The Last day

Our final day in Venezuela was a very emotional and joyous time for all of the team members. The day began at 8:30 with the smell of bacon cooked by Steve, aka “aqua man”. Steve, the man of many talents, knew how to work the water pumps in order to give us running water each day. Anyway, we headed to Valle Dorado to spend half the day finishing our projects and saying our final goodbyes. The team was in charge of two main projects today, continuing the work on the 2^nd floor wall, and finishing the work on the foundation. The morning went by extremely too quickly. Before we knew it we were saying our final goodbyes to our Venezuelan Brothers and Sisters in Christ. This was a time filled with laughter and tears…but mostly tears. Even though, we are excited to come home, we are also torn by the fact that we don’t want to leave this home away from home.

Almost immediately after leaving Valle Dorado, the place we had been all week, we headed to Nigel’s house to worship and learn more about DropInn Ministry. Nigel had a great plan for us to go to the area we went to last year and have dinner with the children. This area was most certainly more poverty stricken than Valle Dorado, yet we still felt the same power of Christ in this area. This little church in the middle of this community is a beacon of hope for those who are lost in life… those who don’t have a personal relationship with God. It was incredible to see that each week the children have to memorize a Bible verse before they have dinner. Although we were only there for a short time, we were still able to connect with the children and provide them with two wonderful presents: “Jesus me amo” (Jesus loves me) keychains and chocolate. We left to head back to the seminary, but only after we got a picture with the pastor of the church and Nigel.

Our evening concluded with Scott’s “devotion,” which actually was prepared by each individual person: Our Testimony. It was a great experience that helped us to learn more about one another as brothers and sister. One BIG happy family!

We leave the seminary tonight at 2AM to drive to Valencia, VZ. Please pray for our safe travel tomorrow, and we can’t wait to see you when we get back. Adios, Chao, Hasta Luego, y Hasta Mañana.

Thursday, March 1st

Today, much like everyday, has been a day for evangelizing and manual labor. We started the morning in two separate teams. One team, consisting of Pam, Steve, Kim and Stacy went with Nigel to a drug rehab center. They sang songs and Steve gave words of encouragement. This group also took food to 5 families who were in desperate need of a good meal and a kind word. Everyone else went to Valle Dorado to continue work on the church. The goal before we leave is much like Sam’s devotion…Foundation! After tying rebar, Matt, Kathy, Sam, Phil and Scott began to pour concrete for the floors and the foundations. Dillon, Jessica and Parker were on the roof starting the first wall of the second floor. Our Venezuelan friends Jaqueline and Juli came up to help us after they returned from school. All was well until Dillon leaned against the wall and one section wasn’t attached to the floor. Apparently there wasn’t enough concrete in that mixture. Thankfully Merdado came up and helped us fix that section. Many very exciting things happened today. One that gave the team much joy is that our bus driver Willie, who has driven us for the past four years and is one of the nicest men I have ever met, accepted Jesus Christ into his life today!

That evening Dillon, with the help of Paula, took pictures of the children with the polaroid camera. Once again all of the children swarmed around him. We projected the movie Courageous in the street outside the church onto a white sheet. Many children and parents showed up. Everyone that stayed to watch the movie stayed after while Stacy and Scott did an excellent job explaining how important it is to be mothers, fathers and children of Christ. Pastor Smith also got up and spoke after Stacy and Scott and did not hold back. He told the community that they have a problem. Their children often do not have parents that are actively part of their lives and that this is not okay. He also encouraged the children that were there without their parents to bring their parents to church with them. It was unbelievable to see five niños accepted the Lord into their lives. A few of us prayed around them and Scott, with the help of Yoe, impressed upon them how important it is for them to come to church and continue to learn about the Lord and what it means to follow Him. After a long day, we headed back to the seminary and finished with a devotional from Phil. He touched base on a God’s blessing and how you can’t “out-give God”. Great way to end a great day.

Wednesday, February 29th

Today we had the awesome experience to work at the seminary with our new Venezuelan friends. We woke up to the sound of the Venezuelans already hard at work on the grounds of the seminary. After welcoming them to an American breakfast of toast, eggs and bacon, we all got to work on different projects to help improve the seminary. While we were all hard at work, Scott was having a biking play date with Nigel. Phil, Sam, Pam, Dillon, Jessica, Kevin, and Parker spent a good bit of the day painting and doing other little tasks. Matt spent some time finishing a wall that was only partially completed that he had to sit on to build. Stacy, Kim, and Pam worked with the women to help prepare the food we ate today. They are learning more and more each day about cooking authentic Venezuelan food. I do wonder why they decided not to eat with us after being in the kitchen…only kidding. The food that they prepared was yummy in my tummy as usual. Kathy used her time wisely today and spent time with her favorite new toy, a chainsaw. Believe me, it was as scary as it sounds. Steve took this opportunity to spend time with Ana, a special needs young lady, who took a great liking to her newfound friend. Seeing them together, laughing and playing, was most certainly a God moment for everyone today. John as always was there to help with translating for those of us working directly with the Venezuelans. They have all taken a great liking to us, but especially to John. With his ability to connect with them, I know John’s going to be a great seminary professor next week. If you didn’t know already, John is staying in VZ for an extra week in order to teach a course at the seminary.

Once Scott arrived back to the seminary, he jumped right in to help us complete our painting project. We concluded our afternoon by relaxing next to Kathy’s freshly sawed tree. The Venezuelan Ladies prepared fruit smoothies to help hold us over until dinner. They were so refreshing! In the mean time, Jessica, Parker, and Scott went on an adventure to knock down coconuts. John, being the wise one of the group, of course knew how to cut open a coconut. I believe John needs to write a book about all of his life experiences. He has a story for every situation, and he tells them so well. I know I would be first in line to purchase his book. Dinner was a special thank you to for all of the work that we are doing this week. Samuel’s Grandmother was very excited to cook for us, and prepared a traditional VZ Christmas dinner. The night concluded with Sam’s devotion on how important a strong foundation is in your life. He did a great job connecting our work here to our faith, where Christ is our cornerstone. He used the example that every house has different flaws within it (i.e. a leaky faucet, electrical problems, holes in the walls), but with a strong foundation the house will still stand and can be repaired. Everyone misses their friends and family back home. You are in our prayers. Good night.

Tuesday, Febuary 28th

God puts each fresh morning into our hands as a gift to see what we will do with it.

Today has been a glorious day!

Our day began once again at Valle Dorado where Scott, Matt and Kathy finished digging the last hole. It’s time to start pouring the footings. The truck arrived with bloques for the second floor. With Dillon, Steve, Pastor Smith, Jessica and Scott on the roof, we formed the “pumpkin patch” method of unloading and assembly line to unload the thousand bloques.

The cool breeze and beautiful view made the hard work seem much easier. While the work was being done on the church Kim, Stacy, Pam and John felt “led” to fellowship and prepare our lunch with guidance from Gladys and friends. Our devotion today was provided to us by Dillon. He shared with us the story of Jacob and Essau (Genesis 25: 29) and how he gave up his birth right over a bowl of stew. Dillon gently reminds us that we all have appetites for things that in the long run will not satisfy our eternal desire - to be in communion with God.

After lunch we went to visit Pastor Yolanda and the orphanage. It was awesome to see how close to the finished product the orphanage is. The orphanage is painted in bright colors and the bedrooms are named for different Venezuelan flowers.

When we returned to Valle Dorado we had some time to play with the children before we began our outreach. We made (Jesus loves me) key chains and watched Veggie Tales in Spanish (Jonah and the Big Fish). Many children from the community came and enjoyed the movie. Kathy, (with the help of Yoe), was certain to make sure the kids got the message – “We all have second chances!”

We returned home to be greeted by 5 Seminary students who desire to be a part of our workday here at the seminary tomorrow. Who knew their passion to serve would start at midnight. After their long bus ride here from towns across Venezuela, they actually started working, as we were getting ready to go to sleep.

We have a lot to learn from our friends in Venezuela! Good Night!

P.S. Sorry for the lateness of the blog- it was a long day yesterday.

Monday, Febuary 27

Today was our first workday; we were blessed with warmth, a cool breeze and a short rain shower that provided an amazing day for our work at the church in Valle Dorado. Our familiar friends, Paola, Dari, Carlito, John Darwin and many more, greeted us. It was so exciting to be back and see that a lot of progress had been made since last year! A roof had been put over the rooms to the side and concrete was poured inside the rooms. It is getting easier to envision what the finished building will look like. Even though the church is far from being finished, services and Sunday schools are still held in the unfinished area. Our day started with pulling weeds and underbrush that had taken over the grounds. Scott, Parker, Sam, Kevin, Steve and Matt later progressed to digging holes for the last row of footings. All but one of the footings are ready to be poured when the concrete arrives. Kathy, Pam, Kim, Phil and Jessica worked on leveling out the floor in one room, which involved a lot of picking and shoveling. We are thankful that our good friend Yoe found his place on our team once again. Just like ole times! Gladys provided us with a wonderful lunch and some went back for seconds. We enjoyed fried chicken, rice and the best-mashed potatoes ever (according to Kathy). During our lunch break Kathy did her devotional. We were reminded of the special gifts we have - good friends, gift of time, gift of family, gift of laughter and the greatest gift of all – Jesus Christ who gave His life for us all. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

We then returned to work and John worked with Marcia, (Samuel’s sister), and Willie, our driver, bending rebar for most of the day. After a long day we were ready to spend some time with the children. Dillon brought out the digital Polaroid camera and was swarmed by the kids. They were all so excited that they could have their picture taken AND bring it home with them. After the Polaroid camera ran out of battery we started a game of kicking ball that was enjoyed by all. Goodbyes are always tough but it helped to know we have tomorrow. We closed our evening in prayerful devotion. We wake tomorrow looking forward to a great day of service once again in Valle Dorado. We are tired but certain that God will provide a restful night as he has provided everything for us – just the way it should be!

FYI...

Please check earlier posts because videos are currently being uploaded, thanks to Kevin.
-VZ team

Sunday, February 26th

A day for worship! Today we attended 3 different church services. Starting at 6:45 this morning, we hurried to Pastor Carlos’ church. Pastor Carlos is the pastor of the main church in downtown Barquisimeto. He plants daughter churches all over the city and has also planted 2 in Caracas. He is a very faithful servant to the Lord! Pastor Carlos called us YESTERDAY to ask if one of us would like to preach. Dillon, with only a short time to reflect, felt God’s calling to share His message. With John as a translator Dillon shared from Nehemiah 6 including the verse: “I am carrying on a great work and cannot go down [from this wall]” with all present. After Dillon finished preaching Pastor Carlos reinforced his powerful words. Samuel later shared with us that at the beginning of this year Pastor Carlos felt that God was calling them to finish the project that they had started in the main church, instead of starting another smaller daughter church. The congregation felt that Dillon’s message today confirmed the plan that the Lord has for them and gave them encouragement to finish it this year.

We enjoyed a breakfast of empanadas y café served to us by the women at Carlos’ church following the service. After eating, we headed to Pastor Alexander’s Church. We felt a great personal connection with this church. Not only did we join in singing and dancing, we also witnessed people coming to the front of the church to accept Jesus into their lives or rededicate their lives to Christ. This was an extremely powerful and emotional moment for each of us. After congregating with the members of the church, we headed to lunch, but not before we found Steve on the floor playing with the kids.

Lunch was actually very good. To sum it up, it was family style smoked meat, yucca and coleslaw. Jessica enjoyed cachapas, which are the equivalent to a corn bread pancake, seeing as she was not a big fan of the meat options. Kevin on the other hand consumed a good amount of meat that seemed somewhat questionable to all others. We made it back to the seminary and some took siestas while others relaxed or went grocery shopping. During this time of relaxation, Nigel, an Irish missionary that the team worked with last year, stopped by with his wife, daughter and friends to say hello. We very much look forward to working with Nigel and his outreach in the smaller villages. Our discussion with Nigel made us even more aware of the fact that we are not only here for the physical labor of building a church but also to build relationships and share the gospel with the people of Venezuela.

Our last worship service took place at Franklin’s church. We entered to a congregation of around 40 people. The church itself had no rook, giving us the opportunity to feel a nice breeze, which Stacy elegantly described as “God’s breath.” It was a simply yet beautiful setting. We concluded the evening with delicious pizza and a daily devotional led by John, in which he discussed the importance of forgiveness, pulling from 1 Corinthians 13:5 and Colossians 3:13. John described forgiveness as “deleting any wrongs from the hard drive of your heart.”

Saturday, February 25th

Day two is over, and what a day it was. We were able to sleep in and boy it was needed. The day started around 10am with the surprise that Matt had been talking about since we arrived. Anxiously awaiting the arrival of the surprise, we were over-joyed to see the gate begin to open at the front of the seminary. Our elated spirit was short lived as we saw a truckload of concrete blocks round the corner. We worked extremely well together as a team, especially with the leadership of John and Stacy. We relaxed after unloading the entire truck of 1000 blocks and enjoyed a lunch prepared by Chef Stacy, Chef Pam, and Chef Kim. During this time at the seminary, Pam led our daily devotional. The theme of the devotional was that our relationship with God is the most meaningful relationship and the only one that will last for eternity. Also, Pam discussed that we should not only thank God, but praise him for who he is and what he provides for us, from the largest aspects of life to the most minute details. The books of the Bible that we pulled scripture from for todays devotion were: Matthew 22: 37-38; 1^st John 4:19; and John 15: 9-15.

After lunch, we drove into town to do some shopping and went to do outreach in a small area outside of Barquisimeto. The area we went to has a newly established church that meets on a small plot of land. They have only been in existence for 15 days, yet nearly 200 Venezuelans packed the “church”. It was a very passionate service that was inspirational to each of us. Sam was able to participate in the worship service by using his excellent drumming skills. Music truly is the international language. After the service, we were invited to dinner at one of the local houses. We were very thankful for the meal seeing as it was already 9:00pm. We then headed back to the seminary to take showers and head to bed to prepare for our early morning church services tomorrow.

Goodnight!

Also for those of you who are not a "fan" of our group on Facebook, please join. The group name is Due West 2012 Venezuelan Mission Team (or something like that). We update the page daily with pictures and comments. Enjoy!

Friday, February 24th

And so it begins!

This morning started at 4:45am in order to make it to Due West UMC by 6:00am to meet the rest of the crew. Steve was nice enough to show up a little earlier to prepare coffee and light snacks. After a brief pray by Matt, our crew got underway for the long drive to the ATL Airport. We arrived on time and in good spirits. Everything went extremely well at the airport…we were all quite impressed seeing as we have 3 probies (1^st timers). We boarded the plane and sat back for the 4 hour flight to Aruba. Yes, we are on a mission trip we just had to stop in Aruba for our connecting flight. Anyway, due to the bad weather in ATL, we had to taxi for a little under an hour. The flight took off and was a little bumpy at first. I wasn’t in the vicinity of Dillon and Stacy, but I know they were both clinching their armrests with all their strength.

A few hours later our feature film, “The Big Year” ended. I agree with the critiques, not Steve Martin’s best film. It was getting to be lunch time and all I could think about was food. Over the intercom comes one of the stewardesses… “Ladies and Gentlemen, the ‘Fasten Seat Belt’ sign is turned off. For your safety please keep your seat belt on while seated. We will be coming through the cabin to offer water and coffee, and it is our pleasure to have an honorary stewardess on board today. Scott will be serving our remaining snacks to you so please take one item each.” Out pops Scott with a lovely decorated basket filled with the extremely underrated Biscoff cookies and lightly salted peanuts. The only thing I could think of was the email we received right before we left from Steven (Associate Pastor at Due West); “…and whatever you do, don’t embarrass us.” And something along the lines of “remember who you are and whose you are.” I guess Scott didn’t get the memo. After making it all the way down the isle on a B737 (180 passengers) Scott received a round of applause and a set of pilot wings. We are all so proud of him. Oh, I’m not done yet…Scott decided to join his fellow air-men once again on the next flight. He insisted that he assist in the pre-flight presentation and sported the life preserver.

The final flight from Curacao to Barquisimeto was on a little puddle jumper. It was by fair the smoothest flight out of the three we had today; however before getting on the plane I think Dillon may have had a minor heart attack. You see, Dillon is not the biggest fan of small planes, especially those in which you can see the propeller. He finally opened his eyes as the plane came to a stop in Barquisimeto. We arrived there at 11:30pm capping our 15 hour travel day. Man oh man, are we tired. We took a good hour and a half to get through customs before our Venezuelan friends could wonderfully welcome us back: Dan, Nancy, Samuel, Laura, and Willie. We finished our travel by enjoying some of the local cuisine at Pollo Sombroso. It is such a blessing that we made it here safely and without any fault.

As we unloaded all the bags and supplies, Sam jumped right on pumping all 25 of the soccer balls for the children that we brought. We concluded the evening with prayer and fellowship from Stacy. Man it feels great to be back in Venezuela. It was comforting to hear everyone say, "we’re home" as we pulled up to the seminary this evening. The truth is: the welcome we received here makes it sure feel like a home away from home. Continue to pray for us. We love and miss you.

-VZ Crew

Fast, Feast, and Commissioning...3 keys to success

‘Twas a cold winter morn. The howling of the wind and the gurgling of my stomach were two familiar sounds which echoed through the house. The mere thought of one more minute without food made me cringe, but I knew that through God, all things were possible.

This may sound like the start of your next fire side novel, but actually it was the beginning of an adventure which would lead 14 friends closer to each other, the people of Venezuela, and God. Friday, February 10th, was the official beginning of our 2012 Mission Trip to Venezuela. Our agenda for the weekend was to Fast, Feast, and attend the Commissioning Service. The Fasting began at 6:00pm on Friday evening. This time was filled with constant prayer from the team, family, and friends. This was also a time for reflection and praise. From the noises that my stomach was making, I believe it was praying as well. Our Fast lasted 24 hours, so we all met at the church the following evening for our Feast.

The final hour was the toughest, especially with the aroma of Matt Reeves’ smoked meat in the air. Everyone had provided so many unbelievable items that I went into a bit of a coma before we ate. Before we dug in, we found it fitting to conclude our Fast with Communion. After a brief game of “hide and seek” with the bread, Steven did an excellent job bringing us together for the final moments of our Fast.

The food was absolutely delicious! I’ll have to admit, I didn’t spend too much time at the dessert table, seeing as my stomach was craving nothing but meat and hashbrown casserole…and maybe a little potato salad; and bake beans; oh and salad; did I say mac and cheese? Ok you got me, I lied. I went to the dessert table and indulged like I’ve never indulged before. I’ll just work it off in the 100 degrees heat down in VZ. After my acid reflux subsided, I went to bed to prepare for the Commissioning ceremony the next day.

We were commissioned by both Tom and Steven at the 9:45 and 11:00 service. What really made this day special was the fundraising we did outside the church. A few members of our group constructed a replica of an authentic VZ home. This helped the members of the church envision the environment we will be visiting in a little more than a week. We are very grateful for the members of Due West UMC and the family and friends who donated to the mission. We wouldn’t be able to go spread The Word without your help!