Recognizing the rights of children

Children's Day with VBS students.

Every third Sunday in July is Children’s Day in Venezuela a date chosen to coincide with the close of the school year. In 1936, the Venezuelan Federation of Teachers first promoted the idea of a date that recognized the rights of children. That year, a table of children's rights was drawn up, much of which is incorporated into the current national constitution and Organic Law for the Protection of Children and Adolescents. These rights. by the way, include the right to life conception. Abortion in Venezuela is currently illegal except in cases where the mother’s life is in danger. Penalties range from six months to two years in prison for women who seek abortions and two to three years for medical personnel who perform them. Also the right to live as a family, with priority on the biological family. Right to identity: Includes the right to a name, nationality and knowledge of family origin.

This year, Children’s Day fell on July 19, the seventh Sunday after Trinity. We held vacation Bible school on the preceding Thursday and Friday with the theme “Rescatados por Cristo para su gloria” (“Rescued by Christ for His glory”). A dozen children attended the first day and 17 the second day, mostly Luz Maria’s afterschool tutoring students, plus friends and family that they had invited.

Bible stories were the crossing of the Red Sea (Exodus 14) and the Apostle Peter being saved from drowning by Jesus as our Lord walked on the water of the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 14:22-33). The miracle of Jesus walking on water is also recorded in Mark 6:45-52 and John 6:15-21, but only Matthew includes the detail of Peter walking on the water toward Jesus until overcome by doubt. The crossing of the Red Sea is referenced in Hebrews 11:29 as an example of faith, but the example of Peter shows we are not saved by the strength of our faith, but by the power of the object of our faith, Jesus. In 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, St. Paul makes a direct comparison between the crossing of the Red Sea and baptism, and, while St. Peter does not describe his own experience, he speaks of being saved by the Lord’s action in baptism as Noah and his family were saved from the waters of the Great Flood (1 Peter 3:20-21).
 

The Feeding of 4,000
and fried rice

Sixteen children also attended the July 19 service, where we distributed school supplies to all and prizes to those who did the best at memory work. The service was followed by a meal of fried rice with chicken (often called “arroz chino” or “Chinese rice” and a birthday cake for Elzo Meza, one of the students.

The  theme fit in well with the Gospel reading appointed for the seventh Sunday after Trinity, Mark 8:1-9, St. Mark’s account of the miraculous feeding of 4,000 people. In Matthew 15:32-39 as well, Jesus walking on the water is sandwiched between the feeding of the 5,000, mentioned in all four Gospels, and the feeding of the 4,000. In both cases, the multiplication of loaves and fishes prefigures the institution of the Lord’s Supper (the Lord gives thanks, eucaristia, breaks bread and gives it to His disciples to distribute), while the multitudes following Jesus into the desert reveal that He is the Prophet greater than Moses (Deuteronomy 18:18). The difference being that the feeding of the 5,000 was for a predominantly Jewish crowd, while the feeding of the 4,000 took place in non-Jewish territory, indicating the Gospel was first for the Jews, then all nations.

The following week (July 20-24), we made our kitchen available for Luz Maria's sisters, Deniece Vergara and Rosaura Castillo, to prepare more chicken and fried rice for 55 students graduating from the main preschool in La Caramuca. Deniece is a certified gourmet chef and runs a restaurant, "La Mazorka", with her husband and daughter.

The banner we used to advertise our vacation Bible school online was designed by Anyi Garrido, Luz Maria’s granddaughter. Starting in September, Anyi will begin her last year of “liceo” (equivalent to high school). She completed an extracurricular course in graphic design, as well as earning the second-highest grades in her class.

Señora safe and sound

We give thanks for the safe return of Rita Zapata from receiving cancer treatment in Barquisimeto, which is about three hours north of us. Rita was staying at “Cristo es Amor” (Christ is Love) Lutheran Church when the double earthquake struck on June 24. Barquisimeto was much closer to the epicenter so she experienced the walls and her bed shaking, but was unharmed.

Earthquake recovery continues
 

Venezuela as a whole continues to recover from the devastating earthquakes. Therefore, Global Lutheran Outreach has expanded its Venezuela relief program to include help for earthquake victims, as well as continuing the shipment of non-prescription medicines from Chile. To find out more, please visit the GLO earthquake relief page.

Luz Maria's daughter named deaconess

On August 1, 2026, Luz Maria's daughter, Yepci Santana, was consecrated as a deaconess at "Castillo Fuerte: Casa de Misericordia" ("Mighty Fortress: House of Mercy") in La Victoria (Lima), Peru. Yepci is director in charge of the afterschool program, assisting 40 children  , sports, musicin, crafts, cooking and workshops on Christian values, national identity, coexistence and personal improvement.

On July 11, Luz Maria and I had our first meeting, via Zoom videoconference, with the Reverend André Luiz Müller, GLO regional director for Latin America. Born in Brazil and raised in Paraguay, André has more than two decades of church and missionary service. He credits the support of his faith and his family—his wife Maíra Ferrari Reis and their three children, Helena, Martín, and Francisco—with helping him carry out his responsibilities. For more information, see his GLO page.