April 2018 Newsletter
Dear friend,
Greetings from Venezuela! It’s great to be back in Venezuela. We got back on March 10th. We got our visas on March 3rd but James had previously broken his finger playing soccer and we had to wait until the 8th to get his cast off. They said that Venezuela did not have the means to take that kind of cast off. (In the picture below, you can see James when his finger was in a splint, but later on they had to put it in a cast for it to heal up.) James is in kindergarten in Venezuela.
Last month I sent out 4 groups of Indigenous leaders to the mountains in Venezuela and Colombia to preach and evangelize. When they came back, many of my leaders shared testimonies that had taken place on their trip in either their own lives or in the lives of the different Indians in the mountain tribes. One testimony was about an Indian man named Jose Luis. Jose is from a tribe called Wuapia. It takes about 10 hours to walk there. Alfonzo, one of my leaders told me his testimony. Jose shared that his daughter died. As a Christian he said that his faith was shaken. He was almost to the point where he was going to renounce his faith in Christ because of this great test. He told Alfonzo how he spent many hours crying, and he was even to the point where he was contemplating suicide. Then he had a dream where he saw his daughter. She too was a believer in Christ before dying. She was dressed in a white robe and was singing praises to God. She saw her dad, and said, “Dad, don’t cry anymore. I’m in a better place and I am very happy here. Please do not renounce your faith in Christ because of this difficult time; stay on the narrow path.” After telling him that, the dream focused off of her to where she was in heaven. There were many people with her who were praising God as well. She then pointed and said to look there. When Jose looked, he woke up. After that he was filled with joy and reconciled himself with God. Now he is stronger than ever in his faith.
This month, like every month I have been preaching at churches, teaching leadership classes, preaching live on the radio, recording radio messages, and preaching/teaching at my Bible school with the Indians. In my services this month many people accepted Christ. In one service 25 received Christ. In another evangelistic meeting about 50 people received Christ. There also were many filled with the Spirit. In one church 30 people were baptized in the Holy Spirit and spoke with other tongues for the first time. So lives are being transformed.
My Indian Bible School this past month went well like always. It was on the 22nd of March and lasted until the 25th. Normally we go one more day but there were so many leaders this time that attended that we didn’t have enough food to go another day. There were almost 70 indigenous leaders in attendance this month. (The Indians come down from their mountain tribes and stay during the Bible school. They sleep in the church and we feed them 3 meals a day. After the school they go back to their tribe in the mountains and share what they learned with their own tribes and with other mountain tribes.)
The last 2 months at my Bible School we have been studying the book The Triumphant Church by brother Hagin in Spanish. The book is so extensive that we could be on this book for many months to come. I like to teach them little by little so they can understand. If we rush they won’t understand.
I have been busy making Bibles, books and literature to give away. I give them to the Indians, pastors, Christians, and to those not yet converted for the purpose of evangelism. I just bought 3 boxes of blank letter paper (15,000 sheets) to keep making more books. Many people have had their eyes opened because of the Bibles and books that I am able to print and bind at my house in Venezuela. Even the people that I thought would be the most unlikely people to convert have converted because of the literature. The book binding machine that I bought a year and a half ago has been one of the best tools to the ministry. It has helped hundreds of people understand the revelation of the gospel who don’t have money to buy a book. I strictly give all Bibles, books, and literature away free. Most people nowadays can’t buy a book because of the Venezuelan economy.
My Brazilian friend Renildo (who accompanies me when I go to the Amazon in Brazil) is getting married to a Venezuelan on April 14th and wants me to marry them. After his future wife graduates they will go to Brazil. I am planning to go to the Amazon in Brazil at the middle of August, Lord willing.
I want to thank you so much for all of your prayers and support which makes the work possible in Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil.