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!



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.

Dear friends and family,


This letter just in from Ricardo in the Amazon of Venezuela. They are beginning the end of the year river trips to the jungles of Colombia and Venezuela. Two teams have already left and others will follow. Many of them will return after January 6th, 2011. They are taking Bibles and other teaching materials with them to be distributed to the pastors and leaders.

Pray for their safety as they travel. There are dangers from river travel and also danger from the bad people that roam around looking for someone to rob or something to steal.

Pray that the Holy Spirit will prepare hearts willing to listen to the Gospel message. Pray that His power will make known His will for their lives.

He needs help in buying the Bibles. Pray that the Lord will supply the funds.

In Him we have the Victory,
Buck



Hola mi hermano Rolando encargue 5 cajas de biblias 6000 bf con mi amigo de apure, me llegan hoy consegui las biblias a 25 bf trae 40 la caja.

Material de evangelismo, discipulado y para niños 3500bf. Quiero mandar algo a la gente que debo en colombia eso seria 7000bf que es la mitad de la deuda y que ellos retiren las biblias alla mismo osea en idioma indigena. Ayer hice la compra de la comida,aceite y hoy cargamos la gasolina y la permisologia, esto ya he gastado 2900 bf. Necesito que me llames a mi celular para hablar de esto, sobre todo de lo que quiero enviar a colombia de la deuda.

DIOS TE BENDIGA
Ricardo

A Report from Charles Harris - El Vigia, Merida, Venezuela

Hello

We returned from Venezuela on Monday afternoon. We were there for a week. I was assigned to work in El Vigia, near Merida. El Vigia is about the size of Kingsport. In El Vigia we had a team of six other Americans and myself. Matt Dykes and Richard Hanks were on a team in Merida. Merida is in the Andes Mountains and is a very comfortable climate.

Our team stayed in four different homes in El Vigia, where it was very hot and no air conditioning. On our team were two couples from San Angelo, TX and two female students from Texas A&M University. We had two interpreters, so most of the time we split into two teams. One of the interpreters was the local pastor's daughter and the other was an English teacher from a local university.

I stayed in the home of Pastor Cesar Leal ; he is the pastor of Christian Community, a local Baptist church. He also owned and operated a Christian radio station, that has Christian programming and music. The church has four missions, Pastor Leal is hoping the missions will grow and become Baptist churches .One mission has already become a church.

On Monday , we visited homes in a gated community. Most people were busy during the day and we had little success. In the evening we had a worship service in the yard of a resident, we had music, singing and preaching. At the end of the service 5 people came forward to be come new Christians.

On Tuesday, we rode a bus 8 miles to a mission community called To-Bar. We split into 2 groups and visited homes, we explained the plan of salvation to anyone who would talk with us. I gave the message at 5 pm in the yard of a local Christian. At the end of the day we counted 24 people who had prayed with us to become a Christian.

On Wednesday we traveled to Merida to do some shopping and see the Andes Mts. We traveled through the world's longest tunnel, built in the 1900's taking 27 years to complete.

On Wednesday night we came back to El Vigia and attended Pastor Leal's church. After church, on the request of a young man, we went to the home of his parents and talked with them about salvation and they prayed to become Christians.

On Thursday we traveled about 20 miles to another mission in the community of El Pinar. For several hours we visited homes and after returning to the mission we counted 24 people who had prayed to become a Christian. Later we ate together and attended worship service held by Pastor Leal.

On Friday we visited in the community near Pastor Leal's home. We did not have much success that day That afternoon we each gave our testimony on the Christian radio station The pastor's daughter was our interpreter. That evening a pastor from a church just outside of town came by requesting that we visit 2 families near his church. The interpreter, the college students and myself went and witnessed to the families. Three in one family and ten in another family prayed to become believers in Jesus Christ.

On Saturday about 50 people rode a bus to the city of Santa Cruz. We had a Celebration picnic. The interpreter and I talked with the bus driver and he prayed to become a Christian. We gave away 3 boxes of Bibles ( paid for by our church) to the new Christians.

Our team in El Vigia, counted 65 conversions for the week. A smaller group of Americans worked with a church on the other side of town and they reported 31 conversions.

We didn't do anything that every church member should be able to do, tell others about Jesus.

To God be the Glory
Charles Harris, Kingsport, Tennessee

Mission Completed, Yet Ongoing

As we finish up our 8 days in this beautiful state of Merida, we realize that we are not finished at all. God has done many wonderful and powerful things here through us, through the Venezuelan volunteers who have come from all over Venezuela, and through the members of the local churches here. We have seen close to 1,000 new Christians in the areas of Merida, El Vigia, and Mucachies, and the town just up the mountain from Mucachies. But many more seeds have been planted, and we leave today praying the God will send Christians to further nurture the seeds until they bloom in the hearts of His children.

Over the next few weeks there will be reports from those who have had the opportunity to spend a short time here in this little corner of the world. I will share them on this blog, and where I can, I will try to have some of them translated into Spanish for our friends in Venezuela.

We will travel today back down the mountain to El Vigia, join our friends who have been working there, then fly to Caracas. Joining us will be four young students from Texas who are finishing up two months of working in this area with Go Now Missions through the Baptist General Convention of Texas. We will stay overnight in Caracas, then fly home on Monday.

Please pray for our safe travel back home. Also please continue to pray for the people of Venezuela, especially the people of Merida, Barinas, Trujillo, and Portuguesa who have experienced this week of intense evangelism. Pray for the Venezuelan volunteers and the local church members as they disciple the new Christians and continue to share the Gospel here in this country.

A Report from Rolando (Buck) Smith in Mucachies, Venezuela

We are working with Pastor Ronald who has been here 8 years with the Iglesia Bautista el Sembrador. He has a Christian radio show where he is able to spread the Gospel. The people there have been praying for their community for 2-3 months.

We met Carlos at the internet store and DVD store where I was checking my email. He was sitting next to me and I gave him my Venezuela Vision card which has the address for this blog. He looked it up right away and began reading Diane's report from Sunday. I shared the Gospel with him and he came to our service where he accepted Christ!

We have had 48 professions of faith in three and a half days. We also have 4 Venezuelan young people who are working with us. They sing and play instruments for our services and help us in our visitation.  On Tuesday night we had a service in a restaurant!

We climbed up the mountain for a couple of hours witnessing to people along the way. At one point we saw a man plowing his field with a team of oxen, then stopped to talk on his cell phone! Such is the life in this country!

We are experiencing great things as God moves among the people here. Please continue to pray!

A Report from Tom Dufresne in El Vigia, Venezuela

We arrived on Saturday and were ushered to a meeting with Pastor Cesar Leal in his home. We met with several members of his church, one family had just arrived from Columbia. Great joy was provided by the Holy Spirit as we began our mission of understanding Spanish, since the interpreter was not yet present. De and Sherryl McCleery; Martha and myself were then taken to a hotel for a couple of days until arrangements for a home could be made. On Sunday we attended the Shalom Baptist Church and gave our testimonies. In the evening we attended the first small mission church. Tom preached that night to a full house of about 75 persons. Then on Monday we began going door to door in a gated community witnessing and inviting folks to an evening service in their compound. It was extremly hot and we rested in the late afternoon. Later that afternoon we went to Radio Luz de Vida radio station and Tom made a survey of the studio needs. The station engineer was not in town so we scheduled another trip to the mountain and transmitter for later. That evening Sherryl and Kerry preached with lots of wonderful music and prayer. About 100 residents of the community were in attendance. Five of the folks we witnessed to that morning accepted Christ. The youth of Shalom Baptist performed Christian dance program with witnessing after the service concluded and many of the community youth accepted Christ.


Tuesday we went to the farm area and went door to door to assist with planting a new church. Seven persons accepted Christ, we prayed for healing and Murf did two medical exams ages 7 days and 80 years old. A worship service was held in the late afternoon and Charles Harris (from Tennesse) preached. Many children were in attendance and the ladies from Shalom Church did a great presentation for VBS in 2 weeks. Wed. we drove to the city of Merida and saw several of our fellow workers from San Angelo. Everywhere we go we have the opportunity to give our testimonies and share tracts in Eng/Span--everyone is very receptive--thank you for your prayers!! Sherryl and De attended one of the mission churches on Wed. evening and witnessed to some prospects for the mission and ministered encouragement to the young pastor and wife. Martha preached at the Shalom Church. After the service one of the youth (16 yrs old) requested that we come to his home and share Christ with his mother. By the end of the evening his mother, father, younger sister and aunt accepted Christ--all were celebrating--especially that young man. He has been praying for this to happen.

Thank you for your continued prayers. We love you all and see you soon.

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!!

Sunday in Merida, Venezuela

What a glorious Sunday morning in Merida, Venezuela! Our group arrived safe and sound yesterday to the airport in El Vigia. The two travel days were long, not so much from traveling as from sitting and waiting for the next flight. Our three friends from Tennessee missed a flight and ended up arriving a day later than everyone else. There were many opportunities for witnessing on the planes and sitting in airports, and by the time we got to Caracas Friday night, at least 2 new souls had become believers.


On Saturday, Wes and Wayne (from New Mexico) had the early flight from Caracas to El Vigia, where someone was supposed to pick them up and take them to Mucachies. No one ever came to get them, so Wayne took the lead and began witnessing to people in his broken Spanish. Wes soon joined him and spoke to many people, leading nearly 10 to Christ. Finally, a young man who spoke English showed up and asked if they were with the Texas Baptist. He joined them and they continue to share Christ until our later flight arrived in the afternoon.

From the airport in El Vigia, our group split up. Tom and Murf are working with Pastor Cesar in El Vigia, Sherryl and De are working with another church in El Vigia (which, I think, is a mission of Pastor Cesar's church). Also, Bobby and Ross are working with a young pastor in El Vigia. The rest of us loaded up and drove a little more than an hour up the mountain to Merida where our friend Ladimiro lives. His wife, Sonia, and their church had prepared a wonderful meal for us when we arrived.....arrepas!! and cheeses and ham....tradiditional Venezuelan food. Following the meal our smaller group split up once again with G. I. and Sandy going to work in the First Baptist Church in Merida, and Kerry & I working with Ladimiro and Sonia in their church. We are also staying in their home which is a real treat for us! Buck and Mary, Wayne and Wes traveled on a little further up the mountain to Mucachies where they will work with a couple of churches there.

So from here on, I can only report what happens here in Merida. First let me explain...we are ALL in the STATE of Merida.....Kerry and I, G.I, and Sandy are in the CITY of Merida. Sort of like being in New York, New York! I may occasionally get a report from one of the other groups, and I will pass it on.

This morning we have spent a leisurely morning with Ladimiro and Sonia, sharing and talking with them about many things. They are such wonderful people and love the Lord so much and are so in tune with His will. And they have such a passion for their fellow Venezuelans. Their church meets in the afternoon around 4:00, so we will be participating in that...Kerry will be preaching.

Ladimiro has set up appointments with several people for us to meet with during the week. Ladimiro and Sonia work with professional people here in Merida, and they are very difficult to reach for Christ. Kerry will be leading a couple of seminars, also, on Keys to Success and Finances. We will also be evangelizing at the bus station and in other areas of the city during the week. I'm not exactly sure of what the Lord has for me specifically, but I am open to whatever He brings my way.

Please continue to pray for all of our teams, not just our San Angelo team, but all of the teams across this area of Venezuela made up of Texans, other North Americans, and Venezuelans!

Countdown....Two Days

Two days.....tomorrow will be a busy day for those of us who are leaving Friday for Venezuela! Packing the final things into the suitcases, finalizing sermons and testimonies, making arrangements for things/plants/pets left at home. Then hopefully an early bedtime tomorrow night in anticipation of an early morning on Friday. The group from San Angelo flies out at 6:55am. That means we have to be at the airport at 4:55am.  That means we have to get up at.....how early??? Friday will be a day of travel, from here to Dallas where we will meet up with others from around the state who are members of the larger team of Texans participating in this evangelistic effort in Venezuela. Then on to Miami and eventually to Caracas.  Three of our lay missionary friends from Tennessee will join us in Caracas where we will all spend the night in a missionary house. Saturday morning we will be able to sleep in a little and after lunch we will fly on to the city of El Vigia in the state of Merida where we will be meet a couple more from New Mexico! From there, some of our team will stay in El Vigia to minister, more of us will drive on up the mountain to the city of Merida, and from there, a couple will travel on a little further up the mountain to Muccachies.

We will have the opportunity to meet with several of our Venezuelan friends who we have met on previous trips. We will meet Ricardo in Caracas when we arrive, and Alexander will meet with us Saturday morning before we fly on to Merida. Once we get to Merida, we will see our good friend, Ladimiro, who is organizing this portion of the trip. We will be working with him and his church.

I will try to post updates while we are there, but it is all dependent on where and when I can find internet service!

Please pray for the team that we all stay healthy and are able to reach the people who need Jesus.  Pray that we will be able to help the pastors and the churches there as we visit and share Christ with their friends and family members.  Pray that God will reach down and touch the hearts of those to whom we speak.  Pray that God will bless this effort, protect this team, and allow His name to be glorified in all that we do!

Back to Venezuela ~ August 6-16

In about 10 days, there will be a group of approximately 83 Texas Baptists going to Venezuela to participate in an evangelistic effort in four different areas....Merida, Portaguesa, Barinas, and Trujillo. This trip is being sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas in partnership with the Venezuela Baptist Convention. We expect over 600 Venezuelans from across the country to join us in our efforts. Our goal will be to work with local churches in personal evangelism by day, revival services each evening, and church planting.

We hope you will begin now to pray with us for this effort. Alexander Montero, director of the Venezuela Baptist Convention, says that one of the goals of this campaign is to start 100 new churches. We also are praying for 10,000 souls to be saved.

Our San Angelo team will be going to the beautiful city of Merida up in the mountains. This is the home of our beloved friend and interpreter, Ladimiro. Our team is made up of 8 members from First Baptist-San Angelo: Buck & Mary Smith, Kerry & Diane Peacock, Tom & Murf Dufresne, Bobby Catt and Sandy Meeks; 4 members from Calvary Baptist-San Angelo: Sherrill & De McCleery, G.I. Norris, and Ross Davis; and 3 lay missionaries from Kingsport, Tennessee who have been on numerous trips to Venezuela with us: Matt Dykes, Richard Hanks, and Charles Harris.

Less than 100 North Americans will go, but thousands will be left at home praying for those who go....will you be one of those? We cannot do what needs to be done without the prayers of those back in the States. We need you!!

Really??

Really? It's been TWO years since there was a post to this blog? Although there has been an obvious lack of activity on our blog, there has been plenty of activity in Venezuela in the arena of sharing the Gospel. In 2009 there was a big crusade event in Maracaibo, and there have been numerous smaller mission trips to various cities throughout Venezuela. At a recent meeting of UBLA (United Baptists of Latin America) in Costa Rica, it was reported that the number of new believers in Venezuela is growing faster than the population! Go back and read that again! Can you believe that? When we went to Caracas in 2008, there were approximately 60 New Testament churches in the greater Caracas area. Now there are a little over 100 churches, most of which were direct products of the Caracas evangelistic effort in January of '08. And this does not even take into account the number of house church groups that have been established since that time. God is alive and well in Venezuela, and the people are sitting up and taking notice!! Praise God!!

Caracas Report from Leo Guerra (Austin, Tx)

In October of 2007 the Venezuelan Baptist National Convention entered a partnership with the BGCT. While in Amarillo for the convention, I had the opportunity to speak with two leaders from Venezuela. One of the guys was Jacobo Garcia, and he asked that if I went if I could speak to the men about our ministry and how to start a men’s ministry there in Venezuela.

I really got enthused about the trip and prayed that I would be able to join my Christian brothers from Texas. I was not sure if I was going to be able to go. I needed financial help. After some communication with brother Isaac Rodriguez I was told that there was a scholarship for people interested in going to Caracas. I spoke to Kerry Peacock, sent my money and I was ready to go.

I was in Caracas from very early Saturday the 15th. to Wednesday the 23rd. Those five days were very special to me.On Saturday I spoke to Paul, who heads the men’s ministry for the Venezuelan Baptist Convention that morning. We set a date for when I would get to speak to the men about our men’s ministries here in Texas.

On Sunday we were one of the last groups to get picked up to go to church. The pastor’s name who picked us up was Jesus Pinto of Bethel Baptist Church. They cancelled their morning service and decided to have it at 3pm. They were waiting for people to come from all over the country to be part of an evangelistic team who would be working from that church. I had a chance to meet many nice people. One person I met was a lady named Rosario who heads the Venezuelan WMU. And I also met a young man who heads the youth for his church.

I translated for Jacob Harris from Georgia who brought the sermon. I enjoyed being with him and Tommy Holtzclaw from Tennessee. Pastor Jesus showed us several churches before we went to his church. One of the churches was a Korean congregation. After Sunday I did not see my new friends anymore.

On Sunday night several of us went out to eat, and it was fun to talk about what we had done that day.

On Monday we went out to evangelize with some people from a church named Luz del Mundo. The pastor of that church was sick so his wife spoke to us of what we would be doing. They gave us New Testaments to give out and some other material. There were four people in our team.

In the morning we were only able to visit one apartment, but the lady did accept Christ. We walked back to the church and had lunch. After lunch we went to a different place, it was one of those areas that has homes on the side of the hill. We had to take a jeep to get there. We went there with a lady who lived there. We visited with three of her neighbors and two accepted Christ.

After we left that neighborhood we went back to the church, and then we took the taxi back to the hotel. Not many of the other folks had gotten back, so it was just a small group that went to have supper at a nearby restaurant. I purchased a steak and it was very large so I shared it with one of the others in our group.

On Tuesday morning a pastor picked up Miguel Conseco and myself got to go to the church where I was going to go speak to some pastors and men’s ministry leaders.

I felt very honored because I was the main speaker. As president of the Varones (Baptist Men) of the Hispanic Baptist Convention of Texas, I was unofficially representing Texas Baptist Men. I spoke about how to start a Baptist Men’s unit and also spoke about the different ministries of TBM.

On Wednesday I flew back to Austin. It was an event that I will never forget.

Too Long Without a Post

I can't believe it's been 4 months since I posted on this blog! As you can tell, it's been a busy summer. But I have had several e-mails from people who have discovered our blog and wanted more information about our work in Venezuela. AND...my apologies to Leo Guerra...as I have had his report since April. We were serving meals to the FLDS women and children back in April and ran across Leo who was down here with the Texas Baptist Men. He gave me his report then, and I never got it posted to the blog. So I am going to do that TONIGHT!

Many have asked what is next on the agenda for Venezuela Vision. While we do not have specific plans for a trip right now, there are several ideas being tossed around. Please pray for us as we seek God's guidance on our next steps. I have asked Buck to get some information together for me to put on the blog, so that will be coming in a week or so.

One of the ideas we are praying about is the distribution of one million New Testaments in Caracas and surrounding areas. We would like to get some of the Directors of Missions in the Baptist Associations involved and, in turn, get them to get some of their pastors involved.
We are also talking about another crusade or perhaps a week of revivals perhaps next April. Again, this is all up in the air...in prayer...and we are awaiting the Lord's direction.

One project that Buck is working on right now is raising money for another missionary house. I will get the details on that for another post.

For those of you who have been watching the blog for updated posts, thanks for hanging in there! I'll try to do better! Now...I've got to get Leo's Caracas report posted!

Jeff Siegel's Photos

Jacob Harris & Bill Cashion with a couple of young baseball players at one of the clinics.

Jacob Harris, Bill Cashion, Dave Altopp and several other team members went to the Tiberones playoff game

"La Luz del Mundo" Iglesia Bautista

"The Light of the World" where Jeff shared his testimony on Sunday morning.

A young man and his son who helped with the baseball clinics all week

A group of kids at a baseball clinic listening to Bill Cashion share the Gospel with his Evangi-cube

Boys praying following the testimony time

North Americans and Venezuelan baseball clinicians and interpreters

Dave Altopp & Hector Rodriguez

Jeff Siegel with Carlos, a young man who helped with the clinics

A very young baseball enthusiast and clinic attendee!