The Visas...

Week 11
Jeremy Spangler

This is with Stanley, our host in Aruba.

After several failing attempts to find a way out of the country before our visas ended, we finally had it…or not. Thursday (14th) evening, we thought we had it, but it slowly fell from our grips, so we had to try again Friday morning and we had everything in place with Brett in Caracas to buy the tickets, and I was in the church office at eight to call the airline. It all went down as planned, and God worked it out for us to get out of the country by the time it needed to happen. Now it is strange to think of God arranging a trip to Aruba in the last minute, but that is the way it happened and we praise God for his mighty hand in it all. We spent four days there getting to know many different parts of the island, seeing God’s beautiful creation, and experiencing His powerful ways many different times. Upon returning to Venezuela everything went great and they are allowing us to be here another ninety days.
Praises
new visas
seeing that God does have a purpose though at times we do not understand it
Prayer
contiunued team unity and strength by God's hand
open and willing hearts to step out and do whatever God may ask

Hodge Podge

Venezuela Update Week #10/#11

By- Dani Rupp

Please excuse the tardiness of this update, as I have found myself to be quite adjusted to the Venezuelan view of time. According to that, I’m still early. Team V has been busy lately with upcoming events. Here’s an overview of what is happening in the land of arepas and beans.
Carnival- Last week was Carnival, a week of parades, parties and vacation. Though we went down to watch some of the parade and had water balloons thrown at us, we did not participate in any of the stereotypical festivities. It is considered a pagan holiday by the church and therefore they discourage attending the local events.
Lent- We did have an Ash Wednesday service as a team. I have never attended an Ash Wednesday service, nor have I ever really understood lent. I always joked that I gave up lent for lent, but Brett talked to us about the history of it and challenged us to think of something to focus on during the 40 days of lent. On Ash Wednesday we all shared our focus and/or sacrifice and had a time of prayer and anointing with ashes. As a team we are striving to encourage and challenge one another with the commitments we made.
Visas- When we came to Venezuela, our team was only able to obtain traveler’s Visas, which are good for 90 days. After a hectic few weeks of trying to figure out if we could renew them in Venezuela, we found out that is not possible and we need to leave the country, renew our Visas in another country, and then reenter Venezuela. Due to timing issues we will be leaving tonight (Friday) and will be back by next Thursday. The past few days have been full of trying to find a cheap place to travel to. It has been stressful and there have been times of anxiety, but we are trusting in God and we know He has a plan. This situation is teaching us to rely completely on Him. Right now we are planning on taking a bus to an airport and then flying to Aruba. Prayers for our upcoming travel plans and our sanity would be appreciated.
Oriente- At the end of February, Alyse, Jeremy and I (Brett and Kirsten will have family here) will be going with the youth from Shalom to the Aguanape (in Southwest/Central region of Venezuela) for a weekend. We will be working with a church there and other than that I do not know many details. I do know the church has been focusing on spiritual warfare a lot in regards to this trip, so I think it is a place that is fairly dark and needs the light of Christ. Please pray for this upcoming ministry opportunity.
Teaching English- March is full with Kirsten’s family going back home after their visit, Brett’s family coming and a few weeks later Cassie’s family arriving. In between the craziness, we are hoping to provide English tutoring, as well as classes, at the church on Saturday mornings. We are still not sure what this will look like, but we are praying about how we can best use this as a ministry opportunity.
Ninos de la Luz- In April we will be living in Caracas for at least a month with an organization called Ninos de la Luz. It is a Christian-run organization located on a ranch that houses and helps kids from the streets. We are excited about this opportunity and the ability to use the gifts God has given our team. Check out their website- www.ninosdelaluz.org
Amazonas- It is looking like we are going to be in the Amazonas, southern Venezuela, for the month of June. We will be living in Puerto Ayacucho and helping a church there with outreach to other tribes in the area. This is an opportunity to join in Shalom’s vision of planting a church there. We have been told that we need to be prepared for experiences with spiritual warfare. Though this is still quite a few months away, please pray for our preparation for this trip.
Prayer Requests:
All of the upcoming events mentioned above
Continued health and safety
Continued healthy team dynamics
Praises
God working out our Visas situation, maybe not in the way we wanted, but His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8)
Upcoming ministry opportunities
Personal, team, and church growth

Black Market Bologna
Brett Klingenberg - February 3
When you live in a country where food is rationed, going to the supermarket is like playing the lottery; you are probably not going to get what you want, but occasionally you get lucky. However, when the stores do have your desired item, you can only buy a limited amount. Last Tuesday, Cassie and I got lucky and found wheat flour, which is being rationed along with bread, rice, milk, and sugar. The store only permits a family to buy two packages at a time, so we did as Venezuelans do and split up, each buying two. It’s not uncommon for a shopper to pull up behind you in line with a cart full of ‘rationed food’ and ask you to buy for them, while at the same time handing you cash behind the conveyer belt. It’s an interesting system.
Milk is also weird. We buy our milk at the bakery, of all places. When we ask for milk, we do so quietly so as not to alert other customers that there is milk here. Then the bakery guy goes over to the fridge and pulls out (no more than two!) cartons of milk. He hides the containers under the counter as he puts them in sacks. I make the exchange; he nods politely, and we casually walk out as if nothing happened; I guess nothing really did happen.
When food is rationed, panic and fear follow. It is interesting to watch people line up hours before the stores open just to get a couple bags of flour.
I have also been affected. When I go to the supermarket I shop as fast as I can, trying to get everything before someone else grabs it. I’ve become more possessive and unwilling to share.
Despite the rations, the people of Shalom continue to show incredible hospitality. Just today the pastors gave us a carton of milk, for no reason. Yesterday we were invited to a birthday party where the hostess made a huge cake. It probably required an entire bag of flour, yet she shared generously. I know God will bless her for that, and it gives me hope that I can change. Jesus said not to worry about what we eat or drink, but it is difficult.
Every Sunday during offering time, people can give food donations that go to the poor of the church. Cassie and I gave a bag of flour today. I’m making progress.

Praises - we are becoming more integrated with the culture

Prayer Requests - Direction for upcoming decisions regarding our ministry

-new desire to break established routines and be willing to be uncomfortable

-visa renewals

A Change of Culture

Kirsten Miller
January 29, 2008
Week #9

One of the adjustments I’ve been experiencing in Venezuela is the clash that results from the United States social culture in me, meeting the social culture of Latin America. Coming from the U.S. culture, it is easy for me to evaluate my days based on how much I have accomplished or completed. The Latin American culture, however, is centered around relationships, rather than time and the accomplishment of tasks. Scheduled times are relative, activities are quickly set aside to spend time with a friend who stops by at your house, and plans seem to be changing continually to accommodate peoples’ needs. In order for me to engage more fully with the people of this culture, I need to learn to hold my time and my plans more loosely in my hands, allowing God to shape them as I go through each day. At times, this means forgetting about the list of things I have waiting to be finished, and just sitting and talking with people. If I’m always caught up in what I want to accomplish and the schedules I have lined up in my head, I am going to miss a lot of opportunities that God has for me. At times, learning this lesson is harder than other times, but I hope to return to the United States reflecting a bit more of the Venezuelan culture and mindset in my life.

Praises:
-general health of the team
-the opportunities and lessons God has brought to us

Prayer Requests:
-continued health and safety
-the renewal of our temporary visas by Feb. 26... we hope to be able to do this inside of the country
-the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our lives...that God would open and close doors as He desires
-that we would have God's eyes in considering new outreach opportunities
-Shalom: the church congregation and our relationships with them

Newsletter # 7

by Alyse Haldeman

When you hear the words, remodeling, you picture professionals, lots of fancy tools and a generally "clean" job. Well, in Venezuela, you get one out of one out of three. You can hire professionals, unfortunately, everything else depends on what you provide. In my host mother's case, she provided her living room floor to mix all the cement.
So, everyone came over to our house to help Mary Carmen last saturday to lay the bathroom floor. Little did we know, it would be quite the experience. We were under the charge of a man named Daniel, we mixed up cement, carried it to the new bathroom, dumped it, leveled it off, blocked it off and protected it from the cats. All by hand, no machines, only shovels, two tools that I don't know the names of, and elbow grease. The cement was, of course, mixed in our living room. We filled buckets full of dirt and tiny rocks from outside, carried them down steps and dumped it in the middle of the cleared room. We then added sand, cement and water. Lots of water. We got shovels and mixed it. A toss here, a cha-ca, cha-ca there and wa-la, enough cement to cover Miami. Well, our at least our entire living room floor. We filled the buckets previously filled with rocks and dirt with wet cement and carried it to the bathroom. Although the bathroom is only 20 ft. away from the living room, even the boys had trouble getting the buckets there. They were that heavy, Brett said it felt like 300 hundred pounds, mas o menos. We all ended up straddling the buckets and waddling towards the end of the hallway. We eventually made a race out of it. I think we are pretty good about making things fun. When we ran out of cement, (two times), we started the whole process over again. Plu,s when we ran out of dirt and rocks, we had to go down the street and get some more from the mountain of rocks in one lady's court yard and wheel barrow it back to my host mother's, fill the buckets with it, carry it down the steps and unload in the living room, again. I think my real mother would have freaked at the mess.
Mary Carmen and Johanna had lunch ready for us when we finished laying the floor. It was so good. The chicken and rice was AMAZING. I don't know how they make it but I'm sure it involves a lot of grease. With our arms sore and bellies full, we had the pleasure of seeing a nice new, beautifully level bathroom floor.
That day was the start off a very busy week. The Monday afterwards, we started language study, which involves a lot of traveling and many funny moments. We had to get up at 5 in the morning to get on the 30 minute long train ride to Caracas. However, where it ends in Caracas, still involves another hour to hour and 20 minutes of travel. Also, we hardly ever are able to sit, since some Venezuelans believe in running and pushing in front of you, regardless of lines. I guess you can say the same for some Americans though too. After we get off the train into Caracas, we needed to take a short train to the metro station in El Valle, where we can get on another metro that will take us to Plaza Venezuela, which is the central hub-bub of Caracas, where we get on yet another metro to Chacaito and then walk a couple blocks in order to get to our 8:45 class on time. We often feel like we are at the races in Kentucky. As soon as the doors of the metro are open, people race off to get on the their next train, regardless of whether it is leaving in 20 minutes. After all that out-running in front of everyone else and testing strengths by pushing, they are so exhausted, they just want to sit. If you sit and watch in at a metro station, you could probably tell who is not Venezuelan, by who isn't running. I don't have any pictures of the metro or train station because we aren't allowed to take any, or eat, or sit on the floor or run, but they do that anyway.
I think my favorite funny moment was when we were waiting to get on the subway at Plaza Venezuela. An empty train came by, and at that point we knew all bets on lines were off. If you wanted get on, you used any available part of your body to do so. So we were ready...
Apparantly not. We got on the train, only because the momentum behind us pushed us onto it. Which caused several very awkward situations. I felt I was up in everyone's grill around me. I stopped complaining though when I realized I couldn't hold onto anything, so if I fell, I would have a cushion in the people around me. Leave it to me to find the plus side. I am trying to do more and more of that here.
Prayer requests:
-Still for direction, we have ideas for ministry now, but what to do with them
-health and safety as we are traveling so much
Praises:
- We can now walk around with out an escort.
- Our weeks are starting to look full of activites that we are planning, and doing with our group and also with the youth and people from the church
Thanks for your support!

reflections on the fast

Venezuela Team Newsletter #6
Cassandra Klingenberg
1.12.2008

I had never fasted for three days, but at Shalom, the New Year means bringing your first and best to God. So on the morning of January 2nd, we joined church members in the sanctuary to begin a time of fasting. As a church, they pray and seek direction for the coming year. Our team also had the privilege of leading them in singing, dramas, scripture reading, and a message given by Alyse in English and translated by Kirsten into Spanish. The following is a glimpse into how I experienced and observed the Lord working through the people…

Indeed, the Lord met us on this final day of fasting. We began the third morning of fasting with worship and prayer. Hungry and thirsty, we laid it all before the Lord, knowing only he could quench the emptiness we felt inside. While lifting up our voices in praise, Edison, the worship leader began praying. As the passion in his voice grew, the music also climaxed in intensity and volume. Then un-expectantly, his voice began to break and he cried out, sobbing as he prayed. He lowered himself to the ground and fell on his knees, face-down before the Lord. The music softened and the Holy Spirit seemed to pour Himself out upon all who gathered. The members of the band stopped playing altogether and joined the others for a time of silence.

As I looked around the room, the congregation was on their knees, their faces to the ground. Some were standing with their arms wide open. Others were sitting on their chairs, waiting expectantly for the Lord to meet them there. I glance up to the very front of the room and see pastor Ceferino kneeling in front of his chair, hands folded in reverent prayer.

“Lord, you are here. You are in this place. I can feel your presence; it is so close I could reach out and touch it. It is silent. Lord, something is drawing me in. I don’t want to leave this place of peace within. You can feel the brokenness in the air as your children cry out to you, longing to be filled with your presence, prostrating themselves before you, Father. I see your body, broken, humbled, and loved.”

Bringing in the New Year

Venezuela Team Newsletter #5
Jeremy Spangler
January 4, 2008

The festivities in Charallave for welcoming in the New Year had long since started when ours began with some of the members of the church around 9:30 PM. There was a lot of noise being made throughout the city all afternoon, and even here at the church. We have come to be somewhat acquainted to the way they do things here, so we were not so concerned about the night starting any too quickly. So we were prepared for a late night and to say the least it was. We didn’t even start to think about starting the grill until after ten in the evening. Even making the food was a relational thing. We spent the evening getting to know some of the people here better and joking with them.
About eleven in the evening Kirsten was going to return to her home to spend the rest of the night with her family. Since it was dark, a small group of us walked with her back to her house. I was expecting to go there and return to the church right away, but her host mom, Carolina, met us at the door with other plans. She said to us, “Pase” as to pass through and enter her house. We were standing there and Kirsten’s host parents, Carolina and Julio, asked us if we wanted to eat with them. They already seemed determined that this was going to happen. The table was already set with traditional Venezuelan food, some of which was hallacas, a potato salad (sounds Mennonite), and pan de jamon or ham bread. We were all smiling and laughing and I was surprised by this turn of events. They finally did convince us though to sit down and eat with them. I was so amazed at their hospitality and how welcoming they were to these unexpected guests. One of Kirsten’s sisters, Kristian said ‘Buen Provecho,’ which means good appetite more or less, and we all dug into the delicious Venezuelan meal before us. We did not spend much time with them, but through the time we did I was blessed and humbled by their welcoming and servant hearts. We returned to the church to bring in the new year with a scripture and a passionate prayer in thanks for what God has done in the past year and will do in 2008.
Then the fireworks really started. Some were set of from our place at the church, and others set off all over the city. By 12:30 A.M. there was a cloud of smoke hanging over the city from all the noise making fireworks. We fell asleep on Tuesday morning to the sound of them continuing steady.

Prayer Requests

• patience with our current spanish abilities
• continued understanding of our purpose with the Shalom congregation
  

Praises

• The 3 day fast with the church and the way we saw God work through it.