Asociacion Urantia de Barranquilla Licensing 2002

—Barranquilla, Colombia
November 10, 2002

The third Local International Urantia Association in Colombia, South America, was licensed on Sunday, November 10, 2002.

Barranquilla is a seacoast city of 1.2 million, surrounded by mountains, located near the Northwest tip of Colombia, on the Caribbean Sea. The climate is very warm with year-round temperatures of 86-90 degrees Fahrenheit, very humid, with very little rainfall. The people are primarily of Spanish and Colombian Native descent.

The Urantia Book has found a home in the hearts of many of the beautiful people of Barranquilla. The Book came to Barranquilla shortly after its publication in 1993 and some of the IUA members have been studying the teachings since that time. The Barranquilla group is composed primarily of young people, many of whom are university students, assuring a new generation of Urantians.

A special tribute goes to Franklin Marrugo Vargas, the president. Since discovering The Urantia Book and saturating himself in its study for 8 months, his desire has been to form a group of Urantia Book believers. While continuing his study of the Book he has endured many trials and disappointments in the pursuit of gathering readers. A big challenge was to establish a meeting place for the 23 people who were attracted to the Book. The group reduced to only 5 readers who were mostly students, with no jobs or incomes and were unable to help with the rental bill for the garage they were meeting in.

He continued meetings in his home and with faith and determination the group now consists of 15 who have read the entire book and are ready to become an official association. An added blessing came in the form of an offer from a friend of one of the members to allow the group to have meetings free-of-charge at the beautiful new planetarium in the heart of the city, where the formal initiation of the association was held. It was a happy day.

This dedicated, enthusiastic group is led by:
President - Franklin Marrugo Vargas - oamg74@uolpremium.net.co
Vice President - Fabian Herrera - nebadonlord@yahoo.com
Secretary - Oscar Andares Morales - oamg74@uolpremium.net.co
Treasurer - Lucely De la Espriella (no e-mail)

Fabian will receive his Medical Degree in a few months, Oscar is a degreed engineer who is now concentrating on computer technology and is soon to be the Latina Webmaster. Lucely is a homemaker who has been a mainstay for the group, introducing many to The Urantia Book.

—Cathy Jones
IUA Administrator