East Andean Venezuela Mission

East Andean Venezuela Mission is a part of West Venezuela Union Mission in the Inter-American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.

Territory and Statistics

Territory: Trujillo State; and the municipality of Miranda in the state of Merida.

Statistics (June 30, 2019): Churches, 57; membership, 14,425; population, 680,734.¹

As of 2019, the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the territory of the East Andean Venezuela Mission had one school, the José Antonio Páez Adventist School, located in Valera with an enrollment of 220 students at the preschool, elementary, and secondary levels. The mission had seven ordained ministers, five licensed ministers, and four radio stations located in the cities of Valera, Timotes, Trujillo la Capital, and Boconó.

The offices of the East Andean Venezuela Mission are located at Avenida Principal La Hoyada,

Urbanizacion Santa Ana, Calle 1, Casa #1, San Rafael de Carvajal, Trujillo. The mission forms part of the West Venezuela Union Mission, which is in the Inter-American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist General Conference.

Origins of the Church in the Territory

Around 1948, a group of Adventists from Colombia arrived in the city of Valera for the purpose of selling Adventist literature in the state of Trujillo, where there was still no Adventist presence. In 1951, under the leadership Guillermo Arévalo Martínez, pastor of the Mérida District, the first baptism in Trujillo was held in which María Pérez was baptized. She worked as an assistant in a mechanic shop.²

After a time, María Pérez, with the help of the book salesmen from Colombia, converted Delia Palomares, who later was baptized, and together they started a small group where the word of God was taught. This group met in a small house in the El Polo sector near the market of Valera and Bolívar Avenue. Later, the García and Perdomo families joined this group, and they continued preaching the gospel.³

In 1953, the first church was organized in the city of Valera, on a property where there was a small house next to the Central Hospital. Among its pioneers were the Pérez family, from which Agustín Pérez served this church as the head elder. Other leaders who helped further the work in this territory were Abelardo Perdomo, Angel Perdomo, Dr. Carlos Bolaños, and Alfonzo Hernández, who was a skilled construction worker and led out in helping to build the Valera Central Church, which was still in use at the time of writing.⁴

On September 16, 1955, the work of Adventist education began in the city of Valera, led by Guilllermo Arévalo and teachers Carmen Huérfano and Emma Materán. These two ladies taught the first two elementary grades. The school was started under the name “Simón Rodríguez.” By 1971, teachers Carmen de Rivera and Sofía García undertook leadership of the institution, acquiring the necessary permits and legal standing of the school through the minister of education, giving the school its current name, “José Antonio Páez.” It is located beside the Central Church on 15^th Avenue.⁵

Eventually, the number of churches grew as the work extended out to the lowlands, such as Timotes, and to the highlands, such as Sabana de Mendoza, in the state of Trujillo and the municipality of Boconó. Later these areas were formed into a district that belonged to the West Venezuela Mission, which had headquarters in the city of Barquisimeto, 230 kilometers away.

Some of the pastors who cared for this district were Victor Urbina, Wiliam Gómez, Abel Prieto, José Leal, Jorge Omaña, and Daniel Escobar, among others. Later, the district was divided into territories to better facilitate the care of church members. This in turn led to the multiplication of churches, groups, and pastoral districts, forming what is today the territory of the East Andean Venezuela Mission.

Organizational History

Halfway through 2012, the administrators of the West Venezuela Conference Mission, who administered this territory, researched the possibility of reorganizing the territory of this field for the purpose of giving the growing membership better care. The growth of membership, financial resources, and potential leadership in the states of Zulia, Trujillo, Falcón, and part of Merida showed that it would be possible to open a new region without major difficulties.⁶

In December 2013, Edwin Latouche was named coordinator of a new temporary field in the West Venezuela Conference. Work was conducted with enthusiasm and willingness throughout 2014 as the territory was developed. After a technical analysis in mid 2014, the West Venezuela Conference through the West Venezuela Union Mission proposed to the Inter-American Division a reorganization of its territory in order to form an East Andean Venezuela Mission. Its headquarters were located in the city of Valera, and its territory covered the entire state of Trujillo and the municipality Miranda in the state of Mérida.⁷

The request presented to the Inter-American Division was approved in October of 2014, at its end of year administrative meetings. Subsequently, the West Venezuela Union was authorized to name new administrators, which happened at the year-end meetings of the union in November 2014. The administrators of the new region were Edwin Latouche, president; Giovanny Martin, executive secretary; and Jumil Palacio, treasurer.⁸

The new region began operation on January 6, 2015, with headquarters in the city of Valera, and on January 18 of the same year, with the West Venezuela Union administrators present, the region was inaugurated. In November 2015 at the year-end meetings for the union, David Fino was named the new secretary, and in June 2016, Elizabeth Blanco was named treasurer by the administrative board of the union.⁹

On November 4, 2016, at the union board meeting, a new administration was named for the East Andean region, composed of Ydelso Prieto, president; Anthony Martín, treasurer; and David Finol continuing as secretary. On November 8, 2016, at the year-end meetings of the Inter-American Division, the East Andean region was officially named the East Andean Venezuela Mission.¹⁰

List of Presidents

East Andean Region

Edwin Latouche, (2014-2016)

East Andean Venezuela Mission

Ydelso Prieto, (2016- )

Sources

“Change of Status Request,” East Andean Venezuela Region. 2016. West Venezuela Union Mission Archives, Lara, Venezuela.

“Reseña Histórica.” Colegio Adventista José Antonio Páez, 1955-2019. Accessed March 25, 2021. http://colegioadventistajoseantoniopaez1.blogspot.com/2015/02/resenahistorica.html.

Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook. https://www.adventistyearbook.org/.

West Venezuela Union Mission Board, November 4, 2016. West Venezuela Union Mission Archives, Lara, Venezuela.

Notes

1. Seventh-day Adventist Yearbook (2020), accessed March 25, 2021, https://www.adventistyearbook.org/entity?EntityID=54057.↩

2. Gerardo Latouche, interview by author, 2019.↩

3. Ibid.↩

4. Ibid.↩

5. “Reseña Histórica,” Colegio Adventista José Antonio Páez, 1955-2019, 2. Accessed March 25, 2021, http://colegioadventistajoseantoniopaez1.blogspot.com/2015/02/resenahistorica.html.↩

6. “Change of Status Request,” East Andean Venezuela Region, 2016, 7.↩

7. Ibid.↩

8. Ibid.↩

9. Ibid.↩

10. West Venezuela Union Mission Board, November 4, 2016, Minute Votes 203, 204, 205.↩