Rivers Baptist Church - Christ alone - and Him crucified

Dear praying friends

In summary
- Praise God that Young Nam now has her new passport.
- Praise God that Ps Carlos’ trip to Cuba.
- Praise God that the contract on our apartment is being renewed.
- Continue to pray for Jorge (car accident - March), Natalie and their daughter
- Continue to praise God for all of us in good health.
- Pray for Caracas to be transformed into a city which glorifies God
- Pray for us that we’ll have a relaxing trip back to Australia, and positive meetings while we’re back in Australia.
- Pray for Marion’s cancer check ups (15th & 18th August)
- Pray for Young Nam in relation to her future in Pioneers and as part of our team

Geof

The details

Here we are at the end of our first year in Caracas (well actually 10 months). It has been a very positive time but has not been an easy time with a full quiver of trials along the way. I’ve had so many attempts to write this update, but I have found myself in an incredibly busy past couple of weeks. This past week has been a particularly difficult week… and week in which we’ve needed your prayers but a week in which I’ve had scarcely a spare moment.

Last week one of my friends was robbed en-route between a bank and his office. We praise God that he escaped physically unharmed. Even so it was a real shocking experience for him and he is struggling with feelings of having let down his boss. Recently a security guard was murdered in a chemist in the next suburb. These are reminders that we live in one of South America’s most dangerous cities. We know that God wants us here and that there is nowhere safer than where God wants us to be. We also know that God can transform this city. Please pray for Christ to have a real impact here and reverse escalating problems, and that Caracas will be transformed into a city of relative safety.

Young Nam finally got her passport and she went away for a few days during this past week. We praise God that there does not appear to have been a problem with her overstaying her visa by a couple of weeks in this instance.

My friend Carlos has just got back from Cuba. I spoke briefly with him yesterday and he had a very positive time. Our combined schedules will not permit us to get together before we leave on Monday so I am looking forward to his stories when I return from our time away. Thanks for your prayers.

Michael finished the year with excellent results in both English and Spanish for which we praise God. Segana did not do well at all and she will need to repeat grade 4. I’ve had ‘fun’ this week trying to face the school bureaucracy just to re-enroll Michael & Segana so that continue at their same school for the next school year (mid-Sept 2008 to mid-July 2009). Venezuelans are really into bureaucracy and one problem is that the school can’t take enrollments until the have a meeting on this coming Tuesday to approve the schedule of fees. Because we’ll be gone by then I’ve had to convince the school just to accept all our paperwork and process it as soon as the new fees are approved. The I also had a problem because the school fees needed to go into 2 separate bank accounts… but I had included the amounts for the 2nd bank account in with amounts for the 1st bank account. Getting another cheque was impractical given that fact that we are leaving on Monday. I talked with the bank and they could not split 1 cheque between 2 bank accounts. In the end the only real solution was to pay one amount twice and get them to treat the overpayment as a donation! So it meant a second trip to the back and another hour in a queue (plus travel time getting there)! Please pray that there’ll be no further problems with the re-enrollment.

Marion has her annual cancer checkups and doctors’ appointments (15th & 18th Aug) almost as soon as we get back to Brisbane.

Thanks for your prayers for our proposed team strategy. I had a really good meeting with our pastor and we are working towards getting an agreement signed. We completed our Team Annual Ministry Plan and our own personal Annual Ministry Plans. Thanks for your prayers. Pray for our Area Leader as she reviews our strategies in light of our Annual Ministry Plans.

Thanks for praying for the renewal of our contract. The owner finally met with us yesterday and is happy for us to stay here for another year by which time he and his wife plan to move in. The down-side is that our rent will increase by 10% now and a further 10% in the new year. In terms of Australian dollars our new rental is almost double what we paid back in November and more than our budget. The owner pointed out the fact that all rents have increased considerably… and he’s right. In this area we cannot get a 1 bedroom unit for under our new rental. When we get back we’ll start hunting for a new place but at least this time we’ll be able to do so from our home (rather than living in hotels).

Please pray for wisdom in relation to Young Nam’s future as part of our team. It is evident that she wants to be a sole missionary and sees no point in being accountable nor committed to being part of the team, but at the same time she expects us to bend over backwards for her. We had a very difficult team meeting with her on Saturday night last week (started at 9.30pm and finished about 1:30am). As a result of that meeting I have been emotionally and physically exhausted all this week. Our trip away has never looked better and I praise God that we have this opportunity to have this trip away. It is so timely. For Young Nam she gets to have her wish for the next couple of months too. While home we will be talking to our leaders and member care team in Melbourne and we are looking forward to being able to bathe ourselves in their wisdom.

Geof