Buena!

We started off Wednesday with street evangelism again, this time traveling to a neighboring town of Cocorote. This is a large town with no Baptist church, although there are enough believers there to start one. One of the goals of this week is to start new churches.

As you can see from the pictures, their homes all have an outer courtyard surrounded by iron gates. We walk up to a gate, one of our Venezuelan friends call  out "Buena!" until someone comes out of the house....better than a doorbell!

Our group ended up in an old folks home....Kerry was afraid they might try to keep him!

I'm not sure if we led anyone to the Lord, but we certainly made some old people happy!

In the afternoon we had another Texas cowboy hat to deliver...this one to the Director of Sports for San Felipe. He has been instrumental in helping secure the baseball stadium for our sports clinics on Friday and Saturday. Again, we share the plan of salvation with him and gave him a Bible.

His office was located at the soccer field. It was a beautiful field, but even more astounding to us from drought-stricken West Texas as the wonderful rain heading our way!

We were able to make it back to our hotel before the rain hit, and it hit hard!  We believe we had a microburst....the wind was incredible, and I looked out our door just in time to see a tree fall! I could tell that it was over near the hotel office, and when we went to the office later, the cleaning crews were already well on the way to having it cleaned up!

During the evening, there was a 'block party' at the school where we have been having our meals, which is a couple of blocks from the church we have been working with. They had lots of music, a drum routine presented by some of the group from Stephenville, and an illusionist from Fort Worth...Shaggy...followed by a sermon.

It was still raining lightly all during the program, but we had found a wonderful spot to sit and enjoyed the much-cooler evening under the umbrella!

Being Good Neighbors

What a day!

First let me say that before we left San Angelo, we asked our mayor if he would write a proclamation of good will to present to the mayor of San Felipe....which he did quite willingly!

Secondly, before leaving San Angelo, Kerry was able to acquire cowboy hats to bring as tokens of our good will to share with dignitaries here in San Felipe.

On Tuesday we spent the day being good neighbors!

We started the day with a visit to the home of their Senator. He was getting ready to leave for Caracas for their monthly assembly. He was so gracious is welcoming us into his home. Kerry read the proclamation of good will to him, and we presented him with a cowboy hat. We also shared Christ with him, gave him a new Testament and prayed with him and his family. It was a fabulous meeting!

Around noon we went to the sports stadium where there were games going on, and the Governor was there making a public appearance. He had agreed to see us and we planned to meet him there. Again, Kerry read the proclamation, presented the Governor with a cowboy hat from Texas, as well as a new testament. I'm sure we made the evening news as he proudly wore his new cowboy hat!

We finished up the day with a visit to the office of the Mayor of San Felipe. He also was very welcoming and gracious as he received us. We presented him with the official proclamation from our own mayor and a black cowboy hat. We also shared Christ with him and a New Testament and prayed with him. He was very open to us and has invited us to possibly have lunch with him later in the week!

In between our 'good neighbor' visits, we made a visit to the Iglesia Bautista Misionera where a medical clinic has been set up this week. We played with the children, visited with the adults, and met new friends, both Venezuelan.....pastors and church members.....and American....other team members who have come to Venezuela on mission trips.

Our dear friend Ladimiro was able to be with us for a couple of days before having to return to Merida. He has been our interpreter for all of our trips to Venezuela. Also, our friend Jacobo from Caracas was here....so I took the opportunity to get a picture of the Quatro Amigos....Kerry, Ladimiro, Buck, Jacobo!

We ended the day on Tuesday on the best 'good will' venture of the day! We had been told of a young man who had been selected for the National Selection Team who will be playing in the Pan American games. He and his family are believers, but don't have much. His ball glove had been stolen, so we brought him a new glove. We were able to give it to him Tuesday night and speak to the team. Shaggy, a Christian Clown from Fort Worth, was with us and spoke to the team, sharing Christ and leading a prayer of salvation. Most of the young men prayed to receive Christ standing there on the ball field. After Kerry presented the ball glove to Luis, he emphasized the fact that what Satan meant for harm (the theft of Luis' glove), God had turned into good (the salvation of many of the team). 

It was a good day to be good neighbors!

Sharing Jesus and Making Friends

Started out the week Monday morning with street evangelism. We are working with groups from Nuevo Jerusalen Iglesia Bautista. They are trying to start new churches in various areas of the city of San Felipe, so we are going out each morning this week to witness, share Christ, and invite people to church.

All the houses have iron gates in front...often we would simply stand outside the gate and share Christ with those inside....other times we were invited in.

We worked with people from the local churches as well as Venezuelan nationals who have traveled to Yaracuy for these three weeks of evangelism emphasis. These are some of the kids in our large group....we broke up into three groups in the neighborhood.

Our meals are being prepared and served at a school near the church.

Buck and Mary Smith with several new Venezuelan friends....taken inside the school cafeteria.

We moved to a new hotel on Monday. The good news is that the room is much bigger and there is a restaurant at the hotel. The bad news is that there is no wi-fi in the rooms like the other hotel, so I have to rely on having time to go to the lobby to connect to the internet. The other good news is that this is our view......nice!