Gunton news update - 6th May, 2008

Dear Praying Friends

In summary
- Praise God that I’ve completed a chunk of our assessment.
- Pray for the visit of our Area Leader this week.
- Continue to pray for our safety.
- Pray that the kids will be careful but not fearful.
- Continue to pray for Jorge (car accident - March) and his wife (Natalie)
- Continue to praise God for all of us in good health.

Geof

The details

As mentioned in earlier emails the objective of this first year is “to assess the need of the Venezuelan church in preparing their missionaries for cross-cultural service and if appropriate to reflect missiologically on whether Pioneers is in a position to add strategic value to this process.” I have now completed a large chunk of the initial draft of the assessment including our proposed team strategy. The assessment (including our team strategy is likely to be about 100 pages when completed. I have really appreciated working through this exercise, and our proposed team strategies are very different (though similar) from what they would have been had I not worked through this process. Today our Area Leader arrives and over the next few days we will be discussing aspects of the report and our proposed team strategy. We especially value prayer for this week – for our discussions together and especially looking at the proposed team strategy.

God is continuing to bring contacts across my path at just the right time.
Through a God-appointed meeting we recently had guests staying over. I thought it a great opportunity to get some guidance and help from them (which I did… the time with them was great for me). I also shared our proposed team strategy with them, and answered lots of questions. The end result was that they are now changing their strategy for Venezuela. It is things like this which is confirming that I am hearing God correctly. It is so encouraging… I feel like after 5 months of ‘relative drought’ God is pouring out His rain upon our land!

I do ask pray for our continued protection. Caracas has the reputation for being one of the most dangerous cities of South America (some say the most dangerous). There are approximately 80 murders every weekend, a recent murder was filmed and put onto You-Tube [1]. Marion and the kids have a good established routine which is good for them but has a downside – the more routine someone has the greater the risk of becoming targets. My week is anything but routine. The only routine I have is church on Sunday (when I’m not visiting other churches) and a weekly prayer meeting with pastors.
But sometimes I’m in areas which have more of a ‘dodgy feel’ to them. We know that God is in control, and just ask that you continue to uphold us before God in this regard. Pray also for the kids. We tend to talk about ‘scams’ which are taking place around town in their presence to suggest ways to avoid becoming targets… just simple things like not taking any pamphlet or samples offered by people on the streets (ie anyone we don’t know). Pray that the kids will be sensible and heed such suggestions but not become paranoid and live in fear as a result.

Continue to pray for Jorge in hospital. God continues to defy the doctors’
expectations. His surgery went well. Thanks for your prayers and he is progressing slowly. Continue to pray for his wife and daughter.

Geof