Wednesday, January 31, 2007

It is Official.

Venezuela as I have known it these past 20 years, is dead. The National Assembly gave the president the ability to rule by decree. We knew they would , but we held on , savoring the last few days before it was official. Now it is.
I know that I have been here so long , and came so young, that I perhaps identify to much with this country I have adopted.
I remember the other governments of the last 20 years, and I will be the first to say that every last one was corrupt! But they didn't take away hope , they didn't meddle in MY life. Some people ask me why I take it so personal...because it is.
I had my ministry taken away, my home taken away, my future as I had envisioned it taken. Sometimes I get mad over the silliest things! Like when I go to get my favorite cast iron skillet that had been my grandmothers and realize I don't have it because it was too heavy to lug out of the jungle!!! I can get angry about that. Or a book I need for homeschooling my children. It is mouldering away in the jungle. Silly things! But I find it easier to dwell on these things than to actually dwell on the people and friends we left behind.It is easier to get angry over STUFF than to actually have a broken heart over the people left there.

Then I fast forward to the city today, new friends, new ministry, what will be their future??

The LORD is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.Proverbs 15:29

Pray for my righteous Venezuelan friends.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Check this out!!


http://dunellanoestachato.blogspot.com/


Many of you have noticed comments left by Rancher here and at Yekwanaman's blog.
You will enjoy the post he has with comments made by Castro and Chavez. It's a quiz from The Real Cuba. Go see if you can decide which one made which statement!!!

Venezuelans We Love





We had a fellowship meeting here at our house yesterday with many North American missionaries. We enjoyed the company and sharing time. We are all at different stages in our ministries and have different feelings on some of the happenings here.

We ALL agree things are BAD AND GETTING WORSE! But the differences are as to how bad, how much worse. It all boils down to...how much time do we as gringos have left here in the country.

Pray for us, some have been here a long time , I do believe we have been here the longest, by about 4 years. This is our twentieth year in Venezuela.

I tell my girls to try and think on the positive, so we do have good times!

One of the highlights for us last week at the retreat, where we had 20 Venezuelan pastors and their wives, was that over half of them came up to us and said things to us personally .

Things that MEANT a lot to us. Things like,"You were my first SS teacher.", "You were my counselor at camp","You baptized me","You led me to the Lord at VBS", "You taught me at the Bible Institute."

Even in hard times, GOD loves us and shows us His love through His people.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Saturday, January 27, 2007

More Photos of the Retreat

Here I am with Susan Arce, working in the kitchen.



Girls will be girls! A gab fest among the wives!


Dinner Time!



The impromptu soccer game was won by the Ladies Team! Of course, the guys "played Nice"!



I know this looks like a dance but it is actually the soccer game!

Friday, January 26, 2007

Venezuelan Pastor's Retreat



We had 20 couples for the four day retreat! Lots of fun and fellowship!


Some of the wives helping out with the fruit center peicecs for the dinner tables.

Boys will be boys

And Here we Go Again!!


http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-01-25-chavez_x.htm

The supreme one threaten to make the US ambassador, persona non grata. On Sunday,
we were told in English by the supreme one , "Gringo go home, go to ----". We were told to go to the "REFUSE" pile. I am trying to translate nicely, without being vulgar as he was.
He is using the same vocabulary he used right before he threw the missionaries out of the jungle. There have been rumors in the American ex-pat community of the possible closure of the US embassy in February. So far, just that, rumors. But maybe HIS Highness heard about the rumors and is choosing to be proactive and kick us all out first!
So check out the article above. And, anyone have a spare room available???

I'm Back!


But exhausted! I will blog some a little later but all went well and was very well received. I'll send pictures but for now... need to unpack and spend time with my girls.

Saturday, January 20, 2007

Yekwanaman and Jungle Mom with the grandbaby Elena . 23 Years and Still in Love!


I will be leaving tomorrow for our Baptist camp in Nirgua. We are hosting a couples retreat for the national pastors. My husband is doing most of the teaching. Loosely based on Love and respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs.


I am taking a sneak peek at some of his notes, and Hee,hee. Looks good.
Emotional Intimacy
Physical Intimacy
Communication with comprehension
Reconciliation
Faithfulness
Honor and esteem
Ladies Only: The Conquest
Chain of Command
Discernment- analyze and advise
Feminine Intuition
Friendship, companionship

My titles are:


Know your Man
The Jezebel Profile
Love Your Husband
Your Love isn't Enough!
Your Intimate relationship, changes everything FOR HIM
Meeting HIS real needs ( make it a priority)

Friday, January 19, 2007

VIVA MEJICO!!!

http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2007-01-19T062550Z_01_N19202599_RTRIDST_0_MEXICO-CALDERON.XML


Calderon welcomes the fleeing capital of Venezuela to relocate in Mexico!

This I Dedicate to all My Mexican Family

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Price Controls and Shortages

Chicken , sugar ,and black beans are under price control and are no longer viable for the farmers to produce. It costs more than they are allowed to make.


Chicken is going into other products such as soup and CAT food which are not price controlled.


Sugar is being sent to other countries,and white sugar is controlled. So it makes more money for the growers to sell molasses and brown sugar.

Black beans are also controlled as it is a staple so the growers are swithching to red beans.
Chicken is more available at the government store, MERCAL. B ut have LOOOONG lines.

There is a joke in spanish. What animal has the longest "tail" (cola, which also translates as a line) in the world?The answer is... Chicken at the government stores!!

I noticed a lot of little things we used to splurge on at Christmas were missing this year. Due to the drop in importations..

I expect we will see more of this.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

A different kind of Sunday.


I woke up this morning and went to check on Jayde. She had been running a fever last night and complaining of a sore throat and scratchy eyes. Sure enough, she was still feverish.
Clint and Jewel headed to church. He brought back some chicken for lunch. PTL!!
But he was awhile in getting here , due to a lot of meetings after church about the retreat coming up.
He ate, grabbed some coffee, and will be heading out to the stadium to do Baseball Chapel. Pray that goes well as it is the last of this season.
Jewel has Womens Choir practice at 5 but a friend will pick her up. Then Clint heads to church as he is preaching the 6 o'clock service tonight. I will still be here with Jayde as she is feverish and ,grumpy! If you dont beleive me just read her blog!
At least I have been able to get some notes on paper for my classes. I have been distracted with politics!!
So I sit here trying to remember the verse in english, Hebreos 12:2 ,"Puestos los ojos en Jesus" I think it is "Fixing our eyes on Christ". My english Bible is upstairs and the power Bible program ...messes me up! The Bible is a BOOK !!!With paper pages. I dont know about the TT, Byzantine,MT, etc, but I know it is a paper book!!
Anyway, I am trying to FIX my eyes on Christ. Spent the morning doing that. I have a lot on paper for the classes. Mainly just talking points as I hope the "girls" will open up and talk themselves. And I hope Beth can be there to help me with that. ;)
I only have 2 hours of classes as Yekwanaman is doing the bulk of the teaching and we only have 2 classes with the couples seperated, but we have a planned Open Forum each night. Those are scary as it can go ANYWHERE!!!
So pray for me to be able to keep my eyes fixed on Christ as I remember all the other things I need to do also. And all the logistical details of the retreat. And the Home schooling, and the regular stuff of a house wife...
I also webcamed with LeLe. That made the day A-OK!

Sempr Fi

https://www.godaddy.com/gdshop/holiday/usmc2006/playmovie.asp?isc=gdbb1111&se=%2B

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Aren't You?



Did you know that my family has been baptist for at least 4 generations? The Bible mentions a Godly generation and I thank the Lord for my family. What a blessing to be raised with the truth and the continuity of the same faith and doctrine. I think it must be unsettling for children growing up not sure what they are and what they should beleive or why. I pray the Lord allows my family to contiue to be blessed in our "goodly" heritage . Even apart from the salvation of my soul, even apart from the rewards I anticipate in heaven, just having lived this life with this foundation would be blessing enough!!
One of my most favorite family momentos is a large framed foto of my great-grandfather. He was a Baptist preacher. As was his son. As was his son, my father. As is my husband. As is my son. As is my son-in-law. I wont even start into the nephews! And brother-in-laws!

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

From the Mouths of Babes


"Under my thatch roof"
By Jayde Vernoy ( 2006)

I lay in silence,
Unable to sleep,
We'd move to the city,
so soon each day I'd weep.

President Chavez had said,
Right on TV,
That he didn't want to see in the jungle,
One missionary.

I felt like crying,
when he said those words.
I felt like I was being stabbed,
by a thousand swords.

I loved our home,
I loved it there,
how could Chavez say that?
It just wasnt fair.

So we packed a bunch of things,
some were old,some were new,
but when we boxed it all up,
we could only take a few.

"Plane Day" came,
and we all climbed inside the plane.
I did not like it.
I thought it was insane.

One last look,
At the Indian's lined up,to say goodbye,
It hurt me so much,
I thought I would die.

But here I am now,
One year later,
getting used to a new life
And no longer eating gator.

Sunday, January 07, 2007

Saturday, January 06, 2007

What do you get when...


You mix a third generation marine with a fourth generation baptist preachers kid????

Why , missionaries in the amazon jungle of course!!!!!!!!

Friday, January 05, 2007

Love and Respect

If you haven't already noticed, my blog is a little "random". Much like me. One day I might blog about US politics, the next , my kids. Then on to my "Chavismo" thing and later, the Scripture. You just never know.
So , I hope you all bear with me these next 3 weeks. Clint and I are preparing our material for a marriage seminar we are teaching for our national pastors. The Title is "LOVE and RSPECT".
The love she most desires and the respect he desperately needs. It is based on a book by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. I also will be doing seperate classes for the wives. Some material from "Created to be his helpmeet''' by Debi Pearl and that great little book , "For Women Only".
So I am sure my next few blogs will be heavy into this stuff. Hope I don't lose you all along the way! I may throw out a few ideas for you all to bounce around and see what happens. Of course since I have so many neices and nephews that come and read, I'll make sure and keep it PG!

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Home sweet Home



The village as seen from the air. No roads,only way in is by air or 2 weeks on a dug out!
We built our home out of hand made adobe bricks. The roof is palm.

My Other Life


The plane we used to transport supplies, ourselves, and patients. After a long legal process and many "fines" , we were able to get the plane back to the states.


Clint cooking for the indians.

Clint the Dentist

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

My Son


My son left this morning. It was hard to see him go, but I know he is doing what he needs to be doing right now. I enjoyed seeing how he has matured and is becoming a man. I enjoyed sharing things from the Word with him. we read some C H Spurgeon together, how cool is that?!
I enjoyed his preaching with such confidence, I dont know what exactly God has in his future but I see the possibilities.
We even had a few cries together over not being able to be at home in the jungle. He never got to say goodbye to the people, no real closure and it hit him hard being here in Venezuela, at "home", but not at "home".
I thank God for the time he spent with his sisters and cousins. He is a good role model for them.
I miss him already, the house feels empty and very quiet. We will miss him and laugh at all his antics, and count the days til we see him again.
Thanks for letting me share, we had a great Christmas and New Years and we are ready for up coming events.
God is gracious and good!
This picture was taken his last summer at home in Chajurana, He was preparing for a 3 day hike with his dad thru the jungle to another village. That was his Senior Trip. He actually loved it, so dont feel sorry for him! But he misses that life.
But God is Faithful. We need faith to do and act even when we dont understand why things are happening the way they are around us.
Josh and I talked about Peter walking on the water and how he had faith to step out and walk, as he saw Jesus do, but apparently Peter didn't calculate the effect of the winds. When the winds blew he lost his focus and faith and faltered. We cant let the unexpected events shake our faith.
If you want to read more about our expulsion from the jungle by the Venezuelan government, go to www.bimi.org . There is a link to the World Magazine, volume 2 of 2006. The article is , "This had been our home".