Rivers Baptist Church - Christ alone - and Him crucified

Dear Praying Friends

In summary
- Praise God a good trip to Columbia.
- Praise God that I was able to be a good friend and mentor for Alex on that trip.
- Praise God for watching over Marion & the kids while I was away. - Praise God that Alex has his own rental apartment.
- Pray for Alex as he adjusts his lifestyle to the limitations of living so far away.
- Pray that our rental contract will be renewed (at the same rental). - Praise for Jorge’s progress (car accident - March) and continue to pray for his wife (Natalie) and small daughter
- Pray for Young Nam who had her passport stolen
- Continue to praise God for all of us in relatively good health.

Geof

The details

Thanks for your prayers for my trip to Columbia. We got there and back safely and without incidents. That in itself was a real answer to prayer for two reasons: our buses and taxis flaunted with danger on numerous occasions by overtaking too close to blind corners, and our last bus driver was literally falling asleep (so I was assigned the duty of talking to him to keep him awake). We also praise God for His watching over Marion and the kids while I was away.

As we expected the constant use of Spanish gave my Spanish a much needed boost. We passed through one town and I sensed God impressing upon me the opportunity for Venezuelans to go there as missionaries. Like many South American families Alex’s family has a Catholic heritage but yet Christ has little relevance and Alex made sure that I had opportunities to share Christ with them. His parents and their respective spouses have numerous problems and unresolved issues and so too do Carolina’s parents and respective spouses. We praise God that I was able to accompany Alex on that trip and was able to be a supportive friend, mentor and encourager for him at a time when he really needed it. There’s so much more I would like to include on the trip, but instead of including it in this email I will send it in a separate email.

We praise God that after a year of living with his father-in-law (and
step-mother-in-law) Alex now is living in his own rental apartment in a neighbouring city (about 40km from his work in the centre of Caracas).
Last week I helped him repair, clean and move into his rental apartment.
Caracas has such a shortage of apartments and many families are moving to such neighbouring cities where rentals are just a fraction of the cost but the downside is that they have to battle congested freeways. Although Alex doesn’t need to start work until 7:30am he now leaves home 4:45am each morning and gets to work around 5:45am. He has tried leaving 15 minutes later (ie 5am) but on such occasions he arrives at work 45 minutes later (6:30am). Another 15 mins later (5:15) makes the journey 2 hours in duration (arrives at 7:15am). He is planning to overnight with us a couple of nights each week so that he can sleep in until 6am! His neighbours have told us that if he can’t leave Caracas by 4:30pm then there is no point trying to do so until 8pm each night. Please pray for him as he transitions to a very different life-style.

This week we hope to hear from the owner of our apartment as to whether we can renew our rental contract. Please pray that he will be happy to renew the contract without increasing the rent. (Inflation over the past 6 months has been 30% and he can legally increase the rental by this amount).

Thanks for your prayers for Jorge. He is now home and slowly but surely making progress. He is now talking. On Sunday last week our church talked with him (via telephone). His accident and recovery has had an incredibly positive impact upon our church and we praise God for these past 2½ months. Continue to pray for his wife and small daughter.

Pray for Young Nam who recently had her passport stolen, and is getting everything ready to apply for a replacement.

Geof