plant, some water, and some reap the fruits, but we’re all responsible for “feeding into people’s lives,” and when we see God moving in a soul, we’re meant to move to help.
“In (Joseph’s) case, there was lot of really tough, fallow ground, but it’s been a great harvest,” he says, noting 200 conversions to Christ during the couple’s stay. “It’s worth every penny of what we were able to send to Guyana.”
Paula Graff, Detroit Lakes, says her love for Marcia and Joe moved her to help, and she gladly assisted with the local pulled-pork-feed fundraiser just before their departure. Upon their return, she listened attentively to their report.
“Every night the river rises, and their houses can be swept away while they’re sleeping,” Graff says of the refugees. “Their kids don’t have shoes, and they’re running around on a riverbed which goes for miles and miles.”
As Joseph noted in his presentation, the refugees described that “when the river gets angry, their house floats away.” He also remarked that while the people don’t have a lot, “They’ve got one thing that matters: the love of Christ.”
‘A hope story’
Describing her friends’ journey, Wendy Gordon repeatedly circles back to one word: hope.
“It’s a hope story of what God can do, through a committed, amazing godly wife that prayed and supported and loved her husband through so much,” she says. “It’s also about having a heart to do what God created us for—to serve others—and the reward and fulfillment of doing this.”
Gordon also delights in the fact that Joseph, “a good cook who loves feeding people,” was able to use that gift for others. “When you’re serving others, you’re not focused on yourself. That’s another way God heals us.”
Joseph invites anyone who would like to contribute to next summer’s mission to do so through Christian Fellowship Church, or directly to him at 215 Star View Trail, Divide, CO, 80814, noting that all funds go toward purchase of food, both bulk supplies and hot meals.
For Gordon, supporting her friends means returning what God has given. “It’s a beautiful process of (God’s) loving hand being woven through the tapestry of how he has planned our lives to be, and the beautiful people he brings into that,” she says, including those willing to say: “I’m not leaving you. I’m standing with you. And I will crawl with you if I have to. I will be with you—no matter what.”
[For the sake of having a repository for my newspaper columns and articles, I reprint them here, with permission, a week after their run date. The preceding ran in The Forum newspaper on Sept. 8, 2023.]
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