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Missions Trip Number Two

Last summer I went on a missions trip to Caracas, Venezuela for two weeks (June 17th June 30th) with Brio Magazine, one of Focus on the Familys teen magazines and Big World Ventures, a short-term missions trip planer, puts the trip together. The trip began on June 17th with training in Miami. We broke up into 12 teams of about 30 people each. I was on team 7. Then we learnt a drama and had classes on foreign language phrases and cultural sensitivity. In Caracas we would be alternating between doing street ministry (the drama) and work projects. After a few days of training we flew to Caracas, Venezuela on the 20th.

We stayed at a hotel in Caracas called the Santa Fe Garden Suites it was a long term renting hotel that was more like mini apartments. In the room I was in (with 10 other girls) we had four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a living room with pullout couches, a dining room and a kitchen. It was so nice! Way better then CEFAN. Of course it was still a third-world country hotel. In the room I was in the window was broken (Does this seam to be a recurring pattern?), the city was rationing water so they turned off the water every day and we would only have water for a few hours in the morning and a few hours at night and because of that the toilets over flowed into the hallway and our rooms on more then one occasion.

The food was way better then CEFAN. We had salad a few nights, normal pasta, real chicken. It was nice. Id still like it if we got national food though.

Every day in Caracas we would get up, put on our costumes, eat breakfast, have morning devotions with our team (We each had a devo. book that Brio made just for the trip), put on our stage makeup, get on a bus, and go to our first drama site.

In Caracas we presented the drama in schools, neighborhoods, market places, outdoor plazas, on street corners, and in the slums. The drama is a 20-minute adaptation of the gospel story told through an evangelistic mime presentation called "Spellbound: Toy Maker and Son" that is set to a Spanish narration tape. After each presentation we had the opportunity to share our testimonies through volunteer interpreters from local churches. Then we had an altar call. After that we had time to give out Spanish tracts and Bibles, talk to the nationals, and individually ask people if they would like to have a personal relationship with Jesus. At that point a few more people usually wanted to make a spiritual commitment, so we would pray with them through the help of the interpreters. These local church interpreters also got each new believer's name and address for follow-up and discipleship. We would also have about an hour afterward to spend talking and giving away Spanish Bibles, toys, and candy. One girl on my team brought extra face paint and washcloths with her so that she could paint the kids faces and then give them a washcloth to clean it off with. It was a great way to give the kids much needed hygiene supplies with out offending them. It is so fun to give stuff to kids in South America, they are so appreciative. After we were done we would eat our pre-packed lunch of peanut butter and jelly, then walk to a new site about one mile away and start over again. We usually did the drama two to four times a day.

We did work projects where needed to help out the community and demonstrate a servants heart. Usually that includes stuff like painting orphanages, cleaning missionarys homes, assisting in disaster relief projects and helping build churches.
One day my team went to a small city called Marapa in the mountains outside of Caracas to dig mud from the inside of houses that had been destroyed in a giant mud slide eighteen months ago. It was awful! In the houses we were working on there was mud half way to the ceiling! Plus there would be personal belongings like, jeans, toys and old records albums that we would need to dig out. These people have gotten no government assistance in helping to clean up the area and have had to move in with family and friends. As you can see in the picture below, I am standing next to a door. It looks a little short, doesn't it? Well, it is. In this house the mud came up so high that the floor rose up about four feet inside.
On our other two work days we went to a Christian orphanage and a missionary youth pastors house to paint. At the orphanage we went to there were eleven kids ranging in age from three to fourteen. My team and I painted the orphanage's courtyard/playground, played with the kids, made balloon animals, did face paint with the kids, and gave a way toys, candy, and pens.
At the missionary youth pastor's house we did everything! Yard work, washed windows, swept floors, sorted donations for poor people, and painted a new youth group meeting room. (It had been meeting in his living room.) The missionary youth pastor also took us on a prayer walk around his neighborhood to pray for the teens of Caracas and to pass out flyers for the Vacation Bible School he was going to have last summer.

You know how the Bible says that when a person is saved all of heaven rejoices? Well, I can tell you that while we were in Venezuela, heaven must have run out balloons and streamers for the parties because 2,926 people came to know the Lord! It was awesome! We had a major revival in Caracas. God worked through us in such a powerful way.

Every night after dinner we would have a church-like service called, "FUAGNEM" which stands for, "Fired up and going nuts every minute." At FUAGNEM we would sing (I learnt LOTS of great songs!), pray, get prizes, go over eating schedules for the next day, and get a cool sermon by Susie Shellenberger (The editor of Brio mag) or one of the other guest speakers that went with us. We also had two concerts, one in Miami by V*anna and one in Caracas by ZOEgirl.

On this trip I learnt a lot about prayer and its importance in my life. Yes, I knew it was important before, but on the trip we prayed a lot, for everything. I started to fall in love with praying. If Im going to grow in my walk with Him Ive got to talk to Him! If I had someone I said was my friend but never called them, what would that say about our friendship? I think its the same with God; I want to learn more about Him and His will for my life so Im going to talk to Him. I also feel that my calling to be a missionary was confirmed on this trip. Ive wanted to be one for a long time (Since 1998) but I never really thought, Could I live like this? Do I want to live like this? I did on that trip and the answer is Yes! I dont care what I have to give up; I have an overwhelming desire to minister to the poor. I know that with Gods strength I can do it.

Well, I hope that you got a good picture of what I was able to do summer in Venezuela. Dont forget to check out the Venezuela picture page!