The Time Is Upon Us!

How can you work and plan for something for over a year and come down to the final two weeks and still have everything in such chaos? We leave for Caracas in 12 days; the crusade is to start in 18 days. Do we have everything in order? NO! Three weeks ago we were ecstatic because we finally got permission to use the stadium for the crusade. Now, we have just found out that the baseball season in Venezuela has been extended one week because no games were played the weekend of the ‘referendum’ vote. That means they will be playing play-off games IN the stadium during the nights scheduled for the crusade! Buck has already gone down to Caracas, and he and Jacobo will seek this week for a new location. Publicity is at a stand-still until a new location can be found. We still need a sound system…not as big as we once thought, obviously. That, too, is put on hold until a new location is found so we know what size system is needed.

This is definitely teaching us that no matter how much we think we have things under control, God is really the only one who has control. As we’ve said all along, God knows all the answers to the how and where of this crusade. And He is certainly stretching our faith as we travel on this journey!

Please be in fervent prayer these next two weeks that God will direct and guide us in these final days of preparation. Then be in prayer the following week as we minister and evangelize in the city of Caracas. Here again is the schedule:

January 18 – the first group (20-25 of us) will arrive in Caracas
January 20-23 – revivals in the local churches with many of us preaching and singing
January 21-26 – ministering and evangelizing one-on-one with the people of Caracas
January 23 – the second group (10-15 more) will arrive in Caracas
January 24-27 – the city-wide crusade held each evening
January 25-Feb 3 – follow-up of new believers and start-up of new house churches

We are supposed to have internet access in our hotel suites, so I will try to write a daily update each evening on this blogspot.

One big answer to prayer…the New Testaments arrived safe and sound in Caracas about 3 weeks ago! Forty thousand of them!!!!

I have been busy finalizing team members’ information, making name tags, printing a letter to mail out tomorrow, etc., etc. At this point, we have 39 people going from the US with the possibility of another 3 or 4 signing up before we leave. We also have 1 person, possibly 6 more, from Africa! Apparently God didn't need as many folks to do this as we thought He might! Also, there will over 200 across Venezuela who will travel to Caracas to help.

We will spend the next week and a half preparing and packing to take not only ourselves and our personal belongings, but all of our “office” setup that we will need there. Again, praying and lifting us up before God is the best thing you can do for us.

Hopefully I will have time to post at least one more blog before we leave.

Diane Peacock