Alonso Franco joins us as vicar

Alonso Franco was installed as vicar at Corpus Christi Lutheran Church on Sunday, January 18, 2009. He will serve in Barinas and La Caramuca for three months before being transferred to Fuente de Vida (Fountain of Life) Lutheran Church in Puerto Ordaz.

Alonso led the Service of the Word, Pastor Eduardo Flores preached the sermon, and I led the Service of Holy Communion, with Alonso assisting in the distribution of the sacrament. For the next three months, Alonso will preach at least two Sundays per month and lead Bible studies at Corpus Christi. I will be responsible for reviewing his sermons and Bible studies and lending him whatever counsel and aid he requires.

Alonso's father, Pastor Alcides Franco, served as president of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela for 14 years, and also as pastor of La Santa Trinidad (Holy Trinity) Lutheran Church in Caracas, and La Ascensión ( Ascension) Lutheran Church in San Felix de Guayana before becoming pastor of La Reforma (Reformation) Lutheran Church in the same city.

His older brother, Pastor Jonathan Franco, served for a number of years as leader of the national Lutheran youth organization, and is currently treasurer of the national church. Jonathan also has been chosen to go to Argentina for advanced theological study at Concordia Seminary in Buenos Aires. Of course, this means someone else will have to be selected as national church treasurer, but we cross every bridge when we come to it.

We loaned Alonso a microwave oven to use while he stays in the pastoral residence at Corpus Christi. Luz Maria saved up some money and bought the microwave last year, but about that time the wiring in our kitchen died and we have yet to replace that. So up to now we had not even taken the microwave out of the box. I should add that the preschool has its own, separate kitchen where the wiring still is more or less okay.

Luz Maria has been working very hard on completing her thesis for the fifth-level teaching degree. She will finish by the end of this month. However, since the semester does not end until July, she will have to wait until then to receive her degree.

Christian art workshop a success

Twenty-three people attended the Christian art workshop that Luz Maria organized in Caracas on January 9, 2009, including myself, Luz Maria, and Luz Maria's daughters, Yepci and Charli. The emphasis was on visual art (rather than, say, music) in the form of liturgical vestments and paraments, banners, crosses, crucifixes and the like. The attendees included clergy and laypeople from Barquisimeto, Barinas, Maracay, Caracas, Barcelona, Maturin and San Felix de Guayana.

Yoxandris Marcano of Cristo Rey (Christ the King) Lutheran Church in Maturin gave what was perhaps the best presentation. In fact, it was a well-organized PowerPoint presentation highlighting not only her own work, but that of several other members of Cristo Rey. She had stored presentation on a USB flash drive (which are everywhere in Venezuela now, one gigabyte costs about $20 to $25, two gigabytes about $40 to $50). To show it, we used my laptop computer and a projector borrowed from Elsy de Machado (there was no screen, we just used a blank wall).

This may only mean something to my readers who have been to Maturin on short-term mission trips, but Yoxandris is a niece of Dagnys Marcano, who is now married to Pastor Francisco Cabarcas, and Oveida Marcano, former manager of Tierra de Gracia Lutheran Farm. Oveida recently married, but I do not know her husband's name. Yoxandris' father restored the walls and put a new roof on what is not the pastoral residence at Tierra de Gracia. It is rather exciting to have lived in Venezuela onl five years, yet to see already a new generation of leadership emerging within the Lutheran Church of Venezuela.

Yoxandris made the red stoles that were presented to Eduardo Flores, Sergio Maita and myself upon our ordinations. She has also made for me a purple stole for use during the seasons of Advent and Lent, and paraments for our altar in La Caramuca. Our altar consists of a green plastic table about the size of a card table, but without foldable legs. Nevertheless, it looks fairly impressive when covered with the white altar-cloth bearing the alpha and omega symbols in front.

Others who made presentations at the workshop included:

• Natasha Sanchez of La Fortaleza Lutheran Church in Maracay, banners and vestments;
• Luis Miguel Silva, La Fortaleza, wooden crosses and other items crafted from wood and leather;
• Pastor Luis Moya of La Reforma Lutheran Church, San Felix de Guayana, speaking on behalf of his wife, who makes banners and vestments;
• Yepci Santana, Corpus Christi Lutheran Church of Barinas, banners.

In addition, I presented slides of the wrought-iron version of Luther's seal incorporated into the gates of our mission in La Caramuca and the work that inspired it, the windows of Roca de Eternidad (Rock of Ages) Lutheran Church, Quebrada Seca, Monagas. Like many buildings in rural Venezuela, the church in Quebrada Seca does not have glassed windows, but rather ironwork on the outside of the windows to keep out intruders. And the ironwork in every window in Roca de Eternidad has symbols of the Holy Trinity, Baptism, Creation and other themes.

I also showed a picture of the beautiful Advent wreath made for Corpus Christi by Ludy de Tarrazona (the one that caught on fire).

Everyone was excited by the talent and resources on display. There were four major concerns:

1. That Christian art might give members of Lutheran congregations an avenue to use their God-given talents;
2. That promotion of Christian art might preserve Venezuelan folk arts and crafts, which some fear are in danger of disappearing;
3. That artistic expression through liturgical tradition might help the Lutheran Church of Venezuela develop a distinctive identity in Venezuela and a sense of solidarity with other confessional Lutheran church-bodies throughout the world.
4. That liturgical art might serve to express and teach Lutheran doctrine.

Workshop participants favored the inclusion of formal art courses in the curriculum of the Juan de Frias Theological Institute and the formation of committees to promote Christian art in every congregation.

International perspective on abortion

This week marks a definite regime change in the United States as well as the 36^th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade decision, which legalized abortion on demand. Exit George W. Bush, whose record shows him to have been the most pro-life President so far, and enter Barack Obama, who at the very least promises to be the most pro-abortion President ever.

Here is an on-line chart which shows the status of abortion laws in nearly every country in the world as of 2007. You may notice that while abortion on demand tends to be the rule in the United States and Europe, Latin America is something of a mixed bag. Here in Venezuela, abortion is only legal in situations where the life of the prospective mother might be endangered by bringing the baby to term. Neighboring Colombia is more permissive in regard to abortion than Venezuela (although I am told pious, practicing Roman Catholics are more common there), but more restrictive than the United States. Direct abortion is illegal under any circumstances in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Chile, although the Chilean government in 2006 authorized the sale of the abortifacient "morning-after" birth control pill.

This Sunday Bolivians will vote on a new constitution that, if ratified, would throw open the door to elective abortion. Please pray for Bolivia and also for other nations that are under pressure to change pro-life stands.

Please pray also for the United States and other nations that, hardened in sin, refuse to recognize the sanctity of human life and marriage, and the rights of the unborn, that they may repent before judgment falls.

Sandro suffers dengue fever

Twelve-year-old Sandro Pérez, who lives across the street from us, has been one of our more faithful and attentive students in both Sunday school and confirmation class. Always cheerful, mature for his age and showing signs of musical talent, Sandro is receiving financial assistance to stay in school from Children's Christian Concern Society of Topeka, Kansas. Unfortunately, Sandro was hospitalized this week with dengue fever.

Dengue fever is spread by Aedes aegypti, a species of mosquito that thrives in tropical regions. Over the last four years, local health agencies have made a dedicated effort to control the spread of dengue by spraying with pesticide the areas where Aedes aegypti may breed. The mosquitos breed on water standing in artificial containers such as plastic cups, used tires, broken bottles, or flower pots, so there also has been an effort to educate everyone on the importance of sanitation as a means of preventing Aedes aegypti from reproducing.


There is no vaccine or cure for dengue. Those stricken must wait for the disease to run its course.

Symptoms include:

• Severe muscle and joint pain (which is why dengue is also known as "bonebreak fever").


• Fever


• Chills


• Constant headaches


• Bleeding from nose, mouth or gums


• Severe dizziness


• Loss of appetite

The more advanced stage of the disease, dengue hemorrhagic fever, may produce shock and hemorraging, leading to death. The fatality rate for all forms of dengue is relatively low (5
percent), nevertheless it was a serious matter for someone as young as Sandro.

Luz Maria and I visited Sandro in the pediatric clinic, and the other youth in the confirmation class prayed for him and made cards from construction paper for us to present to Sandro on our next visit. We thank God that Sandro returned home the next day and we gave the cards to him there.

New semester begins

Webegan a new semester of the preschool September 15 with 24 children enrolled. Every week begins with the singing of the national anthem and praying the Lord's Prayer. For seven weeks we will focus on the creation story in the first chapter of Genesis. Yepci had the children
draw with white crayons on black construction paper to symbolize the creation of light and the separation of night and day on the first day of creation.

Old dog, new tricks

In case you missed the entertainment industry headlines, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Sharon
Stone all have turned 50 this year. This month it will be my turn, along with country music stars, Alan Jackson and Tanya Tucker. While I have not attained the same level of wealth and fame as some of my contemporaries, I have always been considered something of a legend in my own mind.

And I am taking guitar lessons for the first time since I was about 16 or 17. Eduardo is teaching a number of people how to play musical instruments, primarily the cuatro (Venezuelan four-stringed guitar). Luz María's daughter, Charli, is learning to play the cuatro. But while the cuatro is relatively easy to learn, while the six-stringed guitar is more complicated. I hope that by volunteering I will encourage more of the young people to learn the guitar. I also realize that since:

• Singing is usually a part not only of Sunday morning worship, but also of Bible studies and more informal gatherings here, and;


• I cannot always count on having someone else to provide musical accompaniment;

I should have some knowledge of the most commonly available and versatile instrument (Beethoven once called the guitar a symphony orchestra in one instrument).

Some of the larger congregations in the Lutheran Church of Venezuela add an electronic keyboard or piano, and drums to the guitar as part of an instrumental ensemble. Pipe organs
are quite rare. I have seen only one pipe organ since my arrival in Venezuela and it was not in our Lutheran Church of Venezuela congregations. What's more, it was the only pipe organ I've ever seen that might fit in someone's living room.

Kenny Rogers in the cybercafe

As I sat in the cybercafe, uploading photos, the owner, Alexis, played a CD of Kenny Rogers' greatest hits that his brother had brought him from the United States. Since I was the only customer at the time, I suspect it was for my benefit. It brought back of lot of fond memories
of the days when Kenny regularly scored No. 1 hits on both the country and pop music charts. I always liked "Reuben James", a song about a white orphan boy adopted by a black sharecropper:

"Reuben James, you still walk the furrowed fields of my mind,
A faded shirt, a weathered brow, callused hands upon the plow,
I loved you then and I love you now, Reuben James."

After awhile, Alexis came over to talk to me. I had told him something about our mission in La Caramuca. "Is your mission affiliated with the Baptist church?" he wanted to know.

"No," I said. "It's supported by the Lutheran Church of Venezuela."

"I have read about Martin Lutero," Alexis said. "Many of the things he did were very good." His concern seemed to focus on the indulgence trade. "I don't understand people taking money from other people like that in the name of God."

Then Alexis seemed to change the subject. "What can you tell me about the Mormons?" he asked.

"The Mormons do not believe in the doctrine of the Holy Trinity," I said. "Nor do they believe that Jesus Christ made full atonement for the sins of all people on the cross."

"I have talked to the young Mormon missionaries," Alexis said. "Their families give a lot of money to their church, but they receive only a small amount to live on. I don't understand this."

Then he revealed that he had talked to representatives of a number of the religious groups that are active in Venezuela. "It is so hard to know what is the truth," he said.

"All false religions have one thing in common," I said. "They teach that we must earn God's favor by our own works. But the Bible teaches that Christ paid the price for all our sins on the cross and that only through Him may we be reconciled with God."

"Many people here would rather pray to the santos, the saints, rather than God because they believe that if they have done wrong, God will not listen to their prayers," Alexis said.

Then some more customers came in, and he had to attend to them. The moment was gone. But before I left, I gave Alexis the address of Corpus Christi Lutheran Church and invited him to attend on Sunday and learn more about what we believed. God grant that I have another opportunity to talk with Alexis about these things.

Fence-building again

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.

From 1893 until 1986, St. John's College of Winfield, Kansas, did the same amid the Flint Hills of Kansas and Oklahoma.

That is why at La Caramuca Lutheran Mission we have these goals;

• To provide Christian education for children from preschool through sixth grade.


• To establish a Lutheran congregation to support the school and serve the surrounding community.


• To establish an educational center for the training of pastors,
  teachers and evangelists for the Andes and Venezuelan Plains regions.

Convention in Maracay

Luz María and I last week attended the annual meeting of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela. It took place at La Fortaleza Lutheran Church in Maracay, which is a little more than two hours west of Caracas.

I studied Spanish for several months in Maracay when I first came to Venezuela. It is one of the most beautiful cities in the country. Juan Vicente Gómez, a ruthless military dictator who ruled Venezuela from 1908 until his death in 1935, preferred to exercise his iron hand from his cattle ranch near Maracay rather than Caracas, the traditional seat of power. Gómez was officially president of Venezuela for part of the time he wielded power, but even when he wasn't, he was still the real head of state.

When I lived in Maracay, the congregation of La Fortaleza met in rented facilities across from the city´s main cemetery. The building had been a florist's shop. Actually, nearly all the businesses on that block were florist's shops. It is customary to observe el Día de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) November 1 in Venezuela. Unlike Mexico, however, there are no candy skulls or graveside altars with offerings of food and tequila. Rather, it is much like Memorial Day in the United States, when everyone buys flowers to lay on the graves of the honored dead.

Now La Fortaleza Lutheran Church has its own beautiful sanctuary and surrounding facilities, which include a medical and psychiatric clinic for the benefit of the community. The current complex was built with the help of volunteer teams from the United States.

When we returned to Barinas, Luz María and I were encouraged by the fact that Adrian Ventura, the pastor of Cristo Rey (Christ the King) Lutheran Church in Maturin, will again lead the national church for a two-year term. This will be his third term as president of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela. Pastor Adrian was elected to his first term as president in 1999, followed by a term as vice president/interim president, then was elected president for the second time in 2005.

Adrian Ventura was born February 14, 1970, in the eastern city of Maturin, the son of Rosalino Ventura and Carmen Susana Marin de Ventura. When he was 10 years old, his sister Iraima died. An aunt talked to the family of the comfort to be found in Christ the Savior and introduced them to Calvary Lutheran Church in La Pica, a small town near Maturin (this church now is known as Cristo Vencedor or Christ the Victor). U.S. missionary Henry Witte was pastor of the church at that time.

Through his involvement in church youth activities, Adrian came to know a young woman named Cruz Maria Islanda Anibal in 1987. Their courtship began with a date at the Rialto movie theater (now closed). They were married December 25, 1993 and today have three children: Adrianny Noemi, Adrian Josue, and Raquel Andreina.

On May 14, 1994, Adrian's father was murdered while working at his job as a taxicab driver.

The Juan de Frias Theological Institute provided Pastor Adrian Ventura with theological training through extension courses. He was installed as pastor of Cristo Rey March 17, 1996. Cristo Rey Lutheran Church began as a mission of Calvary Lutheran Church in 1984.

The issue of who will direct the Juan de Frias Theological Institute was left unresolved due to a shortage of qualified candidates. For the last four years, the institute, which provides theological training for pastors, deacons and laypeople throughout the country, has been under the leadership of Jesús Ricardo Granado, a deacon at Cristo Rey. Nearly everyone at the plenaria expressed gratitude for his service and wished him well. The issue of choosing a candidate for new director was sent back to the Juan de Frias board for further review.


Ricardo was raised as a Lutheran, an unusual situation in Venezuela. He was born in Morrocayo, Monagas, but when he was four years old, his family moved to Ciudad Guyana in the state of Bolivar.

When he was 25 years old, Ricardo moved to Caracas to study business administration at a university there. While living in Caracas he became involved with the youth group at El Mesías (Messiah) Lutheran Church. (El Mesías, unfortunately, has since closed its doors.)

After obtaining his degree, Ricardo returned to Ciudad Guyana, the "Twin Cities" of Venezuela. Ciudad Guyana consists of Puerto Ordaz on one side of the Orinoco River and San Felix on the other. Ricardo managed a bank in Puerto Ordaz. There are two Lutheran churches in Ciudad Guyana, Fuente de Vida (Fountain of Life) in Puerto Ordaz and Ascension in San Felix. Ricardo was a member of both congregations at various times.

He continued studying theology through the Juan de Frias Institute and eventually served as pastor of Principe de Paz (Prince of Peace) Lutheran Church in the small village of Sierra Caroni.

Ricardo and his wife, Priscila for six years have three children, Sara, Samuel and Ana Rebeca.

These two men have proven able overseers of the national church during a period of great upheaval, both within the church and within the country. We anticipate that with Pastor Adrian's continued leadership, there will continue to be an emphasis on sound doctrinal instruction and formation of the pastors and teachers that the Lutheran Church of Venezuela needs.

The plan is to expand the program of intensive training of pastors and national missionaries in Caracas to include preparations of candidates for the office of the holy ministry in various regions of the country before they begin studies in the capital city. This fits well with our vision for our mission in la Caramuca as we would be ideally positioned to provide such preparation for candidates in southwestern Venezuela.

Speaking of upheaval, my fellow "seminaristas" and I were to have graduated from our year of intensive study Sunday, December 3, at El Salvador Lutheran Church in Caracas. However, the ceremony has been postponed to the following Sunday, December 11. Political tension in the country is very high as a national referendum has been scheduled for Saturday, December 2.

The Venezuelan government has proposed sweeping changes in the national constitution. The constitutional reform would place more power in the hands of the federal government. Supporters say this is necessary for solving the country's problems. Opponents say the reform gives the government too much power and is paving the way for a dictatorship. Already there have been rioting in the streets to which the police have responded with tear gas and water cannons.

Venezuelan is burdened with an inflation rate of 19.4 percent (the highest in South America) and an unemployment rate of around 7 percent (down from a peak of 15 percent in 2003-2004). One of Venezuela's chronic problems is an over-reliance on the export of raw materials (such as petroleum) and imports of consumer goods.

For instance, despite fertile soils and a tropical climate that supports year-round production of a variety of crops, Venezuela imports more than half of its food needs. For example, Venezuela is second only to Italy as the world's largest consumer of pasta, with annual consumption of 13 to 14 kilograms per capita. But the imported pasta is made from high-quality durum wheat that grows in North Dakota and Pacific Northwestern United States as well as Canada, not from the rice and corn which flourishes in Venezuela. The high cost of imported food is particularly troublesome for the poorer members of Venezuelan society.

Everyone agrees that there are problems, but not everyone agrees on the solutions. Therefore, there is conflict. We continue to pray and urge everyone to seek peaceful solutions with respect for the governing authorities as St. Paul counsels in his epistle to the Romans, chapter 13.

Children are a blessing

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,the fruit of the womb a reward."Psalm 127:3

Edymar Mariangel Brito, the first child of Edgar and Mariel Brito was born October 16, 2007, and baptized at Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barinas, October 28, 2007.

It was my privilege to hold the basin of water while Edgar baptized his daughter. I wore a white alb and around my neck the pewter cross that the members of my home Bible study group at Michael's Lutheran Church gave me before I left for Venezuela. I did not do much but stand there, but I was dressed for the part.

The parents very much wanted this baby. Mariel had been pregnant twice before, but had suffered a miscarriage both times.

I thought of the rejoicing over Edymar's birth October 23 when a Reuters article appeared in the international press. It quoted Alberto Stella, a United Nations official, as blaming the Roman Catholic Church's stand on birth control for the spread of HIV/AIDS throughout Latin America.

According to the Reuters article, some 1.7 million people across Latin America are infected with the HIV virus. There were perhaps 410,000 new cases in 2006.

Stella told Reuters that condom use "has been demonized" (presumably by the Roman Catholic Church) and that "evidence shows" that abstinance-based sex education "isn't working".

Where to begin? First of all, to make generalizations about a Latin American country like Venezuela based on the assumption that "everyone there is Catholic" is profoundly misguided. As in most parts of the world, the "official" religion does not always play an important role in most people's day-to-day decisions.

Let me be blunt about this: You can walk into almost any pharmacy and many supermarkets in Venezuela and pick up condoms right off the rack. No questions are asked, and actually, it probably would not be that hard to slip out of the store without paying for the product. No one here is having "unprotected sex" because the Roman Catholic or any other church is preventing the distribution and sale of condoms.

Abortion still is illegal in Venezuela except in cases where birthing the baby definitely would endanger the life of the mother. Illegal abortions are performed, but the threat of a two-year prison term does appear to discourage the practice.

Luz María grew up with four brothers and two sisters (one brother died at 21 years of age, the rest survive). Back at that time it was not unusual for there to be as many as 10 children in a household. Now the norm is about four to six children per family, much as it was in the Midwestern United States when I was a boy.

In other words, the decline in the birth rate over the last two generations in Venezuela is consistent with the gradual adoption of non-abortifacient birth control without abortion as a backup plan, as was the case throughout the United States from the end of the post-World War II "baby boom" until 1973, when the Supreme Court legalized abortion on demand.

Which brings me to the second point, that opposition to abortion is not an exclusively Roman Catholic position. Actually, neither is opposition to birth control. Until the middle of the 20th Century, there was no difference between Catholic and Protestant teaching in regard to birth control. The great Anglican author and scholar, C.S. Lewis, considered birth control a sin and made that a plot point in his novel, "That Hideous Strength".

I have copy of "If God Be For Us", a collections of essays by Dr. Walter Maier, the original "Lutheran Hour" speaker. In one essay he inveighs against the evil of contraception. Also, there is an academic study by Alan Graebner, available for purchase on-line, using the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod as a case study of how and why one Protestant denomination changed its stand on birth control.

There is much room for discussion here, but I want to move on to my next point: Today conservative Protestants and Roman Catholics differ on the extent to which "family planning" methods should be used by married couples. There is no disagreement on abortion and the immorality of sexual relations outside of marriage.

It is sexual promiscuity that kills, not abstinence. There is indeed an increase in the incidence of HIV/AIDS in Venezuela and other Latin American countries, but this has more to do with the breakdown of family relationships and increased opportunities for casual sex due to rapid urbanization more than a shortage of condoms. Then there is the fact that world's two greatest multinational evangelistic organizations, the entertainment and advertising industries, are quite active in Venezuela, peddling dreams of sexual pleasure without responsibility.

The question is not whether solutions which emphasize abstinence from sex outside of marriage will work, but rather whether any other approach will. Why are allegedly educated people blind to this?

Well, as I learned many years ago in the bio-ethics course I took in college, there are three presuppositional models that tend to color people's thinking about world population growth, hunger and poverty. Let's examine them in light of these Scriptural principles:

1. God ordained marriage for companionship, procreation and a safeguard against sexual temptation.
2. Children are a blessing from God.
3. God is the true Author of life.
4. All human life has value in God's eyes.

Pro-natalism: This is the idea that a high level of population growth is necessary for a human society to survive and prosper. With birth rates below the level of replacement in the United States and Europe, this point of view is gaining more respect. The recent movie, "Children of Men", based on a bestselling novel of the same name, is set in a near-future world in which all women everywhere have become infertile with disastrous results. Pro-natalism would seem to be consistent with the Bible's positive attitude toward procreation, but pro-natalist policies can exist without the recognition of God as the creator of life and the inherent sanctity of human life. The Nazis, for example, were pro-natalists, but also favored sterilization and killing of the "unfit" and undesirable.

Marxism: This point of view need not be defined strictly in terms of adherence to the doctrines of Marx, but more broadly as the idea that hunger and poverty are mainly the result of an unjust distribution of the world's resources, goods and services. There is not so much a need to control birth rates in developing countries as there is to control consumption of material goods in industrialized nations. This philosophy has become more and more popular in Latin America, especially in light of failed attempts to implement free-market reforms. The development of "liberation theology" has given Marxists a quasi-Christian vocabulary. Although the Scriptures speak against injustice, including the economic kind, and the responsibility of those blessed with more material wealth to share with the less fortunate, this is seen as a voluntary movement resulting from the restoration of a right relationship with God. The Bible affirms the right of private property and the responsibility to work for a living, while the Old Testament history of Israel portrays a government's desire for higher and higher taxes as a cause for civil war.

Neo-Malthusianism: Neo-Malthusians base their thinking on writings of Thomas Malthus, an 18th-Century economist who was the first think about the big-picture effects of unrestrained population growth. However, the "neo" (Greek for "new") in neo-Malthusianism is due to the fact that neo-Malthusians are rather embarrassed to claim Thomas Malthus as their own. In addition to being an economics professor, Malthus was a quite conservative Anglican priest who considered birth control and homosexuality to be vices, and opposed most government welfare programs as encouraging the poor not to work and to bear children out of wedlock. His solution to the potential problem of population growth surpassing the available food supply was "moral restraint". By that he meant avoiding sexual activity outside of marriage and postponing marriage until one had acquired an education.

Malthus published his views on population and economics in 1798. Less than 30 years later, Sir Frances Place in 1822 published a book using some of Malthus' arguments to advocate birth control. This was the true beginning of neo-Malthusianism, a point of view that has become dominant in the United States and Europe. Neo-Malthusianist ideas have become internalized as the reflexive opinions that "there are too many people in the world" and "reproductive choice (prevention of pregnancy) is a health issue". Sometimes neo-Malthusians attempt a Biblical justification of their ideology in terms of an argument for stewardship of natural resources.

In confronting all these thought-systems which can blind people to the truths of God's creation and revelation, it is important to remember the Scriptural principles above, and that the light of Christ's Gospel is what can truly motivate people to love God and their neighbor as themselves.

Death of Jesús Franco

We were saddened to hear of Jesús Franco´s death. Jesús had been serving as the pastor of Cristo es Amor (Christ is Love) Lutheran Church in Barquisimeto.

Jesús had been in ill health for some time. As I understand what happened, exploratory surgery and other tests had been done to determine exactly what was wrong, but without success. Then, on October 4, 2007, he suddenly died at the age of 47.

That certainly gives me pause for reflection as I turn 49 this week. However, I have been working on my first sermon for homiletics class, using as my text St. Paul's second letter to Timothy, chapter 2, verses 8 to 13. The entire epistle is an excellent text for meditation on the meaning of our brief lives here on earth.

Second Timothy is Paul's swan song. In nearly all of the apostle's other letters, he speaks of his plans for the future. In Second Timothy he clearly anticipates his own death.

"For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing." (2 Timothy 4:6-8)

The Book of Acts ends with Paul under a relatively comfortable form of house arrest in Rome. At that time he was allowed to live under guard in a home where he could entertain fairly large groups of people. As a Roman citizen, he had appealed accusations made against him to the Emperor and he apparently expected to be acquitted (Philemon 1:19).

His second letter to Timothy was written some time later under very different circumstances. Paul again is imprisoned, but this time he is cold, isolated and lonely. He asks Timothy to visit him soon, and bring him a cloak and some books. He feels abandoned by people he thought were his friends.

There is much speculation as to what happened to Paul did between the period of house arrest described in Acts and the writing of Second Timothy. Some think he was released from his first imprisonment and perhaps went on a missionary journey to Spain as he had intended.The Scriptures do not speak of these things, nor is there an actual record of Paul's death. But according to ancient church sources, Paul was writing to Timothy from a prison cell during the first great Roman persecution under Nero. He probably was put to death at this time.

As the light of Christ was dawning on the world, Paul foresaw the remaining shadows darkening. "But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless ,swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power." (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

And, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths." (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

Because of this, "...all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." (2 Timothy 3:12-13)

As it happened, the persecution of the church under Nero would prove only the beginning. Over the next 250 years, persecution by the Roman government would continue, only becoming more vicious as the number of Christians in the Empire grew. But this time of trial finally came to an end when Constantine, the first Christian emperor, in 313 A.D. signed an edict which guaranteed religious liberty for all.

Of course, the brief period of tolerance that followed did not last forever, either, as the days of the Roman Empire itself were numbered. The institutional church itself would gain worldly power, drift into false doctrine and persecute those who preached the pure Gospel.

Down through the centuries and to this day, Christians have had to risk imprisonment, torture and execution for their faith. A good source of information about this is www.persecution.com, the official Web site of Voice of the Martyrs. This organization was founded by the late Richard Wurmbrand, a Lutheran pastor who was imprisoned for 14 years by Communists in his native Romania.

But Paul, cold and alone in his prison cell, was nonetheless filled with hope and joy, and ready to accept death with peace. He gave thanks that God had brought him through many trials and tribulations and would take him home in the end.

"But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen." 2 Timothy 4:17-18)

Paul also had the assurance that despite his own imprisonment and execution, the preaching of the Gospel could not be silenced because it had the power and promise of God behind it. He notes in 2 Timothy, chapter 4, that there are others who are continuing the work.

"Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound! Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

"The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful — for he cannot deny himself." (2 Timothy 2:8-13)

In Christ, we are guaranteed nothing and everything. We are not promised wealth and fame, or even a life of modest comforts. But we are promised the He Himself will stand with us in times of trial, in the hour of our death and beyond. May He grant us all the courage, perseverance and patience of those who have gone before us, confessing Him faithfully to the end.

Speaking of the fleeting nature of human existence, it has been interesting to observe that the children who have been attending our Sunday school in La Caramuca since we began three years ago are not exactly children anymore. They are entering adolescence and five are enthusiastically studying Luther's Small Catechism in hopes of eventual confirmation. One example is Jordi Duque who takes what he learns in confirmation class home with him and discusses it all with his mother and two brothers. He also leads a prayer circle at home. (Last year Jordi gave me a Father's Day card because he did not have a male relative he could think of as a father figure.)

Luz María and I were both busy last week at the second annual Congress of Lutheran Educators in Caracas. Lutheran teachers from both public and private schools came together for four days of seminars and other activities. Most of the Congress took place at El Salvador Lutheran Church and its Concordia Lutheran School, but Sunday we rented a bus to take everyone to La Paz Lutheran Church in Petare.
You can see all the pictures I took here.

This week we had a van from la Fundación del Niño (Children's Foundation) bring beauticians to the preschool. They gave all the children haircuts.

Finally, I would like to announce that I am changing to a new system of managing my newsletter mailing list. I have set up a Yahoo Group for this purpose. If you would like to continue receiving an e-mail newsletter from me on a regular basis, please join this group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/venezuelaview/

I sent everyone invitations to join the group via Yahoo Groups, but I know many of you did not receive one because the spam filter maintained by your e-mail service provider blocked it (not that there is anything wrong with that). Thank you for your patience and support.

Guests of various species

We have welcomed a parrot to our menagerie of animals. It just showed up one day, evidently attracted to the bunches of bananas we have hung out to ripen out back.

There are all kinds of parrots in Venezuela, ranging from small, wild parakeets to the large macaw-like birds called guacamayas. Ours is medium-sized. It seems to be a tame bird, but no one has shown up to claim it yet. I can't help thinking it would be a very expensive pet in the United States, but not so here.

Our household also includes two cats and a large dog as permanent residents. The dog. Peluso (Shaggy), is our dutiful night watchman, while the cats, at least in theory, catch and kill rodents. In practice, they pursue this labor when they feel like it. In the manner of cats, they spend the greater part of their waking hours wrestling and swatting each other in the face.

The cats are very similar in their markings. One is slightly larger than the other and has dark fur on its right ear. The other is smaller and has a light-colored right rear. Nevertheless, we have not assigned names to these creatures. I address them both as "Gato" (Cat). This is not as confusing as you might think.

We have had guests of various other species, including chickens (they appear every morning and evening), a pair of eagles, a horse, an iguana over two feet in length and runaway hogs.

School is out now. The new school year begins in mid-September. Yepci and her children took advantage of the vacation period and spent three weeks in Caracas with Yepci's sister, Wuendy. It really was more of a working vacation as Yepci helped prepare food first for seminarians studying Greek and then for a team of volunteers from the United States who performed renovations in Quinta Lutero, the national church's office in Caracas.

The team from the United States consisted of Megan Obermueller's students from Concordia Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota. Yepci told me afterward that she was impressed by the young people's willingness to travel to Venezuela and work hard on a purely volunteer basis.

Yepci and her children, Aaron, Oriana and Elias, were back in time for vacation Bible school at Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barinas, August 22 to 25. The VBS was based on the story of Noah's Ark and how, as Noah and his family passed through the waters of the Great Flood, we pass through the waters of baptism to salvation. Attendance peaked at around 50 children. Many of them attended the Sunday service at Corpus Christi with their parents (a number of whom were not members) to explain what they had learned.

In addition to Aaron, Oriana, Elias and Pedro, another of Luz Maria's grandchildren, we took Sandro, a boy from La Caramuca, to the VBS. With three adults and five children, the logistics were a little difficult. We had to find a taxi driver who drove a full-size sedan rather than the compact cars that most taxistas drive here, because they will not take more than four persons (adults or children) in the smaller taxis.

We are planning a vacation Bible school in La Caramuca in September.

Also on Sunday, August 26, there was a congregational meeting at Corpus Christi with Pastor Ted Krey, who has been named pastoral counselor for the Western Zone of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela. Edgar Brito reaffirmed his decision to resign as pastor of Corpus Christi, but will continue to serve until a vicar (and prospective candidate for full-time pastor) can be called.

In order for this to become a reality, the church must be able to provide a place for the vicar to live. There is a bedroom and office available in the church, but top priority must be placed on the restoration of running water in the bathroom and kitchen.

Luz Maria last week attended the national convention of the Venezuelan Lutheran women's organization in the eastern state of Monagas. She wore several hats at this meeting: secretary of the organization, national coordinator of Christian education, and one of two national coordinators of the Venezuelan deaconess program.

She first left for the city of Valencia. From there she traveled east with her old friend Cruz de Castillo, whose husband, Rafael, just passed away.

I remained in La Caramuca to prepare for my return to regular study in Caracas starting next week. From September through December we will study homilectics, the Lutheran Confessions, an overview of the New Testament, and Paul's epistles to the Romans and First Corinthians.

It's Greek to me and you, too

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.

Pentecost in Petare

On Pentecost Sunday Luz Maria and I attended La Paz (Peace) Lutheran Church in Petare, a part of the Caracas metropolitan area. La Paz celebrated the 32nd anniversary of its founding this year.

Petare itself was founded in 1621 by Spanish landowners who built a church and provided a Franciscan friar to minister to their Indian laborers. For a long time Petare was a quiet farming community but during the last half of the 20th Century became a hotbed of Venezuela's explosive urban growth. The population of Petare increased from around 180,000 people in 1961 to nearly 660,000 in 1990 to more than 1.5 million in 2000. This rate of growth has proved too much for the community to cope with effectively and many residents of Petare live in extreme poverty with no public services. Petare today is known for its street markets where many things are sold at heavily discounted prices, including many quite illegal products and services. Due to these factors, street crime is a serious problem in Petare.

La Paz Lutheran Church was originally established in a quieter, more secure district of Caracas, but the decision was made in the early 1990s to take the Gospel where it was needed most. The congregation supports a preschool named Preescolar Caterina Lutero, after Martin Luther's wife. There are about 30 children enrolled in the preschool.

During that weekend of Pentecost, there were thousands of people marching in the streets throughout Caracas. They were protesting the Venezuelan government's decision not to renew the broadcasting license of RCTV, Venezuela's oldest (on the air since 1953) and perhaps most respected television network. RCTV (the letters stand for Radio Caracas Television) also has been, of all the national news media, the most critical of President Hugo Chavéz. The government claimed RCTV had become an organ of partisan propaganda and was no longer serving the public interest. Its license would be allowed to expire at midnight, May 28, and in the future it would be replaced by a government-owned network similar to Great Britain's BBC.

The government's decision was appealed to Venezuela's Supreme Court, but the court ruled in favor of the government. The international organization Reporters without Borders has prepared a report about the situation and is submitting the document to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the European Council and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The governments of Spain and the United States have urged the Venezuelan government to reconsider its decision.

Luz Maria and I had planned to go out and see a movie in Caracas on Saturday, but we decided it would be more prudent to stay indoors. There were marches and speeches all day and after sundown you could hear the noise all over the city for over an hour as people deliberately and repeatedly set off the alarm systems in their cars.

As the U.S. Embassy repeatedly states, there have been no documented incidents of politically motivated violence against U.S. citizens. However, no one can predict what might happen when proponents and opponents of the government here square off in the streets, so North Americans are advised to stay away from areas where demonstrations are planned.

I regularly receive warnings via e-mail from the U.S. Embassy about planned demonstrations in Caracas (the capital city is ground zero for political turmoil in Venezuela). Normally we avoid traveling to Caracas at these times, but we both had obligations this time.

Luz Maria had agreed to spend the week in Caracas helping lead a seminar for deaconesses along with Elsy de Machado and Rosie Gilbert, a deaconess from Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The seminar drew nine women from across Venezuela.

I was obliged to travel on to Ciudad Guayana for a week-long seminar on the Holy Spirit. It is an eight-hour ride by bus from Barinas to Caracas and another 10 hours by bus from Caracas to Ciudad Guayana in the state of Bolívar.

Ciudad Guayana actually is two cities, Puerto Ordaz and San Félix, and indeed may be thought of as the Twin Cities of Venezuela. As Minneapolis and St. Paul are located where the Minnesota River joins the Mississippi, Puerto Ordaz and San Félix are located where the Rio Caroni joins the Rio Orinoco. The area is a center of mining (primarily iron ore and bauxite) and hydroelectric power generation. As I was riding around Puerto Ordaz with Ricardo Granado, director of the Juan de Frias Theological Institute, I saw something I had not seen in some time: a freight train. I explained to Ricardo that every little town in the United States has a railroad depot, which is something you do not see in Venezuela.

One of the reasons why the United States has such a powerful economy is the amount of time and resources that have been invested in infrastructure: railroads, highways, telephone and electrical lines and so forth. Venezuela does not have the benefit of this development. There is no transnational railway. Ther e is one road comparable to an interstate highway that runs from west to east across Venezuela's northern tier, then curves south toward Brazil. Since Venezuela has roughly the same land area as Texas and Oklahoma combined, imagine one interstate highway crossing both those states, starting in the Oklahoma Panhandle at the New Mexico border, running east to Oklahoma City, then curving south to Dallas-Fort Worth and on through Houston down to the Gulf Coast.

If you have ever driven through the wide open spaces of west Texas, imagine all of that with two-lane paved roads at best and you will have an idea of what most of Venezuela is like.

I should also mention that, although there has been massive migration from Venezuela's rural areas to the cities, because of a higher overall birth rate, rural populations have not declined, as in in the United States, but remained stable. However, the economic problems of rural Venezuelans have intensified as more resources have been allocated to urban areas where the greater concentrations of people are found.

We discussed some of these socio-economic issues at the seminar I attended at la Ascensión Lutheran Church in San Félix. Over the course of five days we discussed I believe everything that could be discussed about the Holy Spirit, from filioque controversy, which was one of the issues which led to the division of the churches of the East and the West in 1054, to the meaning of the Holy Spirit for the work of the church today, especially in Latin America.

Dr. Leopoldo Sánchez was our teacher. A native of Chile who grew up in Panama, he served for a time as a missionary in Ciudad Guayana. He now is a member of the faculty of the Center for Hispanic Studies at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri.

Socio-economic issues came up when we talked about the fruits of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Christians, especially in light of verses like Romans 6:13:

"And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God."

Later, in chapter 8, the Apostle Paul explains that we are set free from lives of sin and enabled to live as children of God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. But it is important to understand what that means to a Christian in Latin America where the phrase rendered in English as "instruments of righteousness" is translated into Spanish as "instrumentos de justicia". In Spanish, "justicia" means both righteousness and justice -- and justice is a loaded word because there is so little of it here.

One error is to think of the work of the Holy Soirit and the mission of the church in overly "spiritual" terms -- the proclamation of salvation in the afterlife and the inner peace that comes from that assurance -- without application in the here and now. Surely that flies in the face of our Lord's command to minister to the whole person: to provide food, clothing and shelter for those in need as well as spiritual comfort for all in times of trial.

The other error is that of the men who would have made Jesus their king after the feeding of the 5,000 (John 6:1-15). This is to make the mission of the church simply that of satisfying material needs. In the United States, the phrase "social gospel" is often used to refer to the idea that since Christ commanded us to help the poor, supporting public policy aimed at redistributing wealth more fairly is the realization of the church's mission. In Latin America we have "liberation theology", which is the "social gospel" on steroids.

"Liberation theology" teaches that a Marxist interpretation of history and the redistribution of land and other wealth, even if that means violent revolution, is the true application of New Testament principles. This school of thought became popular among some Roman Catholics in Latin America after the Second Vatican Council, but was decisively rejected by the Roman Catholic Church after John Paul II became pope. As Lutherans,we might agree with most of John Paul II's reasons for rejecting liberation theology. But the decision has proved costly for the Roman church. Many would say that the Catholic church has lost a lot of credibility in Latin America over the last 30 years because it has come to be perceived as having too much invested in the status quo and nothing to say to the poor.

Furthermore, "liberation theology" continues to provide "inspiration" for much of the political rhetoric in Latin America today and remains a political reality.

Really the preoccupation with "justice" in material terms may be seen as evidence of an unacknowledged spiritual hunger. For generations in Latin America, most people held to a fatalistic view of life: Things are the way they are, and for most of us there is no hope of anything better, either now or in the hereafter. More and more, however, there is the desire for a better life, but it tends to be a vision of happiness in this world: plenty to eat, a nice house, guaranteed medical care, national pride and self-determination. There is nothing wrong with any of these things in and of themselves, but neither do they bring lasting joy in and of themselves. The real hunger is for the peace which passes all understanding, which the world cannot give.

It is difficult to live as a Christian in the midst of injustice and corruption. But also there is little hope of social transformation without the personal transformation that comes through the gift of the Holy Spirit made possible through Christ's suffering, death and resurrection.

Those are some reflections on a seminar I thoroughly enjoyed, although I had to leave early. The protests in Caracas continued throughout the week and there was gunfire exchanged between police and some protestors. There were no persons injured, only property damaged. But Luz Maria prevailed upon me for an early departure from Caracas for the two of us. Friday night Luz Maria´s daughter, Wuendy, and her husband, Jesús, were both working as late as they could. They were reluctant to go home because of the danger in the streets.

In closing, I would offer the words of this Spanish version of the ancient hymn, "Come, Holy Spirit":

Ven Espíritu Santo, ven a iluminar,
Nuestra inteligencia, y a preservarnos del mal.
Tú, promesa del Padre, don de Cristo Jesús,
Ven y danos tu fuerza, para llevar nuestra cruz.
Tú, llamado "Paráclito", nuestro Consolador,
Ven y habita en nosotros, por la fé y por el amor.
Haz que cada cristiano, bajo tu inspiración,
Sea testigo de Cristo, con la palabra y la acción.
Guiados por el Espíritu hacia Cristo Jesús,
Caminemos con jubilo, al país de la luz.

Preschool graduation pending

Twelve of our 30 preschool children soon will leave us for first grade. We are not worried about finding children to replace them; some families already have tried to enroll their children under two years of age. Of course we are not prepared to care for infants at this time, even as we do not have the facilities for children older than six, either.

We try to do what we can with what we have. Even that is often a struggle as it has been nearly a month since the state program which is supposed to provide breakfast and lunch for the children has given us any support. We have had to use our own funds to buy the food, since it is a service these families depend on. As I have mentioned before, many of these children otherwise would receive only a cup of milk and coffee for breakfast and a thin broth for lunch.

But beyond that, you can also see here, as I have also observed over the years, the importance of education in its fullest sense in people's lives. Luz Maria continues to take weekend classes to earn the accreditation she will need when we establish a private day school. The classes, which are offered through the nearby state university, do not deal explicitly with religious topics, but Luz Maria often feels the need to speak in defense of the faith anyway. This is because a recurring theme is that morality has no basis in divine or natural law, but is simply a set of rules devised by human society to facilitate the peaceful coexistence of its members -- rules which can be changed to suit the agenda of the state. Although adults, many of Luz Maria's classmates are much younger than she is, and Luz Maria worries how their minds might be formed if there were no one to present a different point of view than what their instructors are teaching.

That is why we have a vision of a school that will incorporate Biblical teaching into all aspects of life for the complete formation - physical, intellectual and spiritual - of human beings.

Sunday, May 6, a group from Corpus Christi Lutheran Church came to La Caramuca to visit our Sunday school. Luzveidis Pinzon and Adonay Tarazona presented the baptized children with certificates of baptism signed by pastors Edgar Brito and Ted Krey.

Then Luz Maria, Luzveidis and Eligia Narvaiz went to visit Jordi Duque and his mother, Thais, in their new home. Jordi, who is about 11 years old, benefits from a scholarship from Children's Christian Concern Society intended to help defray the costs of expenses for keeping him in school. Jordi, his mother and two brothers had been living in a shack built of plywood and corrugated metal with a water-spigot out back. Now, thanks to a government housing program for destitute families, they are living in a nice three-bedroom cottage.

Thais was born in San Cristobal, a town on the Colombian border about a three- to four-hour drive from Barinas. So was her former husband. Once when their four children were small, her husband while high on drugs burned down their house for the purpose of killing the children whom he believed to be trapped inside. They were able to escape, although the oldest, Thais'only daughter, has psychological problems to this day because of the incident.

Thais came from a very poor family, but her husband's family was quite rich. As happens all too often in Venezuela, his family's wealth and influence was able to keep him from being brought to justice for the attack on his own children. In order to protect herself and them, Thais fled from San Cristobal to Barinas, where she had no family or friends. Her life, therefore, has not been easy.

To speak of more concrete subjects, we have been able to buy some cement for building a wall around our property as preparation for building a playground. Now we are waiting for a truck to deliver sand to mix the cement.

For those of you who wish to contribute toward our cause, I would like to say a few words about Venezuela Lutheran Mission Partnership (VLMP), the mission society where we would ask you to send your donations. I have the utmost confidence in this group because, well, I am one of the founding members. My signature and that of the current VLMP president, Frank Janssen, are on the original VLMP charter as a non-profit organization in Minnesota. Of course, VLMP now is recognized by the federal government as a non-profit organization, too, and is an accredited member of the Association of Lutheran Mission Agencies (ALMA).

How well I remember driving with Frank and his wife, Kathy, to our first ALMA meeting in St. Louis. Frank was kind enough to point out all the sights to be seen in Iowa, like the biggest and best bowling alleys. (I believe we bypassed the John Wayne museum in the Duke's hometown of Winterset,)

Also never to be forgotten are all those nights spent drawing up a constitution and by-laws for our mission society. Those were some long evenings.

One of Frank and Kathy's three daughters was supposed to get married this weekend. Best wishes to the bride and groom, assuming all went as planned. All the children here remember Paco the Clown and I am sure they wish your family the best as well.

Actually I am the only original member of VLMP who had never been to Venezuela when VLMP was formed. Everyone else had been on short-term mission trips to Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. VLMP has organized short-term mission trips to Venezuela every year since that time and has been instrumental in accomplishing many good things here, such as the construction of a new worship-and-education complex in Maracay and much development at the Tierra de Gracia agricultural mission in Monagas. Certainly Luz Maria and I are grateful for all the support we have received from VLMP.

So, again, if you are interested in helping us, please send checks to:

Venezuelan Lutheran Mission Partnership
3089 Leyland Trail
Woodbury, MN 55125

Mil gracias.

Birth of sixth grandchild

Luz Maria's sixth grandchild, Edwar José Garrido Santana, was born at 3:30 a.m., April 26, 2007, to Sarai Santana de Garrida, my wife's youngest daughter. He weighed 3.55 kilograms.

Sarai's husband, José, is a construction worker. He has been steadily employed in Barinas, thanks to the Copa America construction boom. That's the upside for us; the downside is there is still a shortage of cement and workers to build the wall around our property as well.

The same week that Edwar José (no "d" on the end of Edwar) was born, there was a parade in honor of Primary Education Week in La Caramuca's town square. The children of our preschool marched in the parade behind a big banner with the name of the preschool, "Rayitos de Luz", on it. We thank God that our preschool is acquiring a reputation as one of the best private preschools around.

Meanwhile, back in Caracas, my fellow students and I completed our first semester of intensive training with the Juan de Frias Theological Institute. We now have a "break" between now and the beginning of the second semester in September. Of course, during our "break", we will be required to attend a series of five seminars, each lasting a week to two weeks. The topics include an introduction to the koine Greek of the New Testament. It's a good thing that I have here all my Dad's books on Greek vocabulary, grammar and syntax.

When I was a boy, I liked to look at the Greek, Hebrew and German books in my Dad's study and piece together the texts as if they were some sort of code. I don't imagine Dad ever thought I would borrow any of his books and take them to South America.

That's enough for now, I think.