Member Profile: Saul Langarica, Serving Latin America's "Southern Cone"

Saul Langarica, currently pastor of the congregations in Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil and Uruguay, was born in 1957 in a small town in the western part of Mexico. "During all of my childhood my family was living in a very difficult economic situation in part because we were a large family—seven brothers and four sisters," Saul said. His father was the only one in the family who was earning a steady income, but Saul and his brothers used to work in the fields during their school vacations.

His grandfather's brother used to read the Bible. Since that relative had a big influence on Saul's father, most of the children received a biblical name. "I believe that was the first step of our calling to the truth of God," Saul said.

Regardless of their very difficult economic situation, Saul's father used to encourage and even press his children to go to school. In order to give them that formal education, he worked all of the time. In his "free" time he used to cut hair for neighbors and friends in the small community. "My brothers and sisters all received the opportunity to attend school as long as we wanted to study. That way I was able to attend even the university with the unconditional support of my parents.

"I would say my father shaped me the most in my childhood and youth. He taught us the tenacity necessary to go through trials and difficult situations in general. He always said we needed not to be afraid of the world. He used to say the world was for those who worked hard for something right."

Finding Truth

In 1969 Saul's oldest brother saw an advertisement in Reader's Digest for The Plain Truth magazine. From then on Saul began to notice positive changes in the personality of his bother. "I admired him a lot for the changes he was making.

"One evening he was reading The Plain Truth with a friend under the light of a candle. I realized that maybe that kind of reading was the cause of his changing, so I decided to spy where my brother would hide the magazine. My brother was very secretive in that regard.

"That was the way I began to read The Plain Truth, until one time I confessed to my brother that I was reading his magazines. I then was able to get into that privileged group of two who would get together for for the 'ritual' of studying the truth of God."

Little by little the group of students of The Plain Truth began to grow. Saul's father joined the group. Then his brother Adan, who is now also a minister of the Church in Mexico, joined. Eventually the group was made of about 25 people, most of them relatives. The group began to keep the Sabbath.

The first meeting they had with a minister of God's Church lasted for many hours. The minister invited them to services in Guadalajara, Mexico, about 250 kilometers (150 miles) away. They had very little money to travel. "However, I made the decision to travel every Sabbath, which I did through the help of my family, several brethren and the minister."

In February of 1981 he met Mr. and Mrs. Leon Walker during Sabbath services in Guadalajara. They had just been named over the Spanish work by Pastor General Herbert Armstrong. "From then on, they have also marked my life very much. They have been my teachers, my helpers and my friends. All of these years of knowing them have been years of truth, of loyalty, of sincerity and loving guidance. It has been a real blessing to work for them all of these years."

In January of 1982 Saul went to work part time in the Mexican church office. At the same time he was studying English in order to apply to Ambassador College. He was accepted and traveled to Pasadena, California, in June of that year. Because of his previous university studies, he was able to graduate in three years.

Saul met his wife, Carmen, during the Feast of Tabernacles of 1982 in Acapulco. "From then on she has been the greatest influence of my life, after God. My wife is one of the most serving people I have ever met. She never gets tired of serving God's people and our children. She is also a wonderful blessing from God."

Saul and Carmen got married in February of 1986, right after the death of Mr. Armstrong. His death was a very sad time for them, because Mr. Armstrong had also been a very big influence in their lives for decades.

Saul began to serve the Church full time in July of 1985. He was sent as a trainee to Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua in Mexico. His first pastorate in 1986 was in Tijuana and Mexicali, Mexico. In 1990 they were sent to pastor the churches in Guatemala. Then in November 2001 they were transferred to Chile to pastor the congregations throughout the southern part of South America, known as the "Southern Cone," where they are at present.

Closing Thoughts

"I would like to add an important thought. The year 1995 was a very difficult year for the Church of God in general and for us in particular," Saul said. "Thanks to God's mercy, we were protected from leaving the truth.

"When God began the United Church of God, all of us had a great, renewed zeal for His truth and feelings of unity and loyalty toward one another. I believe we all need to learn from history. I pray to God that we do not let physical situations or even blessings from God interfere with those wonderful feelings we all had at the beginning of United.

"Let's remember that we are in God's Church due to the mercy of our Great God. Let's have that mercy, the understanding, the loyalty and the trust toward one another.

"Let's be very thankful that God is with us in these very perilous times. Let's serve God and His people with our whole hearts. May God continue to bless our efforts to serve His people around the world." UN

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