Natchez native dies in Peru

By Adam Koob (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Thursday, July 10, 2008

NATCHEZ — High in the Andes Mountains Gregory Gomez IV, born in Natchez, lost his life trying to better the lives of others.

Gomez, 22, was on mission trip in Peru with the International Mission Board when he died in a car accident in a very remote region of the Andes, his sister Jenifer Lewis said.

Lewis said Gomez was born in Natchez when their family was living in Port Gibson.

While Lewis said her family is hurting right now, they take comfort knowing Gomez is in a better place.

“He left this earth doing what God called him to do,” she said.

Lewis said her brother had previously gone on mission trips to Mexico and spent two of his spring breaks doing relief work after Hurricane Katrina.

While others who knew Gomez where saddened by his death, all said they knew he died doing what he loved to do.

In May, Gomez graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering and actually delayed starting his professional career to do missionary work in Peru.

Lewis said her brother turned down two jobs in order to participate in his last mission.

For the past eight years Gomez’s family has been living in Illinois, where Gomez was a member of Bethel Baptist Church. The church’s Pastor Tim Lewis said Gomez died doing what he loved.

“That was his calling,” he said.

And while Tim Lewis said missionary work was nothing new for Gomez, he said the work Gomez was doing was especially unique.

Gomez was part of a research team that gathered critical information to relay to fulltime missionaries living in the region.

Tim Lewis said that information was given to missionaries so they could better serve the region’s citizens.

“He was doing important work,” he said.

But Gomez had not just committed himself to helping those outside the states.

While in college Gomez spent four years in the Baptist Student Union.

The group’s director, Morris Baker, said Gomez was committed to encouraging fellow students to participate in the ministry.

While Baker said Gomez will be missed, he believes Gomez’s death has spurred an interest in missionary work.

“We may never understand why,” he said. “But we trust God’s in control.”

Tim Lewis said a young woman acting as a translator for the missionaries was also killed when the vehicle they were traveling in left the road and crashed into the side of a mountain.