Today was a typical Sunday, kind of low key. We had breakfast and devotions this morning before going to the hotel owner's (Marina's) house for lunch. She graciously opened her house to feed us all. It was a nice visit. Afterward, we went to watch Juvenal's softball game. Lucy is preaching again tonight, so we left a bit early to give her time to prepare. Everyone is doing well!

OK - I promissed some pictures, so here goes....

Josue Perez leading worship.

Aldi, from Punto Cardon leading with music.

He is also part of their dance team - I suspect we'll see him in seminary some day.

Rhonda teaching several kids English.


Tom doing tricks and leading VBS with Lucy interpreting.

Familiar faces - Juliana and Iliami.

I'll try to get some pictures up soon, but suffice to say - it's HOT. We've had a good couple of days here, but a bit more "ish" than usual. If you've been here before, you know what I mean.

Since our training in April, the women have begun their own service - Friday evenings, not sure of the exact schedule beyond that. Juvenal's sister, Pastora Zoraida from Punto Cardon, preached last evening. It was very powerful and very emotional. While I didn't understand the words, the intent came through.

We have done sports camp each day and VBS. The numjber of children participatinghas grown each day for the sports camp. Today, we had at least 50 kids. Soccer, kickball and various other games were played. The kids are having fun and hopefully learning a little sportsmanship as well.

We're off to Saturday evening worship soon. Lucy is preaching and there are planned about 16 baptisms. We filled the baptismal today - yes, the one Travis built! Awesome to see it in use again.

We'll be back soon.....

You have come to the right place. We have been busy and unable toupdate the blog, but will do so soon. As for now, we arrived safely and have been busy with the children. It is good to see old friends. More later!

Sunday

Today were able to sleep a little later and gathered for breakfast for more cafe con leche! Well, Pastor Jim and Barco drink their coffee black.....but that is about the only thing that has been boring about them so far! After breakfast...we gathered as a team so Donna could do our devotion and we could go through a de-briefing of the training. Great devotion based on Phillipians 1:6-9. Samuel and Luci ,being from this culture, gave some great input on the training based on the reception of the people. Yoe slept very late today and joined us during this time. We then headed to the Sambil mall ......just opened last December.....to meet Nohely (Pastor Juvenal's wife) and son Johnatan. Lunch at the food court and then we split up in two groups. Luci, Rhonda, Nohely, and Johnatan rode the choo choo train around the mall! Meeting back at the food court for coffee and sweets and then back to hotel.

The service at the church tonite was well attended and started again with great music! Then, Pastor Jim gave a sermon based on our journey of faith. It was very powerful and we could tell by the expressions and tears of the people in the congregation that the message was reaching them in a way that only God could provide. The people readily clapped and proclaimed "Amen" many times during the message. Again, Luci was the best translator! Although sometimes Pastor Jim will use an expression that causes Luci to look at him funny! Pastor Juvenal again invited anyone to come forward with their profession of faith and one man did this evening. Again, very powerful message from Juvenal.

After the service, we headed to a chinese restaurant with Pastor Juvenal's family. Gifts were presented to the family at dinner also. We have eaten so much food here we will be rolling off the plane!

By the way......Pastor Jim is gathering a lot of material here to use in future sermons....just ask him. His humor has kept us rather amused.............

Saturday

We started out bright and early with breakfast and and then headed to the church where we were going to conduct the training sessions. The morning started with a devotion period for about 45 minutes complete with music and Pastor Jim giving an overview of what it means to be Methodist. After this we started the training of the three levels of biblical leadership: Spiritual, Transformational, and Servant leadership with the men and women all together. This lasted until around noon and then we broke for two hours to enjoy and wonderful lunch prepared by one of the ladies in the congregation. After lunch, we broke into a division of the men and women. Barco conducted the training with the men based on the role of men and family values with the translation done by Yoe. For the women, Rhonda and Donna taught the book of Ruth with the story of Naomi and Ruth. Luci translated for them and also led the small group of the younger women when we did a break-out. Also, explained the concept of prayer partners and mentoring to others. We encouraged the women to establish a continuing group relationship by gathering together on a regular basis. The training was attended by around 72 people and was very successful. The people have never experienced this kind of information and we could tell they were so appreciative.

At the end of the day, Pastor Juvenal had the people gather around hisnephew,Humbert, for a healing service of annointment. This is the child that has cancer in his leg. It was a very powerful and emotional experience as you could feel the Holy Spirit in the room as Pastor Juvenal spoke.

We returned to the hotel, exhausted, to rest before the evening service which started around 7:30. Pastor Jim preached about the hope of the resurection and the empty tomb. Pastor Juvenal also gave a short message and then gave an invitation for anyone to profess their faith. Three people came forward and it was a very moving experience.

We found a pizza restaurant still open for dinner and also three pastor from Maracaibo joined us. They are from churches there who are interested in becoming Methodist.

All in all, it was a extremely successful day and we look forward to continuinjg the momentum of what has been started.

We Have Arrived!

After a long day of travelling on Thursday, we arrived safely at the Las Piedras airport around 5:45. Unfortunately, our four hour stop in Aruba was spent at the airport as there was not enough time to go into the city for lunch. Customs/Immigration went very smooth in Aruba and Las Piedras. Anticipating the normal welcome entourage, we exited Customs only to find noone was there to pick us up! No Samuel, no Juvenal.....and we are now the only people left in an airport where noone speaks English. Barco was finally able to get Samuel on the phone and, for whatever reason, everyone thought we were arriving on Friday morning. Jim had already planned how we could sleep on the chairs in the lobby......and then Samuel arrived to whisk us to the hotel. Pastor Lucy Morales had already arrived as she spent time with her family in Barquisimeto for a few days prior. After checking in at Santillana Suites, exhausted, we went to the restaurant for a late dinner. Pastor Juvenal and Yoe joined us shortly. Juvenal shared with us that he had just learned his 21 yr old nephew, Humbert, has a cancerous tumor in his leg. This is the son of Juvenal's sister, Zoraida, who is the pastor of the church in Punta Cardon. After stuffing ourselves at dinner, we all went to bed early at 9:30 (10:00 Georgia time)!

Friday morning we had a great breakfast and then travelled to the church where we will conduct the training on Saturday. Juvenal's sister in law, Edga, joined us to help transport in her car. Barco, Jim, and Juvenal set up the projector and planned space for in the morning. Lucy and Donna planned the space for the ladies to meet while Rhonda found a baby to carry around and entertain. Not sure if the baby understood, but she sang Jesus Loves Me to her to keep her from crying!

After a brief stop at Juvenal's church, we travelled to Punta Cardon to see his sister. His sister the pastor, Zoraida, owns a beauty shop which is also where she conducts her church services. We were happy to find out that she is now preaching to around 100 people every Sunday!! While there, Samuel decided to get a haircut. After spending some time talking with everyone, we prayed and layed hands on Umber to pray for his healing of the cancer. What a great spirit he had because he told us that it didn't matter what the doctors said because God is in control and he was going to serve Christ no matter what happens to his leg. What a great display of faith in a young person! We then left to have a lunch of chicken and arepas at Tropi Pollo.

After resting back at the hotel and spending some more time preparing for Saturday, we headed to the church for the welcome service. Everyone was very excited to see us and it was great for us to see many familiar faces as well as quite a few new ones. Pastor Juvenal introduced us and we enjoyed the praise band and entertainment from DRACMA, the youth performing group. Pastor Juvenal preached about extending the kingdom of God, whether from far away (referring to us) or in the community of Punto Fijo. After the service, we went to get a quick bite to eat and all had Guanabana drink at Samuel's referral...it was good!