BUENA VISTA UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

During a cold autumn in 1898, two missionary wives offered warmth and hospitality to a handful of lonely immigrants from Japan by helping them find housing and employment as well as teaching them English by using Bible scripture for their lessons. Imagine how comforting those Bible stories must have sounded to the homesick newcomers who were struggling to adjust to a new land and experiencing the sting of racism and discrimination at every turn. In their own way, these two missionary wives became our earliest “community developers” and visionaries who set the tone for what we call Buena Vista United Methodist Church today.
