There's No Place Like Home........

There's no place like home and hopefully by now all team members have made it home! I say this because our dear teammates Susan and Dave got stuck in Charlotte last night. After an unexpected visit to Memphis this morning - they were headed to Louisville and then a 2 hour drive home.

Yesterday was a long day - as we awoke at 3:00am and departed the seminary at 4:00am. Arriving at the Barquisimeto airport to begin the long wait for our flight to depart. We stood in several lines - all of us trying to understand the reasoning behind each one. Our flight was due to depart at 6:30 and finally left around 8:00. Thankfully we had a built in layover cushion which we used most of. At some point while waiting in line Kathy and Stacy tried clicking their heels Dorothy style to go home - it didn't work! A quick connect in Curacao and we were off to Charlotte. Arriving back in the states made us all feel a little closer to home. One more flight - with a little deicing and we were there.

We want to thank you all for following us on our journey. We laughed and loved a lot. We were able to be bold and spread the Word of God. We shared the gospel message with many. And we hope that by our actions Christ's love was able to shine through.

Thanks to those who supported us with their prayers as well as those who contributed monetarily. We couldn't have done it without you.

Please pray over the next year for our friends new and old in Venezuela. Please pray for Pastor Smith, his congregation and his community. Please pray for the seminary as they educate these pastors in VZ.

We were blessed to be a part of this mission and can't wait to return next year! Venezuela 2014 - Here We Come!

Signing Off for the Team -

Kathy Reeves (AKA - Juanita!)

Today was the last full day. We left the seminary a little late today because the Venezuelan students who were staying here were saying goodbye to us. They were so sad to leave, and they wrote us a letter, in English, telling us how they have loved coming to know us and enjoy working with us. They were crying as we left to go to Valle Dorado.

At Valle Dorado, we were sent right to work pouring MORE concrete. Phil, with his excellent math skills, said we poured about 6 ½ tons of concrete. Susan, Kim, and Elizabeth got to carry back the empty buckets. Some of the kids wrote us adorable goodbye letters and drew pictures of us. At lunch we received beautiful gifts from Smith and the other people at Valle Dorado. Pastor Smith gave us an inspirational thank you and Kathy said one back, through Yoe, of course. It took a while for everyone to exchange names for Facebook and email addresses but we were shuffled to the van quickly. It was a hard goodbye for everyone, and I’m sure I can speak for the entire team when I say we will be excited to see them next year.

From Valle Dorado, we went to Nigel Burrow’s house. Nigel does Drop-Inn ministries and preaches on the streets of Barquisimeto and brings food to families in their houses and to the church we went to tonight. Nigel briefed us on what he’s done in the past and what he is still doing and what we were going to be doing later. After that, we got back into Willie’s van and went to the church to feed the children. When we got there, we were greeted and shown a presentation done by Nigel and his wife, Monica. When the children got there, they loved the Noah’s ark necklaces we had made for them earlier in the week. They prayed and ate sandwiches with big smiles on their faces. They were loving and happy to see all of us. We left with heavy hearts, knowing we had to leave the next morning. Some of us were happy to see our families, and others wanted to stay much longer. We will all be up at 4 in the morning to go to the airport. See you tomorrow!

Helping at the Seminary

Sorry about our internet problems! Thursday we did some work at the seminary. We got to bond with the Venezuelan workers and students staying at the seminary with us. Pam and Elizabeth painted the yellow house yellow (it was previously white) and almost everyone else unloaded cement blocks off of trucks. It was a tough day for the people who didn’t feel 100%. Abuela’s home remedy of tea helped.

The Faulk family, Stacy, and Yoe joined Nigel for his Drop-In ministry. They had the opportunity to minister to four young ladies that accepted Christ this past Saturday. They also served meals to about 90 children and adults.

We ended our day with a devotion from Elizabeth in which she shared what true happiness really means. This week has been an exciting new experience for the newbies and another fabulous year for the people returning. Everyone has put in their part to make this past week special and meaningful to them and to everyone. The best part about each day at Valle Dorado, was telling everyone, Hasta manana! (Until tomorrow) Soon, we are going to have to tell them, see you next year!

Bucket List

We've missed posting for two days. We apologize about our spotty internet. Once again our day found us at Valle Dorado.  It was a very hot day but a special day for us all (except Dillon – He didn’t feel well today).  Today we spent our time making concrete to pour for the foundation beams.  Phil determined for us that we carried over 500 buckets of concrete, that amounted to about 25lbs per bucket.  Our biggest challenge was when the power went out and Kathy decided the work must go on…..we believe that we may have set a new Venezuelan record for the largest hand mixed concrete volcano.   Pastor Warren was even seen on site with a bucket in hand.

The children came by to help us make necklaces for a street ministry that is led by Nigel Burrow’s, a missionary for over 10 years.  They enjoyed contributing and supporting us as we prepare for our outreach to Las  Clavellinas on Friday.

 We joined Pastor Smith for his church service tonight in Valle Dorado.  We prepared a skit for the children.  Rich did a great job of reading the story of Noah’s Ark as the rest of the team imitated a variety of animals.  The Aardvark and the turtle sound was a bit challenging for Peggy and Dave, but they nailed it when the curtains went up.  Taylor was the best sly red fox ever.  The children loved the story and we loved sharing with them.

Our favorite God moment today was when 2 boys accepted Christ.  We were told that the two boys decided last year that if we returned this year that they would then consider following Jesus and that it would be a sign from God of our faithfulness.  Praise God!

Another long day but once again we learned from Peggy’s devotion that good works don’t earn us salvation – that it is a result of salvation!

What a Joyous Day!

Our morning started with Kathy our incredible leader sharing the touching prayer from Matt Hambrick. We've missed his presence.

We began our work day with Merdado welcoming us at Valle Dorado. Such a welcomed face for us! He quickly put us all to work. Everyone had their own special task to complete. The bulk of the team got busy building cages for the concrete foundations and assembling the forms in preparation of the concrete. Susan and Peggy shared their culinary skills alongside Gladys but quickly realized the simplicity of their skills and minimal amount of tools to get the job done! The meals were outstanding!!

All of the women on our team went out in to the community and gave Jesus Calling books to the women and they were most appreciative.

John and Jim stayed at the seminary to work today. We missed them but know their time was well spent. Elizabeth, Taylor, Scott, Dillon, and Rich all played volleyball, kick ball, and soccer.

Kathy led the ten and over girls through a brief lesson on Created By God and intimacy. All the mission team women and Pastor Smith wife's contributed to meaningful conversations and encouragement to the 18 young women. They opened up about their personal lives and were encouraged to believe that they are "fearfully and wonderfully made". They also shared their hopes and dreams for their lives and the frustrations that could prevent them from achieving their goals.

Our favorite God moment today was when 6 young women accepted Christ after our the Created By God lesson. Praise God!

Our evening concluded with showing the movie "Facing the Giants" and Veggie tales to our friends in Valle Dorado. It was a long day for us all but as we learned in our devotion today led by Phil - "God takes great joy in His own creative work."

Goodnight! -Stacy

 

Created by God lesson

Hard at work

Peggy and Susan were superstars in the kitchen!

Dave says 'hi!'

 

 

 

Day 2, First Day at the Worksite

This morning Scott made breakfast, panqueques y huevos (pancakes and eggs) and we were all VERY thankful. Marcia stopped by with her hijos (kids) and her workers. When we got to the work site, we were greeted with smiling faces and lots of hugs. We stood around at first, waiting for instruction, then Rich talked to the site manager and we were put to work. We filled buckets with gravel, and dumped them on the ground. That's it. Taylor had a brilliant idea to use the wheelbarrow. We kept some buckets with Stacy and Kim. They filled them up, and Elizabeth, Yoe, Pam, and Peggy dumped them in the structure to act as a barrier between the concrete and the ground. That was all of the work most of us did.

We took a dance break after that. First, Dillon started beat-boxing, one of the boys pulled out his cell phone and started playing a rap song, and Dillon plugged up the phone to the speakers. Dillon and Peggy got some of the boys to dance. They took turns doing various robot moves. A few songs were played until Dariangelique recongnized one of them, and started dancing. She danced and sang along, while we watched and took pictures. Taylor and Elizabeth attempted dancing along until some of the older kids started dancing the same dance. It was a sight to see.

After our little fiesta (party) we were put back to work. Rich translated and said that they wanted us to move some blocks in one pile in the middle and move them to a corner into another pile. We did it without complaint, and we used the same method we did with the gravel. We dug around a little, and then Peggy freaked out. She started screaming SNAKE! SNAKE! And we needed Rich to translate so the workers could kill it. They grabbed some sticks and sharp tools and started stabbing the ground and pushing aside blocks until they found the little snake and chopped it into three bits.

After that little episode, some of us went outside to play with the kids, including Dillon, Scott, Elizabeth, Peggy, Pam, Stacy, and Kim. When we got out there, most of them were crowding around Dillon and looking at pictures on his phone. Some of us knew enough Spanish to tell them how old we were and about our families. They loved talking and asking questions. Stacy got a massage from Paola. Paola also braided Elizabeth and Stacy's hair. We talked and threw bean bags and took many, many pictures, some of them are on the Due West Facebook page. Stacy was our fantastic photographer. We played Kicking Ball (kick ball) with the kids, which they loved. One of our favorite moments was when Jim went to catch the ball and it slipped right through his arms. Dillon and Scott were the stars of the game. We said goodbye and hasta manana (until tomorrow) and went back to the seminary.

Come back tomorrow! Hasta manana!

Stacy found her baby!

Lunch time

We Have Arrived!

Yesterday morning we arrived at the church, tired and hungry, and then the muffins and coffee made that a little better. We grouped up to go to the airport. We were at the airport for a while before our flight. The first flight was just an hour, so some people got in a power nap. We landed in Charlotte, North Carolina and had a little while before our tedious four hour flight to Curacao. Eight of us had to check the bags back so the rest of us ate while they went back through security. It was mostly barbecue, but Scott was brave and ate airport sushi. When everyone else got through security, again, we ate some more and found some frozen yogurt. (yum!) Scott and Rich rushed ahead of the rest of us to the boarding gate because they wanted their roomy exit seats, they got them. The flight was long, some people took naps, others read, but Scott and Rich passed their time by harassing Elizabeth, who unfortunately, had to sit in front of them. We landed in Curacao, and waited in a long line to go through their average security system. After that, we boarded the Fokker 50, no joke, and squeezed into our little seats. We all found it strange that the letters on the seat numbers skipped B and E. A, C, D, F. On the 55 minute flight, we filled out the confusing immigration forms. We landed, and were all glad to get off of the cramped plane and see Willie. It took a while to claim our baggage and check in, in one little room of the small airport, right in Barquisimeto. We were happy to see Samuel again, some meeting him for the first time, and met his brother. Warren was also there to greet us, as well as Willie. The newbies took in the (dark) sights on the way to the seminary. We got there and were pretty happy to get to bed.

Today, we woke up pretty early, and ate breakfast with no hurry. That’s something you learn here, you are never late. We took our time getting ready for church and then went to Pastor Carlos’s church first this morning. Rich and John were the only ones who understood any of the service, but we appreciated the attempt to translate near the end. There was such high energy, and everyone was so happy and intrigued at what the pastor had to say. The service wasn’t long, and right after that we went to Pastor Alexander’s church. That was a sight to see. People were dancing to the music until they passed out on the floor. They worshipped until they fainted. Not many of us understood what they were saying, but it made us happy anyway. That church had helped 53 people find Christ during this past week. When it was time for children’s church, Elizabeth, Stacy, Peggy, Scott, and Kim went with them. The kids didn’t speak English, and we didn’t speak Spanish, so thank goodness for Yoe. He translated what the kids were asking us and other comments. Scott did some magic tricks, much to the kids’ amusement, and made balloon animals, just like last year. The kids were eager to learn English. They would ask us what perro  or gato meant in English. Peggy danced with them a little and Stacy took a bunch of pictures. They were so happy we were there and we were so blessed to be loved by strangers. We were accepted like family to both churches, and here at the seminary. We left the church and went shopping! We went to Tintinino Market. It was like a flea market. There were wood carvings, blown glass, blankets, hammocks, purses and jewelry, knick-knacks for children, knick-knacks for adults, and more. The car ride back we were all pretty tired, and we stopped for some good marron. (coffee) Samuel was kind and ordered for us because of our lack of knowledge of the Spanish language. We took some pictures that we put on the Due West Facebook page, and Scott and Stacy took some “selfies.” Some people dozed off of the car ride back to the seminary. When we got back we unloaded our goodies from the market and hung around until our devotion at nine.

Come back tomorrow! Hasta manana!

 

Sorry there aren't many good pictures, Stacy and I had a battle with the computer. It won. More pictures tomorrow!