May 23, 2009

This past month has been one of those regular, nothing exciting or nothing new is happening months. We continue to be involved in teaching and discipling new believers, mentoring pastors, supporting and attending the three AVIB churches here in Venezuela.
The church in La Urbina, Center for the Christian Family, has made this month a time of stressing the importance of the Christian family. They had a family outing at a local park with games and a lunch and seminars on the family the last 2 Saturdays. These have been excellent for us in spending extra time with this church since we don't normally attend their services. The seminars were also very good and helped us understand many cultural aspects of the Venezuelan family that we knew were different than our background but hadn't understood the thinking behind them. We have so much to learn and then to think how that applies or affects the Christian life and family is mind boggling to us sometimes.
The Macaracuay Church has a leadership retreat the first weekend of June to do some vision casting and praying. Lynn has recently been asked to develop a discipleship program for new believers for the church and Harry to help them develop some kind of a Sunday School program. They have had Sunday School but it has been a very weak program with very few attendees. Don't know if he can resurrect it or not. We'll see how the Lord directs us in these 2 different ministries.
In Guatire we continue to enjoy and be encouraged with the fellowship of these young Christian brothers and sisters. Their enthusiasm for their new faith is contagious even in the midst of struggles and sometimes failures. The teenage son of one of these families is really struggling with the new faith of his parents and all the changes that have happened in their home. He is not so sure where he fits in all of it and whether he wants to give his life to the Lord or not, because of the changes it would mean to him. On Mother's day we enjoyed a great lunch of grilled hamburgers Venezuelan style with all the works on them. The sandwich was almost the size of our plate, huge but delicious!

Prayer Requests
1. That the Lord would continue to strengthen his church here in Venezuela amid the insecurity and changing government system.
2. That the Lord would raise up men and young people committed to Him and willing to serve Him with their lives, especially as pastors and church leaders. (Just as in the States, material things speak louder than sacrificial living for the Lord.)
3. Pray that the Lord will give us wisdom and direction as Harry leads the Sunday School and Lynn the discipleship program in the Macarcuay church. That we will be able to involve our Venezuelan brothers and sisters and that they will take ownership and make the programs work.
4. Pray for the outreach retreats this summer that friends, co-workers, neighbors, and family members will attend and that they will come to know the Lord as their Savior.
5. We are in the midst of transferring Church and the Christian Bookstore property titles to our Venezuelan churches. It is a tremendously complicated process. Pray that the Lord will hasten this process, that it will happen without complications and with little cost.