Peace be within thy
walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. For my brethren and
companions' sakes, I will now say, Peace be within thee. Because of
the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good. Psalm 122:7-9
We often begin our
Sunday service with a song that essentially is a Spanish translation
of Psalm 22 set to music:
Qué alegría cuando
me dijeron,
¡vamos a la casa del Señor!
Ya están pisando
nuestros pies,
tus umbrales, Jerusalén.
Jerusalén está
fundada como ciudad bien compacta,
a ti marchan los hombres, el
pueblo del Señor.
Pidamos paz para la
ciudad;
vivan tranquilos los que te aman.
Haya paz dentro de
tus muros,
y en tus hogares felicidad.
Por mis hermanos y
compañeros, voy a decir, La paz contigo.
Por el pueblo del
Señor, nuestro Dios, te deseo todo bien.
Lately I have been
reminded of one of my favorite hymns by John Newton:
Glorious things of
thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God!
He whose Word cannot
be broken, formed thee for His own abode.
On the Rock of Ages
founded, what can shake thy sure repose?
By salvation's walls
surrounded, thou may'st smile at all thy foes.
Indeed we are
surrounded by the promise of salvation and God's providence, yet we
are fortifying the concrete-and-stone wall that encloses the
mission's property. Most sections of the wall have stood for years as
the customary means of marking property lines in Venezuela. However,
in recognition of the increasing level of violence and lawlessness
here, we are taking the precaution of raising the height of the wall
by a meter and a half. Except, that is, on the side facing the street
where building onto the wall would not be practical. There, above the
gates to the church and preschool, we will set up an electrical
fence.
Inside and outside
the building we will place security cameras. The exterior cameras
will overlook the street as well, to provide security not only for
our benefit, but for the surrounding community, too.
Only a few years
ago, we would not have imagined taking these steps. Now, however, it
is necessary to do so to reassure everyone that our mission is a
refuge and a place of peace. Like all of our work, we have been able
to reinforce the security of our property thanks to donations from
individuals, congregations and other organizations. We thank God and
all of you for your support.
We have seen rapid progress in the construction of our new building. The new school year begins September 15, and we expect the new learning center to be ready by then. We are planning the dedication of our new chapel for the first Sunday after the Epiphany, January 8, 2017.
On July 31, the 10th Sunday after Trinity Sunday, we gave thanks for our new building, but remembered the warnings of the appointed Old Testament and Gospel readings, Jeremiah 7:1-11 and Luke 19:41-48. This was the sermon based on those texts,
Ciro Mendoza built these entrance doors.
Grace and peace in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
In our text for today we find a prophecy of Jesus, which was
fulfilled after His death, resurrection and ascension: The
destruction of the city of Jerusalem and its temple. Our reading of
the Old Testament (Jeremiah 7.1-11) also speaks of the temple, so we
will reflect on that.
Let us again remember the Exodus story. The Israelites escaped
slavery in Egypt under the power of Pharaoh, crossed the Red Sea, but
did not immediately enter the Promised Land, the land of Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob. They traveled in the wilderness more than 40 years,
lived as refugees in tents. They were in one place for a while, then
they folded their tents to go to another place. However, the
Israelites wanted a place to worship God.
Why it is good to have a place to worship God? Can we not worship
God anywhere at any time? God is in all parties and does not need a
house made by human hands. But we need a place dedicated to worship
to gather in the same place at the same time to worship and witness
to our faith to all around us.
In addition, we are creatures with eyes, ears and other senses. We
need to hear the Word of God and receive the water of baptism on our
skin, the bread and wine of the sacrament with our lips. It is also
good to hear the music of praise and view images, symbols of our
Savior.
So God led the Israelites through Moses to build a tabernacle, a
tent for worship. With each move, they folded the tend and took the
altar, candles and all the other things to another place. For over 40
years they worshiped God in the tabernacle in the wilderness and then
in Jerusalem until King Solomon, son of David, built a temple, a
permanent building as the house of God.
For over 10 years in our mission we have worshiped God in a caney.
Every Sunday we have set up the altar, cross and chairs, and then
stored them to use the caney in other ways. Thank God we have a
building dedicated to worship almost ready.
However, when the people of Israel strayed from the path of God,
judgment fell on them. The northern tribes were defeated by the
Assyrians. The southern kingdom, where Jerusalem stood, fell to the
king of Babylon and Jerusalem and the temple built by Solomon were
destroyed. After 70 years, the emperor of Persia defeated the king of
Babylon and allowed the return of the Jews to the land of Palestine.
And they rebuilt the city of Jerusalem and the temple. In addition,
more or less 40 or 50 years before the birth of Jesus Christ, King
Herod the Great enlarged the temple and its grounds. So, at the time
of Jesus, the temple was very large and impressive.
But again the people strayed from God's Word. Above all, they
rejected the Messiah, the Promised One of Israel and Savior of the
world, Jesus Christ. Therefore, "And as he drew near, he saw the
city and wept over it, saying: O If you had known, at least in this
thy day, which belongs unto thy peace! But now it is hidden from your
eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall
cast a trench about you, and compass you round, and keep you in on
every side, and shall lay you even with the ground, and thy children
within you; and they shall not leave in you one stone upon another;
because you knew not the time of your visitation."
This prophecy was fulfilled in 70 AD. The Jews rose in rebellion
against the Roman Empire. The Roman emperor sent his army, crushed
the rebellion and destroyed the city and the temple. In time they
rebuilt the city again, but to this day there is no temple, there
remains on the mount of the great temple complex only one part of a
wall, called the Western Wall or the Wailing Wall.
The descendants of Abraham rejected the Messiah, but He, as the
son of Abraham and David, fulfilled all the covenant that God made
with Abraham. Therefore, the heirs of the promises of Abraham are now
believers in Jesus Christ. God's people now are the church, the
community of believers in Christ.
Well, now in La Caramuca we have a great temple. People say, how
beautiful and wonderful is this temple! And this is good. However,
what will happen if the Word of God is not preached in this temple or
nobody comes to hear the Word of God? Many people today say that
Venezuela is the only country in which people come into a bakery and
ask, Is there bread? It's a joke, for what purpose has a bakery if
you have no bread? Also, it absurd to have a great temple in which we
do not find the Word of God. We must continue to listen to the Word
of God or perhaps lose the opportunity to listen.
A large building is good to show others the importance of our
faith and to invite them to the worship of God. But, still if we do
not show the love of God in our lives, it's worth a great temple. As
the reading of the Old Testament says:
Finishing the stairwell.
"Amend your ways and your doings, and I will dwell in this
place. Trust not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, the
temple of the Lord, Jehovah's temple is this...Do not oppress the
stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, neither in this place shed
innocent blood, neither walk after other gods to your hurt ... Will you
steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, burn incense
to Baal, and walk after other gods whom you know not ?"
The prophet speaks of the 10 commandments. First, have no other
gods before me, and furthermore love your neighbor as yourself. The
first three commandments, or the first table of the law, deal with
our relationship with God and the rest, the second table, deal with
our relationship with our neighbor. In this way we show the love of
God to others. God loved us first, so with the help of the Holy
Spirit, we can show the love of God in our lives. If people do not
see this love in our lives, they will not see the value of worshiping
God.
We have by way of warning the example of Israel that rejected the
Word of God and therefore lost the grace of God. We also have the
promise that we abide in the Word of God, the Lord is always with us.
Here we have the peace that surpasses all understanding. Amen.
There are two words in New Testament
Greek that can be translated into English as “time.” One is
χρόνος (chronos), as in chronology, chronic or chronicle..
Chronos expresses the concept of time quantitatively, as a measurable
succession of seconds, minutes, hours, days and years.
Καιρός (kairos) is the other
word. It expresses the concept of time qualitatively, in terms of
“the right time” or “a favorable moment.”
The difference between chronos and
kairos might be illustrated with this analogy (which is used more
than once in the Bible itself (Matthew 24:8; John 16:21; Romans 8:22)
to explain the unfolding of God's will). When a woman goes into
labor, it does not matter if it is precisely nine months since
conception (chronos), the time has come for the child to be born
(kairos).
In Matthew 2:7, a form of the world
chronos is used when King Herod asks the wise men precisely “what
time” the star of Bethlehem had appeared to them in the east
(because Herod wanted to calculate the age of the child born to be a
king).
Kairos, on the other hand, is the word
used in Mark 1.15, where Jesus says, “The time is fulfilled, and
the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the gospel.”
For us, it is kairos, the right time
to resurface the wall which faces the street with stone and tile. For
some time (chronos), our building plans have been stalled because of
lack of cement. We now are able to buy cement, although at a much
higher price than in the past. However, thanks be to God,, we
received generous donations at year's end that have allowed us to
purchase all the materials and labor necessary for renovating the
wall.
We hope to accomplish three objectives
by resurfacing the wall:
To improve the appearance of the
entrance of our mission and increase its visibility in the
community. This will include, once the resurfacing is complete, the
installation of a permanent sign with our new name (Epiphany
Lutheran Mission of La Caramuca), the hour of Sunday service and
weekday hours of our preschool and afterschool tutoring.
To fix and seal cracks in the
wall.
To reduce the need for future
maintenance.
We also have been able to repair most
of the damage that occurred from a terrific voltage spike a couple of
weeks ago. Our electrical power supply is extremely variable. Once or
twice a week every week we experience a complete loss of power,
lasting from less than half an hour to several hours. Every evening
brings a “brown-out” with the voltage level being much lower than
in the morning. We have voltage regulators, surge protectors and
uninterruptible power supplies, as well as an emergency
gasoline-powered backup generator.
However, one night not long ago, we
experienced a surge in voltage that overcame all our protective
devices and burned out five lightbulbs, a lightswitch, an electric
fan, the power supply and speakers on our desktop computer, and the
electronic control panel on our washing machine.
We have had the washing machine for
nine years and have never had to have it repaired until now. It's not
a Maytag, but rather was built by LG,
a South Korean company said to be the world's second-largest
manufacturer of televisions and fifth-largest manufacturer of cell
phones.
We still need to have some rewiring
done in the prechool. Despite the difficulties that we face in
maintaining electronic equipment, we realize that it has become
indispensable for education here as in the United States. For the
preschool we rely on songs and lessons recorded on CD or DVD.
Internet access is an important part of Luz Maria's afterschool
tutoring. Our desktop computer is equipped with Canaima
Linux, a version of the operating system used in Venezuela's
public school system.
Plans are in place to build a chapel
and additional classrooms. We are grateful to everyone who has
supported us with prayer and financial contributions. If you would
like to help us continue moving forward, please send donations to:
Maria Alejandra Ruiz Gonzalez was baptized on Motherś Day, May 8, 2911. Maria, who is nine years old, has three younger sisters, two of whom attend our preschool. When her parents started talking to me about a date for baptism, I assumed they were talking about the youngest of these girls. But, no, it was Maria Alejandra herself who had decided to be baptized after the family began attending Sunday services. Maria Alejandra also is one of the stude ents who Luz Maria tutors every weekday afternoon.
This was almost like an adult baptism, in that she was able to speak for herself in the baptismal rite without any sponsors. Not only that, but at nine years of age, Maria Alejandra stands almost as tall as myself. She takes after her father, who is also named David. I estimate that he stands nearly two meters tall (that's six feet, six inches).
Maria Alejandra and her family.
I assisted in a private adult baptism about 25 years ago. That's a long time, I didn't have any assistants this time, and it was a public ceremony with all of our little congregation as witnesses. So it was something of a novel experience for me.
Maria Alejandra already has been studying the Bible with Luz Maria. We will begin confirmation classes immediately and shoot for confirmation in December.
Plumbing new depths
Thanks to generous donations, we have been able to renovate our well and it is now in operation. The work was completed just in time, as the municipal water system went down again for a day or two. We were able to refill our household tank from the well. With our gasoline-powered generator we were able to keep the electrical pumps running even with the power down as well.
Water from the well.
The power outages that plagued the country last year have continue. It appears that in the state of Barinas we ill wgo back on an electricity rationing plan that will deprive us of power for about three hours every day.
The next phase in our long-term building plan, which we hope to complete yet this year, is construction of an outdoor restroom facility separate from the house and preschool. More and more people afe using the existing facilities right now, but this step will be mainly in anticipation of building a freestanding meeting.house for classes and worship services. According to a plan that we have had drawn up, there is room on the property for a six-room structure with a chapel and office. We intend to add each room on a modular basis, as God gives the growth to our mission.
Spanish Lutherans: a legacy nearly lost
One of the things that first sparked my interest in Venezuela was the story of Juan de Frias, a Venezuelan priest of the Augustinian order, who was convicted and jailed on June 12, 1671, by the Spanish Inquisition for professing Lutheran doctrine. After 16 years in prison, he was burned at stake in Cartagena de los Indios (Colombia) on May 30, 1688. Until hearing this account, I had not been aware that the Reformation had spread outside of northern Europe, much less to the New World, and also that the Spanish Inquisition had been active in this hemisphere as well.
Then I learned of Casiodoro de Reina, a former monk who fled his monastery near Seville, Spain, one step ahead of the Inquisition and eventually ended his days as a Lutheran pastor. De Reina is most famous for leading a collaborative effort to translate the Bible into Spanish. First published in 1569, this translation is known as the Reina-Valera Bible, and, in its various revisions, still is the most widely distributed Bible in Latin America.
Seal of Spanish Inquisition
Image via Wikipedia
Recently the Latin American edition of Discovery Channel began airing "En Nombre de la Fe", a documentary about Spanish Inquisition's activities in the Americas. It mentions an even earlier Lutheran martyr, Mateo Salado, who was burned at the stake in Lima, Peru, on November 15, 1573. Born Matheus Saladé in 1526, he was a Frenchman who emigrated to Spain and came into contact with the Lutheran community that had sprung up in Seville. A taste for adventure led him to embark for the New World in 1561. He lived in Lima as a hermit and was regarded by most people as a religious eccentric until he was arrested in 1570 and executed three years later in the city's first "auto-de-fe" (public execution of heretics). Salado lived among some pre-Columbian ruins. Today this area has become a cultural center and archaeological site named in his honor, "Huaca Mateo Salado." It is one of Lima's premier tourist attractions.
The Spanish Inquisition established three "branch offices" in the New World, first in Mexico City and Lima, and later in Cartagena de los Indios. The first auto-da-fe in Mexico took place in 1574; a Frenchman and an Englishman were burned as Lutherans, according to Juan Antonio Llorente's history of the Spanish Inquisition,
Although created by papal decree in 1480, the Spanish Inquisition was under direct authority of the Spanish monarchy and its specific objective was the suppression of religious dissent in Spain and its colonies (there was a separate "Portuguese Inquisition" that operated in Brazil and other territories claimed by Portugal).At first the Spanish Inquisition targeted Jews and Muslims, or, more precisely, former Jews and Muslims who were suspected of being less than completely sincere in their conversions to Christianity. With the rise of the Reformation in northern Europe, the Spanish Inquisition turned to its attention to !the Lutheran heresy".
In Spain the Inquisition's tribunals in Valladolid in the north and Seville in the south became expecially notorious for persecution of Lutherans. On May 21, 1559, 14 people were burned as Lutherans in Valladolid, Sixteen others escaped death by recanting their Lutheranism, but were subjected to imprisonment and confiscation of property, nonetheless. A second auto-da-fe took place in Valladolid on October 8, 1559, in which 13 were burned as Lutherans, while 16 others escaped death by recanting.
In the ancient city of Seville, 21 people were burned as Lutherans on September 24, 1559. More would have died, but Francis Zafra, the priest charged with reviewing accusations of Lutheranism by the Inquisition, was secretly a Lutheran and was able to save many from being condemned. He himself escaped from Seville after being discovered, and was burned in effigy.
On December 22, 1560, 14 more people were burned as Lutherans in Seville. According to Llorente, "The opinions of Luther, Calvin, and the other Protestant reformers, were not disseminated in the other cities in Spain with the same rapidity as at Seville and Valladolid; but there is reason to believe that all Spain would soon have been infected with the heresy, but for the extreme severity shown towards the Lutherans. From 1560 to 1570 at least one auto-da-fe was celebrated every year in every Inquisition of the kingdom, and some heretics of the new sect always appeared among the condemned persons."
It was a relentless campaign that stymied the progress of the Reformation in Spain and its colonies for nearly 500 years. But the truth of God's Word can never be completely obscured, and in the 21st Century, there is not only a Lutheran Church of Venezuela, but also a Lutheran church-body in Spain itself. On October 10, 2010, Juan Carlos Garcia Cazorla was installed as the first national pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Spain (la Iglesia Evangelica Luterana Española or IELE) in Seville.
In 2000, a Lutheran family in Toledo, Spain, partnered with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Argentina (IELA), to lay the foundation for a Lutheran church in Spain. An Argentinean missionary from the IELA was sent to lead outreach efforts, and a second arrived in 2002 to build upon his work, establish a congregation and extend outreach into other areas of Spain.
With the financial and logistical partnership of LCMS World Mission, the IELE was planted and recognized by the Spanish government in 2004. The IELE maintains a congregation in Asturias (northern Spain) and mission posts in Andalusía, Madrid and Catalonia. Several members of the church attend pastoral programs in order to provide the IELE with new pastors for the future.
One of my favorite hymns is "Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken" by John Newton (he also wrote "Amazing Grace"). The first verse goes like this:
Glorious things of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God. He whose Word cannot be broken, Formed thee for His own abode. On the Rock of Ages founded, What can shake thy sure repose? By salvation's walls surrounded, Thou may'st smile at all thy foes.
Of course we are by salvation's walls surrounded in La Caramuca, but now by a wall of masonry as well. It lacks only metal gates, which we expect to have installed in the next couple of weeks. The entire mission is now enclosed.
Despite a generous donation toward this project, it has strained our budget to continue. This has been due to the steadily rising costs of materials and labor in this inflationary economy. Nevertheless, we have pressed on for three reasons:
First, the more we improve the property, the more we must control access to prevent petty theft and vandalism (somebody stole our parrot a few weeks ago!).
Second, for the sake of the children. We have encouraged them to visit us and use our property as a playground. But up to now we have not been able to prevent them from doing so when we are absent and therefore unable to supervise them. To avoid accidental injuries (and there have been some close calls), we must establish a physical barrier.
Third, the wall gives the mission a more "institutional" appearance and helps convince the community of our intention to serve over the long term. Just down the block stands an empty building that had been a Pentecostal church. It did quite a few good works in the community for the two years that it was in operation, but the doors have been closed for seven years now. Pentecostal churches, especially the "house churches" rise and fall like mushrooms. One of our big challenges is to assure everyone that our mission (God willing) will not be like those of the past: here today, gone tomorrow.
Wedding of Ted and Rebecca Krey
On August 30, 2008, Luz María and I attended the wedding of Pastor Ted Krey and his wife, Rebecca, at La Fortaleza Lutheran Church in Maracay. They had been married in Canada, but this ceremony was for all their Venezuelan friends who could not attend the first one.
The service followed the common liturgy that has been adopted by the Lutheran Church of Venezuela. I might note that the closing hymn was a Spanish version of "Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee", a hymn set to the fourth and final movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, commonly known as the "Ode to Joy". This is a very popular piece of classical music in Venezuela. You frequently hear it on the radio and high school bands often play it.
"Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee", was written by Henry J. van Dyke, and first was published in the 1911 Presbyterian Hymnal. The first stanza in English goes like this:
Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love; Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above. Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away; Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!
This is the Spanish version:
Jubilosos, te adoramos, Dios de gloria y Salvador. Nuestras vidas te entregamos como se abre al sol la flor. Ahuyenta nuestras males y tristezas, oh Jesús. Danos bienes celestiales. Llénanos de gozo y luz.
Bereshit bara Elohim et hashamayim ve'et ha'arets
Really, it's:
בראשית ברא אלהים את השמים ואת הארץ
But your mileage may vary in regard to Hebrew fonts and Web browsers. The more familiar English translation is, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). We dashed to Maracay for the wedding August 30, then returned to La Caramuca that evening so that I could preach in Corpus Christi Sunday morning and we could lead our Sunday school in the afternoon. Then Sunday night we boarded the bus for Caracas to attend a week-long intensive study of Genesis. The course was taught by Pastor Mark Braden of Zion Lutheran Church, Cleghorn, Wisconsin. We studied the text word by word in the original language, which means we did not get that far even for an overview, only to chapter 17.
Luz María and I took the course together, which was a lot fun. But I had something of an advantage in pronouncing the guttural Hebrew, since Spanish does have many sounds made deep in the throat. I cannot roll my r's the way Venezuelans do, though.We reviewed the many foundations of the New Testament in Genesis, starting with the original Messianic prophecy (Genesis 3:15).
We also looked at Noah's Flood as a prefiguring of holy baptism (1 Peter 3:21), and Pentecost and the Great Commission as reversals of the Tower of Babel (in the Genesis episode, humanity was cursed with a confusion of tongues and dispersed to many parts of the world; at Pentecost, people gathered from the far corners of the Roman Empire heard the Gospel proclaimed in their own language, and in the final verses of Matthew, chapter 28, Jesus sends his apostles out into the world to gather all the nations into the church).
We talked quite a bit about the mysterious figure of Melchizedek, priest of "God Most High" and king of the city that one day would be called Jerusalem. In Genesis 14, it is written that Melchizedek "brought out bread and wine" and blessed God and Abraham. Not only did Abraham accept the blessing, he offered Melchizedek a tithe of all that he had taken from the petty kings that he defeated in the process of rescuing his wayward nephew, Lot.
Later the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews would call Jesus Christ "high priest after the order of Melchizedek", both high priest and king forever. In Psalm 110, King David wrote, "The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at My right hand...You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek". This psalm is referenced by our Lord Himself in Matthew 22: 41-46:
"Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet? If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions."
In Psalm 110, David refers to One who will be a king greater than himself, that is to say, the Messiah of Israel, seated at the right hand of Jehovah. As we learned in our course on the Psalms, taught by Pastor Rudy Blank, to be seated at the right hand of a Middle Eastern king meant to be entrusted with the full confidence and authority of that king. David also prophecies that the Messiah would be both a king and high priest, like Melchizedek.
In 2 Samuel 24:25 we read that David offered up sacrifices to God in the manner of a priest. When King Saul tried this, his sacrifices were not acceptable to God, because at that point God had withdrawn His favor from the faithless and disobedient Saul and would direct Samuel to anoint David as God's chosen king. The word "Messiah" means "anointed one". Thus, to Jewish believers in the first century, to call Jesus a high priest after the order of Melchizedek meant that although he was not a descendant of Aaron, according to the priesthood of the Old Testament, as the promised king of the lineage of David, he could offer sacrifices to God as did Melchizedek, priest of God and king of Jerusalem in Abraham's day, and as did King David himself. Like His ancestor, David, Jesus was both priest and king -- and prophet. Although David's identity as a prophet is not emphasized in the Old Testament, Psalm 110 and other psalms contain Messianic prophecies.
Congress of Lutheran Educators
Luz María took the final exam for the Genesis course early and left Thursday night with Elsy de Machado for the annual Congress of Lutheran Educators in Barquisimeto. Luz María is national coordinator for Christian education for the Lutheran Church of Venezuela. In Barquisimeto she presented a slide show on the results of this year's vacation Bible school program. The highest levels of attendance were found in La Caramuca (92 children in total) and Tierra de Gracia Lutheran Farm in Monagas (208 children). Volunteers from St. Louis, Missouri, and several young men in the "seminarista" program were involved in VBS on the farm.
On Friday evening I returned to La Caramuca to prepare for preaching and leading the service at Corpus Christi on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2008.
We finally have resumed construction of the gated wall around our property. There still are periodic shortages of cement, to the pointwhere the federal government has ordered the nationalization of the cement industry. There continue to be food shortages as well. One local newpaper, De Frente, said the purchase of chicken, beef and milk has become like a lottery: You just have to be in the right store at the right time because there is no guarantee as to when and how much of these items will be stocked.
Nevertheless, we were able to buy some cement. Luz María's son, Pedro, this week began clearing part of the property for laying the foundation of the wall facing the street. Specifically, he and another fellow cut down the mango tree with large branches that would have been in the way. There were other problems with the tree. In Venezuela, mangos grow in nearly everyone's backyard, so if the tree produces more than your family and friends can consume, there is not really a market for the excess fruit. Keeping the yard clear of rotting mangos is really a chore. The tree also was a magnet for local boys who threw stones to knock down the fruit hanging high in the tree. Recently one boy threw a stone hard enough and far enough to shatter the glass in our bedroom window. So, all things considered, it was time for the mango tree to go.
The last week of March, Eduardo and I traveled to Barquisimeto for a seminar on urban missions at El Paraiso Lutheran Church. The seminar was taught by Jim Tino, a former Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod missionary to Venezuela. El Paraiso actually is located in Cabudare, a suburb of Barquisimeto. The church compound is like a little garden of Eden with many rare plants.
There were perhaps 40 to 50 people in the seminar and even more showed up that weekend for the ordination of Miguelángel Perez. As a national missionary, Miguelángel will serve as pastor to the two Lutheran Church of Venezuela member-congregations in Barquisimeto, El Paraiso and Cristo es Amor (Christ is Love). Eduardo stayed for the ordination, but returned to Barinas Saturday to lead the Sunday service at Corpus Christi Lutheran Church.
I left the seminar with these thoughts about our mission in La Caramuca:
In the Lutheran Church of Venezuela's eastern zone you may find the largest and most stable congregations in the national church, such as Cristo Rey (Christ the King) in Maturin. These are the legacy of Heinrich Zeuch, a Lutheran deacon who came to Venezuela to start a new life after his family's home in Germany was destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II. Zeuch worked at a variety jobs in the agricultural sector in the eastern state of Monagas, all the while starting Bible study and prayer groups. When LCMS missionaries in Caracas heard of what Zeuch was doing in the early 1950s, they quickly contacted him and saw to it that he was ordained as a missionary pastor. The Zeuch family eventually moved to Brazil, but the rural congregations planted by Heinrich Zeuch continued to thrive and serve as seedbeds for congregations in the more highly populated areas of eastern Venezuela.
As in the United States and much of the rest of the world, the tremendous increases in agricultural productivity over the last 100 years in Venezuela greatly reduced the need for unskilled farm labor and spurred emigration to urban industrial areas. Venezuela, which perhaps experienced the most rapid urbanization of any Latin American country, has been ill-equipped to deal with the growth of urban masses, many of whom found the promise of better-paying jobs in the city to be an illusion.
But thanks to a generally high birth rate, rural populations in Venezuela have not declined that much, despite emigration to the cities. Rural Venezuelans face many of the same problems as urban Venezuelans: poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, family instability, lack of any sense of a higher purpose in life. But because economic and human resources have been shifted to urban areas to deal with the high concentrations of people there, rural communities in this most "urbanized" South American nation are more isolated than ever.
For a time families from the rural churches of Monagas served as nuclei for new urban churches. But then a decision was made to move North American missionaries, upon whom the Lutheran Church of Venezuela still was highly dependent, completely out of rural ministries into the cities because "that is where the people are." But this decision to "follow the numbers" proved to be a mistake.
The rural churches were not prepared to deal with this shift and fell into decline. With the seedbeds in disrepair, a generation of leadership was lost. Now, with the withdrawal of nearly all LCMS missionaries from Venezuela (and, in fact, from nearly all of Latin America), the Lutheran Church of Venezuela is in crisis. With a total membership of only about a 1,000 in a nation of 26 million people, there still are not enough pastors to serve all of the exisiting congregations, much less do evangelistic outreach. In Caracas, Venezuela's largest city, the Lutheran Church of Venezuela has only three member-congregations and only one of those is served by a full-time pastor.
Tierra de Gracia agricultural mission, where I served as a lay volunteer when I came to Venezuela, was set up in Monagas to help revive the rural churches there.
Its objectives include:
Help farm laborers improve their skills and opportunities for employment.
Evangelize those who work on the farm and their surrounding communities.
Support evangelization in rural areas and pastoral care in the existing rural churches.
Here in western Venezuela we do not have the historic base that the churches in Monagas have. But we think the development of Christian education in our rural zone can solve this problem. With the availability of quality Christian education, many would not have to leave the area to improve their skills and prospects in life. At the same time, those that did move to the city would be prepared to serve as lay leaders and full-time church workers there. Actually, it is easier for a person from the country to adapt to city life than a city person to adapt to the country.
We have historical examples of how this could work. For example, in the 19th Century Wilhelm Loehe trained and sent Lutheran missionaries to North America, Australia, New Guinea, Brazil, and the Ukraine from Neuendettelsau, a small town in Bavaria.
Likewise, what would become Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, began as a one-room school 100 miles south of St. Louis in rural Perry County, Missouri. Today the seminary has more than 800 students from around the world.
Concordia University of Seward, Nebraska (population 6,500), since 1894 has trained teachers and candidates for the seminary among the cornfields of eastern Nebraska.
"Jesus, thank you for this Sunday school and the opportunity to learn about you," Angie Perez spontaneously prayed two weeks ago. Angie and her younger brothers, Richard and Jimmy, were among the eight children baptized in La Caramuca last March. Angie will turn 11 this year and, like most of our older children, earnestly desires to be confirmed.
We begin each class by reviewing what the children have learned from Luther's Small Catechism. They have memorized the Ten Commandments and we are moving on to the Apostle's Creed. Then we sing some songs from "Cancionero Luterano 7" or, Lutheran Songbook No. 7. Most of the songs are upbeat and easy for the younger children to sing and understand, but Angie likes the Agnus Dei, which was one of my favorites as a child:
"Oh, Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us. Oh, Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, have mercy upon us. Oh, Christ, Thou Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, grant us Thy peace."
Of course, we sing a Spanish version:
"Cordero de Dios, que quitas del pecado el mundo, ten piedad de nosotros. Cordero de Dios, que quitas del pecado el mundo, ten piedad de nosotros. Cordero de Dios, que quitas del pecado el mundo, danos la paz."
After the songs, I lead the children in a brief liturgy, el Servicio de la Oración Vespertina, or the Service of Afternoon Prayer. This includes the Lord's Prayer, the Apostle's Creed, the Bible reading appointed for that Sunday, and prayers. Then Luz María presents a lesson based on the Bible reading which culminates in a crafts activity. If there are enough of the older children present, we work in a lesson from the catechism for them as well. Finally, the children play volleyball or some other active game until sundown.
In 2008 we plan to teach some of the children to play instruments to accompany the singing. We have on hand a cuatro (four-stringed Venezuelan guitar) and a pandaretta (more like a tambourine than anything else). We would like to purchase more. Also, if we can get the children's parents more involved in our activities, by the time they are confirmed, we could be ready to offer a complete Sunday service of Word and sacrament.
The joy of working with the children in this way more than compensates for a rather rocky start to our new year. For two weeks of this month, the public water system was out of commission. This was not the first such failure, but it was the longest-lasting since I have lived here. We at last were able to put to use the well at the bottom of our hill by figuring out a way to keep the well water out of the pipes to our water-filtration system in the kitchen. We have a two-stage filtration system like many people in Venezuela. The first unit filters out particulate matter and the second is supposed to zap any microbial life in the water. But Luz María does not trust our unit to handle water from the well, which needs a thorough cleaning. For the past two years, the dry season has not been very dry, so the water level in the well has not subsided enough for cleaning. But maybe this March we can accomplish this goal. At least we had plenty of water for washing and did not have to haul our laundry down to the river.
To pump water from the well, we used a small electric pump with a long extension cord. Fortunately we have not had lengthy power outages so far this year. There is a famous quote from the days of Franklin D. Roosevelt's rural electrification program, which brought electric power to many parts of the country. A grateful farmer is supposed to have said, "The greatest thing on earth is to have the love of God in your heart, and the next greatest thing is to have electricity in your house." I tend to agree, although I question whether electricity or running water should be in second or third place.
Also this month there was a near-panic in our area as pasta and rice (staples of the Venezuelan diet) briefly disappeared from grocery-store shelves. Mysterious shortags of various items,like milk, eggs and sugar, have become more frequent in the last two years. We occasionally have worried that Luz María's daughter, Sarai, would not find enough powdered milk to meet the needs of her infant son, Edwar José.
But all is nearly back to normal now. We are getting used to the new currency. In order to stem the runaway inflation, the Venezuelan government Jan. 1 began replacing the nearly worthless bolivar with the bolivar fuerte (strong bolivar). While 1 U.S. dollar equaled 2,000 bolivares, 2 bolivares fuertes equal 1 U.S. dollar. A large cup of coffee cost between 1,000 and 2,000 bolivares (50 cents and $1), but now costs between 1 and 2 bolivares fuertes. That is still between 50 cents and $1, but at least one does not have to deal with all the extra zeroes.
By the way, it is a Venezuelan custom to enjoy "café con leche" (coffee with milk) in the evening. This is like a latte, in other words, a lot of milk with a little bit of coffee. But these past few weeks, we have had to use a milk substitute made of rice and wheat flour (also products that have been in short supply, so you see why it was a concern for everyone).
Building materials are once more available, so Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barinas is moving ahead with the construction of its new kitchen, bathrooms and pastor's living quarters. Luz María's daughter, Wuendy, came down from Caracas to help obtain all the cement, tile, fixtures and other necessary items. We soon will resume construction of our fence and playground, and, God willing, begin construction of a schoolhouse this year in La Caramuca.
Update on Kenya: Spring of Life Lutheran Church in Kibera, Kenya, was among the Christian churches burned during post-election violence in that country. About 40 people had sought refuge in Spring of Life, but nobody was injured in the fire. The pastor of Spring of Life is Dennis Meeker, a 2007 graduate of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana. He is married to a Kenyan woman who, like Luz María, is a deaconess in her national church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya. For more information on the situation in Kenya, see the Friends of Mercy blog or the personal blog of Carlos Walter Winterle, a Brazilian pastor who is serving as a missionary to Kenya.
παυλος αποστολος ιησου χριστου δια θεληματος θεου και τιμοθεος ο αδελφος τοις εν κολοσσαις αγιοις και πιστοις αδελφοις εν χριστω χαρις υμιν και ειρηνη απο θεου πατρος ημων και κυριου ιησου χριστου ευχαριστουμεν τω θεω και πατρι του κυριου ημων ιησου χριστου παντοτε περι υμων προσευχομενοι ακουσαντες την πιστιν υμων εν χριστω ιησου και την αγαπην την εις παντας τους αγιους δια την ελπιδα την αποκειμενην υμιν εν τοις ουρανοις ην προηκουσατε εν τω λογω της αληθειας του ευαγγελιου
Luz Maria and I have spent the past two weeks in Caracas studying New Testament Greek together. We had to translate the above text. It reads something like this in English:
"Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and brother Timothy, to the Colossian saints and faithful brothers in Christ. Grace to you and peace from God, father of our Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God and always pray for you, having heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all the saints through the hope stored for you in the heavens, of which you have heard in the truth of the gospel."
Of course, this passage is found in Paul's letter to the Colossians, chapter 1, verses 1-5. It seemed a fitting theme for our journey.
Yepci, Luz Maria's daughter, and grandchildren, Elias and Oriana, traveled with us so Yepci could attend a preschool education workshop.
There were 15 people in the Greek class besides us. The youngest was Neudys Franco, daughter of Alcides Franco, a former president of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela. She just graduated from high school and, according to custom, her parents were prepared to throw a big graduation party for her. But she asked them to use the money they had saved for her party to send her to Caracas to study Greek. Her older brother, Jonathan, also attended the class and was charged with looking after his sister in the big city.
We met many old friends, such as Armando Ramos, resident pastor of Tierra de Gracia Lutheran Farm. Pastor Francisco Cabarcas, chaplain of Cristo Rey (Christ the King) Lutheran School in Maturin was in the class, too. He was staying in Caracas with his wife, Dagnys, and their daughters, Oriana and Veronica.
Our instructor in Greek was Mark Braden, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church, Cleghorn, Wisconsin (about six miles south of Eau Claire). Pastor Braden learned Spanish as a boy. His father worked for the USO and the family lived in England, Italy and Spain. His fondest memories are of the years in Cadiz, Spain, where there was a U.S. submarine refueling base.
Pastor Braden returned to Spain for a time as an 18-year-old student. A former university administrator, Pastor Braden entered the ministry as a second career and worked as a Greek tutor at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
In two weeks we learned only the basics of koine Greek, but it was enough to read the original New Testament text with the help of a lexicon and compare the accuracy of various translations. As we discovered, koine Greek, the lingua franca of the first-century Mediterranean world, is a more complicated language than most modern tongues, but it is also more precise with more specific words for specific concepts, and less ambiguity than modern English and Spanish.
Pastor Braden encouraged us to read and translate a few verses every day in the Greek New Testaments that each of us received. Many in the class wanted Pastor Braden to return and teach more Greek and also more theological courses.
Luz Maria and I also met some members of Pastor Braden's congregation: Carol Schauer, Arnie and Carol Riske, and Jerry Vetterkind. When we arrived in Caracas, they were in the nearby city of Valencia as part of a short-term mission team sponsored by Venezuela Lutheran Mission Partnership and led by Dale and Elizabeth Thompson of Woodbury, Minnesota.
The team returned Friday evening, August 3, after finishing a room, three rooms, complete electrical wiring and half of the sanctuary in a new building for La Fe (Faith) Lutheran Church of Valencia. People from Valencia and Maracay helped with the work. One day there were 40 workers on the project and over the course of two weeks, never less than 17 per day.
The foundation for the building was laid four years ago when I came to Venezuela and it has been a struggle to finish the project. But now Pastor José Urbina and the congregation are overjoyed at the progress made in just a couple of weeks. Soon they will be able to begin worshipping in the sanctuary.
On Saturday morning, the team's flight back to the United States was overbooked and the Riskes had to stay another day, so we got to see more of them.
We also had the opportunity while in Caracas to meet Michael Tanney, a former missionary to Venezuela who now is in Puerto Rico. He came here to make a presentation to the Lutheran Church of Venezuela´s Christian education committee (of which Luz Maria is a member).
I hope I have not made learning Greek sound like too much fun. It was hard work to gain even a minimum understanding, but a necessary step for all of us in our preparation to teach the sound doctrine of the faith. And we certainly thank God for all of the people working with us here and in the United States to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ in Venezuela.
We pray that all of you might have the grace and peace of our Lord.
Oh, by the way, I have a new Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT. Thanks to everyone who made replacing the ruined camera possible. A digital camera is essential to documenting our work here and it also is an important social tool as Venezuelans love having their pictures taken. Now I do not have to see the disappointed faces of the children back in la Caramuca when they ask what happened to my camera.
March 25, 2007, was a joyous day for us in La Caramuca as eight children from our Sunday school received the sacrament of Holy Baptism.
From the beginning we have had the objective of planting a church here, but we had imagined baptisms would follow more work with adults in the community. In January, however, after a lesson about the baptism of Jesus, these eight children (well, the older ones, at least) began asking more and more questions about baptisms. This led to the question, "Why can't we be baptized?", then "When can we be baptized?" Then came the simple request, "We wish to be baptized."
Luz Maria and I talked with their parents (there were two families involved) and gained their full support. After a presentation by Pastor Ted Krey on the significance of baptism and the responsibilities of parents and godparents, Pastor Ted and Pastor Edgar Brito from Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barinas together officiated at the baptisms.
The baptisms were done outdoors under our roofed patio. Not only were the parents of the children present, so were parents of the preschool children.
The children ranged in age from 18 months to 13 years. Their names are:
Yexi Karina Torres Ortega (13)
Deisi Yovana Torres Ortega (10)
Yaneth Andreina Torres Ortega (18 months)
Yovani Javier Torres Ortega (10)
Jhonny Alexander Torres Ortega (7)
Richard Alexander Pérez Chinchilla (7)
Jimmy Orlando Pérez Chinchilla (8)
Angie Yoximar Pérez Chinchilla (10)
We rejoice that the Holy Spirit has worked through our mission project to bring these young ones into the Body of Christ. It is the consummation of our hope, and by "we" I mean not just myself and Luz Maria, but also Luz Maria's daughters, Yepci and Charli, who have assumed much of the responsibility for teaching the Sunday school and preschool. Also essential to this work have been the assistance of Luz Maria's son, Pedro, and his wife, Mari; and Luz Maria's daughter, Sarai, and her husband, José, in such tasks as cook and cleaning, construction, property maintenance and repair.
But as the Apostle writes in 1 Corinthians, chapter 3, it may be Paul who plants, and Apollos who waters, but it is God who gives the growth. Even as the foundation of baptismal grace is the promise of salvation in Christ given along with the application of water, not any decision on the part of the baptized, the same Spirit who created faith in the hearts of these children will fan it into flame in their lives.
It has been been our great privilege to have taught these children since 2004 and witnessed their response to God's Word. We pray that the sowing of the Word here will bear much more fruit.
Construction of the fence around our property has been slowed by a shortage of cement. The reason for the shortage is the Copa America, an international soccer event scheduled to be held in Venezuela for the first time this year. Barinas is one of the eight cities in Venezuela that have been chosen to host Copa America competition (in fact, the U.S. soccer teams plays Paraguay here July 2). Therefore most of the available supplies of cement have been purchased for remodeling La Carolina Stadium and expanding guest capacity in the city's hotels.
Nevertheless, we were able to purchase some bags of cement this past week. Pedro and José have been drawing water from our well to make concrete blocks on site. This is much more economical than buying ready-made concrete block and paying a truck driver to haul it out here. Yesterday José working on his own made 30 concrete blocks.
There is some bad news from Barinas. Edgar Brito has announced that effective July 31, 2007, he will resign as pastor of Corpus Christi. Edgar has served as pastor of Corpus Christ for the last four years without receiving any salary or benefits of any kind. To support himself and his wife, Mariel, he has had a job delivering packages during business hours on weekdays. But he and Mariel want to start a family (both of them are under 30) and Edgar has reached the point where he does not think he can find higher-paying job that will allow the free time for his responsibilities as a pastor.
The Corpus Christi congregation will be greatly challenged to find the leadership it needs when Edgar steps down, given the lack of qualified pastors within the Lutheran Church of Venezuela. It is for this reason, and for the sake of the children that have been baptized here, that I am studying in Caracas to assume pastoral responsibilities for our mission in La Caramuca.
My fellow students and I observed Ash Wednesday at El Salvador Lutheran Church in Caracas Following an ancient tradition of the Church, Pastor Alfonso Prada marked our foreheads with the sign of the Cross. He used a paste made from ashes and water.
Then we sang the Spanish words to this hymn:
Christ, the Life of all the living, Christ, the Death of death, our foe, Who, Thyself for me once giving To the darkest depths of woe,-- Through thy sufferings, death, and merit I eternal life inherit: Thousand, thousand thanks shall be, Dearest Jesus, unto Thee.
I love Lenten hymns in general and especially this one because it was part of the music for our wedding service in Maracay, July 25, 2004.The training in Caracas is going well. We continue to explore the nature of the Church and the relationship between its doctrine and mission. One of our textbooks is C.F.W Walther's "Law and Gospel." We are using a Spanish translation of the original German text.
Meanwhile, back in Barinas, we have nearly completed the first step in fencing our property for a playground. The property is roughly L-shaped with the preschool and our house in the small leg of the L. We are on top of a hill overlooking the alluvial plain of a small river. The long leg of the L slopes down to the paved road which runs along the perimeter of the large cattle ranch here the river runs through. There is an existing concrete-block wall, built many years ago, which separates our property from the road The wall begins on west end of the property at the bottom of the hill, angles north up the hill, then continues west on top of the hill, extending past our property line onto the neighbor's land. To completely enclose the property, we need to build along the east and south borders. We have built a new wall on the most difficult part of the south border, where the incline is steepest and a huge tree-stump had to be removed.
Our plan is to eventually turn the land at the bottom of the hill into a parking lot with a gate opening onto the paved road. The playground will be at the top of the hill Along the east side, which faces the street of our barrio, we want to build a masonry-and-ironwork fence as is the common practice in Venezuela. A few weeks ago we had some hogs that escaped from a farm up the road wander through our property, but livestock are really the least of our concerns in maintaining a pleasant and secure refuge for the children.
We continue to use some of the funds we have received for the preschool to support the hot-meal program. Because the attendance at our preschool has increased faster than the budget of the state program which provides most of the funds, we still are short of state money to provide meals a week or two every month. All of the preschool children depend on this service. If we do not provide the meals, the only breakfast they would receive would be a cup of coffee mixed with milk and their only lunch would be a thin broth. Many health problems in Venezuela are a direct result of malnutrition in childhood.
May God bless you all during this season of Cuaresma (that's Spanish for Lent).
We have begun construction of a fence around our property, thanks to contributions from Woodbury Lutheran Preschool and others in the United States. The fence will prevent theft and vandalism and allow us to build a secure playground for the children. We have enough money for build the fence on one side of the property. We pray that God will bless our efforts with the funds to completely enclose our land. So far Luz Maria's son, Pedro, has been clearing a path for the fence, cutting down shrubs and removing stones and old tree roots.
We also hope at least to begin construction of a freestanding schoolhouse for Christian education of children beyond preschool and for adult education.Plans have been drawn up for a six-room facility which would cost $80,000 to $90,000 in total. We think the schoolhouse could be built one room at a time at a cost of $15,000 to $20,000 per year. At least one room in the school could be used part-time as a chapel.
Several of our Sunday school children have expressed a desire to be baptized (most have never been baptized as members of any church). Luz Maria and I talked with their parents and their families at least have no objections to this taking place. Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod missionary Ted Krey has agreed to help us, on his next trip to Barinas to teach theological extension courses, to facilitate the baptisms being performed as soon as possible. The baptisms, of course, would only be the beginning of a Word-and-sacrament community in La Caramuca that would nurture the young Christians and perhaps one day contribute toward the support of the school.
With that in mind, our goals for the coming year including refocusing our efforts on evangelizing adults in the surrounding community. This probably will mean cutting back on some other activities. For instance, we may not be able to visit the neighboring community of Punta Gorda as much as we did in 2006, given the logistics of public transportation and the amount of time involved.
I will be spending a lot of time on the road anyway as I will participate, by invitation of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela, in an intensive missionary training program in Caracas this year. Starting this week (I am writing this newsletter from Caracas) I will spend four days out of every week in Venezuela's capital city through the end of May. Then from September through December I will spend another 13 weeks dividing my time between Caracas and La Caramuca. For the duration of each semester I will join with three young men (under 25 years of age) and two Venezuelans closer to my own age in studies which will strike a balance between evangelism, doctrine and application of faith to life. Pastor Ted Krey will serve as our instructor, while Alfonso Prada, pastor of El Salvador Lutheran Church, will be our chaplain, or spiritual counselor. In between semesters, we will be expected to attend one- to two-week-long short courses taught by seminary professors and former missionaries from outside of Venezuela.
My goal is to acquire the skills necessary to help make our mission school a center for Christian education of adults as well as children in western Venezuela. When I first came to Venezuela I did not envision taking such a traditional missionary role, but it is a critical step toward planting churches in the relatively untouched territory where we live.
If you would like to contribute toward any or all of our activities this year, please send donations earmarked for "La Caramuca Lutheran Mission" to:
When I lived in Minnesota, people would constantly joke that there are only two seasons there: winter and road construction. In Venezuela it's no joke. There really are only two seasons: the dry season and the rainy season. The rainy season has arrived. Torrential rains in the past two weeks at times have turned streets into rivers, blocking traffic. But the biggest concern at this time is illness. All that water provides breeding grounds for mosquitoes (carriers of yellow fever, dengue and malaria). Also the rains bring sharp drops in temperature, sometimes below 70 degrees F. The temperature change along with getting soaked to the skin is enough for many people to contract a bad cold or perhaps pneumonia.
But we really did not have much of a dry season this year. Our plan was to clean out the well on our property and connect it to our water system once the lack of rain caused the water level in the well to fall. But that never happened, because although we had lighter rains earlier this year, we continued to receive regular precipitation. So, although we have all the supplies, our well project may have to be delayed until September.
We are grateful that the water system is working wonderfully as it is. The underground concrete tank is connected to the municipal water supply, which automatically shuts on and off depending on the level in the tank. There have been times when many of the neighboring homes have been without water and we were not made aware of the situation until the end of the day.
Our attention has shifted from the well to building a new roof over our patio. Anticipation of two important groups of visitors in June and July has highlighted for us the need for facilities to host gatherings of people over three to four feet in height. We can afford to cover the patio with a caney, which is a traditional Venezuelan type of thatched roof. Also we are shopping for more adult-sized chairs.
Next month the administrative council of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela will meet in Barinas. They will be checking in on us and Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barinas. The council includes five men and one woman.
In July we plan to host a group of eight to nine people from Minnesota. This group, to be comprised of members of Woodbury Lutheran Church, Woodbury, Minn., and St. Michael's Lutheran Church, Bloomington, Minn., will engage in Bible study activities with the preschool and Sunday school children in La Caramuca and the children enrolled in tareas dirigidas (tutoring) at Corpus Christi. We plan to bring the children from the Sunday school in Punta Gorda to La Caramuca to participate in the activities as well.
The electrical situation has improved in the last few weeks to the point where the power goes down for only 10 to 15 minutes every couple of days. The lights had been going out for four to five hours at a time at least once a week. Even with the improvement, it is difficult maintaining electrical appliances under these conditions. We have found a partial solution to this problem with a voltage regulator/uninterruptible power supply for our computers and voltage regulators for the refrigerators in the preschool and the family kitchen.
We have my laptop computer and a desktop computer with printer. Access to the Internet is made possible by a dialup connection from modems in both computers. There is also an old Hewlett-Packard scanner that needs to be repaired. If we could get the scanner working, we could save some money in photocopying costs for Sunday school materials by scanning the materials and then printing copies as needed. At times we have more children show up for Sunday school then we expect and we run short of materials. The scanner-printer combination might solve this problem as well. We already are relying heavily on the printer to print materials for adult classes.
Unfortunately, due to the lengthy period of use before we obtained the voltage regulator/uninterruptible power supply, I had to replace my laptop. It has been deteriorating rapidly over the past year. While I have been receiving more and more requests for CDs of the photos that I have taken for the Lutheran Church of Venezuela, my CD burner has not been working properly for nearly a year. (And the national church wants me to continue doing this work for them.) Finally, the laptop screen just died.
Luz Maria's sister, Carmen, and her husband, Luís, run a computer business in Barinas. They offered us a good deal on a laptop (made in Venezuela!) and I put the purchase on my MasterCard. We pray that we will be able to raise enough money in the coming year so that this will not prove too much of a setback. (Carmen and Luís also sold us the voltage regulator/uninterruptible power supply. It works very well; the computers can continue to operate for as long as an hour without external power and the laptop can keep going on its own battery even longer.)
The dialup connection is becoming something of a problem with increased use of the phone line for voice calls and Internet access. Luz Maria and her daughters, Yepci and Charli, are all taking courses in education that they need for us to make our school a completely private institution (currently visiting teachers provided by the public school system teach the children non-religious subjects). They find Internet access at the house invaluable. I think we could afford DSL Internet service If we could find the right rate plan for voice service, we could have DSL without paying much more of a total phone bill than we are now.
Eventually we hope to make our school a pilot site for distance learning in the Western Zone of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela with a computer room for downloading and printing of materials as well as perhaps on-line courses.
Again, we give thanks to God for the blessings that we have received so far. It is a privilege to be able to maintain an oasis of hope, love and peace amid widespread poverty, discontent and despair. We give thanks also for all of you and your support.
