A Home Away from Home

Yorgelis Rodríguez is one of nearly eight million Venezuelans who have left their country. She remembers what life was like there in the home she once shared with her family – everything had to be rationed to make ends meet: toilet paper, soap, shampoo, food. The desire to change her reality—and that of her loved ones—pushed her to seek a better life elsewhere. So she left for Peru.

A friend welcomed her there and she found work, but it didn’t feel right. After four months, she decided to continue on to Argentina. However, she didn’t have enough money to reach her intended destination, so she stopped in Chile, hoping to work and save enough for the rest of her journey.

Yorgelis was just 20 years old when she arrived in Santiago. A cousin offered her a place to stay but that arrangement didn’t last long. On impulse, she boarded a bus to Constitución, Chile where the Ventura family—a family she knew from Venezuela—was already living. Pastor Adrián Ventura was a GLO missionary/pastor serving in that city.

Yorgelis says she connected with the Ventura Islanda family through Josué, their second of three children, whom she met at a Youth Gathering in Maracay, Venezuela back in 2012.

She clearly remembers the place and the year of that event, though her earliest memories of the Lutheran Church are not so clear. Her parents told her she was about three years old when they first brought her to Cristo Vencedor, a congregation in Monagas, eastern Venezuela.

“The Venturas have always looked out for me, especially since I came to Chile completely on my own. And there’s nothing better than being received by familiar faces—church family,” Yorgelis recalled from those first few months in a foreign land. “Thanks to Josué, I made it to Constitución and was welcomed by his family, and shortly afterwards when I moved to Santiago I was welcomed by Pastor James and Liisa Tino.”

Josué was the bridge between Yorgelis and Rev. James Tino, who, along with his wife, ran a temporary housing program for immigrants in Santiago. The Tinos started the housing program by hosting several young people in their own home. They made space for Yorgelis after she spent two weeks with the Ventura family. When she moved in with the Tinos, she didn’t have a job and felt completely lost. Eventually, she found work. At the time, all she wanted was to earn money to support her family in Venezuela, even if it meant working seven days a week.

She confessed that more than once, Pastor James surprised her by stopping by her workplace to remind her how important it was to come to Sunday services. That small gesture made her feel valued and seen.

While living with the Tinos, she received guidance, grew in maturity, experienced parental care, stayed connected to the church, and—most of all—found a home away from home. After nearly a year, she had gained the emotional and financial stability to rent a place of her own with a few friends

Life took her through other rental situations, and at one point, she once again benefited from the Tinos’ housing program after it was relocated to meet growing demand. Eventually, Yorgelis stepped out into independence again—but this time, with stronger wings to face the challenges of adult life.

Today, she’s 27 years old. She works at a pharmacy chain, is married to a young man who embraced the Lutheran faith after they began their relationship, and together they are members of Divina Providencia, a congregation in northeastern Santiago which was founded by the Tinos and is currently led by GLO missionary, Pastor Adrián Ventura.

“I’m really glad I stayed here. It was all part of God’s plan,” she says.

Chile was never part of her original plan—but now, even her parents live there.

Thanks to your support of Global Lutheran Outreach, young people like Yorgelis are being guided in the ways of the Lord with the help of faithful missionaries.

By Elianeth Pineda as told by Yorgelis Rodríguez.

Originally published in the August 2025 issue of the “God at Work” newsletter by GLO Director James Tino.