Pastor Victor and Lorena Fonseca

Pastor Victor and Lorena Foncesa

Pastor Victor and Lorena Fonseca are Spanish Pastors at New Hope International Church. After spending fifteen years in Spanish speaking churches, they wanted to find better programs for their four children and more support for their own spiritual growth. A Chilean friend, Celma Rivera, told the Fonsecas about New Hope Church and Victor and Lorena decided to bring their family to this “American” church.
At first, they wondered where the “Americans” were. The majority of church members were from Asia. At the beginning, the Fonseca children had problems making friends. The first time they saw Asian food, they made faces. But they did not complain. The family persevered and received a lot of love and acceptance from Asian people in the church. They also received one-on-one mentoring, discipleship training and a small care group to belong to. Victor and Lorena felt as if they had come “home.”
Their journey “home” had taken them from their original home in Chihuahua, Mexico. As young people, Victor and Lorena struggled with many problems. Victor partied with women and used drugs. At one point, he was considering transitioning from marijuana to cocaine. At age sixteen, Lorena struggled with the death of her sister and wondered about the purpose for her own life. Victor heard about Jesus in Mexico and made a decision to become a Christian but he was not serious about his decision.
Later, Victor came to the USA and heard the message more clearly from his sister’s boyfriend. Watching a movie called “Thief in the Night”, about the end times tribulation, caused him to take his decision more seriously. After he had truly made his commitment to Jesus, he stopped smoking and his “whole life changed.” Victor went back to Mexico and shared the gospel with Lorena, whom he had been dating. Within two weeks she accepted the Lord, was baptized in the Holy Spirit and received “joy and peace that I had never experienced before.” The couple married two years later, settled in California for a time and eventually moved to Seattle with their four children; Patricia, Daniel, Victor Jr. and Elizabeth.
At New Hope, the Fonseca family continued to grow spiritually, receiving helpful mentoring from PJ Hancock, Neal and Maryjo Calkins, and Dwayne Anderson. They also grew in their level of commitment.
In 2002, they heeded the call of Ps. Lao to become leaders of a Spanish speaking care group. The group started out with only seven people. It began to grow after six months and eventually reached sixty and then decreased to ten. The meeting time was changed from Friday night to Sunday, after the Sunday service.
Pastor Victor and Lorena minister together as a team. They translate for their people during the Sunday service and they try to find other ways to encourage and support their group members. Pastor Victor believes that the most difficult part of ministry is not seeing immediate results. The best part for him is watching the church grow and people receive the fire of God. Pastor Lorena believes that she and Victor have learned good lessons through hardship, by not allowing emotions and human thinking to rule their lives. They have learned to stand firm in faith, that it takes time for God’s visions to be fulfilled and if people are well prepared, God’s calling will be fulfilled in their lives and in the work of the church.