A closer look at Treyton.

Introducing New Grandson, Treyton Joel Hyde

We are so excited about the arrival of Treyton Joel Hyde to Joel and Angela. He was born April 16, 2010. He weighed in at 6 pounds 12 ounces and is 19 1/2 inches long.

Some recent happenings

We are excited and have really enjoyed some recent events in our churches here in Caracas and Guatire. Harry continues to enjoy his students and is teaching a class on Spiritual Disciplines now. Lynn is involved in teaching a class called "Women of Worth" in 2 churches and is really enjoying that. Our churches are full and really working in reaching out to their communities, sharing what Jesus is doing in their lives in many ways.



We are not much for all night meetings but Venezuelans seem to enjoy having an all night prayer meeting. We have also come to enjoy being a part of this experience and blessing.



In March the Macaracuay church baptized 6 people. Four of these were young men!!
How we praise God for these men, this is an answer to prayer! The pastor is the 7th person in this picture.






The weekend before Easter, the Macaracuay church also performed a drama called "He Lives", the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus.
This took place in a public plaza across the street from the church. The presentation was well done and about 200 people attended the event...many non-church people from the community. Around 30 people responded to seek further information on the person and work of Jesus




On the lighter side we enjoyed watching some our friends do a Venezuelan dance called the Jaropo to Christian music.








We also spent a fun day with one of the youth groups going to a german village up in the mountains called Colonia Tovar and enjoyed a meal of German frankfurters and potato salad and a fun time of being tourists.




Prayer Requests:
1. Continue to pray for Venezuela. Primary elections are coming soon for candidates for congress. The regular election will be this fall. The devaluation of the bolivar and inflation are hitting the people hard. It also is opening hearts to the gospel and for that we praise the Lord.
2. Guatire Church. We are actively looking for a new meeting location for the Sunday morning service. A new location will facilitate new growth.
3. Bookstore Ministry. Pray for the continued ministry of the bookstore. It has a great outreach in the community and is an excellent contact point for people looking for spiritual counsel and a church.
4. Harry´s ministry. Pray for young people to enroll in the training program. The current program is going well but is attended by mostly middle age adults.
5. Lynn´s ministry. Pray for the two “Women of Worth” classes I’m teaching (one in Guatire and the other in Macaracuay) that the Lord will use this study to help the women discover their true identity and purpose based on the Word of God.

Happy Valentine's Day

As we approach Valentine's Day this Sunday, we rejoice in the love that God has allowed us to share together these 36 years. It has truely been a life of adventure together first in loving the Lord our God with all our heart and being obedient to His leading and then loving each other. The Lord's presence through the pleasures, joys, difficulties and disappointments, that we have passed through so far in this life give us strength and encouragement to keep going. His selfless love for us keeps us wanting to share with others so they too can know that love.

We praise the Lord for the way He continues to work in his church here in Caracas, Venezuela. The changing political scene, high inflation, shortages of food and medicine at times, insecurity on the streets and for the future make it difficult for our brothers and sisters in the Lord. But they are finding strength and peace in their faith in the Lord our God. Our churches are growing. As people see the very life they thought secure and good, shake under them they are looking for something secure. What an opportunity to share what Jesus can do for them.

The house church in Guatire is out growing the pastor's home and they are looking for a larger meeting space to rent. Pray with us that the Lord will lead in this and provide the needed space so the church can continue to grow and God's kingdom be extended.

We continue to make disciples. This is our passion, to see people become strong and persevering in their faith so that come what may the Lord's church will continue to carry out the Great Commission that Jesus left with us. "To go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus commands of us." Matthew 28:19-20.

St. Valentine died because he loved God more than life. God's selfless love sent us Jesus, in that while we were yet sinners, he died for us that we might have life, eternal and abundant life. Our desire is to share that love with others.

October 13, 2009

Yesterday was the Jesus March here in Caracas. What an encouraging event to be with God's family. This city is so big and hearts so hard that it is easy to get discouraged. But being together in the Jesus March helps one to realize we are not alone and what joy it will one day be to worship and praise God together in heaven.

It seems like yesterday that I wrote on this blog.
There is always plenty to do. Harry started his fall session in the Center for Ministry Development, teaching a class on "The Sermon on the Mount". He has 5 students who seems to be enjoying the class. He has also been mentoring Pastor Armando and has a class with him weekly. We are also involved in Pastor Armando's house church, helping where we can by teaching or preaching in the Sunday Morning worship service or Friday evening discipleship class. This past month the administrator of our Christian Bookstore, "Hidden Treasures" has been on vacation in Brazil visiting her sister, so Harry is filling in for her till she gets back in another week.

Lynn continues to be involved in the Macaracuay ladies ministry at Fabian Rubio, a prison half-way house. We've been going through Celebrate Recovery material and have seen the Lord work in these women's lives in a very encouraging way. A couple of the women have recently attended a retreat on "Forgiveness" as a result of their desire to have the Lord heal their lives. We praise the Lord for his transforming power in our lives and the lives of these women.

Discipling a couple of women who were baptized this past summer has been a real joy for Lynn also. What a blessing from the Lord to help these women grow in their understanding of God's Word and what it means to follow Jesus.

Continue to pray for us, that God will use us to bring glory to His name and extend His Kingdom here in Caracas.

End of the summer

Summer activities of retreats, Vacation Bible School, vacations, etc. are winding down for us as well as for Venezuelans. We had an absolutely wonderful time at FEC convention and the Missionary Retreat as well as a week with our family the first part of August. Our 9 grandchildren couldn´t be more perfect and charming in our eyes. We will have to admit though we need to be around them more to get used to the high noise level in the house!!

We are looking forward to the next several months before Christmas. Harry´s classes in the Ministry Development Center will be starting again soon. He´ll be teaching the Sermon on the Mount. Pray that the Lord will bring new students, especially men and young people to begin this training program. Our desire is that when we ultimately leave Venezuela, the church here will have a firm foundation of God´s Word. Also that they will have a way to train future leaders and pastors, so that no matter what happens in this country the Lord´s church will prevail.
Some other major events this month of September will be a Marriage Retreat sponsored by the Association of Venezuelan Bible Churches (AVIB) and the Macaracuay annual church anniversary celebration. Then the end of October will bring the annual assembly of AVIB. (We look forward to IM Director Earl Cecil being with us for that time.) In the midst of these special occasions we have our regular discipleship classes, teaching Sunday school, mentoring of our pastors, the women’s prison half way house ministry, hospital visitation and all the other things that go on in everyday life here that keep us plenty active. Pray that we will use our time wisely, that we will have open eyes and hearts to where God is working so that we might be his vessels, useful in extending His Kingdom and bringing glory to Him.

July 25, 2009

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade- kept in heaven for you. I Peter 1: 3, 4
This is a time of praise to our God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For a long time we have been asking many you to pray that God would raise up men in our churches here in Caracas. We are beginning to see this happen. Two men whose wives have been faithful believers have recently made public professions of their new birth in Christ. Another through a Father’s day gift from the church, a devotional book of “Our Daily Bread”, is reading his Bible and this book daily. Several other men through invitations of friends, ministries of our Christian Bookstore and the Conference men’s retreat are now attending church and beginning their journey with the Lord.

Last Saturday, our 3 churches had a combined baptismal service. Fifteen new believers were baptized! It was thrilling to hear their testimonies of what God is doing in their lives. One of those baptized was a man, who is the school bus driver for Pastor Armando’s children. Pastor Armando, a year ago invited Genaro to the Men’s Retreat. Genaro’s life was a mess, his marriage on the rocks and his health in bad shape with very high blood pressure and an irregular heart rate. He went to the retreat to just get away from everything but also a bit afraid of what he was getting himself into. That weekend he gave his heart to the Lord, his blood pressure has dropped to normal and he hasn’t had another irregular heart beat. God is strengthening his marriage and his wife has also accepted Christ as her Savior. They both were baptized this last week. The above picture on the left is Genaro about to be baptized by Pastor Armando.

Keep praying for God to raise up men who are willing to count the cost and that their faith which is worth more than gold may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus is revealed.

Lynn has been teaching the discipleship, baptismal class for the new believers who were baptized from the Macaracuay church. It has been so exciting to see their joy and eagerness to learn the things of the Lord. The above picture on the right is the group from Macaracuay who were baptized.