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 JULY NEWSLETTER Dear Friends in Christ, It is past time for my July newsletter. We have had a wedding in the family here, Winston and Dodanis son, was married just last Saturday night, and we have had anywhere from 10 to 25 family members and friends staying at the house. There have been many activities, which prevented me from getting up here to write. Sorry. I want to thank you all for your prayers for my health. I truely needed them, even after I wrote the last time, the flu made a u turn and hit me even harder this time. If I had not been in a house with 2 doctors already living in it, I would probably have had to go to the hospital because of dehydration. I do know that there were many of you praying because I had reports of it from several. My son, John is always telling me of all the many people who come in to Monicals and ask him for information about me, and tell him they are praying for me. Also, a friend who was visiting her daughter reported that when she attended church with her, the church had me on the prayer list. I truely do appriciate it. It makes me feel very safe, and also very loved. Thank you all. I decided to do some profiles on several of my students and friends from here for this letter. I have already done some of a few in other letters. The first I will do is on the family I live with, Dr Winston and Dr Dodanis Diaz. (pronounced Weenton and Doedonnys) They are both doctors, he is an ear, nose, and throat specialist and she is the administrator at the hospital. They also pastor the church I attend here, Dicipulos de Christo. Dodanis also is head of the Mujere a Mujere ministry (Woman to Woman) here in Venezuela. It is an international womens organization, and is very active in Latin America. The thing that I love the most about Winston and Dodanis is their love and compassion for the youth here in La Pascua. We have a very large youth group, and many of them are children who have family, but basically run the streets day and night. They encourage them to make themselves at home in their house, and most of the time there are several teenagers in our livingroom or in the yard. They lead them to the Lord, and encourage them to attend chruch, to serve the Lord, and treat them like they were one of their family. Most of the kids consider them their second set of parents, and adore them. The next are my adopted spiritual children from here. The church encourages mature Christian adults to "adopt spiritually" the youth in the church. We are to pray for them and encourage them in the Lord. I have 2, Raquel, who is Winston's niece, and lives with us, and Kerlin, (Kerdleen) a 16 year old boy who was saved at camp in April. Raquel I consider my Daughter of Consolation, because when I first got here and was so homesick she would come and sit with me. She couldn't speak any English and I couldn't speak the Spanish, but using my dictionary we would try to talk. It would become so rediculous that we would end up howling with laughter and I would feel so much better. She is studying to be an elementary school teacher, and teaches in the Sunday school. She has a very sweet and loving spirit. We now can hold conversations that make some sense, but still have a lot of laughs. Kerlinis the first in his family to be saved. He is a very good soccor player, but stops playing to come to the church services now. He has also brought some of his friends to the church and prays for them. Here, being a protestant is not considered a good thing, so the youth who make decisions for the Lord often stand alone, and face a lot of ridicule. He has really grown in the last few months, and I am very proud of him. Ana and Rafael are a young married couple from my class in Tucupido. They believe the Lord has called them to be missionsaries in either Germany or the US. He teaches chemistry in the highschool, and she is an accountant. They take soul winning very seriously, and since witnessing about the Lord is not forbidden in the schools here, Rafael witnesses constantly to his students. They hold youth meetings in their homes, and have a large youth group. Several of their students are also students of mine, and I can attest that they have a wonderful relationship with them, and are a wonderful influence in their lives. They have asked me to request that you pray for them, since they face much opposition in their work. Of course there is the usual spiritual opposition, when ever anyone stands up for the Lord, but they also have some people in their church who feel that they should not have the meetings in their home, but require the kids to come to the church for meetings there. The problem with that is that many of the unsaved will come to their home, when they will not set foot in a Protestant church. I have mentioned Alex before, but thought I would add a bit about him. He is one of my best students here, and believes that the Lord has called him to be an interpreter for missionaries. He is working very hard on his English then plans on learning French, Protuguese, and possibly Italian and German. He constantly amazes me with his spiritual insight, and his zeal for witnessing. I have ridden with him many times in taxis, and only a few times has he failed to tell the driver of the Lord. Just this last week, on my birthday ( July 29) he led our driver to the Lord. When he accompanied myself and my daughter and her boyfriend to Caicara in June, Alex stood up in the front of the ferry on the way back across the river, and preached a sermon. When I said something about it taking courage to do something like that he shrugged it off with an "I am accustomed, I do it every time I take the bus home to Cuidad de Bolivar, and when I am coming back to La Pascua." I have asked him to speak with my 11-13 year old class this next week, to make sure that they all know the Lord, since I want to make certain that they understand totally every word, and get thourough answers for the questions that they may have. My spanish is still pretty rudimentary, and I felt he would do a much better job of it. I have made certain that he and Rafael and Ana have met, because they all have such a desire to reach the lost, and that can be a very discouraging job, especially in a country where so many people are extremely religeous, but have no interest in a personal relationship with the Lord. I felt that they could be an encouragement to each other, and indeed they were delighted and became instant friends. I have so many others that I would like to tell you of, but do not really have the room. I will try to add some in future newsletters. Prayer requests: For continued health For Ana and Rafael For my family For speaking engagements when I come home, as well as future support for returning here. That all of my students would continue to improve in their English, and that they would be able to retain what they have learned while I am at home. Love in Christ, Rose Marie Dear Christian Friends, It seems to me rather amazing, but it is time for my May newsletter. I have been here in I have started my new round of classes at the beginning of this month, but have had some difficulty in getting things established. First, my vcr was stolen from the church. It was kept in a locked room, but at some point the room was apparently unlocked at a time when a thief was there. This means that I am teaching without the program again.. However, we are doing fine that way, and will have class as is until I can get another vcr. My daughter is coming here next week, and is bringing mine from home. Another difficulty that I encountered was that I came down with rubiola, a mild form of measles. Winston examined me, and told me I was contagious, and had to rest for 4 days, so I had to cancil classes for Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I spent most of last week in my bed sleeping. I am better now, but am still feeling a bit more tired than normal. I am enjoying my new students. There are several who are very eager to learn, and who are working very hard on it already. I always end class by praying for my students and that I will be a good teacher. One of the new students, a young man named Johnny Torres, asked that I interpret the prayer. ( I pray in English, just as I conduct the rest of my class in English.) I had another of my students, Zaida, make the comment a couple of weeks ago that my prayers were very different from the recitations that the priests and the pope makes, as if I were having a conversation with God. Please pray for these and for my other students. I have many who are unsaved in this group, which is different than in my previous classes.(which are still continuing) I have been going to Tucupido on Saturdays. I leave at 7:00am and get back at 6:30. It is a long day, but I have enjoyed it. My 2nd Saturday there was a real challenge. The first class went well, but just as I finished it a street festival began 1/2 a block away. They had loud speakers turned up full volumn, with rock and rap music. I have a loud voice, but even my voice is not up to competing with that. The problem was compounded by the fact that the church, as most buildings here, has no windows. Where the openings are they have iron bars. This means it is impossible to shut the window to help block out sound. I spent the next 6 hours teaching at a yell. By the time I got home I could barely croak. I had over 90 students sign up for my classes in La Pascua this time, and over 120 in Tucupido. However, I have not had nearly that many show up for classes yet, which is actually a good thing. Teaching a foreign language is not like teaching other things. You need to be able to listen to make sure that your students are understanding and pronouncing the words correctly. I try to spend a lot of time one on one. That is very difficult to do when you have more than about 15 students in a class. My largest classes are in Tucupido where the 2 morning classes are running near 30 each. I have to really keep hopping to manage that many at once. I have been praying (as I have requested that you do also) that the Lord would raise up teachers that I could train to do the program, and He is faithful. I have 2 young men who are interested. Audrian Audrian is one of our churches musicians, on the praise team. He is a very dedicated Christian. He already spoke some English when I got here, and has been working on his pronunciation, and vocabulary since. He is a very cheerful young man who already works with the childrens church, and teaches music classes so that he is familiar working with children. Rafael is; I believe, a fairly new Christain, but the joy of the Lord in his life is beautiful to see. I am very proud of him, as he knew no English when I got here, and we now can carry on a conversation only getting out my Spanish/English dictionary occasionally. He has a great desire to learn, and until he began taking classes at the university 2 months ago, would come to all 4 of my classes in the week. Now that I have added the new classes on he comes in and helps whenever he is not going to the university, or even before or after his other classes. The fact that he lives in an apartment in the church makes it easy for him to be there whenever I am teaching. He has worked very hard to learn the language, and practices almost constantly. He told me a couple of days ago that "whenever anyone else loosens you, I seize you up" for conversation. I have continued on with my classes at Preescolar Araguanay, the kindergarten that I have been teaching in. I really enjoy the children there, but have discovered some pitfalls that come when trying to teach children a foreign language when you don't really know how to speak their language well. I have been telling them "My name, mi nombre, my name is Rose Marie" After several weeks I asked them (in Spanish) what my name is. I would say that fully 1/3 of them answered with the words "My Name" We are now trying to work on the meaning of "my name":-) They put on a Mothers Day program and invited me to it. I enjoyed it very much, and unintentionally (on my part anyway) became part of the entertainment. They had a band with trumpet, guitar, and coronet that was playing Latin American music, and one of the other teachers grabbed my hand, pulled me onstage, put a huge sombrero on my head and proceeded to teach me to dance. The children thought that was pretty funny.(probably their mothers did too, since I have 2 left feet.) I have continued my Spanish lessons, and am improving. I can carry on a conversation now, although I know that I frequently use the wrong verb tense. However everyone is very forgiving of my mistakes and all tell me "Poco a poco" "Little by little" I am truely thankful for my 3 friends/students/ teachers who have gone out of their ways to help me with the Spanish and with just learning to live here. The culture IS different and I have had much to learn. Without them I would have been lost. As I mentioned earlier, my daughter Star; and her boyfriend; Daron, are coming to see me next week. They will arrive in Prayer Requests: For my students, both from the advanced classes, and from the new, that they will be able to learn english through me. For salvation of those who are not saved. That my Spanish will continue to improve. That I will not have any more thefts of my equipment. For my family. For homesickness ( it comes and goes, does not last long, but I did have a pretty intense bout with it the first of the month. About my return trip home, that the Lord will open doors for me to speak on what I am doing here, and to raise the support that I will need then. I continue to praise him for your faithfulness in that respect. For a good Christian based advanced English class. The one I am using now is wonderful for beginners, but I will need an advanced lesson plan for when I return. Sincerely, In Christ Rose Marie Dear Friends, I am a bit late on getting my newsletter out this month. I am sorry. It has been a busy month, and I have not had much time to get to the cyber cafe. Earlier in the month I wrote up a long letter about my church camp experience. My pastor has posted it on my web page at www.soulsforjesus.com If you are interested, you can read it there. I think it was a very interesting experience, and absolutely loved camp. I am very excited about some of the people that I met while there too, and some of the direction that I believe God is leading me in with them. That is all explained in the other letter. A couple of weeks ago my student Alex's Bible study group from his university here in La Pascua invited me to go with them on a picnic to a park called Tamanaco. It is a really beautiful place with a wonderful water fall. I spent the day with these young people, most of the time in the river itself. I have found that here, most of the time if you can do something in water, you do it in the water. It is very hot right now, so water activities are the best. We had a wonderful time of fun and fellowship. They are very dedicated to the Lord, and desire to serve him as they graduate and go into jobs. My pastor; Slim Thompson, from the I have been working on getting students signed up for my new classes which will begin the 2nd week of May. I have given out at least 60 registration forms, which if I get them all back will mean a very full load. This does not include the 4 classes that I will be doing on Saturdays in Tucupido. I have met with Pastor Martinez from there, and things are in train to have those set up to begin the 2nd Saturday of May. I will be training him to teach the course as well during that time. He speaks excellent English himself, and will probably be the one to finish out the last month of classes, since my return plane ticket is set for the 7th of September. I also will continue on with the classes that I have now, 4 adult classes, and a morning and afternoon kindergarten class on Thursdays. I think that my schedule will be something like this: Monday: 4:00-5:00 Spanish class for me. 5:00-7:00 English class, 7:30-9:30 English class. Wednesday 10:00 -12:00 English, and then 4:00- 7:00 three different childrens classes of various length, depending on the ages of the children. Thursday 9:00- 10.30, and 3:00-4.30 kindergarten English at Preescholar Araguany, and 7:00- 9:00 English class, Friday 4:00- 6:00, and then 7:00- 9:00, then Saturday I will begin at 8:00 am, and have 4 two hour classes with a short break between each one, in Tucupido. I think it is going to be a busy summer :-) Prayer requests: Strength for all the classes, and that my voice holds up. For my back to heal up. ( I fell on the mountain at church camp, and have been having trouble with it since then) For my family at home. For wisdom as I teach my classes. Many of the people who are coming into the classes this time are not from the church, and I will be presenting the gospel to them, so for salvation. For trainees as teachers to help with the program. For my students, all of whom I love dearly. They are wonderful! Love in Christ Rose Marie Dear Friends, I have just been to church camp this last week, campamento La Bendicion (camp The Blessing) I loved it, and didn't want to come back to the city. I think that the pioneer blood in me must be pretty strong, because we were really roughing it in this camp, very similar to the one at Paraiso that we were at in February. I was told to be careful of scorpions when I picked up my clothes etc. I slept in a chinchuro (hammock) again, in a roof but no walls shed, and we had no plumbing, so baths etc were either in the river, or buckets carried from the water tank. The tank is a huge square made of concrete, and is open to the air. I am not sure why, but that bothered me a bit more to drink out of at first than drinking out of the river at Paraiso did. Actually, the tank was probably cleaner than the river, but still I wasn't really thrilled about it, however I got over it. When it is at least 90, and not much shade, with tons of dust, you will drink whatever water is available. (I have actually mastered sleeping in the hammock, and really like it. I want to get one for myself, and may use it most of the time, since I think it is easier on my back than a regular bed, now that I know how to get in and out of it, AND am sure I am not going to fall out on the ground every time I move:-) When we got home, Winston mentioned something that I hadn't heard while at camp, and am glad I hadn't, since I would have been a bit concerned. He said that Juan Carlos, when cleaning the last stall in the out house Saturday afternoon, had found a small constrictor. (I assume an anaconda since that is what seems to be talked of most often here) I had just been in that stall the night before in the dark, with no flashlight. I couldn't see any thing at all. I am sure glad I didn't run into that snake in there. I am going to buy myself a flashlight so that I will not be wandering around in the dark here again! The scenery was spectacular, although very different from that at home. Here, most of the time, IF there is any grass, it is brown and very long. The only time that it is green is during the rainy season. We are just getting ready to start that next month they tell me. It lasts for 4 months. Anyway, I went on several hikes with friends. The first one, they asked if I wanted to go to the river for a swim. I changed into my suit, and put my jeans on over and we started out. It was around 3 pm, very hot, and there were almost no trees on the path. After about a quarter of a mile, there was a huge ravine, and a narrow path down. Everyone here is like a mountain goat, and they had no trouble with the path, however, I am not mountain bred, and I was not sure that I was going to make it down in one piece. I also was concerned about coming back up. I could just see them having to make a rope sling and carrying me up on their backs:-) I almost made it to the bottom without falling, but, just before I got there, I hit a patch of loose gravel, and fell onto my butt, slidding down an incline to the bottom. It was a pretty hard fall, and shook me up pretty good. I hurt my left knee, which is the one that I have had trouble with for years, but got up, dusted myself off, and went on to the swimming hole, which was about another half mile away. When I got there so many people had been jumping around in it that it was nothing but brown liquid mud. I decided that I would skip the swim, and since I was still pretty shaken by the fall, decided to go back. One of my students, Angel went back with me, and I was sure glad that he did. He helped me immensly on the trip back up, and also took me up a different way, by some steps set in the side of the mountain. The mountain climbers didn't need them, and I hadn't known about them. They were not easy level steps, and no rail, but were so much better than what I had gone down on. Still it was extremely hot, no shade, and a very loooong climb back up. (probably 2 football fields together almost straight up) If Angel hadn't gone with me, I am not sure I would have gotten to the top. I limped back to my hammock, and took a nap. By that night, I was so sore I could hardly move. After the preaching service I got Alex to translate what I needed, and had the preacher pray for me according to James Chapter 5, where it says to call for the elders to pray for the sick. By the next day I was in pretty good shape. I still have a swollen ankle and knee, but not too bad, and have been walking all over the place without any real problem. I know that it was the Lord, since in the past when I have fallen that hard and hurt like that it only is worse the next day. The sky at night was awesome. There were absolutely NO lights for miles around to dim the stars and the sky just sparkled. The moon was bright and big too. The moon here looks a bit different than at home. Here, the "mouth" on the man in the moon is a bit to one side, instead of at the bottom where it is at home. (Robert was the one to point that out to me, when he was here.) Do you have any idea how dark it can be with out any lights? It is amazingly dark. The next afternoon, I went on another hike, in a different direction, where we came to a place where the earth just seemed to drop away and down below, you could see the jungle, and on the other side a mesa rose up. It was spectatular. There was a path down, and Alex told me that next year, when I hadn't just fallen the day before, we would take the path and go down into the jungle. He said that last year there were monkeys in the trees there. I am looking forward to that. The scenery just inspired praise to such a great God of so much awesome variety. It was so very moving, like being in a cathedral created by God himself. We had some wonderful praise services, and some really good sermons too. There was a group of university students from Merida who came, and several of them spoke really good English, so I had plenty of translaters for the sermons. I still can't understand most of something like that, since it is usually spoken too rapidly for me, although I am getting better at it. Anyway, there were 4 young people who made decisions for the Lord during the week, and several who made committments to service for him. It was a very successful time. Juan Carlos, the pastor in charge of the services preached on The Word of Faith during the week, and also how God calls us but sometimes we have to stand in faith and wait for many years before he actually brings the call to pass. My own case is one where I can testify to that, since I was called at 10, but had to wait for 35 years before I was able to begin this particular ministry. However, I have been amazed time after time at how the experiences that I lived through in my life during the 35 year wait were just exactly what I needed for preperation for what I am doing. I can look back and see where God knew just exactly what I needed to learn in order to be able to be effective here. I believe that the Lord has begun to open up a new way of ministry for me here also. I have noticed that I prefer working with my young adult class to all the others, ( I don't mean that I won't be working with the other age groups or that I don't enjoy them), and absolutely loved it when my student Alex took me to his Bible study group on the university campus. While at camp the group from Merida told about their ministry on their campus. They have a very large active Christian campus group, and are constantly looking for ways to attract more young people to the Lord. I believe that my program could be a very good attraction and tool for them to use, and that I would really enjoy training some of these students to use the program. I am still praying about this, but the Lord was speaking to me very strongly about it while I was listening to them. I have their groups email address, so plan to write to them and keep in touch, as well as keeping in touch with some of them individually. The group has a great vision, they see themselves as missionaries on campus. The university there is a very large one, and has many different branches. They have set up cell groups in several of the branches, the medical, the law, the chemical engineering to name a few. They plan to have a cell in each branch. They print up an all Christian newsletter every quarter, and plan many different activities to draw in the unsaved to hear of the plan of salvation. They also have a vision for an international ministry. They are working on setting up an email prayer chain with universities and colleges all over the world. They would pray for encouragement, growth, and strength for each campus ministry group. They already have contacts with campuses in several other countries. They also have set up their own campus pastor, one of the young men who was at camp. He is submitted to his pastor at the church they attend in Merida, but is a pastor for the students there on the campus. I was extremely impressed with their dedication and zeal for the Lord. Juan Carlos Peña and his wife Yotsy, (pronounced Jocksie) led the church services at the camp. They are a wonderful young couple who are expecting their first baby. They live in Caracas, but are originally from La Pascua, and our church. They have come and stayed with us at the house several times, and I just love them. Juan Carlos is one of the most energetic preachers I have ever seen, and illustrates every sermon with a tremendous amount of body language, (even for someone from here where body language is a part of life) I love to watch him preach. The first time they were here, I spoke no Spanish, and now I can actually talk with them, so they were very impressed with my progress, although I believe that they agree with me that I still need more. Well, camp ended and I came home, but it was reluctantly. I would have loved to stay for at least another week, but I am so glad that I got to go. I recieved so many blessings while there, and was able to see so much of Gods great handiwork that it was just awesome. Rose Marie Hope you are all well. I have had a busy month since I last wrote. January was a very difficult month for me. It seemed that my homesickness built to almost unbearable pressure, and there was much frustration in the starting of my classes. I wanted very much to give up and come home. However, I didn't REALLY consider that an option, so after a tremendous spiritual battle ( to me it was at least) the Lord made the necessary changes...to My attitude, in the breaking of My will, which was probably His purpose all along. That is never a pleasant process, but the rewards are great once through the process, and I am feeling so much more relaxed and better now than I had been. I appriciate all your prayers for me, which I am sure helped much in the battle. I did get my English program in time, and without having to pay to have a 2nd one shipped. It turned out that it had been held in the post office at As I said in the first paragraph, the beginning of my classes was frustrating for me. I had talked with the pastor of the church many times since I had been here about the need for a tv and vcr to teach this program, but when it came time, there was no tv and vcr. I had students there, so we had class anyway. It was not what I had planned, but we had a good class, and they all said they enjoyed it and learned something. I spoke with the pastor again, and was told he would try to get the tv and vcr by the next week, and so I taught all 4 of my classes without them. The following week it was the same, and so on. I have taught all my classes making them up as I go. At first this really bothered me, however I decided that the Lord had told me to teach English, and did not tell me that I would have a specific course to use. ( one of the breaking of my will things) I have taught a month now, and have not had a permanent tv and vcr provided, but my students are actually learning anyway. I have one student who brought her tv in, last week, and has left it at the church for me to use until the church provides one, and one of the young men has worked very hard at scrounging up people to bring in vcr's on various nights for us to use. However, I never know when I show up for class if I will be using the program, or will be taching from the top of my head. Either way, WE WILL HAVE CLASS! One of the other frustrations that I had when I started teaching was that even though I had carefully worked out a schedule for the different students, trying to make sure that my classes were not too full for me to teach properly, my students seemed to feel that whatever night they wanted to show up on was ok. I had 65 students sign up, and it was really confusing for me, when they would show up on different nights at different times. However, there were students who only showed up for the first few classes, and then quit. I now have a good group of serious students for all 4 of my classes, with ususally from 7-15 in each class. I do have people who never signed up at all show up, or students who can't make one class who show up for another. I decided that it really didn't matter who came when, I was going to teach my classes, and hopefully if they hadn't been to any of the previous classes they would still be able to understand and learn something. I have several students who are so serious about learning English that they come on 2 or more nights rather than just to one class. Again this was one of the breaking of my willl things. When we had to go out of town for the end of this last week, my students didn't want to miss a week of class, so every class voted to change the day of their class. The Friday and Saturday Groups met on the following Monday, which meant that I had 3 classes on Monday, and my Thursday class met on Tuesday. I was really impressed that they felt the classes were important enough to squeeze in like that. I thought you might enjoy knowing some of my methods for teaching. I try to be very creative, to make an impression on my students minds. I draw pictures on the board, we play games, using maybe a beanbag to practice a sentence over and over, tossing it from one to another unexpectedly, relay races with the alphabet, and anything else that I can think of to get the point across. One of my most sucessful has been with the word "name" Nearly all my students had the tendency to say "my nay" instead of "my name" I told them that neigh was the sound a horse made, and that when they said "my neigh" this was what they were doing, and then neighed like a horse. I do a really good imitation, and the expressions on their faces was priceless. I have caught many of them telling that to other people in the church, and almost every one of them now says "name" If any of you have any ideas for teaching, I would appriciate suggestions. Just send them to missrosenbloom@yahoo.com During January I had begun to seriously feel that I was not ever going to really learn to speak or understand Spanish. As I have studied this language, I have had ample time to reflect on the I have had some cute experiences with the children in my chruch. One little 6 year old girl is convinced that if she will just tell me in advance that she is speaking Spanish then I should be able to understand it. She will stand there and say "esta Espanol", and then rattle off a long sentence and just look at me like "well why don't you get that? I told you it was going to be in Spanish" Another one is convinced that there is something wrong with me I think. She goes around telling everyone "mas despacio o no intende" More slowly or she won't understand :-) I had a wonderful medical missions trip that I took this last weekend with many people from our church. I wrote it up and have sent it to my pastor to put on my web site at www.soulsforjesus.com if you are interested in reading about it. Just go there and click on ministrys and then on my name. Personally, I recommend reading about it. I think I had the most wonderful time in my life there. I will be working with a pastor from another town soon, teaching some classes there, hopefully starting in the month of May. I met Pastor George Martinez while Slim was here when I first arrived. He was very interested in my program, and told me when I got it in, he would like to see it. I called him the week I got it, and he drove over from Tucupida, and we discussed how it could be used. He is very evangelistical, and is extremely interested in working with both the students at the local highschools, and colleges, and also the teachers. He told me that he had not been able to see that anyone was reaching out to evangelize the teachers, which he felt was a shame. Since I will still have students here, we decided that I would teach 4 classes a day on Saturdays starting in May. He would like one for some highschool students, one for teachers, one open to anyone who would like to learn English, and one for his Christian business mens class that he teaches. He speaks almost perfect English himself, and wants to be trained in the use of the program. He felt that if he could say that he had been trained by an American, when I left, that if would make the students feel more confident in his abilities. He also called me just this morning to ask me if I would be willing to come speak at a conference in the college in 2 weeks, so I am going to be going to Tucupida for this. I have been asked to teach a kindergarten class at one of the local schools. I am going to have 2 classes on Thursday, one in the morning, and the other in the afternoon. One of my students works there, and she told me the Father in charge of the school was wondering if I would be willing to come and teach them. I am assuming that this is a Catholic school, since it is a "Father" in charge there. I have been told that I can teach Christian songs in English, so will be teaching Jesus loves me, and possibly some others as I can. I am to start Feb 26. Prayer Requests: That I will continue to progress in my Spanish That the Lord will provide a permanent tv and vcr for my classes That I will be a good teacher for my students That the Lord will raise up teachers for the program after I leave. For my family at home. For my new kindergarten class For the conference that I will be speaking at in 2 weeks. Thank you all for your continued prayer and support Love in Christ, Rose Marie Feb 13, 2004 Medical Mission Trip I went with our church on a medical missions trip to Paraiso.( The place is about 6 hours away from here. We took a huge bus, and many of the people of the church went. Our driver drove "Venezuelan style", which means neck or nothing, full speed ahead, over narow, deeply potholed roads. We bounced all over the place. I spent a good bit of time in prayer for safety on the trip. When we got there, they strung up hammocks and I crawled into one to sleep for the first time ever, outside ( no tent) no less. ´It was about 3 am, and I fell asleep almost instantly. Woke up early to the strangest moaning sound. It turned out to be some type of goat who wanted out so he could get his breakfast. I got up and followed 2 of the women to the outhouse, then they asked if I wanted to wash up. I said yes, and followed them-- to the river. I brushed my teeth with river water (which was all I had to drink there anyway) and then we undressed, and I went skinny dipping for the first time in my life. We washed up, and shampooed our hair, then got out and dressed and went up to the "kitchen" for breakfast. It is a thatched roof on logs, with fence for the walls, to keep the chickens, goats, and dogs out. The meal was cooked on a fogon, a hollowed out log on log feet., with a fire built inside it. We had arepas (corn cakes) with salami for breakfast. In the afternoon, I went with several of the youth, and the rancher who owned the place, and we went around to houses all over the area to tell them that some medical doctors were here on a medical mission. I also technically went out of the country, since we crossed over into After we got back to the ranch, I put on my bathing suit, and a bunch of us went down to the river to swim in the water hole. It is a fairly clear green, and not too deep, so I didn't mind getting in it. Some of you know my phobia about needing to see my feet in water. Some of the youth asked me to go with them to the sand slide a little way down the river. I started out with them, thinking it was just around the curve of the river. The river is pretty narrow usually, along here, about 6-8 feet across in most places. We got around the curve, and they kept going, the water was a bit deeper, and the jungle was touching the edge of the river here. I asked about it, and they said it was on down. We kept on going, the water got a bit murkier, and there were liana vines that tangled over head, and the roots sometimes grew way out into the water, making it hard to walk, tripping us. It was the rancher, and 6 or seven of the youth (counting Roger, who is the praise leader, and not exactly a youth, but still does every thing with them) and me. They told me they would help me over the rough spots, and they really did. I usually held hands with someone, because I never knew if the water was going to drop down, or if I might have to dunk myself to get under a log that was hanging over the way. One time I had to be boosted over a log, because I couldn't get under it. The water was dark, which is not easy for me to take, and one time the rancher told us to walk quietly because the bank over there was where the tembletor lived. Turned out that it was a giant electric eel. Just what I wanted to know was in the water with me. ( it was not a joke either. He had told Winston it was there earlier , I just didn't realize that it would be in the part we would be going through) It looked just like all the Tarzan movies where the people had to walk down the river, and all at once a huge snake would drop his head down in front of someone. I was just thinking that, as I ducked to go under a tangle of vines, when Ilse shrieked, and jerked me out from under them, just as a lizard about a foot long started to step off them onto my head. I made it alive to the sand slide, which you would never believe. It was a mountain of sand, taller than my house, and almost straight up. I didn't go up it, sat and watched them tumble down it into the water. They all think I am so brave,(they kept telling me so) because I went with them and didn't fuss about anything, and laughed all the way over the things that happened. They don't know how much I was shaking in my bare feet, (since I had no shoes on), or glasses either. Don't know if it helped, or made it worse, that I couldn't really see. But I did it! I am so excited, and absolutely felt alive the whole time I was in it. I went nearly a mile in the river. If I had known how far it was, I probably would not have gone, but once I had started, it was go on, or go back alone, or make someone take me back, which I didn't want to do. We took the path back through the jungle (not a really bad section of jungle, but still it truely is jungle), with them leading me, and helping me under the barbed wire fences that crossed the path ocassionally. Also, the cows walk in there, so I had to pass them, and for those of you who don't know how I feel about them, cows terrify me, and these cows have horns like you wouldn't believe. Not long horns exactly, but they are pretty large. We got back to the swimming hole, and played some more there, then went back up to the ranch buildings. The rest of the trip is not nearly so nerve wracking as the river walk, but still interesting I think. I was so tired when I got back that I crawled into my hammock and took a brief nap. When I woke up people were arriving from all over for check ups from Winston, (my host, our church pastor, and also a doctor) and Dr Angel Gonzalez, who is another doctor in our church. (we have several that attend our church). Raquel, who lives with us at the parsonage is studying to be a dentist, and she looked in mouths, and gave flouride rinses to the children. While people saw the doctors, other members of the church took the children and family members and read a Bible story, sang Bible songs with them, played games, and gave the plan of salvation. After everyone left, one of the ranch family brought out a tv and vcr, and set it up under the shelter that my hammock was in, and we all watched Shreck, and Walt Disneys the Jungle Book cartoon. I was glad they chose things I was familiar with since I didn't have to struggle to understand the Spanish. They seemed to enjoy Shreck but I asked if they were familiar with all the fairy tails and cartoon characters that make up so much of the funny parts of it, and they weren't, so they actually missed the best parts of the movie. By the time we finished the Jungle Book it felt like it was at least midnight, but it turned out that it was only 9:30. I found this out because the electricity automatically goes off at 10:00 on the ranch, and the light was still on under the shelter. When it did, we all crawled into our hammocks. A few minutes later, Roger came over from the mens shelter, and said he had seen my Bible out on the bench, and needed to read a little before he went to sleep. He got it, and read the 23rd Psalm to us by moonlight,( it was a full moon, and very bright) After he left, I fell asleep almost instantly. I woke up in the middle of the night, feeling like I was going to freeze. It was cold, and I only had sheet to cover me. I got my sweater and jacket, and covered myself with them the best I could, and went back to sleep. After breakfast/lunch, I helped do dishes, which with only cold water, (soap too) and not much of it, is a real ordeal. After lunch, we all drove into the little village that we had gone to the day before, and Winston and Angel set up office under the trees in the front yard of a house. They saw many more people again that afternoon. Some of the physical problems these people have are really sad. Children who don't grow properly, crossed eyes, etc. as well as just common old illness and aches and pains. Again while the doctors saw patients the rest of the crew gave a Bible story, songs, games, and the plan of salvation. We were there about 3-4 hours. I would say that on both days there were about 50 people or so present, so the Lord was presented to about 100 or so people. They prayed with several, but I do not know how many. After we left the village we went back to the ranch, and ate supper then loaded on to the bus for the trip home. All the way we sang songs, and played singing games. They would sing a verse, and call out someones name, and the person had to sing the response. They seemed to enjoy calling my name, because I would have to ask for the correct response before I could do it, and of course, my accent always sounded funny to them. We had several problems on the way home. First, coming over a pipe out of the cow pasture, the bus tire got caught, and it tore a huge section of rubber off. We drove until we got to the city, then had to wait while the tire was retreadded. Next; Dr Angel and | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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