God is Working in Venezuela

The thing about third world countries is that nothing is ever assured. Such as internet service. You may have it and you may not have it. The same is true with so many things. But the one thing about our Lord is that He is ALWAYS sure, and we are ALWAYS assured of His love and care, His providence, and His ultimate will in how things will be.

We are seeing God move in these past few days...souls have been won to God's kingdom. Seeds have been planted. Christians have been sharing their faith. But we have also seen Satan trying his best to distract us. He is not happy with the fact that God is being glorified!

Much of yesterday morning seemeed to be wasted as we chased around trying to find a place where we could receive and send faxes that Kerry had to sign for his business...his work must go on even though he is here. We became frustrated at what seemed to be "chasing our own tails". What should have taken 15-20 minutes took all morning. 

But in the midst of all that 'chasing around', we met with four men here at Ladimiro's home and led them in the prayer of salvation! Ladimiro had met with three of them last week and laid the groundwork for us to share the Gospel with them. They are all workers here in the community where Ladimiro lives, and they will possibly come again later in the week for some followup. So in the midst of our seemingly wasted time, we have four new brothers in Christ!

We had lunch with Pastor Daniel and his wife, Angelica and were able to have a nice visit with him about his vision for the church. He is a young pastor and we encouraged him in his work. He shared with us that a group from the church had spent the morning at the University de los Andes and had led 10 people to Christ. Later in the afternoon they would be witnessing at the bus terminal, and we heard they had 9 people there pray to receive Christ.

Yesterday afternoon was spent with Kerry and Ladimiro discussing other plans having to do with the foundation work that Kerry is starting with the Venezuela Baptist Convention. We feel that part of our responsibility while here on this trip is getting some of the details of this worked out.

The church with which we are working....the Mision Ultima Frontera...did not have anything scheduled last night, so we hopped in Ladimiro's car, went by and picked up Sonia from her office, and drove to El Vigia where the Dufesnes and the McCleerys are working with Pastor Cesar in the Shalom Baptist Church. They had planned an outdoor service in the neighborhood of one of their church members. When we arrived, we found out that one of the teenage girls in that church had tried to commit suicide that day. So there was much turmoil and sadness among the members. Murf and Pastor Cesar's daughter led the music, singing in English and then in Spanish. Then Sherryl preached on prayer, followed by more music from one of the young men (possibly Cesar's son) on the electric guitar accompanied by a friend on the drums. After that, Kerry preached a little, drawing everything to a close and offering an invitation. Four ladies came forward to accept Christ! Gloria a Dios! as they would say here! It was an awesome ending to a stressful day.

Ah, but the day was not over. As we arrived back in Merida, we dropped Sonia off to pick up her car, and she followed us on to the house. Ladimiro and Kerry and I were having a great time singing hymns along the way, and while we were stopped at a red light, we heard a crash behind us, then felt Sonia's car hit ours. We found ourselves in a four-car pileup. Miraculously no one was hurt, although Sonia was pretty sore this morning.  A man (who was drunk) was driving a jeep-type vehicle and slammed into a taxicab which then hit Sonia's car which then hit Ladimiro's car. The taxi was badly damaged in the front and the rear, and I am amazed the young men in the taxi were not hurt. Sonia's car has some damage to the rear. But they feel blessed not only in the fact that Sonia is okay, but that it was Sonia's car and not Ladimiro's because they are to leave next Monday to go to Valencia for a week of medical mission work there and are to take Ladimiro's car! So even though Satan tries to dampen our spirits, God still prevails! Hallelujah!

So the day was mixed with frustation and celebration.....a celebration that outweighed the frustration MUCHO!

This morning, again we had papers to sign and fax, and we determined the time would not be wasted and were able to witness to two young people, Kelli and Jorgy, who worked in the fotocopy-fax-computer places. We shared the Four Spiritual Laws with them, and they each prayed to receive Christ!  We then invited them to the church services we will have on Thursday and Friday nights.

This evening Kerry will lead a conference on finances at the church. He has spent the afternoon preparing for that while Ladimiro took care of some details pertaining to last night's car incident. I have spent the afternoon trying to update everyone and praying for the remainder of the week for not only our team but for all the teams here in this part of Venezuela. I believe prayer is the key to all of this. And I would ask you once again to pray for the work going on here. We cannot fight Satan on our own, but through prayer we can bind him. And God will always prevail!!

Another small victory....the church where we are working is on the 4th floor of an office building....their elevator has been broken. Today we got word that it is working once again! Gloria a Dios! Not only was it difficult on my knees, but the altitude here is like Denver....about a mile high....and the air is thin! My knees seem to be holding up pretty well. They hurt quite a bit yesterday, but are better today!

Thank you all for your prayers!!! We need them greatly!!