Michelle Loubon

Ju­liana Pe­na has grabbed head­lines as the "seer­woman" for Prime Min­is­ter Patrick Man­ning.

But for a small group of wor­ship­pers at the Je­sus the Light of This World Min­istries on Ceme­tery Street, Heights of Gua­napo, Ari­ma, she was once a found­ing mem­ber of their church and a mem­ber of their con­gre­ga­tion. The Light of This World Min­istries is lo­cat­ed a stone's throw from the site of the con­struc­tion of the now con­tentious church, named Light­house Min­istries of Christ. They view Pe­na as a "born again Chris­t­ian" and not a "seer­woman". Around 2007, a rift broke out and Pe­na left tak­ing some mem­bers of the con­gre­ga­tion. In 2004, Pe­na pi­o­neered wor­ship ser­vices there. Paus­ing from their mid­day ser­vice yes­ter­day, evan­ge­list Shirlain Fer­min said: "Over here is Je­sus The Light of this World Min­istries and over there is Light­house Min­istries of Christ.

"Rev­erend Pe­na took some of the mem­bers of the church and left. Their church is go­ing up over there. She adios out of town. We re­mained here." Fer­min said there were plans in the mix to build the church. "Rev­erend Pe­na had all the de­signs and plans for the build­ings. The plans were made out. The con­trac­tors knew about it since 2006. It was al­ready go­ing to be done. But it is now tak­ing place," added Fer­min. She al­so said she had re­cent­ly re­turned from Boston, USA. Quizzed on whether she knew PM Man­ning or he was known to Pe­na, Fer­min ad­mit­ted she nev­er re­al­ly in­ter­act­ed with him like Pe­na. How­ev­er, she said: "The Lord has him with us. Not in the ser­vices but in the spir­i­tu­al realm.

"I was in the same build­ing with him but I didn't in­ter­act with him. He has been with us at ser­vices in Ch­agua­nas and Cal­vary Re­vival Cen­tre," added Fer­min. Ques­tioned about whether they had seen PM Man­ning on the site, Fer­min said: "Long ago he vis­it­ed. Since it has been in the news he has not vis­it­ed." Fer­min said Pe­na was mixed, African and East In­di­an de­scent, with curly hair, about five feet, four inch­es tall and of a thick-slim built. Be­fore the rift, she said, Pe­na laid the cor­ner­stone for the church. Back then, they knew she rent­ed in Ari­ma but they were not sure where she now lived.

A sense of pride reg­is­tered when she de­scribed Fer­min as a "trav­el­ling in­ter­na­tion­al mis­sion­ary". She said: "She is now like a trav­el­ling in­ter­na­tion­al mis­sion­ary. Wher­ev­er the Lord leads, she goes there. "She has been to Africa, Phillip­ines, meet­ing with pres­i­dents and do­ing the Lord's work. She goes to dif­fer­ent places. She has no home." Fer­min said the Lord was now rais­ing up a new work. Their church ser­vices are on the sec­ond floor of the build­ing, she said.