October 2018 Newsletter

Dear Friend, Greetings from Venezuela! We are doing fine here in Venezuela in spite that the country is collapsing. Last month’s Bible School went great. I held my Bible School at Aroy, an Indian tribe in the mountains. There were about 60 Indian leaders that travelled down from their mountain tribes to attend. It went perfect. We had classes all during the day. After lunch everyone took a quick break (most bathed in the river.)  Then in the evening I had church with all the Indians   - those from the tribe where we were at, and of course my Indian leaders who came from other tribes to the Bible School). It was a great edifying time. We all stayed at the church that I built at the Aroy tribe a few years ago. We ate beans and rice, and everyone was happy 😊. We all slept at the church. I took my hammock with its built-in mosquito net. 

 

(I also took my earplugs. The Indians, especially the ones from the far away tribes, have a custom where they wake up around 3 a.m. every morning and talk about the Bible. They’d wake me up and I wouldn’t fall back asleep and I would be tired the next day. Now I just use my earplugs and sleep through it all 😂.)

                                                            

With the electricity problems in Venezuela (usually there’s no electricity for about half of the day) it’s nice having the Bible school in the tribes because it’s not as hot there. (Where I live in the city, because it has the hottest average year around temperature of all of Latin America {I read that once in an encyclopedia}, if the electricity turns off at 3a.m. within a few minutes I wake up because it starts to get hot. They have been rationing electricity for years now, though in the last year it’s gotten a lot worse.    ) Being at the tribe it doesn’t matter - it’s not too hot in the day, and cool at night. And then when our Bible School is over, the Indian leaders take the Bible knowledge they learned and teach it to their tribes and also to other Indian tribes in the mountains. I always look forward to doing the Bible school! 

 

An Indian gave a testimony I want to share with you. His name is Nicra, Nicra is 25 years old and he is from an Indian tribe in the mountains of Venezuela named Tokuko. He shared that many years ago he accepted Christ in his heart and he walked the narrow path. He would always go to the church services that the Indian pastor would have every day at his tribe, and he would pray and read the Word. He relates that one day because of the difficulties he was going through he decided that the narrow way seemed too hard for him. He thought, “I’m only going to be young once” and wanted to enjoy his youth in sin. He decided to abandon the church and his relationship with God and to live in sin. Nicra shared that sometime after making the decision to backslide that he got a sickness that gave him sharp pains in his body. Nicra thought that this pain and sickness would pass, but it didn’t and he just kept getting worse. Out of desperation he decided to go to a small medical facility. 



          When the doctor was about to see him, Nicra relates that he thinks he died. Everything went black then all of a sudden he saw a demon who wanted to take him to hell. He tried to resist and then he saw a bright light and he knew in his heart it was Jesus. Jesus told him that he wasn’t going to die from this disease. He said, “Today I am giving you a new opportunity, so that you can repent. Tell your family that hell is a real place that exists, and that I am giving them time to repent of their sins. They still have time.”

 

          After that, Nicra came back to himself. He said that Jesus had healed him and his pains had disappeared. He repented of his sins and repented for having left the straight and narrow way. He is now back in fellowship with God and with the other Indian Christians at his tribe. He is going to church, praying and reading the Bible again. He also told his family members that they needed to repent of their sins. 

 

It’s been a busy month. Besides teaching and preaching at my Bible School, I have been printing many books, preaching live on the radio, recording radio messages, preaching at churches, and playing the guitar to lead praise and worship at different churches. I preach weekly in an Indian community. Also, each week, my wife and I preach and teach in a church meeting for the leaders of the church. For this meeting we are using the brother Hagin book, How to be Led of the Spirit of God. 

 

They decided to make the church with palm leaves. Also, at the Taremo tribe we are rebuilding the church that we originally built 15 years ago. The building needs new wood. I am getting the nails and wiring that is needed in its construction. My chainsaw worked great but after making many churches, it’s broke. Maybe in the future I will get another one, but for the time being I will buy an ax to chop down the trees to make the churches. 

 

Well, thank you so much for your prayers and support.  It makes possible all the work that we do in Venezuela and Colombia. God bless you.

                                                                                                         

In His Service,

                                                                                                    Doug, Veronica, James & An