A Riverside County pastor’s birthday trip to visit family in Venezuela ended in tragedy when the hotel where he and his wife were staying collapsed during last week’s powerful earthquakes near Caracas. Now, his grief-stricken congregation in Riverside is racing to support the family with donations, medical help, and emergency travel plans.
Riverside Congregation Mourns a Beloved Pastor
According to CBS Los Angeles, the victim was Romildo Delima, the longtime leader of Worship Church Ministries in Riverside. He had traveled to Venezuela to visit family and celebrate his 69th birthday when the hotel partially gave way during the shaking. A wall struck him as the building collapsed.
The twin quakes, measured at magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5, struck last Wednesday, according to AP News.
Miguel Gonzalez-Mateo, a friend and fellow pastor, told CBS Los Angeles, “We will miss him all the time. He’s like a best friend for me.” Congregants said they have been re-listening to old voicemails and swapping photos, trying to process the sudden loss of the man many considered the heart of their church.
Family Racing to Bring Him Home
One of Delima’s sons told KABC/ABC7 that the family is now urgently trying to secure visas so they can travel to Venezuela and repatriate his body. The outlet reported that relatives have launched an online fundraiser to help cover mounting medical bills and steep travel costs tied to the international arrangements…