January 2020 Newsletter
Greetings from the Dennis family. Happy New Year! Everything is going well. This past month in December, among many things, I had the Bible school with the Indians. It went very well. I am planning to send out the Indian teams to the far away tribes in Venezuela and Colombia. January 12 th is the planned date to have them go to Machiques so they can get the food and supplies that they need. After church service in the morning they will leave with their supplies and food. Then on the 31st the missionary Indian preachers and the leaders can go to the church to have our next Bible School.
The first church that I started in the center of the town of Machiques, Venezuela is going great. (I have my radio station in this city also.) At our church we have services on Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wednesday night (prayer) and Friday night (bible school.) The church has been growing. Also, the other church that I started in a different part of town (it’s called “La Vega”) is also going great. There they are also growing quickly. I had a new believer’s class on the 14th of December and there were 50 people who attended and 7 people received Christ in their hearts that day.
On many Sundays at the church we make soup for the people. People who work full time (40 hours a week) only make $5 a month (not hour.) I really don’t understand how these people hack it but with the little bit we can help goes a long way.
There was a young pastor who is a cattle rancher that got ahold of my “live church” videos and wants me to transmit to his church also. When he asked me I, of course, said yes.
Lord willing, I am going to start another church in a town in Venezuela called “Las Piedras.” We have quite a few believers who have been asking us to start up a church there. There is a building in the center of town which would be a perfect place. We are hoping to start up the church soon.
The radio programs are going great. There are many people who tune in. There on the radio I preach live Monday- Friday. I have the equipment for another radio station and I am seeing where the Lord would have me set it up so that we can preach from there also.
This month I bought a new chainsaw. I had to buy the largest one Stihl makes in order to cut down some of the big trees in the jungle that are needed for the construction of the church. At the beginning of January we are starting to rebuild the old church temples at the Indian tribes in the mountains. We will also build new church temples, and help rebuild some of the houses that were destroyed by the flooding in October. My main Indian leader Venancio will go to the tribes where work is needed. He will work in the daytime and preach at night. Of course, he will have help.
I would like to share with you a testimony that my main Indian leader, Venancio, told me. Venancio said, “I was cutting down trees for the reconstruction of the temple at the Marewa tribe. When I arrived back at my tribe there was an Indian lady named Opicha Shapi, waiting for me. Opicha was talking with my wife. When I arrived, she wanted to talk with me so I told her to take a seat. She said with tears in her eyes, ‘My daughter, Natalia has always been fine, but for the last weeks she went crazy. She gets up every night at 2 AM. She talks and talks but there is no one there. Natalia says that she sees a black man with a hat. Every night she speaks to this “man” for more than 2 hours and then she stops. At other times he appears by the tribes’ cemetery calling out her name. Natalia told her mom, ‘Mom help me. I don’t want this evil man to talk to me.’ Opicha said they therefore took the girl two times into town (Machiques) and tried to get the witch doctor to get rid of the man (demon) but he couldn’t. Then the mother took her to the “healer” but he couldn’t do anything either. Natalia told her mother that she heard another voice that told her if she wants to get rid of the demon and recover her life, she had to have Pastor Venancio pray for her. Therefore, they went together that evening to Opicha Shapi’s house. Venancio went and prayed for Natalia. After casting out the demon, Venancio left. A week later Venancio returned to see how she was. Natalia was back to normal. Natalia’s mother said that from that night on she has slept fine without getting up. Before Natalia had gotten really skinny but was now back to normal. The mother said that when Venancio prayed for her the week before she saw a black-like smoke leave Natalia’s mouth and it went to the cemetery. Since the prayer, the girl has totally recovered and now the whole family has become Christians.
Well thank you so much for your prayers and support. It makes all of our work in Venezuela and Colombia possible. Have a blessed New Year.
In His Service,
Doug, Veronica, James & Ana