"Vamos a morir" (We're going to die)

Venezuela YES Team Newsletter #4
By Dani Rupp
12/28/07
(***Prologue: Our team, along with about 15 members of the Shalom congregation, spent December 21 thru December 24 in a town close to Barquisimeto called Pelenque. It was a good 9 hours away from Charallave, deep in the mountains of Venezuela. The Shalom worship team led three worship services for a church there. We also spent one afternoon with the youth from that church, playing games, hanging out and having a teaching time. ***)
We unloaded from our third bus of the day, and I was not looking forward to yet another bus ride. To make things worse, we were not at a bus station, rather randomly dropped off on the side of the road. As we stood there I could only think about how ridiculous we must look- six North Americans surrounded by 15 Venezuelans and all of our stuff- pillows, blankets, bags. It was quite comical. While we waited for our next mode of transportation, I had a minute to look around and take in my surroundings. The view was breathtaking- mountains and valleys spread out as far as the eye could see. There were corn fields ready for harvesting and the ground was covered with lush grass, something I haven’t seen much of since arriving in Venezuela. I closed my eyes took a deep breath of fresh mountain air.
When I opened them, I was surprised to see a truck pulling off to the side of the road. I was confused. Where was our bus? They must just be asking for directions, I rationalized. And just as fast as this thought raced through my brain, the youth from the church started loading our belongings into the bed of the truck. Not only that, they were climbing in and told me it was time to go. I laughed. Were they serious? I realized, as my teammates started to climb up, that they were. Always up for an adventure, I eagerly and, quite “gracefully” I might add, scaled the side rails. As the truck lurched forward, everyone screamed with excitement and some of the youth started to yell “Vamos a llegar!” (We’re going to arrive!) to which I countered “No, Vamos a morir!” (No, we’re going to die!). They all thought that was hilarious and I said it jokingly, but it was quite the ride into Pelenque. I held on for dear life as we cautiously took hairpin turns and would speed of for the straight-aways, which were few and far between. It was exhilarating, and as my hands gripped the rails, the wind wiped my hair and I took in the scenery, I smiled and praised God for the chance to see some of His splendid creation.
God worked in amazing ways during this weekend. One lesson I learned was God is not limited by language barriers and He speaks in many different ways. Sometimes He speaks the loudest in silence. The first night we were in Pelenque I found myself alone, sitting on a tree branch looking over a lagoon. There was absolute silence, and I felt all my anxiety and moodiness fade away. I sensed God in a very real way as I sat in the stillness. He didn’t say anything and I, for once, was quiet, but there was a connection.
The next morning the women met for prayer. Obviously, the Venezuelan women prayed in Spanish, but it didn’t matter. We knew they were worshiping and communicating with God. Cassie especially said that despite not understanding a word, she felt the presence of God and it was a meaningful worship experience for her.
Vice versa, on Sunday our team sang Zephaniah 3:17 for special music during worship. I gave a brief introduction to the song in Spanish, Jeremy read the verse in Spanish, and we sang in English. Later we were told by a few people in the congregation that they were moved to tears by the song. They really had no idea what we were singing, but God transcended the language barriers and they were able to relate and worship with us. The members of Shalom have told us many times to pray in English because that is how we are most comfortable worshiping; they can still relate to what we are praying because language is not an obstacle for the Holy Spirit.
Not only did we connect with God in new and powerful ways, we also bonded as a team and with the people from the Shalom and Pelenque congregations. This was a great weekend away from the city, but it was also difficult as we were away from families during this holiday season. It was neat to see how when one of us was weak, the others were strong, and we grew together during those times.
Also, as a team, we have desired deeper relationships with people from the church, and this trip was a big turning point in that area. We were able to talk at length, pray, share and worship together. We also connected through laughter, teasing, and games of soccer and baseball. It is comforting to know that laughter translates into any language, especially my laugh, which is quite “unique” I’ve been told.
Overall it was an amazing Christmas gift for me to get out of the city and into a small town, overlooking spectacular mountains, deep into God’s creation. I am also thankful our team was able to have this experience, as we all grew and were stretched in new and exciting ways.
Prayer Requests
· Self discipline in digging deeper spiritually and language study
· Continued clarity in purpose
· Health
· Shalom is having a three day fast January 2 thru January 4. Please pray for them and us as we seek to begin the new year worshiping and seeking God’s will for our lives and the congregation.
Praises
· Safety in traveling
· Connecting as a team and with the church
· Seeing and hearing from God in new ways

Venezuela YES Team Newsletter #3
By Brett Klingenberg
12/20/07

On Shalom: a few observations

If I were to use one word to describe the Shalom Mennonite Church it would be family, in every sense and meaning of that word. In Shalom your past doesn’t matter, what matters is the new life you are living right now; everyone is equal and important. When you come to Shalom, you are adopted. It is even hard to tell who the parents and grandparents are of the babies because they get passed around so much, and everyone is willing to take their turn.
When Pastor Ceferino introduces me to anyone, he tells me that they are his brother or sister. The first couple of days I just figured that he had a bunch of siblings, but now I understand that his relationships with members of the congregation are deep, a connection strengthened by their passion for the Lord.
I recently met ‘Grandma’. She is the oldest person in the congregation, and apparently everyone literally considers her their own grandma. She appears to be the most popular person here and people want to sit by her and hang out.
The elders of the church here are definitely not a formal bunch. They are together often, chatting, praying a lot and at random times, and laughing. I recently saw Gorda, who is a large, strong woman; greet one of her fellow elders. She hollered ‘Hola!’, wrapped her huge arms around him, picked him up, and squeezed him as hard as she could. Relationships and prayer transcend meeting agenda’s and formalities, every time.
Last night the Church had a BBQ for the pastors, elders, staff, and worship team. Towards the end of the night, they honored their Church secretary, Ramona. She is a single lady, about 35 years old, who lives with her father who is not a part of the congregation. Ramona is always here working in the office, answering the door, helping paint, clean, and walking our team around town. She has a family here with the Church. They honored her last night with many gifts, speeches, and hugs; and even though I couldn’t understand a single thing they said, I understood that she was important and loved.
Welcome to the family.
Church Building. Sanctuary on bottom floor, classrooms on top.

Charallave

Venezuela YES team newsletter #2
Kirsten Miller
12/13/07

Hola from Venezuela!
Things are going pretty well here! We are all in the process of adjusting to our new surroundings. Charallave is a city of somewhere close to 130,000 people, located in the mountains. The temperature is usually somewhere in the 80s. In the “pueblo,” (the equivalent of “downtown”) the busy streets are lined with shops, including clothing stores, farmacias (pharmacies), fruit shops, supermercados (grocery stores), carnicerίas (meat shops), panaderίas (bakeries), zapaterίas (shoe stores), peluquerίas (beauty salons), etc. Many of the buildings here are pretty open to the outdoors, with open spaces in the windows, doors, etc. Due to the easy entrance for rodents and insects, we have to watch out for things like cockroaches, lizards and mice. The openness of the houses to the outdoors and the close proximity of the neighboring houses also results in a chorus of noises. As I lay in my bed at night, I can hear dogs barking, the television programs of our neighbors, people talking outside, music from nearby houses, and roosters crowing.
I have really enjoyed the new foods I’ve tried in Venezuela. One popular Venezuelan dish I’ve enjoyed is the arepa. It is a corn pancake that is split and filled with things like vegetables, cheese, or meat.
Since our language study in Caracas doesn’t start until January, we don’t have a lot going on right now. We have been spending time with the people from the church we are working with (Shalom Mennonite) and helping with a few work projects at the church. The plans for our days are usually decided the day before or when the time comes for something to be done. Everything is pretty laidback, including plans, the time that things start, etc.

Some prayer requests & praises:
-Praises: the safety God has provided for us, the warm friendliness of the people at Shalom
-Prayer Requests: relationships with people from the church, safety, perseverance and patience with learning Spanish, sensitivity to what God wants to do here

Venezuelan Nights

Newsletter #1

written December 3rd, 2007

by Alyse Haldeman

“BOOM!” I jerked up in my bed. It was the middle of the night, and I was completely disoriented and confused. “What was going on?” I thought to myself. Then I realized, it was the early morning of December 3rd after Election Day, results must be in. My host mom had said, if the government wins, there will be fireworks. That must have was what the boom. I crept out of my bed and slowly rolled the blind up to look outside. Fireworks were going off, colors bouncing off the mountains, or at least I assumed so. I could not see them as the mountains surrounding Charallve blocked any sights of Caracas. I could only hear the booms of fireworks, a neighbor firing off rounds in his gun in celebration, another neighbor hitting silverware against a metal pot, and yet another hitting a metal pole for another metallic clang. To celebrate here, you make as much noise as possible. Last night sounded a little like this, “BOOM, clang, clang…clang, pa pa pa pa pop, ting, ting, ting ting ta, clang…BOOM!” I assumed the government won. I turned on the television; to my surprise, there was the big man himself. Chavez was in a news conference, he did not look upset; my assumptions seemed correct. I looked at the clock, it was 1:30 in the morning, the results were supposed to be in by 10 p.m. last night. I laid in bed, wondering what the future of Venezuela would be. A little while later, I heard more fireworks, this time accompanied by distant cheering and clapping. I eventually fell into an uneasy sleep.
By mid morning,I could not sleep any longer. Besides sleeping in, the kitten named, “Little crocodile” kept jumping up onto my bed and biting me. I got up did my usual morning routine and then started my devotions. By this time, my teammate Dani had also gotten up. I was lying on my bed, doing my devotions as Dani went to start her morning routine. I heard she and our host mom talking and then Dani came back in to our room and announced, “Chavez lost.” I could not believe my ears. All I had heard was how Chavez would win and how some Venezuelans voted for trash, meaning their vote would probably end up in the trash. Everyone, including me, assumed he would win. But he hadn’t. It was a complete and total surprise, kind of like when a lizard landed on Brett, Cassie and Jeremy’s front step, running from a hungry dog. A surprise that takes your breath away with its suddenness yet leaves a smile of your face.
The Venezuela team has spent the last couple days just getting to know people from our church. Although I don’t think they are quite sure what to do with us yet, hence hours and hours of free time everyday, they seem very excited to have us here. They are extremely patient with our attempts at Spanish and often laugh at me, when in the middle of a conversation; I call for Dani to translate. My host sisters also tease me about my Spanish that mostly consists of “no entiendo” or “no se” which means I don’t understand and I don’t know, respectively. Brett, Cassie and Jeremy live in a small apartment above the church, Kirsten, Dani and I live with host families. Kirsten lives very close to the church, with three sisters and Dani and I live with the same host family about two blocks from the church. Our sisters left with their father to go to the beach the day after we arrived and are returning today. It is a lot different with out them. For one, the parrots keep screeching for Joanna, early in the morning and there is no Dianna to quiet them for us. Venezuela is not quite what I expected but I love looking at the mountains and the many different color combinations. I think we are all quite enjoying ourselves.

Aww...Venezuela

We arrived in Caracas on Thursday morning, the 29th at around 8 in the morning. The airport in Caracas is right by the shore. It almost felt as if we were going to land in the water. Then the shore came in sight. We landed and the newness of what we were doing finally hit me. "We are now in Venezuela" was all I could think. We got off the plane and headed for baggage claim. I expected to at least lose one suitcase and be held up at customs but nothing of the sort happened. Although, Cassie got sick and Kirsten left her sweater at the airport.

We didn´t know if anyone was coming to pick us up at the airport. We started going through customs and Brett saw a sign on the other side. It said, "Team YES." Although they were holding it upside down and it was small, he was able to make it out. About five people were there. We shook hands, said hello and headed for the van. We got in this old beat up yellow van for about ten people, with our luggage blocking the view out the back, and started for Charallave. We drove up endless mountains, I wasn´t sure the van would make it sometimes, through tunnels and dodging traffic the whole way. I was sure we were going to get hit several times. I loved it all. I took this picture overlooking a section of Caracas and the sea. Then I took a nap, which is a pretty amazing feat in itself, considering how Venezuelans drive.

The mountains in Venezuela are covered with houses that they call rancheros. This is view from Charallave. We are down in a valley surrounded by mountains like these. Dani and I have to walk up one to get to our home. However, it is like a small hill compared to this mountain.

A view from my house. The church is somewhere down in the valley. My house is like an apartment with two apartments above. My host mom´s sister lives in the top one and her father in the middle. My host mom is crazy. She calls herself La Gorda, which is the fat one in Spanish. I think she wants to fatten Dani and I up and tells Dani that she doesn´t eat well. I apparantly do...I am not sure thats a good thing.

We have not really been given any direct jobs to do here. Most the time we sit, talk to people and eat. Brett, Cassie and Jeremy went to the market today and bought syrup for their pancakes. I think the Venezuelans thought they were crazy. Who wants syrup when they can have cheese, butter and ham? We were given a tour of part of the city but there is so much going on at once and so much I don´t understand. But we´re all learning and taking it one day at a time. I am really enjoying this vivacious and new place.



written by: Alyse