At home with the Advent wreath

The lighting of an Advent wreath as a countdown to Christmas has become so globally popular that Venezuelan newspapers run articles explaining it as a “Catholic custom.” This is a matter of some debate, as many sources trace it back to the Lutheran Reformation. Roman Catholic apologists agree that it began in Germany, but claim it originated earlier in the Middle Ages. The mystery arises from the fact that the Advent wreath originated as a form of family devotion, not as a rite of public worship. Lighting the wreath as we know it today did not become a widespread practice outside of Germany until the 19th and early 20th centuries, with the tide of Germans fleeing political conflicts and economic difficulties in their homeland. Only then was it incorporated into Advent services in churches of nearly every denomination. That is how I explained it to our afterschool students and youth of our congregation, drawing a comparison of how the migration of Venezuelans is dispersing Venezuelan customs throughout the world. Also, I emphasized the importance of Bible reading and prayer in the home, not just in the building designated as a house of worship. 

 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise up.” Deuteronomy 6:6-7 is a classic verse that illustrates the importance of family devotions in the Christian life. So is Ephesians 6:4, “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” Although the parental duty is set forth in terms of the father’s obligation, yet the mother’s rule and responsibility, being included in that of the husband, is just as strongly enjoined. St. Paul, in 1 Timothy 1:5, commends Timothy’s grandmother, Lois, and his mother, Eunice, for raising Timothy in the faith despite the lack of a faithful father. In Timothy 2:15, the apostle says again that Timothy is fortunate in “that from childhood  known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”

With the assistance of Luz Maria’s sister, Rosaura, we presented a special workshop for all the young people in making Advent wreaths for the home. 

A tradition of Christian education

Luz Maria and I are grateful for the opportunity to speak via Zoom on December 4, 2025, to the students of Deshler Lutheran School, Deshler, Nebraska. Our special thanks to principal Todd Voss; Brian Francik, pastor of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Deshler; and José Flores, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, Friedensau, Nebraska. Deshler Lutheran School is one part of the ministry conducted by St. Peter-Deshler and TrinityFriedensau. Both congregations have a rich tradition of providing Christ-centered education. Trinity Lutheran at Freidensau called the first teacher to the Nebraska District in 1879. St. Peter's Lutheran School was established in 1889. In 1966, Trinity-Friedensau and Bethlehem Lutheran Church of Kiowa joined with St. Peter's-Deshler to form the Deshler Lutheran School Association using the 1953 building and grounds in Deshler for its campus. Trinity-Friedensau celebrated its 150th anniversary last year. I attended the centennial anniversary in 1974 which featured my father’s older brother, the Rev. Alfred Ernst, as guest speaker. My great-grandfather, Henry Schabacker, so far holds the longest tenure as pastor of Trinity-Friedensau, having served for more than 30 years. His daughter, Theodora Amanda, married my grandfather, David Julius Ernst, who was the sole teacher in the parochial school and also church organist.

Like grandmother, like granddaughter

While we celebrated the first Sunday of Advent in La Caramuca on November 30, 2025, Oriana Montoya, Luz Maria's granddaughter, was consecrated as a deaconess at Jesus of Los Olivos Lutheran Church in Lima, Peru. Oriana was baptized February 15, 2003, at Corpus Christi Lutheran Church, Barinas, and took first communion October 28, 2012, at Epiphany Lutheran Church of La Caramuca. She graduated from our preschool and was active in the Epiphany youth group. She represented our mission at the national youth gathering of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela in 2016. After moving to Peru in 2017, Oriana enrolled in and graduated from the deaconess program offered by Concordia El Reformador in the Dominican Republic.

The Lord's house as refuge

The introit for the second Sunday of the Eastertide (April 7 this year) is taken from 1 Peter 2:2: “As newborn babes desire the pure milk of the Word.” Here is how it is rendered in Latin: Quasi modo geniti infantes, rationabile, sine dolo lac concupiscite. That is why, in Victor Hugo’s classic novel, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, a deformed newborn left on the doorstep of the cathedral on the Sunday after Easter is given the name “Quasimodo”. He is taken in because caring for widows and orphans is something Christians have always done (James 1:27). So I think of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” every time Quasimodo Geniti Sunday rolls around.

But other people may be less interested in the origin of the hunchback’s name and more in that great dramatic moment when Quasimodo rescues Esmeralda from the murderous crowd and carries her to the cathedral, crying, “Sanctuary! Sanctuary!” This also resonated with me this month as we discussed with our youth Bible study group the church as a refuge for both the spiritually and physically afflicted.

Quasimodo claimed for Esmeralda the “right of sanctuary” for fugitives unjustly accused of crimes until they could obtain a fair hearing. When the Roman Empire in the fourth century A.D. granted Christians the right to build public houses of worship, churches offered temporary shelter to such people under certain conditions. This perhaps was inspired by the Old Testament law which established “cities of refuge” within the land of Israel. The descriptions of the cities of refuge are found in the Numbers 35:5-34; Deuteronomy 4:41-43; 19:1-13; and Joshua 20:1-9. Passing references to these cities are found in Joshua 21:13, 21, 27, 32, 38; and in 1 Chronicles 6:57, 67.

By the early Middle Ages, the right of sanctuary in churches was written into law throughout Christian Europe. In continental Europe the right of sanctuary, though much restricted in the 16th century, survived until the French Revolution. Although the medieval right of sanctuary never had the force of law in the United States, it provided the basis for modern notions of asylum for religious and political refugees.

There are Christian organizations that minister in a Scripture-based and legal way to the spiritual and material needs of Venezuelans who have fled their native land, and we give thanks for those efforts. But we are not in agreement, or in fellowship with organizations that facilitate illegal entry into the USA or any other country by Venezuelans or any other nationality. Rather, we provide a refuge for those who remain in Venezuela, a safe place to receive Christian education, needed food and medicine, and Word and sacrament ministry for the strength to live in faith, hope and love amid suffering.

Nutrition crisis continues

On April 22, 2024 we received a visit from Dr. Tibisay Medina (nutritionist), Dr. Yesika Flores (general practitioner) and registered nurses, Thais Castillo and Charly Zerpa: all of this on the occasion of a day of vaccination, and nutritional and medical attention to the boys and girls of our preschool. As a result of the day, we found that 16 of our 28 enrolled students between the ages of one year and three years showed signs of acute malnutrition. This is a reflection of Venezuela’s continuing nutrition crisis.

According to a 2021 article published in “The Lancet”, a peer-reviewed medical journal, high food insecurity present in more than 80 percent of Venezuelan households affects children under five and of school age. The World Food Program's 2020 food security assessment on Venezuela, recognized that food security is a countrywide concern, and that nearly one household out of five has an unacceptable level of food consumption. Surveillance reports from Caritas Venezuela show that acute global malnutrition in children under five has increased by 73 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even in 2017, a study by Bengoa Foundation for Food and Nutrition and Andres Bello Catholic University, reported that 33 percent of children between 0 and 2 years old were already stunted in their growth. Although Venezuela’s inflationary economy has stabilized for the time being, minimum wage is by far the lowest in Latin America. It is barely enough to buy a loaf of bread and a liter of milk, four rolls of toilet paper, or 30 pills of generic hypertension medication. It is not enough to pay for a home’s electricity, water and telephone services. Some 50 percent of Venezuelan households live in poverty, according to a national poll carried out by Andres Bello Catholic University, and 41 percent of those polled said they skip one meal per day.

At our preschool we prepare two balanced meals, breakfast and lunch, Monday through Thursday, for the children who attend. We delivered food packages to the families of our enrolled students even when classes were suspended due to the COVID-19 crisis. The preschool receives a certain amount of food from the United Nations World Food Program, which began delivering food baskets to schools in Venezuela in 2021. We also supply the preschool with our homegrown fruits, vegetables, eggs and chickens, and with food that we purchase thanks to donations from mission societies, congregations and individuals in the United States. Please consider supporting this work with an online donation!

A tribute to Venezuelan women

Concordia El Reformador Seminary in the Dominican Republic recently reported the results of its deaconess formation program from 2017 to 2014, noting 35 graduates from Venezuela and 23 Venezuelan women currently enrolled, both amount greater than any of the other countries involved. Luz Maria continues to mentor these women. In April, we participated with them in three online conferences:

• A Bible study on the role of women in the church hosted by the Martin Luther Institute of Mexico, led by Dr. Roberto Bustamante of Concordia El Reformador Seminary;

• A Bible study on Deuteronomy, presented by Joel Fritsche, previously a member of the Concordia El Reformador faculty and now director of vicarage and deaconess internships and assistant professor of exegetical theology at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis;

• A Bible study on stewardship presented by Theodore Krey, region director for Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod mission in Latin America and the Caribbean;

• A meeting between mentors of the deaconess program in 10 countries and the faculty of Concordia El Reformador Seminary.

In response to a question from Teresa Leombruni of Caracas, Pastor Krey gave a moving tribute to the women of Venezuela. He praised their dedication to the deaconess program despite lack of reliable, high-speed access to the Internet, periodic power outages and difficulty in finding transportation to in-person classes, all while continuing to serve the national church through works of mercy.

The beauty of the butterfly

Butterflies are not mentioned in the Bible, although moths in Scripture represent the frailty of humans and of human existence (Job 4:19; 13:28; Isaiah 50:9; 51:8) and the temporary quality of earthly possessions (Matthew 6:19-20; Luke 12:33; James 5:2). Butterflies and moths undergo a similar transformation from larva to adult by way of a dormant stage (the pupa or chrysalis), but perhaps the beauty of a butterfly compared to a caterpillar led Christian artists to see it as a symbol of the resurrection. The butterfly is sometimes seen in paintings of the Virgin and the Christ Child, and is usually in the Child’s hand. It points to the resurrection of Christ, and in a more general sense, the resurrection of all men.

Butterflies appear in the illustrations of the Arch Book that I used to tell the Easter story to our preschool children. For their arts and crafts activity, we used a coloring page of a butterfly provided by LeadaChild, one of our sponsoring organizations. We also had our youth color the butterfly as part of our Easter Sunday Bible study. The most pertinent passage of Scripture is 1 Corinthians 15:35-53.

“But someone will ask, How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come? You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another.

There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.”

As the crawling caterpillar “dies” and emerges alive as a flying butterfly, the body of the resurrection is not the same weak, aging body that was laid in the grave, and yet there are not two different bodies. Rather, the body of the resurrection, is the outgrowth of the new life that began in baptism and was nourished by the hearing of the Word and the receiving of Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper.

Our relationship with LeadaChild dates back to 2006, when the Kansas-based mission agency was known as Children’s Christian Concern Society. Luz Maria and I were privileged to meet the founders, Edie and Jim Jorns. I had heard about their pioneering work many years before when I lived in Kansas.

Celebrating Cinco de Mayo (not that one)

Luz Maria celebrated her birthday, May 5, with another trip to Caracas. With her sister deaconesses, Elsy Machado and Ginnatriz Mendoza, she helped Pastor Sergio Maita with one last seminar for deaconesses in training from May 4 to 6. Sergio is the pastor of “Pan de Vida” (Bread of Life) Lutheran Church in Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic, and an instructor at Concordia El Reformador Seminary. He also is a native of Venezuela and in 2008 was ordained with me and Eduardo Flores, the current president of our national church and pastor of “La Santa Trinidad” (Holy Trinity) Lutheran Church in Caracas. The theme of the seminar was “Suffering, the Cross and Mercy: Theological Fundamentals of the Diaconate”. Sergio taught the same short course for deaconess students in his hometown of Maturin in eastern Venezuela from April 28 to 30.

The 39 Venezuelan women will graduate from the seminary’s deaconess program next month along with 24 from Guatemala, 23 from Mexico, 12 from the Dominican Republic and seven from Panama.

A Prayer for Pascua (Easter)

Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank and praise You that You have raised Your son from the dead and seated Him at Your right hand, from which He will come to judge the living and the dead. Fill us with the Holy Spirit to carry our His commission to make disciples of all nations as You have made us His disciples. In His name we pray, amen.

(Lutheran Book of Prayer, Concordia Publishing House, 1970.)

Deaconess program takes off with Zoom

 

On September 25, 2020, Deaconess Danelle Putnam, coordinator of the deaconess program, presented a study of the Gospel according to Luke.
at Concordia El Reformador Seminary in the Dominican Republic. Luz Maria will work with Pastor Ángel Eliezer Mendoza, director of the Juan de Frias Theological Institute, in facilitating the expansion of the program in Venezuela by mentoring about 50 women.

Danelle Putnam

Severe travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic have pushed Internet videoconferencing to the fore as a replacement for cancelled events, regular meetings (including worship services) and social contacts. The technology already had seen considerable development since 2003, when the now venerable Skype software appeared. Skype set worldwide usage records throughout the 2010s, and in March 2020 posted a 70 percent increase in the number of daily users from the previous month, because of the response to the pandemic.

But Skype is not the only videoconferencing alternative. There is both Facebook and Google voice chat. However, the one that has rapidly advanced to the front of the pack, based on ease of use and innovative features, is the aptly named Zoom software. Introduced in 2013, Zoom software also saw a significant global increase in usage following the introduction of COVID-19 quarantine measures.

Luz Maria and I were introduced to Zoom through our affiliation with Global Lutheran Outreach two years ago. Since then, we have used the software for online meetings with other organizations, including LeadaChild last month.

With Rosie and Elsy.

In Lutheran tradition, deaconesses are women dedicated to the service of the church in various ways with the theological formation to provide as spiritual as well as physical comfort to suffering and needy people. Because of their level of theological study and record of service, Luz Maria and Elsy Valladares de Machado of Caracas were the first women formally recognized as deaconesses by the Lutheran Church of Venezuela in 2007. That same year they helped Deaconess Rosie Adle of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana, conduct a seminar for other women seeking to become deaconesses. Luz Maria and Elsy traveled to a Latin American Deaconess conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 2009, sponsored by Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod World Missions.

In the Dominican Republic.

In 2016, Luz Maria and I traveled to the Dominican Republic for the kickoff of the Concordia El Reformador deaconess program. Deaconess students from Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, and Venezuela attended a three-day course on the letters of St. Paul. Deaconess Ginnatriz de Mendoza, Pastor Ángel Eliezer’s wife, taught the course. She trained as a deaconess at Concordia Seminary, Buenos Aires, Argentina, where her husband graduated. The Dominican seminary’s program now involves 140 women in five countries.

Still stones in the road

But the deaconess program in Venezuela has faced the increasing risks and uncertainty of travel to, from and within the country, even before the pandemic. DSL and fiber-optic lines are hard to obtain and more people have to rely on wireless Internet. But wireless Internet connections in Venezuela are among the slowest and most unstable in Latin America.

For several years we have relied on 4G wireless Internet service from Movistar, a cellphone company. This worked well in the beginning, especially because during the power blackouts, the wireless service would last up to six hours after the power went down (in comparsion, the DSL line we use to have would go down as soon as the electricity. Then DSL service disappeared altogether).

However, with the imposition of COVID-19 restrictions, Movistar's data load tripled in one month and has deteriorated accordingly. The main reason why Movistar's data load tripled, I believe, is because all schools, from preschool to university level, were closed for the remainder of the school year and students were directed to complete their studies online. The situation is unlikely to improve because the schools have been opened "online" for the new school year and will not physically open their doors until January.

Now we only have service for an hour and a half after the power goes down, which it does every day for at least four hours. Even when we have the signal, transmission often becomes very slow, which makes videoconferencing difficult.
Over the past two weeks, however we have been unable to participate in live Zoom conferences and have had to listen to the recorded sessions instead. We are not the only ones with this problem.

For some time we have investigated the possibility of a direct uplink to the Internet though satellite antenna. We know that there are people here who have this service, but it has proven difficult to find someone whil will install the equipment for us. We currenlty are working on a lead that just might accomplish the installation within a week or two.

Raise the song of harvest home!

Meanwhile, 30% of Venezuelan children under the age of 5 suffer from chronic malnutrition. The coronavirus pandemic has aggravated the hunger problem in many countries and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has warned that the crisis could lead to an increase from 83 million to 132 million in the number of malnourished people in the world in 2020. One of the countries most seriously affected is Venezuela. But, thanks be to God, we are able to continue the distribution of food from our small plot of land. Currently we are sharing eggs from our chicken coop, cassava and plantains (alternatives to potatoes in Venezuela), auyama (giant squash) and peppers.

Come, ye thankful people, come,
Raise the song of harvest home;
All is safely gathered in,
Ere the winter storms begin;
God our Maker doth provide
For our wants to be supplied;
Come to God’s own temple, come,
Raise the song of harvest home.

The Lutheran Hymnal 574

Henry Alford, 1844 

St. George, George J. Elvey, 1853  

Isaiah 9:3

Sojourn at a solar-powered seminary

From November 18 to 23, Luz Maria and I were in the Dominican Republic for Foro Venezuela, an event hosted by Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod World Missions at Concordia The Reformer Seminary, Palmar Arriba. Foro means forum and ours was one of a series in which representatives of the LCMS, mission agencies and sister churches in Latin America and the Caribbean talk about what can be done to help proclaim the Gospel in the region.

As a rule, the foros are held in their respective countries to which interested parties from North America travel. For example, I was delighted to discover that this year’s Peru Foro was attended by members of Messiah Lutheran Church of Hays, Kansas, where I was a member while attending Fort Hays State University from 1976 to 1980. Not only did they visit the LCMS mission in Lima, Peru, but in particular the Los Olivos congregation where Luz Maria’s daughter, Yepci Santana, and her children now attend.

In other cases, such as Venezuela, it is a better idea to hold the meeting outside the country in question. LCMS World Missions made a special effort this year to bring all the national pastors of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela (including myself) to the Dominican Republic. In fact, all but one did. We were missing Edgar Coronado, pastor of La Fortaleza Lutheran Church in Maracay, who was unable to obtain a Venezuelan passport. It was noted, however, that because of increasing costs, this may be the last year that such a large group will be invited.

Luz Maria and I last visited the seminary in 2016 for a Latin American deaconess retreat. Since then a third floor has been added to what was a two-story building. The complex includes not only the seminary, but a Christian day school, Mercy Center and a home for the disabled. A local congregation meets in the chapel on Wednesday and Sunday. All the electricity for this complex is generated by an array of solar panels on the roof. The system is much like the one that we just installed, but on a much larger scale.

Reporting on projects

On May 24, the first class graduated from the seminary. Among the eight graduates was Isaac Machado of Venezuela. On November 12, Isaac was ordained and installed as a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Spain in Madrid, the national capital. His parents, Elsy and Juan, were with us on our trip. Elsy, as national coordinator of LeadaChild projects, presented a report on the current state and future plans for projects in Venezuela.

LeadaChild is a Kansas-based organization that supports Christian education projects around the world. It has supported projects in Venezuela since 1996 and our mission in La Caramuca since 2006. Luz Maria and I were able to meet with Dr. Phil Frusti, executive director of LeadaChild.

Luz Maria was responsible for gathering information and presenting a report on the distribution of medicines in Venezuela. This was made possible by the joint efforts of Global Lutheran Outreach, the Confessional Lutheran of Chile, Lutheran World Relief, LCMS Disaster Response and LCMS World Missions. Luz Maria and I were able to meet with Rev. James Tino, executive director of Global Lutheran Outreach.

The foro program also included a shortcourse in ecclesiology taught by Rev. David Preus, a member of the seminary faculty. This was an intensive look at the mystical union between Christ and the church, the public ministry of the church by the external Word (preaching and sacraments) and the marks of the visible church on earth. Pastor Preus is the grandson of Robert Preus (“Getting Into The Theology Of Concord: A Study Of The Book Of Concord”, I have read it several times); grandnephew of J.A.O Preus, former president of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod; son of Rolf Preus,has taught courses in theology for Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, Concordia University Wisconsin, and St. Sophia Lutheran Theological Seminary in Ternopil, Ukraine; and a nephew of Klemet Preus, author of “The Fire And The Staff”, also an important book for me.

Friends old and new

During our stay, Luz Maria and I enjoyed the hospitality of Deaconess Caitlin Ramirez, who we first met at the deaconess retreat in 2016, and her husband, Jeancarlos, who is in his second year of study at the seminary, and their son, Abraham. One morning Caitlin hosted a breakfast for deaconesses from four different countries at her home in Santiago de los Caballeros.

I was able to reunite with Regnier John Fritz, who during our 2016 visit, was studying for the ministry. Now he is ordained and chaplain of the day school associated with the seminary. I also met Hector Paneque, a seminarian from Cuba. He explained to me that LCMS missionaries had planted churches in Cuba before Fidel Castro’s revolution. But after Castro seized power, the churches were closed and the missionaries returned to the United States. Missionaries from the Wisconsin Evangelican Lutheran Synod (WELS) were able to make another attempt to evangelize in Cuba during the 1990s. These missionaries were not able to stay permanently, either, but left one church which sent Hector to the seminary. This illustrated to me the advantage of having a seminary strategically located in Latin America: It would be hard to imagine a Cuban being able to attend seminary in the USA under present circumstances!

The Venezuelans who traveled to the Dominican Republic were met by Venezuelans already there. These included Sergio Maita, who is a member of the seminary faculty and pastor of Pan de Vida Lutheran Church in Santo Domingo; Sergio’s wife, Yoxandris, and their children, Irene and Andrés; Sergio’s brother, Arturo, now a missionary in Puerto Rico, along with Ruth Pollex Maita, Arturo’s wife, and their daughter, Mikaela; and Josue Ventura, and his uncle, Carlos Vionnel Ventura, who are both seminarians (Josue is the son and Carlos the brother of Adrian Ventura, once pastor of Christ the King Lutheran Church in Maturin, Venezuela, and now a missionary in Santiago, Chile).

Hope for a new hymnal

Every day opened with Matins and closed with Vespers from a new Spanish Lutheran hymnal expected to be published in its entirety within this next year. Everyone was humming “El Magnificat”. Preachers included Rev. Iban Navarra, the third citizen of the Dominican Republic to be ordained as a confessional Lutheran pastor; Rev. Mark Braden, pastor of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Detroit, Michigan, adjunct faculty member of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and visiting professor in both Venezuela and the Dominican Republic; and Rev. Theodore Krey, regional director for the Latin America and Caribbean region of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS) and former missionary to Venezuela for eight years.

We returned to Venezuela in time to celebrate the last Sunday of the church year. Now, as we prepare for Christmas, we ask you to consider a years-end donation to Global Lutheran Outreach on behalf of Epiphany Lutheran Mission. Our travel expenses to the Dominican Republic were paid, but now we have to confront an economic situation in Venezuela that is more volatile than ever. We rely on donations from you to continue and extend our service to people who are in both material need and in need of the light of God's love.