The sound of doors closing and opening

In March we made a rather quick decision to visit the United States and Canada. There were several reasons for the urgency of this trip:

Arrival in Ottawa.

1. We received word that Jesus Mogollon, Luz Maria’s son-in-law, would be undergoing major surgery in Ottawa, Canada. The removal of a tumorous growth from his jaw would require a risky operation followed by reconstruction of his face. Luz Maria’s daughter, Wuendy, wanted her mother to be with her and her son, Adam, during this time.

Although Wuendy and Jesus were married in a civil ceremony in 2007, they renewed their vows at our mission in December 2010, just before moving to Canada, where Jesus, a software engineer, had found work. The last time we saw them was in 2012, when we traveled to Ottawa to see their newborn, Adam. I baptized Adam at that time.

2.That trip also was the last time we visited my mother in Belleville, Illinois. My mother celebrated her 80th birthday last November. Since she has lost the sight in one eye and is confined to a wheelchair, it is unlikely that she will make another trip to Venezuela, as she did for my ordination in 2008.

Jesus, Adam and Wuendy.

3. Luz Maria’s Venezuelan passport expires in September, and she needs to apply for a renewal six months in advance. She will not be able to leave the country during the renewal process. In theory, if she received a new passport in November, we could travel in the fall. But there have been many reports of delays in the renewal of Venezuelan passports, so we did not want to take the chance of her not receiving a passport this year.

With my mother and sister, Deborah.

Based on our experience with this trip, there is every reason to think that travel to and from Venezuela will become more difficult for us in the future, not less. Nearly all of the difficulties we faced had to do with Luz Maria’s passport. She once again was denied a tourist visa to the United States, so I left her in Ottawa to stay with Wuendy while I visited my mother. There were other complications in making our connecting flights back to Venezuela, due to increasing restrictions on travelers with Venezuelan passports. All of this, of course, is due to the continuing flood of people seeking to leave Venezuela for good, rather than take two-week vacations.

Spanish-language materials from CPH.

But we were able to accomplish a number of things for the mission that we could not have done from inside Venezuela. While visiting my mother, I crossed the Mississippi River to St. Louis, where I was able to spend two to three hours at Concordia Publishing House. I scoured their clearance bins for Spanish-language materials and was able to find quite a lot.

Pastor Bruce Keseman of Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church, Freeburg, Illinois, invited me to preachthe sermon on March 31, the fifth Sunday of Lent. Christ Our Savior was the church where my father’s funeral service was held in May 2000, and Pastor Keseman preached the funeral sermon. It was also my mother’s first opportunity to hear me preach.

I discovered that the vicar, Eric Wood, had lived in Caracas as a boy, when his father was an executive with a U.S.-based corporation there. Vicar Wood recently visited Concordia Reformer Lutheran Seminary, established by Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod World Missions in the Dominican Republic.

Ralph and Anita Geisler with my mother.

Ralph and Anita Geisler also heard me preach. Anita is a cousin of my mother’s. They grew up together in Kadoka, South Dakota. Dr. Geisler was executive director of the LCMS Board for Evangelism Services through the early 1990s. In 2001, while serving as a mission and ministry facilitator with the Missouri District of the LCMS, Dr. Geisler teamed with the Rev. Keith Christiansen, then development director at Saint Paul Lutheran High School in Concordia, Missouri, to organize the St. Paul Institute for Education to refine and build leadership training for rural and small-town congregations. This effort became the basis of a nationwide program, LCMS Rural and Small Town Mission.

With Wayne Muskopf.

 After that, I returned to Ottawa to find that the surgery had been a success and Jesus was making a swift recovery. When we were ready, Luz Maria and I made our way back to Venezuela, although not without misadventure, as we were stuck for two days in Toronto due to a missed connection. But we were here in time for Palm Sunday. A blessed Holy Week to everyone!