Venezuela

It was really great to be back in Venezuela. I, Jason, had spent about 2 years there but hadn't been back since 2001. I thought that Venezuela would be a lot different than I remember it because their president, Chavez, has been really trying to make the country more communist. However, I found it very much the same as before. That brought back a lot of great memories of places I had been and people I had spent time with.

We spent the 10 days at Eric & Chris Barry's house. It was so great to spend time with them, they are like family to me. Eric was my mentor during my 2 years in Venezuela and I really look up to him a lot and learned tons of things from him. Their kids were all little when I was there and since it's been 10 years since I arrived they have really grown up. Their oldest kid Dave is in college in Florida. Their daughters, Jessica & Ashley, are in high school. And their son Paul is now in 6th grade.

Venezuela has a lot of evil things happening at the time. Most of the middle and upper-class women in Caracas have had breast implants. They wear next to nothing so it's really the land of sexual immorality. Also their president, Chavez, is strengthing his ties with the most corrupt countries in the world. He's a close friend to Castro and is trying to establish tight relationships with Iran. He really hates the United States and is paranoid about the CIA being involved in everything. He's also made many of the missionaries here worried because he expelled all of the New Tribes Missionaries because he believes they are really in the CIA.

In spite of all these difficulties there are some really great positives. I was fortunate to go to a pastor's retreat while there. When I first arrived in 1996 there were basically three pastors in the mission. There were two missionaries, Eric & Dave, and a Venezuelan man, Alfredo, who they had lead to Christ and trained up to be the pastor. There were 2 churches with a total of about 200 believers. Today there are about 5 American missionaries, at least 5 Venezuelan pastors, 10 churches and over a thousand believers! In the church that Dave leads there are over 500 believers! It was really amazing to see the fruit and growth in the church in Venezuela!

It was also really great to go back and visit the "Hoy con Cristo" church that I had worked with the entire time that I was there. The church has really grown a lot, from about 120 to 250 today. There were still tons of people I knew there and it was so great to see them. Now they are married, have kids, and are leaders. It was super great to be there and see all the positive changes.

I was however so sad to find out that my best friend in Venezuela, Diego, has really had a hard year. Just before I arrived in Venezuela in 1996 Diego had become a Christian. He was studying Chemical Engineering at the top university in Venezuela. We ended up becoming best friends and the last few months I lived in Venezuela, I stayed at his home. We helped start the youth group and he became the youth pastor. A few years after I had left he became the pastor of the whole church and the church really started to grow under his leadership. It was so good that Eric cut the cords and started a new church plant two years ago.

Well just about 2 months ago he resigned from being the pastor. There was no immorality or anything like that but his marriage was really struggling and he felt like his heart wasn't in the right place anymore. I was so sad to hear about all this because three other friends started having serious marriage problems since we left on this trip last year. Well I was able to see him and spend a lot of time talking with him. It was so great to see my old friend and to be able to catch up. I still consider him one of my best friends even now and am so excited that we will be able to talk whenever we want via Skype for free. He's now going to a new church and is still walking with God but is still struggling in his marriage. Please join me and pray for Diego's marriage and our conversations over the next few months.

We also got to see the church plant in Cua. Although the church is only about 2 years old they are really on fire. There are about 70 believers in the church on Sunday and about 30 of them are youth. Dairo is the youth pastor and he is one of the most dynamic Venezuelan leaders I have met. When Eric & Dairo are together they are so hilarious, it's contagious. They don't really fit into their small local anymore and are going to be fasting and praying that they would be able to rent a bigger place during this month.

Besides visiting churches and seeing old friends we did have a lot of fun seeing Caracas. Coralee and I walked the main open air shopping area. I took her to eat Pabellon Criollo, drink fresh juices: Mango, Pineapple & Passion Fruit. We even tried to take the gondola to the top of the Avila but there were fires on the mountain so we couldn't go up there.

We also got to do lots of fun things with the Berry's as well. We went to the best restaurant in Venezuela about 5 times: McDonald's! We also got to go to the beach with all the missionaries and catch up with them and play football!

Our last day in Venezuela we spent with my buddy Jorge & his wife Sara Navarette. He's now a pastor in the church by the beach. I lived with him, his brother & his grandma for about a year. He was the worship leader of the church and we really have so many great, funny stories and memories. He even came to California a few years ago and and got to see my parents and even went snowboarding with me and Marty. It was so great to catch up with them and see their new baby.