Trussville couple turns heart for God toward serving Hispanics

To Martin and Oralou Miranda, every day is Sunday. Every day is a day reserved for God, another chance to live out their faith.
   
“You can’t separate the days of the week,” Oralou said.
   
So each day, the Mirandas intentionally set out to do whatever God has called them to do, and over the course of their 40-year marriage, the tasks have varied. Thanks to Martin’s career with the Defense Contract Management Agency and service in the U.S. Air Force, the couple has lived in eight different states. Each move has brought new church experiences and new opportunities to serve.
   
“We’ve been in wonderful churches and have wonderful friends across the country,” Martin said. “We never lived in a place (where) we had lived before, and whatever community we were in, we’d look for what the Lord had for us to do.”
   
So when the couple moved to Trussville seven years ago and learned that the community had a sizable number of Hispanics, they immediately recognized their next calling. 
   
Martin, a native south Texan of Hispanic descent, grew up in a largely Spanish-speaking household, and Oralou, even with her German and French ancestry, also speaks Spanish. They wasted no time getting involved.
   
According to Bobby Erwin, minister of membership involvement for First Baptist Church, Trussville, in Birmingham Baptist Association, the Mirandas have been a welcome addition to the church as well as the community.
   
“They love the Hispanic people here, and they have opened not only their hearts but their home to them,” Erwin said. He noted that Martin began by working with the TEAM (Trussville Ecumenical Assistive Ministry) effort — a joint effort by several Trussville churches that provides food, clothing and other types of assistance.
   
“Both he and Oralou have worked hard to extend that outreach to the Hispanics in our area,” Erwin said. “Martin has also helped some of them find homes.”
   
After retiring three years ago, Martin obtained a real estate license and now guides Hispanics through the complex, and often confusing, process of purchasing a home. In assisting them, he leaves nothing to chance, going so far as to drive his clients to the courthouse to apply for homestead-tax exemptions or utilities offices to sign up for gas, water and electrical services.
   
“It’s a business but it’s also a ministry,” Martin said. “That’s why it’s rewarding to me.”
   
Oralou concentrates more on the Hispanic children, helping them overcome the language barriers they encounter in school. She volunteers two days a week — spending one at Paine Elementary School in Trussville and the other at Pinson Elementary School in Pinson — teaching reading and English skills, a sometimes challenging task. But, she emphasized, the blessings far exceed the effort. 
   
“One little girl had two teddy bears and gave one of them to me,” Oralou recalled. “Those were the only things she had, but she wanted to share them with me.”
   
Together, the Mirandas lead an English as a Second Language (ESL) class on Wednesday nights at First, Trussville. Their students include Mexicans, Peruvians, Costa Ricans, Salvadorans and Spaniards, and they never know who is going to show up.
   
“In every situation, every class, you just have to work with what you’ve got,” Martin said.
   
Classes like the Mirandas’ ESL class are just one of the many tools Alabama Baptists are using to reach Hispanics in their communities, according to Richard Alford, an associate in the office of associational missions and church planting for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. He noted that those interested in training for ESL classes and other Hispanic ministries can contact his office at 1-800-264-1225, Ext. 220.
   
For Martin and Oralou, the students are not the only ones learning in the ESL classes.
   
“We’ve learned that we can’t teach them without becoming involved in their lives,” Martin explained.
   
The couple has also discovered that although the needs of the Hispanic community may be many, some are easily supplied. 
   
Sometimes it’s only a matter of offering a listening ear. Other times, the need may be for a little help with groceries or a bag of used clothing. And the Mirandas are continually amazed at the resilience of their Hispanic friends and the appreciation they find in the midst of less-than-desirable living conditions.
   
“When we started entering their homes and realizing how they were living, we were shocked,” Oralou said. “But they would say they were rich here compared to where they came from.”
   
But for all their efforts on behalf of the Hispanic community, the Mirandas see nothing special in what they do.
   
“We are all called to do and we’re just doing,” Oralou said. “And when you see all the needs and that you have the ability to help meet them, how can you not?”