Toma de Yaracuy

Like many of you, we began our Sunday worshiping our Lord in the local church. We were guests in the Nuevo Jerusalem Iglesia Bautista here in San Felipe. The church service began with about an hour of music, followed by introductions and recognitions of volunteer workers who have come for this week of intense evangelism. BGCT is not the only partner in this endeavor. Venezuela also has a partnership with Mexico, so there are volunteers from Mexico and also from Panama, in addition to the U.S.

Kerry preached in the morning worship, speaking about 'preparing to meet God'. Keila Acosta, wife of Jerry Acosta who has been the 'man in charge' of Toma de Yaracuy, interpreted for Kerry. Our friend and translator, Ladimiro Urdaneta, will be here sometime tomorrow and will interpret for Kerry once he gets here.  It was a very effective message, and there were about 7 professions of faith and around 20 recommitments.

 This afternoon/evening was the kickoff rally for Toma de Yaracuy (Take Yaracuy). The rally was held in a local theater, and it was packed out! There were 1300 inside and another 200-300 who had to stay outside because there was no room.

The rally started with a lot of fabulous Christian music. 

Then several presentations were made to some of the prominent pastors and convention workers.

Buck was recognized as having started the first Baptist church in Yaracuy in San Felipe some 35 years ago. We have met many people who have told us that Buck was the one who led them to the Lord or was the one who baptized them. He is truly a part of Venezuelan Baptist history! 

Following the presentations, there was more music followed by an inspiring message from Wilfredo Velasquez, pastor from Maracaibo whom we met this morning at our hotel. His church in Maracaibo has missionaries all over the world! He has asked us about helping to provide Bibles to the people of Venezuela. For whatever reason, it is hard for people here to get Bibles. We assured him we would do whatever we could to help. Wrapping up the rally we sang again....Because He Lives and a song about "taking Christ to our town".

As we left the rally, we continued to meet people who had known Buck in the past. Then we saw people we knew! Santiago and his sister, Sonoma, and her husband who are all from Puerto Ayacucho. Their dad is a pastor there whom we met on our first trip to Venezuela 6 years ago!

After returning to the hotel, we sat and visited with some folks from New Jerusalem who had brought supper to us.....cachapa....basically a cornbread pancake with their wonderful cheese and butter inside. Pretty tasty!

San Felipe!

After 41 hours of travel, including layovers in two airports, we arrived in Caracas around 6AM this morning. The upside of taking that overnight flight out of Houston means almost NO LINES at customs! We were able to get through customs and received all our luggage with very little delay.

After arriving, we boarded buses for San Felipe. We had two busloads, between 70 and 80 people from all over the United States....mostly Texas and at least one couple from Mexico.

We rode for about an hour and a half before stopping for a breakfast of arepas! Ah yes...forgot how much I love arepas!

On the road again for another 4 hours or so before arriving in San Felipe. Everyone got some much needed sleep on the bus after the overnight flight.

Of all the mission trips I've been on, this is one of the most organized....at least so far. We arrived at the church where they had computers set up to help with team/church assignments. There were close to 100 volunteers to take care of. They had currency exchange all ready for us, followed by lunch, then team assignments began. Kerry & I will be working with Jerry Acosta and his wife at their church here and will be working with all of the churches throughout the week.

Finally we made it to our hotel and were able to freshen up and take a little nap. We do have internet here, but we are going to only be at this hotel a couple of nights. So we will do what we can do while we can do it! The weather today has been warm....possibly mid 80's....but it has been humid. This evening a wonderful cloud has come down over the edge of the mountain and it has cooled down very nicely. We are sitting outside at the hotel waiting for our guy to come and share details for tomorrow and the week ahead.

And there he is now...driving in!

According to Keila Acosta, there are about 120-135 North Americans here...47 came in yesterday and the rest of us came today. She has just told me that everyone is settled in wherever they are staying...some in homes and others in hotels. PLUS, there are many Venezuelan nationals who are coming to help during the week. It has been a tremendous task.

Tomorrow will be the kickoff for the Toma de Yaracuy 2011 campaign.

Please pray for a productive, confusion-free day!

Venezuela, Here We Come!

In less than 24 hours we will be off on our 2011 Venezuela Mission Trip! We are going to Yaracuy this year, to the city of San Felipe. We have never been to this area before and are excited to see another part of the country. There are seven in our team from San Angelo.....Kerry & Diane, Buck & Mary, Sherryl & De, and Jim. Several others are joining us from Texas, Tennessee, and South Carolina.

We will be flying in to Caracas early Saturday morning, then taking a bus ride to San Felipe. We will work with the churches there in an evangelistic effort including witnessing during the day and worship services at night. On Friday and Saturday we will host sports clinics. We are taking quite a bit of baseball and soccer equipment with us.

Depending on whether or not we have internet capabilities while there, I will try to post updates throughout the week on this blog.

Please pray for our team, for it's travel safety and personal safety and health while there. Pray for the people with whom we will share Christ. Pray for the pastors and churches with whom we will work.