Encuentro de Proposito Misionero: China

Ni hao!  Este Domingo en la noche a las 6:30 pm es nuestro servicio de misiones en la Iglesia Bautista Pueblo Escogido.  Deben asistir y compartir con nosotros.  Sera una noche muy especial.  Hemos invitado las iglesias que estan en nuestra parroquia y como familia en Cristo vamos a adorar al Senor y aprender mas acerca de nuestra labor misionera.

Nuestra enfoque este Domingo es en China.




China es el pais mas poblado del mundo y aunque muchos dicen que todos los chinos se parecen, en realidad tienen muchas etnias diferentes en China.  Que es una etnia?  El término etnia proviene de una palabra griega que significa “pueblo”. Se trata de una comunidad humana que puede ser definida por la afinidad cultural, lingüística o racial. Por ejemplo, en Venezuela hay muchas etnias como los Guajiros, los Yukpa, los Yanomamis y los Sanoma.

En China hay 516 etnias y de ellas hay 427 etnias que son consideradas no alcanzadas.  Estas son las etnias donde la poblacion cristiana es menos de 2% de la poblacion general.  Por que es importante conocer acerca de las etnias?  Porque cuando Jesus dijo en Mateo 28: 19 Por tanto,  id,  y haced discípulos a todas las naciones, el queria decir:  Por tanto, id, y haced discipulos a todas las etnias.  En griego, "las naciones" no se refiere a naciones como un pais geografico sino naciones como etnias o grupos humanos. 

Aunque hay muchos cristianos en China, en China hay mas cristianos que asisten un servicio dominical que en todo Europa,  todavia hay muchos que no conocen al Senor.  Y los que si conocen al Senor son perseguidos por su fe.  Si quieren conocer mas acerca del China vengan al servicio este domingo en la noche a las 6:30 pm.  Mientras tanto, pueden ver estos sitios:


1) Persecucion Cristiana 1/3
2) Persecucion Cristiana 2/3
3) Persecucion Cristiana 3/3
4) Republica Popular China

Daphne

Today I was so blessed to be able to spend the day with one of my favorite ladies here in Venezuela, Daphne.  


Daphne has been a member of our church for many years.  She is a part of our women's ministry and a special gift from God.  You can always find her helping out somewhere and somehow.  She is one of our cooks at church and always helps us to cook delicious Venezuelan meals for our teams with Bread of Hope.


Daphne and I share a special bond, we are both "extranjeros" foreigners in Venezuela and we both come from English speaking countries. Daphne is from Grenada, a small caribbean island north of Venezuela.  Anytime I need to hear a few English to get a break from Spanish, I know that Daphne is always there for me. 
  

Daphne is seen here on the far right.  Today, Hebert and I went with Daphne to buy her a plane ticket to go back home to Grenada to spend the Holidays with her family.  Now, Daphne has not been home in 26 YEARS.  26 YEARS.  I have spent two years from home and I thought that was a lot.  I cannot imagine 26.  


Last week, Daphne was able to get in touch with one of her sisters whom she hasn't heard from in 33 years.  You can imagine her excitement for sure.  While she was telling me her story, I saw her face fill with joy and emotion and it reminded me of my mother when we went to the Philippines and she reunited with her famiily after 14 years.  I've never in my life witnessed so much joyful crying in an airport and I can imagine that Daphne will have a similar experience when she goes home this December.  

Earlier this year Daphne talked about wanting to go back home to see her mother and her family again.  However, plane tickets are pretty expensive in Venezuela, so going back home for Daphne was easier said than done.  When a team from First Baptist Alpharetta Church came to work with Bread of Hope, they heard of Daphne's situation and decided to surprise her by raising money for her plane ticket home.  This picture, on the left, (with my handsome hubs) was taken in July when Daphne found out about the surprise.  Thanks to the wonderful team from FBCA Daphne will be able to spend her first Christmas at home after 26 years.

God is Good.  All the time. 

Date Nights

One of the things that I love about my husband is that he always finds a way to make time for us, no matter how busy our schedules are.  He knows that I feel loved the most whenever he spends quality time with me.  Our weekends are pretty full as well as the rest of our week, so our only free night is Wednesday which is our date night.  Yesterday, we spent the evening watching movies at home and it was so relaxing and definitely needed.  We saw two comedies, Mr. Popper's Penguins and Bridesmaids.  They were both pretty funny, although they weren't the best movies I've seen; they had some good laughs. 

A couple of weeks ago we went to watch a movie and Hebert took me out to have some American food for dinner. That was a special treat!  Here are some photos from that date.

 My sweet hubby and I.

 Yay for Burgers!

If you're married I highly recommend starting the tradition of a date night with your loved one.  After all, your husband or wife is the next important relationship you have after God.  Its a relationship that you have to nurture and take time for, no matter how busy you are.  The cost isn't important, what's important is that you are spending time to reconnect and share with the one you fell for many years ago.
Date Night Ideas 
What's your love language?

Bread of Hope update in Monte Claro

On Saturday, September 17^th, we went to share with Pastor Jose and his church Renacer en Cristo “Rebirth in Christ” as they hand delivered meals to one of the poorest communities in Maracaibo.  Every Saturday, church members gather to cook and package lunches for 70 -80 people.  They have a time of prayer and worship before going out into the community of Monte Claro.  They travel by foot from their church to a wall that separates Monte Claro from a nice, city neighborhood.  Church members yell across the wall and a friend of the church, a resident of Monte Claro, sends down a ladder for the team to make it over to the other side.   I was amazed to see how we went from one extreme to another in a matter of seconds.  The nice community beside Monte Claro looks like an above average neighborhood in Maracaibo there’s paved streets, large houses with elaborate gates, kids wearing clothes even name-brand clothing.  However, just a short trip over a ladder in Monte Claro you’re met with dirt roads, houses made from scrap metal, makeshift gates made from whatever happens to be around, children playing around in the dirt naked or just in their underwear.  What breaks my heart is that it’s so obvious that these kids are not eating well.  Their hair has lost its pigment, its luster.  The color of their eyes are different, their bellies are bloated. 

By delivering a simple meal the church is given an opportunity to provide for a physical need while opening a door to provide for their spiritual need as well.  At the second house we visited, a young mother asked the church to pray over her son who was ill.  At the third house, we met Maria, who gave birth at her house a week before with no doctors or hospital and she even cut her own umbilical cord.  The Guajiro Indians are known for their high threshold of pain.  Maria had us pray over her and her children.  Her new daughter is named Angelica, after Pastor Jose’s wife. 

As we continued to deliver meals I saw the famous “hole” in the backyard of one of the houses.  The community’s nickname is “the hole” because there’s a pond in the middle of the community filled with stagnant rain water which has now turned neon green from pollution and the mounds of trash found in and around it.  Pastor Jose told us that a lot of the trash comes from outside of the community.  Businesses from the city come with their trash trucks to dump their waste into the hole.  To compensate for their pollution they pay off residents, so they won’t complain.  The community is gradually turning into a landfill. 

Many of the meals we deliver are for the people who live on the other side of the pond.  To get to the other side we have to cross over a bridge made from garbage and other scraps.  Once we made it across, we were greeted by over 20 children and their families who were smiling and receiving us with such joy and warmth.  I was shocked, because the Guajiro Indians who live here do not show emotion in this way, especially towards outsiders.  I could really see God working in this community and breaking down those cultural barriers.  Pastor Jose met with the chief of the community and he invited the church to have a thanksgiving service at his house.

The kids were previously digging through the trash to find scraps for their animals such as chickens, goats, and pigs.  They were ashamed at first to shake our hands, but we assured them that it was okay.  These are the children that walk miles to come to church every Sunday. 

At the end of the morning, we delivered 70 meals throughout the community. 

God is doing wonderful things in Monte Claro several families are inviting the church to come to their houses to have prayer services and even some are offering their houses to have a weekly service for the community.  Doors are being opened for a church to be planted in this community. 

Thank you for your prayers, thank you for your support.  Your contribution is impacting Maracaibo in huge ways. 

Please be in prayer for the church “Renacer en Cristo”  Rebirth in Christ: 

• Please pray that God will continue to break down the cultural barriers in Monte Claro. 

• Pray that God will provide the church with a missionary team who speaks Wayuu the language of the Guajiro Indians.  Many of the Guajiro Indians do not speak Spanish.

• Pray that God will continue to guide and strengthen the leaders of the church.  Pray for its provision.

Photos from this food distribution are on facebook at Bread of Hope's main page  

Vacation Bible School and new church plant

Last week we had Vacation bible school at our church.  70 kids from around our community came to learn about values from the bible stories of Daniel, David, Jonas, Moses, and more.  The VBS was called "Poder en accion"  - Power in Action. 

I volunteered to be one of the teachers, knowing well enough that the kids in Venezuela are a lot harder to control than the kids in the US.  However, I am glad I stepped up to the challenge, it was a lot of fun.  I was able to get closer to the youth who were the other teachers, and to know more children from our community as well. 

The Pastor's wife, Miriam, and I were in charge of "manualidades" or crafts.  We saw all 70 kids daily, they rotated in zones, we colored, cut, and glued.  However, the highlight of the week was a little boy named Hassan.  He's 4 and and a firecracker.  He spent most of the day running around the church with a teacher trying to chase him down.  He bit and left teethmarks on several of the teachers and almost pulled out a chunk of my hair.  Let's just say he was the infamous child of the week.  I found out that by speaking to him in English he was confused into stillness -  sure kept me from getting bit...hahaha!

This weekend, we also started working in the area of our future church plant.  I really love the young family we are working with they are very passionate about serving God.  They also live in this community and do an awesome job ministering to their neighbors.  They've also started a discipleship process with some couples in their neighborhood.  Many of them came to the service and we all enjoyed getting to know each and every one.   There is no church in this neighborhood, so there is a lot of interest. 

Please be praying for this new church plant and for the young couple we work with, Steven and Durleis. 




 

Foodie Friday presented by Sarah

So, my sister from another mother has started a new series on her blog called Foodie Friday - sarahydavid.blogspot.com

Each week she posts an ingredient and her followers contribute with recipes of their own.  This week's ingredient is oatmeal!

 

I actually use oatmeal in a lot of recipes.  I substitute it for flour when breading chicken or as breadcrumbs in meatloaf or meatballs because it is a sneaky way to add fiber to any recipe.  One of my favorite uses for oatmeal is to add it to arepa mix along with flax seed.  Its definitely a less traditional arepa (venezuelan cornbread sandwich); however, it tastes better to me and its healthier.

 

The recipe I'm going to submit today is for oatmeal pancakes.  I love pancakes, especially the whole wheat ones.  However, in Venezuela whole wheat flour is hard to come by, so to compensate for the loss I started making oatmeal pancakes. 

 

Oatmeal pancakes

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Cinnamon to taste, dash of nutmeg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• Optional:  chopped banans, raisins, chocolate chips, dried cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, pineapple, whatever you like.

Mix ingredients until combined, leave the lumps.  Put a little bit of butter on the griddle and make your pancakes!

You can top with maple syrup or you can make a fresh fruit compote, see recipe in below post.  If you have any oatmeal recipes please share them at sarahydavid.blogspot.com

Busy days and strawberries

These past couple of days have been crazy busy with everything going on at church.  I'm definitely getting used to being a pastor's wife and understanding that it implicates a lot of time and care for the church not only on Hebert's end, but mine as well.  Right now, we're planning for Vacation Bible School which is next week and this weekend my husband and I will be teaching at a youth camp, and helping to start a new church plant in another area of the city.  We're so thankful to God for all that He is doing and would appreciate your support in prayer.

So, with days like these one of my favorite ways to wind down is to cook.  Cooking in some weird way always relaxes me.  I fell in love with cooking ever since my Nana taught me how to! (Love ya Nans)  This week, luckily enough, when we were in the andes we got a bag of fresh strawberries straight off the farm.  So, we were able to make a couple of my favorite recipes, and I thought I would share them.

The first is a recipe from Maracaibo its called CEPILLADO - Its a fruit slushy, more specifically a granita.  Its really easy to make, healthy, and an awesome treat on a hot day - which is everyday in Maracaibo...haha!  You can use any fruit that you want.  Pineapple, Mango, Passionfruit, and Strawberry are the best!



Cepillado (Strawberry)

1 cup of strawberries
3-4 Tablespoons of sugar
3-4 Tablespoons of water

Put all of the ingredients into a blender.  Blend, until smooth.  Place in glasses or a bowl and freeze overnight or for a couple of hours.


This morning I still had some strawberries left over, so I decided to spoil my husband and make pancakes from breakfast.  I also made a strawberry compote which made the pancakes even better.  



Strawberry Pancakes:

1 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp. white sugar
1 1/4 c. milk (buttermilk makes it taste better)
1 egg
3-4 tbsps. chopped strawberries

Strawberry Compote:
1/2 cup of slice strawberries
almost 1/2 cup of sugar
1 tsp. of cornstarch diluted in water

For the pancakes mix dry ingredients and then add the wet ingredients.  Mix lightly, until combined - leave the lumps - they make softer pancakes.  Fold in chopped strawberries at the end.

For the Compote:
In a small saucepan heat sliced strawberries and sugar until strawberries are soft - about 5-10 minutes.  Add diluted cornstarch and cook until thickened.  - Goes well with pancakes, crepes, and ice cream!


I had taken actual photos; however, my camera doesn't want to upload the pictures to the computer :(