Adios, Venezuela--It's Good To Be Home

The mission trip to Caracas & Cua, Venezuela was a great success.

It was such a blessing to be there for the week.  The team of missionaries was amazing.  And the people were beautiful and extremely loving.  It was such an incredible blessing to be among them.  One of the "locals" I didn't like very much was the virus that infected about 9 of us on the team.  I spent 3 days out of commission with a N-A-S-T-Y intestinal bug.  Yowzer, it was fierce!!!  It started on Thursday and I'm still not at 100% a week later.  Nevertheless, the week was a big success.

Central to the week was the 3-day crusade on the DNA of Relationships.  Al and Marie Ramirez did an amazing job.  Al preached and the people LOVED his messages.  There probably isn't a more relevant topic in Venezuela than relationships.  Marie was a big hit with the youth as well.  It was so cool to see them in action.

The Venezuelan Flag

The City of Caracas

No, I didn't take the picture, but I love 

the "message" it seems to convey.

Our immediate team.  The three guys in

the center of the 2nd row are the local

team.  (Matt & Sam are members of the

Team Expansion ministry; Dairo is a Colombian 

evangelist.)  The other six of us are from the 

Huntington Beach church.  

(The bird is our Outreach Team mascot;

he goes on all FCC missions trips.)

This is the house where Lee, Lucas, and I stayed.

Also in the house were Matt, Sam, and Dairo.

Much fun together, in spite of water shut-offs on

Monday and Thursday!  Pictured is Lucas Quass,

an amazing young guy from our church.

This little guy was roaming the street in

front of our house.  Iguanas are apparently

everywhere in Venezuela.  I'd never seen

one "in the wild" before.

This is a view from the porch of Eric and

Chris Berry's home.  The Berrys started the 

work in Cua about three years ago.  Its amazing

success is attributable to their vision and

walk with God.  (I wish I had a good picture

of them to post.  The one I have isn't very

flattering to either of them.)

I won't deny it...it's great to be home.  I'm not a big fan of folding toilet paper and putting it in a trash can instead of flushing it (when you have water to flush!).  But, in spite of the "sanitation situation," I'm so very thankful for the Venezuelan experience.  It was a great blessing to see how God is working through His people there.