The blessing of children

“And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them.” Mark 10:13-16

Children are gifts from God that He has entrusted to our care for a time, I told the assembled families. The day had come for the teachers in our preschool and me to pass responsibility for 10 of our students to teachers in the community’s Virginia de Contreras elementary school. In September they all will begin first grade. For four years we have done our best, with the help of God, to teach them what they can take with them for the rest of their lives and beyond. For the most important thing for them to know is the love of God in Jesus Christ and the promise of eternal life in His name.

For, although their relationship with their parents will continue for the rest of their lives on earth, the day will come for each one when death will separate them from their fathers and mothers. It is most common for parents to pass away before their children; sometimes children may die before their parents. Physical death is the Lord’s judgment on us all, for we all have sinned and fallen short of living as God wills. But for those who have received God’s grace in baptism, there is the hope of reunion with their loved ones and more in the life to come. To know Jesus in this way from childhood, therefore, is a great blessing.

But as our Lord says, we all must receive the faith as children. Not trusting in our own understanding or strength, but in His understanding and strength, as children feel safe in the arms of their parents. Regardless of our age, it is never too late to receive the promise of eternal life and change the lives of those around us here and now. Therefore, we at our mission commend these 10 to the Lord and their families, and pray for their continued formation as Christians.

Our preschool graduation ceremony was Thursday, July 11, 2019. It was the day before the date in 2003 when I arrived in Venezuela to serve three years as a lay volunteer for Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod World Missions. Over the last 16 years, I have watched a generation of Venezuelan children grow into young men and women. This was brought home to me as one of the guests for our 2019 graduation was Maikel Caraballo, who was a member of our first group of graduates in the 2006/2007 school year.

The following students graduated from our preschool this 2018/2019 school year:

• Esteban Gabriel Alzate Castellano
• Kevin Alexander Barón Mendez
• Jonayker Jesús Castellano Paredes
• Javier Eduardo de la Peña Morales
• Diego Alfonso Montilla Farías
• Victor David Salas Romero
• Raul Antonio Canchilla Peroza
• Kimberly Fabiola Arjona Ureña
• Abril Sharlotte Castillo Duarte
• Gabriela Anyelimar Guerrero Bracho
• Yoscari Yuraima Rubio Serrano

Deaconesses gather in eastern Venezuela

The United States celebrated Independence Day on July 4 and Venezuela on July 5, as always. But neither day was a holiday for Luz Maria as she traveled across Venezuela to Cristo Rey (Christ the King) Lutheran Church in Maturin, the capital of the eastern state of Monagas. The occasion was a training session for Lutheran deaconesses sponsored by Seminario Concordia El Reformador in the Dominican Republic and administered by the Lutheran Church of Venezuela’s Juan de Frias Theological Institute. Facilitators were Pastor Eliezer Mendoza, director of the Juan de Frias Theological Institute; Pastor Arturo Maita; and Isaac Machado. Arturo is a son of the Maturin congregation currently serving in the LCMS mission in Puerto Rico. Isaac grew up as a member of La Paz (Peace) Lutheran Church in Caracas. Recently he graduated from the seminary in the Dominican Republic and that same week was officially declared available for a divine call by the Lutheran Church ofVenezuela. The theme of the seminar was the liturgy of the Divine Service and how it relates to daily life.

Luz Maria is one of three women recognized as deaconesses at a national level because of their level of theological education. Unfortunately, the other two, Carmen Gamboa of Maracay, and Elsy Machado of Caracas (Isaac’s mother) were not able to attend. Circumstances in Venezuela make it more difficult to travel long distances than in the past. Nevertheless, Luz Maria felt it was important for her to attend. She was able to travel from Barinas to Maracay and travel the rest of the way to Maturin with Pastor Edgar Coronado of La Fortaleza (Fortress) Lutheran Church in Maracay and ladies from Maracay and Barquisimeto. She returned with the same group.

Let the sun shine in!

Power outages in Venezuela have not made international headlines for a few months, but they continue. There is a joke making the rounds of the Spanish-speaking social networks that is grimly amusing in the context of massive outmigration and blackouts: "The last person to leave Venezuela need not worry about turning the lights out".

We suffer outages on a local level every day. Sometimes it’s only for a few minutes, sometimes an hour or two, but two weeks ago we were without power for 30 straight hours. The power may go down several times in the same day. Even though this is not quite as bad as two or three days without electricity, it makes it difficult to get our work done (yes, we are very dependent on electricity and electronic equipment; I can hardly imagine what mission work was like before the 21st Century). The trouble is, when the lights go out, we are soon without telephone, Internet or television as well. No lines of communication with the outside world as well as functioning home security (apart from our dogs) is a dangerous situation at present. Also, we rely almost completely on online banking for our financial transactions.

But we have been put in contact with IntelRad, a firm in Barinas that has been installing solar-powered electrical backup systems since the 1990s. It is a substantial investment, but we hope soon to have installed a system that will keep our security cameras, computers and Internet access going despite the blackouts.