The Dorcas Project in La Caramuca

My sister's name is Dorcas Baltazar, and although she has never visited Venezuela, a number of people here are becoming familiar with her first name. More precisely, with the name of her biblical namesake.

According to Acts 9:36, “Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas...” Tabitha and Dorcas are respectively the Aramaic and Greek forms of the word for gazelle. Apparently she was known by both names (not an unusual situation in that cosmopolitan era; the Apostle Peter was known as Simon bar-Jonah and Petros, St. Paul as Saul of Tarsus and Paulos). St. Luke goes out of his way to make sure that his Greek-speaking readers knew who he was talking about.

We often speak of the “12 disciples” in reference to the men who Jesus would choose as His apostles, since the word essentially is a synonym for apprentice or student. However, in New Testament usage, all believers in Jesus Christ were known as His disciples, even as all Jews were known as “disciples of Moses.” When Jesus comissioned the 12 apostles, He told them to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Thus, all who have been baptized and instructed in the Christian faith are disciples of Christ.

Nevertheless, Acts 9:36 is the only passage in the New Testament which uses the feminine form of “disciple” (μαθητρια). Luke 10:38 speaks of Mary of Bethany seated at Jesus' feet and listening to His words in the recognized manner of a disciple. There were other women prominent in the life of the early church, such as Lydia of Thyatira (Acts 16:14); Priscilla, who, along with her husband, Aquila, St. Paul called “my helpers in Christ” (Romans 16:3); and Phoebe, the deaconess of Cenchreae (Romans 16:1). But perhaps the word “discípula” (it's feminine in Spanish, too) is used in Acts 9:36 to emphasize Dorcas' importance to the church and her exemplary behavior.

 “She was full of good works and acts of charity.” It is specifically mentioned that she made clothes for destitute widows and other needy people. So when she unexpectedly died, the church at Joppa (modern-day Jaffa; now as then a Mediterranean seaport, but now part of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area as well) prevailed on Peter to implore God's mercy for those who depended on her. And God, in His mercy, miraculously restored her to life (Acts 9:40-41).

Today some dictionaries define “Dorcas society” generically as “a society of women of a church whose work it is to provide clothing for the poor.” The first modern Dorcas society was founded on December 1, 1834, by Methodist women on the Isle of Man as part of the community's thanksgiving for being spared from an outbreak of cholera. There are “Dorcas societies” and “Dorcas circles” in congregations throughout the world, including many Lutheran churches, serving in a variety of ways.

Sometimes these groups call themselves, “the Dorcas Project.” The Dorcas Project of Payne County, Oklahoma, assists women who are dealing with breast cancer.

Now there is a “Proyecto Dorcas” in Venezuela. Recently Luz Maria traveled to Caracas to attend the national convention of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela's women's organization, SOLUDAVE (Sociedad de las Damas Luteranas de Venezuela). She was elected vice president (the president is Mayerlin Flores of Ascension Lutheran Church in San Félix de Guayana) and also managed to get passed a resolution to organize Proyecto Dorcas efforts, with the goal of helping the needy, in congregations across Venezuela.

Luz Maria first developed the idea of Proyecto Dorcas several years ago with the help of her close friend, Luise de Muci, a former president of SOLUDAVE. Unfortunately, Luise passed away before Proyecto Dorcas became a reality. However, the passage of the resolution this year is part of Luise's legacy.

Here in La Caramuca, Deisi Yovana Torres has volunteered to manage collection of a special “Proyecto Dorcas” offering of food items and other necessities for the many people who are still homeless after last year's torrential rains in Venezuela.

Related articles

• Acts 9 (mybiblereadingplan.wordpress.com)

Queen for a day

The preschool children chose Gaudis Saray Rangel Rosales as their Queen of the Carnaval for 2009. Every year we have a Carnaval party on the Friday before Ash Wednesday because what follows is a four-day weekend, in which schools, businesses and other institutions are closed. "Carnaval" is derived from a medieval Latin phrase that means "farewell to the flesh", and the four days of Carnaval are supposed to provide a last chance for partying before the beginning of Cuaresma, or Lent. Supposedly everyone will be fasting and avoiding meat and other fleshly pleasures during Lent (if you believe that, I have some ocean-front property in Arizona that might interest you).

Carnaval in Venezuela is characterized by parades, street parties and pranksters throwing water-filled balloons at passing traffic. Every parade must have a queen to lead it. We choose our queen with a simple show of hands, but often the selection of a Carnaval queen is a fullblown beauty pageant. This type of contest is serious business in Venezuela. It is a matter of national pride that Venezuelans have won more international beauty pageants than women from any other country.

Winners of the national Miss Venezuela pageant have won the Miss Universe contest five times, Miss Universe five times (including Miss Universe 2008), Miss World five times, and Miss International five times. Alexandra Braun Waldeck, who won Venezuela's first Miss Earth title in 2005, was first runner-up at the Miss Venezuela pageant.

Between 1983 and 2003, Miss Venezuela placed in the Miss Universe semifinals each consecutive year, and placed in the top six or higher every year from 1991 to 2003. This streak was ended in 2004 when Ana Karina Áñez was not chosen as a semifinalist at Miss Universe 2004. Venezuela has also twice held the Miss Universe and Miss World titles simultaneously: in 1981-1982 with Irene Saez (Miss Universe) and Pilin Leon (Miss World), and again in 1995-1996 with Alicia Machado (Miss Universe) and Jacqueline Aguilera (Miss World).

Some Miss Venezuela competitors have achieved success in other national pageants. Natascha Börger became the first Venezuelan to switch countries, when she won the Miss Deutschland title in 2002 after placing 14th at Miss Venezuela 2000. She went on to place sixth at Miss Universe 2002 behind Miss Venezuela Cynthia Lander. In 2006, Francys Sudnicka, who placed in the top 10 representing the state of Trujillo in Miss Venezuela 2003, won the Miss Poland Universe title. She represented Poland at Miss Universe 2006. Three Venezuelans who won the Miss Italia nel Mondo (Miss Italy in the World) pageant placed in the final five of Miss Venezuela.

Nevertheless, we do not emphasize competition in our selection of a queen. The point of our Carnaval party gives the children the opportunity to dress up in colorful costumes and spend some time with their parents, many of whom attend. Genesis Marquina came as a cat and another girl wore a rabbit suit this year. After enjoying some games and refreshments, the children march around the neighborhood blowing whistles. They also distributed about 50 tracts from Cristo Para Todas Las Naciones (CPTLN or the Spanish Lutheran Hour).

Due to drastic worldwide budget cuts by Lutheran Hour Ministries, CPTLN activities in Venezuela have been greatly diminished. The organization's headquarters has been moved from Caracas to the much smaller city of Valencia. Longtime director Dr. Jaime Paredes resigned and passed administration of CPTLN in Venezuela to a nephew. That is about all we have heard, although we continue to occasionally receive packages of CPTLN tracts.


The story of Samuel

The following Saturday, February 21, we brought five young people from La Caramuca to a one-day vacation Bible school at Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barinas. We had visiting teachers from Barquisimeto, Sandra and Francisco Mania, and Pastor Miguelangel Perez. Pastor Eduardo Flores also was on hand. There was a total of 12 young people in attendance.

The theme was the birth and childhood of the prophet Samuel. We began by discussing how God answered Hannah's prayer for a son (like Isaac, Samson and John the Baptist, Samuel will be a son born to a previously barren woman) and looking at the Song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. The Song of Hannah is a poem inserted into the prose narrative of 1 Samuel. In synagogues to this day this passage is read every year on the first day of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year celebration.

The Song of Hannah follows the characteristic patten of an Israelite hymn:

• An introductory summary;
• Praise of the Lord as Creator of the universe;
• A confession of confidence in Him who will judge the entire world and send His Messiah.

The Song of Hannah foreshadows the Magnificat, or Song of Mary, in Luke 1:46-55. Like Hannah, Mary praises the Lord for the gift that He has implanted in her womb. It was not only a personal blessing for her, but for Israel and all nations, and for that, "all generations shall call me blessed." Also, like the Song of Hannah, the Magnificat plays on the theme of reversals; God shall humble the proud and exalt the humble, show mercy to the righteous and judge the wicked.

The Song of Hannah was used to explain to the young people why hymns used in liturgical worship are structured the way they are. The point of singing hymns is not to make ourselves feel good, but to glorify God and proclaim His message of salvation.

I often think of this as I struggle to learn guitar chords. Alonso's assignment to Corpus Christi ends this month and he has done so much to teach music both to the young people and the congregation as a whole. For example, he has taught the congregation to sing "Sostenos firmes, oh Señor" ("Lord, Keep Us Steadfast In Thy Word") as a round, which is very beautiful. We certainly will miss him when he's gone.

After the Song of Hannah, we focused on the story of Samuel as a boy in the temple and how the Lord called to him (1 Samuel 3:1-4:1. We emphasized how even a young person might be called to serve the Lord, even in a difficult task (in the case of Samuel, it was to announce God's judgment against the high priest Eli and his corrupt sons).

After the lessons, the young people enjoyed themselves, playing games in the street.

Imposition of ashes

We had an attendance of about 15 people for the Ash Wednesday evening service, which was quite good when you consider a) the total membership is no more than 30; and b) Ash Wednesday, unlike the days of Carnaval, is not a national holiday in Venezuela. We followed the Order of Public Confession in Culto Cristiano (much the same as in the 1941 Lutheran Hymnal), but added in the imposition of ashes (definitely not in TLH, but I understand there is an order of service for it in the new Lutheran Service Book).

The practice of wearing sackcloth and sprinkling oneself with ashes to express sorrow and/or repentance of sin dates back to ancient times. The ritual of beginning the season of Lent with everyone receiving the mark of the cross in ashes on one's forehead seems to have originated in the 12th Century. Before that, the imposition of ashes was reserved only for those who had fallen away from the church through grave public sin (murder, adultery, etc.) and wished reconciliation. During the time of the Reformation, Lutherans retained Ash Wednesday as the beginning the 40 days of Lent, but the imposition of ashes ritual fell into disuse, for reasons that are not entirely clear. Recently there has been a revival of the ritual in Lutheran circles, including the Lutheran Church of Venezuela but it is not considered mandatory for everyone to participate.

As practiced here, everyone who so desires may write down on a piece of paper some specific sin of which they wish to repent. Then the pieces of paper are burned to produce the ashes. (I have heard elsewhere that the tradition is to burn palms from the previous Palm Sunday.)

Receiving the imposition of ashes certainly is consistent with our understanding of Lent as a time of repentance and reflexion on the suffering and death of Christ on the cross for our sins. Luz Maria and I wish all of you a blessed Lent in anticipation of an even more blessed Easter.

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.

My wife, the deaconess

"I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well." Romans 16:1-2

The word translated as servant in the verse above is the Greek word diakonos, from which is derived deacon and deaconess. The Apostle Paul refers to himself and Timothy as "deacons" or servants of Jesus Christ in Philippians 1:11. However, Acts 6 records the establishment of the diaconate as a special ministry of service within the Church, distinct from the pastoral ministry and intended to allow the apostles to concentrate on preaching and prayer. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was a deacon. The requirements to serve in this ministry are described in Paul's first letter to Timothy, chapter 3.

Romans 16:1-2 is regarded as evidence that women served in this ministry in the early Church. In addition to this Scriptural reference, Christian deaconesses are mentioned by Pliny the Younger in a early second-century letter to the Roman Emperor Trajan.

The office of deaconess was formally recognized at the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. The responsibilities of deaconesses in the post-apostolic to medieval periods included assisting in the baptism of adult women, leading prayer services for women, instruction of catechumens, caring for the sick, and, in some areas, administering the sacrament of Holy Communion to women who were ill, to nuns, and to young children when a pastor was not available.

The female diakonate had gradually disappeared as a distinct ministry within Western Christendom by the 6th Century and within the Eastern Orthodox Church by the 11th Century. However, interest was renewed as a spiritual revival and rapid social change swept Europe and the United States in the 19th Century, prompting women to seek ways of dedicating themselves to the Lord's service. Theodor Fliedner and his wife, Friedericke Munster, opened the first Lutheran deaconess motherhouse in Kaiserwerth on the Rhine in 1836. Fifty years later, there were over 5,000 deaconesses in Europe.

Within the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, deaconesses have served in a variety of roles since the 1830s. In 1919, the Lutheran Deaconess Association was formed and assumed responsibility for the formation of deaconesses wishing to serve in the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Deaconesses were trained at the Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where they received training as nurses. Later, in 1943, the program moved
to Valparaiso University.

As time went on, the training of deaconesses evolved and deaconesses no longer needed to be trained as nurses or social workers. Those wanting to serve in parish settings were trained in spiritual care and were educated in the scriptures and the Lutheran Confessions, so they could teach and assist the pastors by providing both spiritual and human care to those in need. Both LCMS seminaries (Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne) offer a master’s degree-level deaconess track for women with undergraduate "pre-deaconess" courses offered at universities within the LCMS "Concordia" system.

So why am I telling you this? Because the Lutheran Church of Venezuela has a similar training program for deaconesses. In fact, it is the largest deaconess program of any of the LCMS partner-churches in Latin America. Currently there are 65 women studying to be deaconesses through extension courses offered by the Juan de Frias Theological Institute and nine Venezuelan women actively serving as deaconesses. Much of the rapid development of this program is due to the work of Fort Wayne deaconess-missionaries Mireya Johnson and Rosie Gilbert, who although no longer serving in Venezuela, remain consultants to the program.

The two most highly trained deaconesses within the Lutheran Church of Venezuela are my wife, Luz Maria, and her friend from Caracas, Elsy de Machada. In fact, since these two have completed all of the four levels of theological education by extension offered by the Juan de Frias Theological Institute, there is no one here with a higher level of theological education than Luz Maria and Elsy.

Luz Maria is actively serving as a deaconess through her involvement with our preschool and mission project in La Caramuca. Elsy, a member of La Paz Lutheran Church, Caracas, is involved with Katerina Lutero (Katherine Luther) Preschool.

Because of their qualifications, Luz Maria and Elsy have been named coordinators of the deaconess program in Venezuela. They met February 27 with Olga Groh, director of deaconess programs in Latin America for LCMS World Missions. Olga is the wife of Dr. Jorge Groh, Latin America region director for LCMS World Missions. The meeting went very well and Mrs. Groh was favorably impressed with the work that has been done in Venezuela.

Afterward Luz Maria returned to Barinas, but I and the other men studying in Caracas traveled with the Grohs to Colonia Tovar, an ethnic German community in the mountains north of the city. The Grohs are natives of Argentina and descendants of German-Russians who settled there.

Colonia Tovar was founded in 1843. Agustin Codazzi, an Italian explorer, geographer and close friend of Simon Bolivar, raised the money to transplant farmers from the Black Forest in Venezuela. The idea was that the highly efficient family-farming practices of the Germans would greatly improve Venezuela's agricultural economy. Unfortunately the plan did not work as intended because the Germans made themselves at home in a remote valley and did not mix with the general population.

For more than 100 years, Colonia Tovar's only connection with the outside world was a steep, rugged dirt road up into the mountains. Because of the Germans' farming expertise, their community remained largely self-sufficient during this time, and because of their isolation, their German language and culture was preserved.

Then in the 1970s, a blacktop highway was built from Caracas to Colonia Tovar and the community has become a tourist attraction. In Colonia Tovar today, you can enjoy a plate of German sausage and potato salad in an outdoor restaurant while "oompa oompa" music plays in the background. We talked to a young woman running a strudel stand. She had natural blonde hair and blue eyes, both extremely rare in Venezuela. Her parents could speak German, she said, but the only language she knew was Spanish. The old ways are gradually disappearing despite the incentive of the tourist trade.

The Roman Catholic Church of St. Martin of Tours remains at the center of Colonia Tovar. The street leading to the church actually is a "via crucis", with the stations of the Cross at various points along the way. The town cemetery is up on a hill with every grave facing toward the church visible below. The church has a large parish school attached, something you do not often see in Venezuela.

I could not help but think of the last time I was in a similar setting, especially when I saw a sign for a travel agency called "Regenwald Tours". In contemporary German, "regenwald" means "rainforest", but many years ago it was the name of the village on the Rega River where my great-great-grandfather was born (in other words, "the wood by the Rega River"). My ancestors on my father's side lived in Pomerania, which lies along the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. It was once the home of Goths (with a capital "G"), then Slavs, then Germans, and was ruled at various times by the kings of Denmark, Sweden, Germany and Poland. Today Germany claims Pomerania west of the Oder River while the territory east of the Oder, including the Rega River, is considered part of Poland. The largest city, once known as Danzig, is now called Gdansk.

In the early 1800s, Pomerania was part of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was the will of the King Frederick Wilhelm III that all the Protestant churches in his realm merge into one state-controlled church. My ancestors were among the "Old Lutherans", who remained faithful to the Lutheran Confessions and refused fellowship not based on doctrinal unity. As their resistance grew, the king stepped up persecution of the Old Lutherans, confiscating their property and sending soldiers to hunt down people worshipping in the traditional Lutheran way on Sunday mornings, and carry them off to prison. (There were populations of Roman Catholics, Jews and Mennonites within Prussia at this time and the king had set up agencies to control their affairs. However, these groups were apparently not large enough to worry the king. It was the Lutherans who really put the bee in his bonnet.)

The persecution resulted in thousands fleeing to the United States of America. My great-great-grandparents eventually became part of a group that settled on the western shore of Lake Michigan and named their community Freistadt. (The geography of eastern Wisconsin is similar to that of Pomerania with Lake Michigan substituting for the Baltic Sea.) Their leader was Heinrich von Rohr, who had served with distinction as a captain in the Prussian army. He was of noble blood, with a pedigree that reached back to German knights of the Crusades. But von Rohr had been stripped of his rank and medals for having his firstborn child baptized by a Lutheran pastor rather than a minister of the king's state church. In time the former Captain von Rohr became Pastor von Rohr, and the church my great-great-grandparents helped found, Trinity Lutheran Church of Freistadt, remains the oldest existing Lutheran congregation in Wisconsin.

Freistadt is now part of the Milwaukee suburb of Mequon. When I lived in the Milwaukee area, I used to go to Freistadt every July 4 when the community would have an all-day celebration of their cultural heritage and the religious freedom they have enjoyed for generations as U.S. citizens. A group called the Pommersche Tanzdeel (roughly "Pomeranian Dance Company") would perform traditional folk dances with the women dressed in cone-shaped hats and flowing gowns, and the men in the tunics and pantaloons typical of Pomerania in the 1800s.

The Independence Day festivities would culminate with the raising of the U.S. flag in the the town square and a 21-gun salute by local members of the VFW and American Legion.

In 1989 I attended Trinity-Freistadt's 150th anniversary (founded in 1839, the congregation has been part of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod since 1848). There was a large wall completely covered with photos of the children of the congregation who had become LCMS pastors and teachers. Among them I found a picture of my great-grandfather, Louis Ernst, who left Wisconsin to become the pastor of congregations in Iowa, Texas and Nebraska.

The point of this digression being, that although the language and customs of my great-great-grandparents are, like the language and customs of Venezuela, foreign to me, I am grateful that previous generations of my family were able to pass on the most precious part of our heritage, a common confession of faith. Also it is clear, as I study the Lutheran Confessions in yet another language, that the enemies of truth and freedom are always with us, and if one is not willing to suffer all, even death, for what one believes to be the truth, one will not enjoy freedom for very long, either. And I give thanks to God that His Word and His Spirit abides with us always.

Lutheran women meet in Barinas

Friends from the state of Monagas in eastern Venezuela came to visit us Thursday, August 26. Felix Zamora and Manuel Aristimuño each came equipped with two young daughters: Felix with Lixfe (switch the syllables around) and Gabriela, Manuel with Alaska and Nicole. They were taking care of their children while their wives, Aymer de Zamora and Nancy de Aristimuño, attended the national meeting of la Sociedad Luterana de las Damas de Venezuela (SOLUDAVE).

SOLUDAVE is the Venezuelan equivalent of the Lutheran WomenÂŽs Missionary League in the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. Every year they sponsor an event that is part business meeting, but mainly a retreat especially for female members of the Lutheran Church of Venezuela.

This year Corpus Christi Lutheran Church in Barinas hosted the SOLUDAVE meeting at Fuente Real, a Roman Catholic retreat center about 30 minutes outside of the city. Fuente Real consists of a beautiful Catholic chapel (open to the surrounding town of El Real for Mass every Sunday), a dormitory with assembly hall and a cafeteria in a lovely park-like setting. The place is owned and operated by an association of Catholic clergy and laypeople. As I understood the fellow who explained this, the association is a Catholic religious order, although not a monastic one since married couples can become members. The small staff that served the meals was comprised entirely of volunteers from the association.

Anyway, Felix and Manuel accompanied their wives on the long trip from Maturin. But since men really are not invited to the SOLUDAVE retreat, they spent a day with us in La Caramuca. Felix is a deacon at Cristo Rey (Christ the King) Lutheran Church in Maturin and coordinator of the national Lutheran youth organization. Manuel is the principal of Cristo Rey's school.

Cristo Rey is one of the three largest congregations in the Lutheran Church of Venezuela. The other two are Fuente de Vida (Fount of Life) in Puerto Ordaz and La Ascensión (Ascension) in San Felix de Guayana. Each of these congregations has between 150 and 200 members. Cristo Rey will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its elementary school this coming month. The Maturin church also supports a preschool and a guarderia (daycare center/nursery school). Felix's wife, Aymer, is director of the Cristo Rey guarderia.

The two men were full of questions about our project in La Caramuca and offered many helpful suggestions. For the four girls, however, the highlight of the visit was swimming in the river.

As I have mentioned before, Barinas is a hot spot for "eco-tourists" from around the world. The city is a gateway to kayaking, whitewater rafting, mountain biking and backpacking opportunities in the Venezuelan Andes. For that reason, this area has more than its share of restaurants, hotels and posadas (bed-and-breakfasts). Some of them are found right here in La Caramuca since we are right on the main highway to San Cristobal, a picturesque mountain town on the Colombian border.

Nevertheless, we don't really have whitewater close to our house. But we do have a wide river that splashes and gurgles over large rocks, especially after our recent heavy rains. The girls loved it and therefore so did their two papis, although the men both were sunburned.

Saturday we all went out to Fuente Real. Luz Maria was elected to the governing council of SOLUDAVE as secretary. It was a full day although we did not take in the whole SOLUDAVE experience. We had to leave before the talent show, which apparently everyone considered one of the best features of the retreat.

On Sunday everyone returned to Barinas for a very moving worship service at Corpus Christi. It meant a lot to this small congregation out here on Venezuela's "Lutheran frontier" to receive guests from Caracas, Maturin, Puerto Ordaz and other cities where Lutheran churches are larger and more firmly established. Angly Vargas, a member of Corpus Christi, broke down in tears as she was thanking everyone for their support.

Our new preschool facility in La Caramuca is nearly complete and we expect it to have it ready by September 15, when the new school year begins. We are in the middle of summer vacation right now. Summer vacation in this part of the world means entire families pack up and head out to the country to look for farm work, children included. This has had an impact on our Sunday school attendance, but we still have a group of 10 to 15 children who regularly show up a half hour before we are ready to start. We expect attendance to pick up again once school is in session.

The kitchen and bathroom are complete. We have covered the concrete floor with ceramic tile. All of the plumbing and electrical wiring is place. We expect to have the entire facility painted in a week or so. Thanks again to all of the donors who have made this possible!

Our evangelistic visits continue to go well. Soon we hope to invite the families we are visiting to the monthly service that Pastor Edgar Brito leads in La Caramuca. It will be a big step for us to actually form a cell group of adults. Although many adults are seeking some spiritual purpose in life, the risk of family disapproval remains a big challenge for them.

Family is very important to Venezuelans. Instead of the fractured, scattered family units that are typical in North America, most Venezuelans consider themselves part of huge, extended families. The downside to this is that here bad habits and false beliefs are often family traditions. Although most Venezuelans strongly believe in a spirit world, they view it in a completely pagan way as a means of enlisting supernatural aid toward getting what they want in this life. Anyone who takes Christianity seriously is often viewed as nuttier than a fruitcake (although thatÂŽs not a familiar expression here). As a result people who want to live as Christians, or even better their lives in some other way, face great pressure from within their own families not to do so.

Even so, please pray for all of us in Venezuela.