Psalms 121
“I lift my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber or sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”
God had protected me and cared for me tremendously the last month as several things have complicated the daily level of comfort here. I have had to learn to live without certain things making my daily routine more challenging.
Internet: Our house has been without internet for more than a month and a half. My phone does have some data on it that lets me use the internet. However, I went crazy last month and ran out of data. Lucky there is a communication center down the street that I can use for internet.
Electricity: Due to dry season the rivers and lakes are low and the electric plant that creates most of Venezuela’s electricity uses the water from the lakes and rivers to produce the electricity. In order to conserve electricity the lights are being rationed. For example my house was without electricity for 2 hours everyday the last two weeks. Now they have upped that time to 4 hours everyday. Good news is that my teacher’s house, my house and the church don’t all lose electricity at the same time, we don’t have to study without air-conditioning, I have found it hard to study in the heat. I am also learning that taking showers to cool off helps. Good news: rainy season has begun!!!
Water: It is rumored that the water will be rationed at some point in the near future. A few different families at church have already experienced periods of time with no water. I have a trashcan of water in my bathroom now which I will be able to use, just in case.
Food: There are certain food items that are difficult to find, nothing impossible. This just means I eat lots of fruit and veggies. (smile)
Thanks be to God I have never been unloved, uncovered by God’s protection and grace, hungry, thirsty, friendless, or harmed in any way. God is good. People ask me all the time why I want to live here when the country is the way that it is and my answer is because God called me to serve His kingdom here, that is not some thing I want to say no to or miss out on.
Other news, In my last blog I mentioned that my coworkers and I were going to the office here to do visa work. We did Marcia was blessed with the renewing of her visa and a cedula (Venezuela identification card). Praise the Lord!! My visa was a little more complicated and the people at the office have suggested that I go back to Chicago and do my paperwork through that office. This means I will be headed to Chicago June 13th. Please pray for this process and that I would be granted another visa. This also means that I will be back in Iowa while the visa is processed. I will post more information about visiting in my next blog.
This past Saturday we had a day of fellowship in La Ceiba with the church family of Puerto Ordaz.
Thank you all so much for your prayers. Here is a list of new things to pray for.
*The people of Venezuela, that they would not be discouraged and that they would have open hearts to the Gospel.
*That the kids of La Ceiba would apply the word of God to their lives and be changed. That God would raise up a strong generation of disciples in these kids.
*That Ishmael’s leg would be healed and a heart seeking Biblical truth.
*For the visa work I will be doing in June.
Blessings,
Alicia Whitmore
