Swing low, sweet chariot

More Bibles and books from Lutheran Heritage Foundation.

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! In this joyous Easter season, we remember our Lord’s victory over the condemnation of sin, the power of the devil, and, especially that last enemy, death. For 40 days the risen Christ walked among His disciples and was seen by as many as 500 at one time (1 Corinthians 15:6). We continue to celebrate His resurrection until the day of Ascension, when He was taken up into the clouds with the promise that one day He would return among the clouds. Alleluia!

I am pleased to report that we have achieved one of our goals for the material benefit of the mission. That is the purchase of a 2008 Volkswagen Golf station wagon, kept in excellent condition by its former owner, a schoolteacher. This will be a great help in overcoming the problems we face with the increasing scarcity and unreliability of public transportation. (No photos of the car for security reasons.)

In Parque del Este, Caracas.

On April 27, Luz Maria left for Caracas to investigate leads on cars for sale there, accompanied by her brothers, Robert and Moisés Henríquez, and her nephew, Roamird Castillo (the son of her sister, Rosaura, not Robert or Moisés). They expected to be gone only two or three days, but spent the entire week in Caracas.

This was because on April 30, there was another uprising against the socialist regime. It was significant that, for the first time, members of the Venezuelan military openly supported the opposition. In a bold move, the soldiers freed Leopold López, an opposition leader, from house arrest. Lopéz appeared with Juan Guaidó, president of the opposition-led National Assembly, in a press conference outside La Carlota Air Force Base. The soldiers then acted as bodyguards for Lopéz and Guaidó as they led a day of street demonstrations. The backlash was brutal, however, as troops on the other side attacked even the unarmed demonstrators. Images of armored vehicles running over protesters were broadcast by international news media and social networks. By the end of the day, four young people had been killed and dozens were injured.

Planning Lutheran women's gathering.

Thanks be to God, Luz Maria and company were unharmed. But, at the risk of sounding flippant, it really complicated the closing of the deal on the car. Luz Maria had to stay through the weekend. But this gave her the opportunity to sit in on a meeting of women from our sister congregations in Caracas, who were planning the next national convention of the Venezuelan Lutheran women’s organization.

Upon finalizing the deal, Luz Maria immediately put the car to use by transporting back to La Caramuca boxes of Spanish Bibles and copies of “A Child’s Garden of Bible Stories” in Spanish, both published by the Lutheran Heritage Foundation.

Keeping the lights on

Our next project will be setting up an electrical backup system to cope with continuing power outages. Blackouts now last about six hours at a time, occurring at least once a day, but sometimes twice. I would like to install an inverter (which would switch to backup power when the grid goes down), batteries and auxiliary power source, such as solar panels or a gasoline-powered generator. All of these things could be found in Venezuela. However, although I have a general idea of how such systems work, I have no experience in designing one. If anyone could offer me advice on estimating load, capacity, quality of materials, etc., I would appreciate it.

Remember in prayer

1. All of Venezuela as the country’s crisis continues.

2. Eleno Sanchez and Anyi Garrido, who have begun studying Luther’s Small Catechism. Eleno’s goal is to join the church by profession of faith; Anyi looks forward to her first communion.

3. The many Venezuelans in exile. Praise be to God for the missionaries who minister to Venezuelans in Chile and Peru, but especially remember the expatriates in Ecuador, where there is no confessional Lutheran presence.