Venezuela Continued

Well since I wrote the last letter to my parents that I copied into my blog much has happened. Though there are often still times we find ourselves waiting in the basement we have also had many chances to get out and to do ministry and it has been awesome.
Right after my last blog we left and finally had a chance to walk around town. Who knew all that was there! We are just on the outskirts of the town and so we couldn´t really tell where we were. We are surrounded on two sides with the ocean and the town behind us on the third side and mountains on the fourth. It is such a beautiful area. I have really grown to love this place in the week we have been here. When we walked back through the town that day, the the town square they were having a festival for Christmas with violinist and children singing. It was so neat to see.
The youth group here is just amazing! Most are either alumni YWAMers or will be soon. They have been so welcoming and just so much fun to be with. It will be hard to say bye. A few times they have joined us in ministry as well and has allowed us to connect with them even more. Our translators Ceasar and Jesus have become so a part of the group. They have been such a blessing to us and God has been doing so much in their lives.

Ministry Opportunities
Visiting the school - we had the opportunity to visit the school again for a second time. It was special as this is their last week so the day we went they were displaying their final projects in each classroom. We really got to see what they are doing and what their focus has been. The teachers have really emphasized taking care of the land and respecting it. They even have a community garden that many of the children are able to grow their own vegetables and take ownership of them. The projects were amazing too, they are so talented! I was blown away by their creativity and use of resources to create things. Afterwards we presented a few of the dramas we have put together (more or less last minute but having done them so often now in the past week, we have perfected them very well and they have been a great success). We started with our chair skit. Josh is the main character who notices a no touch sign on a chair and proceeds to disobey only to find himself stuck to the chair when he needs to leave. Two friends come along to invite him out and he declines, too embarased to reveal his problem. The the third friend comes by and again Josh declines his invitation but then the friend comes back as he knows something is wrong and Josh embarassingly admits his problem. Then the friend (Dervon) tries to help him get unstuck to no avail and then suggests praying, which at first Josh moves away from but when he realizes he cannot get unstuck on his own, comes back and joins his friend in prayer. He then finds himself to become unstuck and they celebrate. Being stuck represents the sin we are stuck in and when we are in denial we may miss out on opportunities. God gave us friends and we shouldn´t be embarrased to share with them so they can help us get out of that sin and as we give it up to God, since he has wiped us clean by the blood of Jesus, we are released from our sins and found in righteousness in him.
The children love that skit, though it kind of helps that Josh is the main character and as mentioned before looks like their favourite cartoon character, Shaggy.
Our second skit is Solomons skit. It is just a fun skit for christian and non-alike, as Jesus put it, a good icebreaker. It is the one we did back in Barbados, where we are all synchronized in nearly smaking eachother but not, as we each perform our character. They absolutely LOVE this skit and the appause afterwards was deafening.

Working with homeless/alcoholics - once a year in December, right before Christmas there is a group that comes out across the street of the Church and bus in a number of homeless and alcoholics to cut their hair, give them a manicure and wash their feet and clean their nails. Afterwards they come into the church to talk and to be fed and given some clothes. A bunch of us worked with them as well standing around to chat with the little spanish that we know. The youth were around as well and a few got their hair cut too. We went up into the Church to chat more and were asked to speak our thoughts of the group that put this on into a video camera, with Ceasar translating. Celina spoke first and then I spoke. I remembered what I had just read in the Bible the previous day in devotions from Matthew 25 34-40, The Sheep and the Goats. About giving strangers drink, food and clothing. That everytime we do this for the leastof these we are doing it for God. I thought that it really applied and wanted to share that. You could really feel the heart in the main leader for these men. He really had a joy in doing this. Later I sat with the men, chatting with them some more. Tommy was with me trying to help with words and help me understand. Tommy is a 12 year old boy who loves God very much and already feels called into mission. For some reason he quickly took to me and always makes sure I am fed (Estefani, Tu es hambre?) Such a sweet boy. Cheo, one of the youth, told me to be careful with the men and to not allow them to kiss my hand or cheek (as is custom here) but that was kind of easier said than done at times. Anyhow I really enjoyed it all and love meeting the many people here.

Church Ministry - on Sunday we went to two churches. The first was a new church plant only 2 years old. We arrived a touch late (nothing new here - we already know if we are told we will be leaving at one hour, it is usually 2 hours after that that we will leave, except the odd time when we are told we have 5 min to get ready as we are going, lol, love it). The Church was in a neighbouring town about 20 min away. We came in and were given the front row to sit. They were in the midst of worship, after a few slower songs they sang a fun, jived salsa song and the Church was a moving! There were so many children in this church which was wonderful to see. Good variety of ages. We introduced ourselves (always starting off in Spanish with our name and where we came from) then we performed the chair skit. The people seemed to like it. Laura gave her testimony. After the Pastor and his wife thanked us and prayed over us and then we had a group picture taken. It was very powerful and even humbling to be told just how much it meant to them for us to come. We were the first international visitors and though it was short we gave them much encouragement than I believe we could ever fully understand. It was beautiful and a little emotional to realize all this. As we left many of the elderly women were at the door to give thanks and blessings and kisses on our cheeks with great big hugs.
We headed straight in the service going on at the Church we were staying at, once again introducing ourselves. Again the first part of the service was mellow and then they changed to lively spanish worship music and the youth went crazy. They all are in the front together and they just start dancing and jumping all around. We even had a congo line going. It was so awesome. There is so much heart here and just the way the church supports them is so powerful.

Hospital Ministry - yesterday we headed to the hospital. We had to walk part way as there was a bus strike and they had closed the centre of the town off so no could get in or out by vehicle. It was a peaceful protest to raise wages, they only receive like $1.50 BS, very cheap (like about 25 cents USD). We split into three groups in the hospital, Ceasars, Jesus and Carla and went to the various rooms to speak with and pray for the people there. The hospital was fairly empty and they spoke that many went home to prepare Hallaca´s (food) for the holidays. It sounded like a joke but Jesus said no. I don´t know it was kind of funny. I went with Jesus, Jordan and Dervon. We spoke with a pregant women (22 years old) who was 7 months along. When we came in she had been crying and was very sad. Her husband had recently left her and she had a one year and 3 month old staying with a neighbour whom she couldn´t see because they couldn´t gett hrough the strike, and she was in the hospital for respitory issues. Dervon stepped up to pray for her. It was very moving. She spoke of wanting to kill herself but something stopping her - God. When we left she was in so much better spirits, this was very powerful to see.

Okay sorry cut short here, have to go. Bye.