An update

I can't believe so much time has slipped away from me. Sorry that I am not better at keeping up with this sort of thing!

This summer has taken it's toll on me. I went from a National conference in June, to a few weeks of vacation in July that ended with some health issues. While I've been working over the past month, I've spent time trying to recover physically as well as emotionally. I'm getting better, but still not quite myself. Spiritually, God has shown me how I need total dependence on Him - His will, His timing, His provision, His sustenance, His ways, etc!

On a personal note - please continue to pray for my strength and peace. I could also use wisdom for balancing my ministry and personal time and pace.

On a ministry note - I am excited at the things God is doing!
-Our Crisis Response Ministry Center is getting closed to finished! (1st pic) We should be moving in September. On a sad note, the "stained carpet" is GONE from Trinity Church - they are refreshing the building after 4 years of volunteer occupancy!
-God has recently sent a few potential staff for the area of follow up ministry as well as overall Crisis Response! It's great to see the potential for that area of the ministry to expand. This 2nd pic is of a team that tried follow up a few weeks ago - all 3 are in the application process!
-We are getting ready to hold our annual planning meetings to discuss where we've been and where God wants us to go!
-We just finished a summer in which we were blessed by much volunteer involvement!

Please keep in prayer the need for volunteers - "the harvest fields are soooo ripe!" This last pic was taken last week while walking the streets of New Orleans. That is one of MANY that still decorate the neighborhoods where we are working in Central City.

Many blessings to y'all!
Mary

Ministry continues after the Flood & Hurricanes are long gone...

I have been traveling quite a bit these past few months. When I'm back and forth, living out of a suitcase, I seem to lose track of free time to keep this site updated!

God continues to do exciting things in this ministry of Crisis Response. I was just updating my boss on the last few months progress. God has increased the fruit of this ministry. We are praying that He will continue to touch the lives of others... eternally.

A few things to keep in prayer -
- North Dakota is still cleaning up post flooding - teams are needed while there are still many sandbags and much clean up. Two churches want to use this as a time to outreach to the rural community.
- There is a rebuild ministry going on in Cedar Rapids. I spent several days there working towards further relational ministry development with a group of people. It was good to get to spend some time with the people impacted and pray/encourage them and the people who came out. Pray that this process continues.
- I spent a week in Galveston also working further on the development of the relational and followup ministry. It was great to see people getting excited about making contacts and encouraging/evangelizing in that process. Please pray this will continue to work out and there would be opportunities to start discipleship groups as a result.
- In Louisiana, a few discipleship groups have recently started and we are seeing people growing closer in fellowship and spiritual understanding as a result.
- For God to continue to send laborers - whether long-term or short-term, that the help would be abundant.
- The progress and completion of our Crisis Response Ministry center.
- For the health of our team.
- For continued development of promotional materials and strategies to mobilize people and finances to sustain our ministry.
- For people to know the saving grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ and to grow in that knowledge/mature in their faith.
- For protection during Hurricane season!

I had an opportunity to attend a Sabbath Rest retreat a few weeks ago. That was a great time of learning to take a weekly rest from everything (like God & Jesus instructed) and how to spend quality time with the Lord so He can do more through me. The 3 R's I learned to do weekly were: Release, Review, & Remember. Release things to God and remember what my part is and what His part is - not to take on His part! That means all struggles, anxieties, worries, emotions, etc. need to go back to Him. I need to Review what I can do, what I am supposed to do, what scripture tells me to do and work on aligning myself with that. I also need to Remember to spend time with God in a manner that worships Him and pleases Him - this could be singing, praying, walking, reading, writing, etc., but to draw near to Him. If I can practice this 3-4 hours each week, I will be refreshed. Please try these things yourself and pray for me that I can practice this way of having balance and more spiritual renewal!

I praise God for meeting brothers and sisters in Christ throughout my travels that are like-minded when it comes to our role as Christians to reach out and share the love of Christ. I also am thankful for the many different ways He has taken care of me through these people - housing, food, transportation, fellowship, prayer, support - PTL!!

Thanks for your prayers and love!!
Blessings,
Mary

To the Beach...

I had an opportunity to finally get out and visit the beaches here. The first day I went was in the morning and it happened to be the only day that it rained here on the penninsula! I went with a small group of people. I did get in a little sun and I was able to look for some sea shells before the rain came. I also met a young man who was making jewelry. He came and planted himself down by our little rented tent. He didn't want to take no for an answer and he was very sweet, so a few of us had him custom make a necklace and earrings for us! The beach we hung out at was near the town of Los Taques and it was called "Villa Marina" which means "little town harbor". This beach was the one that had the little huts.

The next day, there was a beach visit as well, but because we were checking out another possible spot for baptisms. There are also photos of "Maraven" beaches. This name means "sea at Venezuela". This beach is the one with the cliffs next to it - it was surrounded by a hill with bluffs. This day the sun was out more and it was very hot! The temperature here gets very warm and arid. In the afternoons, every one likes to take siestas. I've not got into this habit while I've been here, but I was very tempted today after visiting the beach!

I will have more info on what I've learned and what God's doing here in my next newsletter. If you're not on my newsletter list and would like to be, please drop me a line and I'll add you!

I hope this finds you all well back in the homeland! I'll be heading back Monday which is right around the corner. Thanks for your prayers!

In Him,
Mary (or Mar-ee as they say here!)

Across Paraguay Pennisula...

Paraguay Pennisula is mainly desert-like. There are strong winds that constantly blow ("vienta" is the name for wind). The cacti are huge! I've never seen so many in my life. I took a picture showing some of the cacti along the road. The mountaneous photo is of "Santa Ana" which is a volcano that sits in the center of the penninsula. The ground is more fertile as one travels inland towards Santa Ana. The picture shows how green everything is and there is lots more vegetation and different types of trees. There is a certain shade tree that has a flat top if you see it in a picture. It looks a little similar to an olive tree. It is called a "cuji". The cuji and goats are both a very common site while driving across the Paraguay pennisula. The goats in the picture were seen many places along the road. This shot was taken while driving through Buena Vista.

Buena Vista is the oldest town on the penninsula. The name means "good view". There is a photo of an old Catholic Church - one of the oldest in the area. The other town is "Pueblo Nuevo" which means "new town". The town is actually fairly old as well, but it's newer than some of the others! We drove out this way to check out a place for doing baptisms. The church here is doing it's first baptism service and it's going to be a big event; they are inviting their partner churches to come as well. We looked at a very nice place with a pool that was out in the country.

Then, we went to the beach to check out a place there... coming up next...

On to Puerto Cabello...

Last Sunday morning, I was given a tour of Puerto Cabello. Then, we attended a church service there. I've included a picture of the service we attended - the church is growing nicely! While there, I was able to greet the congregation and explain briefly of our ministry in the U.S.

The aerial photos of the city were taken from the balcony of an apartment where we stayed in Puerto Cabello. "Puerto Cabello" means "Port of Hair" and apparently it was supposed to be a main strand of exporting and importing goods which is how it got it's name. Venezuela's main source of revenue is the oil industry. I have seen several refinery's of which they are very proud. Gas is extremely cheap!! I couldn't believe the prices. You can fill up your car for around 2 bolivares which is approximately $.40 in U.S. currency. Imagine gas being around 5-10 cents a gallon!

The power went out while we were staying in Puerto Cabello. I've found that happens a lot in parts of Venezuela - the electricity and water goes out for extended periods of time - imagine how spoiled we are living in the U.S.! Another trend of the area is that most people do not have hot water heaters. There is one temperature of water and it is whatever it is in the pipe - for me, that's a little cold!

Other than the utility dilemma, the people that I met in Puerto Cabello and throughout Venezuela are very sweet and they want to help in so many ways to make sure that I am enjoying my stay. I've really enjoyed getting to know everyone and watching the work that God is doing here! This parrot belonged to a family we stayed with in Maracay - his name is "Pepsi-Cola"!

There's one more trend I need to mention - I love to have at least a cup of coffee during the day and sometimes more. Well, in Venezuela, they drink coffee and they often have it in the morning, or after a meal. They serve it in very tiny cups (at least half-size of a regular mug) and it is served with sugar added to it. I went out shopping one day and found coffee in a shop along the street. When the guy asked me what size I wanted and he pulled out these tiny little cups for a small and medium, I said "grande" and he used a cup smaller than what we would consider a small in the U.S. They told me that no one ever orders that much coffee so I think for a moment, I was a star in that place. Interesting!

The coast shot was taken as we were leaving Puerto Cabello and driving back up to the Paraguay pennisula. I've seen a variety landscapes now and very pretty scenery, from the desert to the mountains, to the coast and beaches. Next, the Paraguay towns...

Trip to Maracay

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to see a little bit of Venezuelan country as we drove to Maracay for a Latin American conference. As we were leaving the Paraguay penninsula we came to the town of Coro (with the palm tree in front). Then, we went through the strip that connects the pennisula with the mainland. This little strip has very large sand dunes on the sides of the road. The ocean is on the other side of those sand dunes and there are strong winds that come through there. The road starts to get filled in with sand because it's so windy. Actually, the whole penninsula has constant strong winds. It has a desert look and feel; there is much sand, cacti and scarce vegetation in many parts of the Paraguay penninsula.

As we traveled to Maracay, the terrain changed to more mountains and lots of green colors. The city of Maracay is located at the foot of mountains and it was very scenic to drive into. We stopped at the town of Valencia along the way,


but our final point was Maracay where we attended the Latin American church conference for 2 and 1/2 days. The theme was a "Healthy Church" and it was very refreshing to listen to the discussions and speakers focused on that. After Maracay, we headed to Guacara where we went to a church service there focused on missions. I was able to share and give my testimony with the group (with translation!). They had lots of good questions that revealed their hearts and passion for serving in the area of missions. From Guacara, we headed to Puerto Cabello...

(I'm going to have to do several posts because I can't figure out how to post more than 5 pics at a time!)

I Made the Trip!

I made it to Venezuela! It was a little scary changing planes in the Caracas airport, but God took care of me and He is showing me how to depend on Him. I've had many opportunities since I arrived last Friday - I've met several Venezuelans and I've got to sit in on a bible study, church service, and home visits. I've only met a few people that speak or understand English so that has been pretty tough. I've found it very difficult to get in on conversations, or even understand them.

I met a young lady who knows English and she gave me a tour of the area last night and showed me what the downtown area looks like and drove me through different neighborhoods. Most of the houses here have lots of security - bars on the windows/doors and double locks. There was one section however that didn't have any fences or security around them which is more of an elit area. However, there was 'burros' running around loose in people's yards! How often do you see that? The other picture is one of the block where I am staying so you can get a feel for the surroundings. It's difficult to take pictures here because there are many things that you are not allowed to take pics of.

Tomorrow, we leave early in the morning for a conference in Maracay. The conference starts Friday and it will take us all day tomorrow to travel.
I look forward to the drive and what God is going to show me next.
Mary

Back in Louisana

I'm back in Louisiana for a few days - unthawing from my trip up north!
It was great to be back in WI to see family and friends. I also enjoyed my time visiting places in MN, IL, and ND!

We just did a full day of Crisis Response Training in Barrington, IL. It went well and it was exciting to launch this day training. Our vision is to train churches across America and prepare them for crises that exist or could happen in their communities.

I'm both excited and nervous about my trip to Venezuela this week. I leave early Friday so I should be on the ground in Punto Fijo by 8 pm that evening. I did a review on Spanish and I think I will be able to communicate a little on my own, but I will be working with a missionary there who will help me with translation. I will be looking at the process of church planting and get to see a few church plants in different stages. I'll also be able to attend an EFCA conference in Venezuela so I will meet missionaries from that country and that should be pretty exciting. We are driving quite a ways to get to the conference so I will be able to see some of the country side.

Please keep me in prayer as I take this new adventure! I'll try to stay updated with pictures and stories of my time there!

Vaya con Dios!
Mariana

Exciting Stuff!

For me, anyway! My new year has been busy and full so far. I've been traveling - I started out in TX, then went to WI, IL, IA, ND, and back to LA. Tomorrow, I take off again for the north flying back to WI for more work in the area of raising support and presenting at churches.


TX -
Things continue to run smoothly there. Lots of volunteers are signed up for the next few months and extra staff have arrived, providing help to lead those coming and help them have a great mission experience! The follow up part of the ministry has been going well and several people have been involved or shown interest in contacting people Galveston Bible Church has served through Ike relief.

WI -
I'm support raising with individuals and churches. Please help me bathe this in prayer!

IA -
I stopped through Iowa on the way to WI and checked in with the churches we helped in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. I found out that Parkview in IA City had completed their rebuilding and they were having a grand opening. I was able to travel back to IA on Jan 25th to attend and set up a booth to talk to people (photo above).

IL -
I attended a church planting meeting with Mark and a few other leaders from the EFCA South East district. Ther is an excitement from the district regarding the opportunity to look at planting churches in Louisiana! More to come on this...

ND -
I did workshops along with Ron Hesselgrave at a district summit in Grand Forks. We did 3 one-hour workshops on the development of Crisis Response Ministry and then we followed up with a Q & A session in Fargo. Churchs there are very interested in further training and we have offered to do an extended version with them.

LA -
I coordinated training in Louisiana this week for our staff on a household evangelism method of discipleship with Joe Hernandez from City Team ministries. Everyone is now equipped with a new way to witness in the lives of others and help them mature in Christ.

WI - I'm heading back for more support team building and to present at a few churches in WI and MN. In a few weeks, I will be going to Barrington, IL, to launch our first longer version of Crisis Response Ministry training.

I hope that your New Year is going well and that you feel blessed by the love of the Father!

In Him,
Mary