ONCAMPUS
CALLED FROM MEXICO by D I E G O R O M Á N
M
H O M E T O W N : Mexico City, Mexico P R O G R A M : 2nd year M.Div.
arcos Mercado, an elder at my home church, Iglesia Berith, back in Mexico City, had just come back from the US. He had spent a few months with his daughter in California and used this time to take the Greek IIII courses at Westminster Seminary California. He was quite impressed with the high academic standards, the knowledge and Christian character of the professors, and spoke wonders of the library. He ended his panegyric with an invitation: “I want to help other people go there. If you are interested, I’ll help you with the process.” He also wanted to teach what he had learned, so he began translating Dr. Baugh’s Greek Primer. At that time the offer seemed to me more like a dream. Just living expenses alone went far beyond what I could pay; my wife, Esther, was finishing her Ph.D.; and I had a stable job teaching music, conducting, and playing the piano at Iglesia Berith. I would sometimes meet Marcos in the aisle of Iglesia Berith and he would insist, “They have scholarships…. You might find churches that can help you.” At the time I also served as professor and academic dean at Seminario Teológico Reformado de México (STRM), a Bible institute in Mexico City. Marcos soon started teaching Greek there. I had never taken Greek, so I signed up for the course. Marcos was teaching with Dr. Baugh’s Greek Primer (although in a year-long course, it was a much more relaxed pace) and translating a lesson per week. But Esther had a difficult pregnancy, and we had to go to the hospital for check-ups every two days. Thank God, our first son, Bernabé, was born healthy, but I had to quit the Greek course after a couple of months. My interest in Reformed theology and the intersection
“I answered: 'Why are you trying to stop me? If God wants me there, He will provide.'” 8
UPDATE | SPRING2021
