"Brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things." -Philippians 4:8
January and February have come and gone in the blink of an eye!! In that time God has given me many things to think about that are excellent and praise worthy.
First, in January he gave me 30 years of life and several wonderful Venezuelan friends to celebrate with!
Cake with church friends.
Cake with the kids in La Ceiba at the foundation.
At the end of January God blessed me with time to relax in Curacao, first alone and then with my family! It was great to see them and we shared many happy memories together. God's creation is beautiful and breath taking.
Top of the highest point in Curacao.
Smoothies on the pier.
Once I got back to Venezuela in February I hit the ground running. Marcia and Guillermo were here from the States. In the two weeks that Marcia was with us we had several meetings and special gatherings planned. Said turned 60! So we celebrated that blessing from the Lord her in our yard with church friends and a few of his non-christian friends. One said, "I was not expecting to have that much fun with a group of Christians." What a testimony Said and Laideth are living for those around them.
Later Marcia, Luz, Ana and I met to talk about my classes. This was a very encouraging morning for me. Everyone is very pleased with how I am progressing. I am at a 75% level of understanding and 60% for getting along in the culture. We have changed my weekly schedule around so that now I only have class 3 days a week and am involved in more church activities. I am now attending both the Sunday evening service in Villa Icabaru and the Tuesday night prayer service. Thursday morning I am meeting with Laideth and Ana to plan the class for the kids on Thursday nights (going to be giving the lesson next month). Then we have been evangelizing in La Ceiba on Thursday nights before the kids service there. One Friday evenings I am attending and participating in the class at church where a group of about 10 of us are learning to put together a lesson about the Bible. After class we (the worship team) practice the songs we will sing at church on Sunday. I am going to start singing with them once a month. Yes this has changed my life and routine so much and these first to weeks have been exhausting! However, I am so excited to be involved in more and moving forward with ministry.
Another blessing of having Marcia here was being able to talk with her, she listens to me and gives advice and encouragement that I need.
February has ended with a fun two day tournament at the foundation in La Ceiba. It is Carnaval (a festival where you throw water at each other) here so the kids didn't have school. Below are some of the pictures we took together enjoying some soccer, unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the water fights we had because I would have damaged my camera! I was SOAKED!!
God is good and I am so thankful for all of the things He is doing here.
Prayer requests:
- Salvation of those we are evangelizing to in La Ceiba on Thursdays.
- That the kids and youth will apply what they are learning at church and live for Christ.
- Daniela's family (very poor family in Paso Nuevo) would be healed from their sins and from bed sores they have. That Grandma would start taking responsibility for daily house hold chores.
- Continued language growth.
- That the church leaders (Ana, Said and Laideth) would be encouraged and take time to rest during the week.
Blessings,
Alicia
awhitmore@fim.org
Serving with:
Fellowship International Mission
555 S 24th St
Allentown, PA 18104
