This morning our entire group was off to Guarabao, which is a rural farming community about 15 minutes outside of San Felipe. The area is rich with Yuca plants (not like the ones in NM at all), with corn, avocado, and some sugar cane. Most of the farms are worked by entire families spanning several generations.
We met Pastor Eddomar Sanchez and many of his congregation this morning. Eddomar is a very gifted evangelist possessing a gentle approach, with a conversational and discipleship oriented style, rather than "preaching" the Gospel message at the people God leads us to. I enjoyed working with Eddomar and two young men from his church. I believe the one young man was being discipled by Eddomar personally as they often talked about what went well and what needed to be adjusted from one visit to the next.
Our first visit was challenging as the young girl (age 15) didn't want to invite us in - as almost all people do, because she was home alone. So we shared in the front yard, separated by a high gate. She seemed to be contemplating what was shared with her and was receptive. When people receive Christ here the local congregation gathers contact information so as to be sure and follow up with the new believers in the very near future. The goal is to get them to church and into a discipleship training course asap.
After we left our second stop (I was with Christopher Blewett and Dallas Means today) we saw a young girl inside a farm yard, with a high cinder block wall around it. We asked if we could go talk to her and our translator (Christopher is our second translator - Felix Jr. is our bilingual Venezuelan buddy) said yes. He warned us that this family is involved in witchcraft and idol worship. The girl walked the 100 or so feet to meet us near the entrance to the farm yard. Felix told her we were there to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with her and asked for a few moments of her time. [We have limited ourselves to 5-7 minutes of sharing (in general) so as to not get bogged down in conversations that aren't going anywhere.] She agreed and we asked her questions about her beliefs (in this case her unbelief) and understanding of God. She told us she didn't believe. We asked her if she believed in Heaven and she said yes. "What about Hell?" and she replied "No." When we asked her why not, she said that she didn't know but that she believed everyone went to Heaven. We were able to continue talking with her as the conversation was not at all adversarial. We asked her how she could believe in Heaven but not God. She shrugged her shoulders. We pressed on and ultimately this young lady conceded that there must be a Hell and a God - this amazing turn of events came as Felix steered the dialogue in Spanish, so I only got 50% of the conversation...but in the end, both she and a brother or friend prayed to receive Christ. I am assured that serious witches and idol worshippers will not pray to receive Christ. They'll tell you to get lost much like you and I would refuse one of them who was trying to "convert" us. So I was encouraged that this was the beginning of their walk with Jesus.
After lunch and a nice thunderstorm and heavy downpour, we headed back to San Felipe for an hour of shopping downtown. I drove Jerry's car as we were short a driver in the afternoon - which was an adventure given that nobody stops for anything here...and yielding is kind of like saying "Look out...here I come!" We made it safely though and I can now say I've driven on three Continents:)
I think everyone in the whole state of Yaracuy was out in the city center today! There must have been 10,000 people in the streets...it was crazy!! Some in our group purchased souvenirs - I think Gabe bought some shoes though I haven't seen them. Christopher bought a Cuatro (a Venezuelan Ukelele) for a very good price. I know he's pumped about it. I saw other bags but was too distracted to ask what everyone purchased. Then it was off to Jerry's mom's home for dinner. This woman is wonderful to all of us. She kisses and hugs us all, dotes on us like we are her children and grandchildren, and can't stand the idea that we might have any available space left in our stomachs. Needless to say, the food (Arepas), as usual, was wonderful:)
Our last event for the day was to attend the opening ceremonies for 4th Annual Olympic-like Games, between Nicaragua, Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, and Venezuela. The 2012 Summer Olympics are next summer and the teams are competing in preparation for those games. The sports facilities here are very nice and the outdoor Olympic pool was the site for the ceremony. The National Guard, more police officers than I could count, the San Felipe Fire Department (Bomberos - sounds like an air assault team to me), sports officials from all five countries, the Minister of Sport for Venezuela, the Governor of the State of Yaracuy, hundreds of athletes, and several thousand people were all there. Jerry has many connections with government officials as his uncle is a Senator in the Congress, and so we were introduced to the Governor, who was very gracious and thankful that we were attending the games and passing out Salvation bracelets and bottled water to the athletes and dignitaries. Many in the Cuban delegation of athletes read the description of the 6 beads and tied the bracelets on their wrists. That was encouraging! Jerry and I were even interviewed by a TV news crew. I sure hope it doesn't show up on the O'Reailly Factor! I told Jerry that I was going to get him for this - AND I WILL:)
After the ceremonies ended we packed up in our respective vehicles and headed for home. Mark and I shared an avocado tonight (I can't believe I have missed out on this divine vegetable, fruit, WHATEVER IT IS...for all of my life.) I will be trying to find healthy sized avocados when we get back to NM...not the $3 for one the size of a kiwi variety I see at Wal-Mart! Any leads on decent sized ones would be appreciated.
That's it for today everyone. I am headed for bed as the morning will come quickly.
Christ's love,
-kirk
PS/ We will continue to make our phones and computers available for students to call or contact home.
We met Pastor Eddomar Sanchez and many of his congregation this morning. Eddomar is a very gifted evangelist possessing a gentle approach, with a conversational and discipleship oriented style, rather than "preaching" the Gospel message at the people God leads us to. I enjoyed working with Eddomar and two young men from his church. I believe the one young man was being discipled by Eddomar personally as they often talked about what went well and what needed to be adjusted from one visit to the next.
Our first visit was challenging as the young girl (age 15) didn't want to invite us in - as almost all people do, because she was home alone. So we shared in the front yard, separated by a high gate. She seemed to be contemplating what was shared with her and was receptive. When people receive Christ here the local congregation gathers contact information so as to be sure and follow up with the new believers in the very near future. The goal is to get them to church and into a discipleship training course asap.
After we left our second stop (I was with Christopher Blewett and Dallas Means today) we saw a young girl inside a farm yard, with a high cinder block wall around it. We asked if we could go talk to her and our translator (Christopher is our second translator - Felix Jr. is our bilingual Venezuelan buddy) said yes. He warned us that this family is involved in witchcraft and idol worship. The girl walked the 100 or so feet to meet us near the entrance to the farm yard. Felix told her we were there to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with her and asked for a few moments of her time. [We have limited ourselves to 5-7 minutes of sharing (in general) so as to not get bogged down in conversations that aren't going anywhere.] She agreed and we asked her questions about her beliefs (in this case her unbelief) and understanding of God. She told us she didn't believe. We asked her if she believed in Heaven and she said yes. "What about Hell?" and she replied "No." When we asked her why not, she said that she didn't know but that she believed everyone went to Heaven. We were able to continue talking with her as the conversation was not at all adversarial. We asked her how she could believe in Heaven but not God. She shrugged her shoulders. We pressed on and ultimately this young lady conceded that there must be a Hell and a God - this amazing turn of events came as Felix steered the dialogue in Spanish, so I only got 50% of the conversation...but in the end, both she and a brother or friend prayed to receive Christ. I am assured that serious witches and idol worshippers will not pray to receive Christ. They'll tell you to get lost much like you and I would refuse one of them who was trying to "convert" us. So I was encouraged that this was the beginning of their walk with Jesus.
After lunch and a nice thunderstorm and heavy downpour, we headed back to San Felipe for an hour of shopping downtown. I drove Jerry's car as we were short a driver in the afternoon - which was an adventure given that nobody stops for anything here...and yielding is kind of like saying "Look out...here I come!" We made it safely though and I can now say I've driven on three Continents:)
I think everyone in the whole state of Yaracuy was out in the city center today! There must have been 10,000 people in the streets...it was crazy!! Some in our group purchased souvenirs - I think Gabe bought some shoes though I haven't seen them. Christopher bought a Cuatro (a Venezuelan Ukelele) for a very good price. I know he's pumped about it. I saw other bags but was too distracted to ask what everyone purchased. Then it was off to Jerry's mom's home for dinner. This woman is wonderful to all of us. She kisses and hugs us all, dotes on us like we are her children and grandchildren, and can't stand the idea that we might have any available space left in our stomachs. Needless to say, the food (Arepas), as usual, was wonderful:)
Our last event for the day was to attend the opening ceremonies for 4th Annual Olympic-like Games, between Nicaragua, Bolivia, Chile, Cuba, and Venezuela. The 2012 Summer Olympics are next summer and the teams are competing in preparation for those games. The sports facilities here are very nice and the outdoor Olympic pool was the site for the ceremony. The National Guard, more police officers than I could count, the San Felipe Fire Department (Bomberos - sounds like an air assault team to me), sports officials from all five countries, the Minister of Sport for Venezuela, the Governor of the State of Yaracuy, hundreds of athletes, and several thousand people were all there. Jerry has many connections with government officials as his uncle is a Senator in the Congress, and so we were introduced to the Governor, who was very gracious and thankful that we were attending the games and passing out Salvation bracelets and bottled water to the athletes and dignitaries. Many in the Cuban delegation of athletes read the description of the 6 beads and tied the bracelets on their wrists. That was encouraging! Jerry and I were even interviewed by a TV news crew. I sure hope it doesn't show up on the O'Reailly Factor! I told Jerry that I was going to get him for this - AND I WILL:)
After the ceremonies ended we packed up in our respective vehicles and headed for home. Mark and I shared an avocado tonight (I can't believe I have missed out on this divine vegetable, fruit, WHATEVER IT IS...for all of my life.) I will be trying to find healthy sized avocados when we get back to NM...not the $3 for one the size of a kiwi variety I see at Wal-Mart! Any leads on decent sized ones would be appreciated.
That's it for today everyone. I am headed for bed as the morning will come quickly.
Christ's love,
-kirk
PS/ We will continue to make our phones and computers available for students to call or contact home.
RSS Feed