The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-23).
The end of August saw us reach a five year milestone with the National Pioneers Initiative (NPI) in Venezuela and five years of living in this country.
Despite all the adversity we’ve encountered in these five years, the Lord’s deeds have been countless.
People of all ages and in different lines of work have found Jesus and with this has come the liberation and restoration of lives, healings, baptisms, and the opening of church buildings in various locations; all for the glory of God!
Even living in a country full of uncertainty, suffering and challenge, there is one thing we can be sure of: God’s faithfulness at all times and in everything he promises.
Truly, the Lord’s kindness is infinite and he has taken care of us constantly, so we are immensely grateful to him. We praise the Lord for community radio and for what the NPI pioneers have been able to do with it in regard to spreading the gospel.
We also thank our leaders (Bob and Tracie) for all the support and love they’ve shown to us. May the Lord continue to have mercy on our lives and may his kingdom continue to grow here.
We also want to continue counting on your prayers for us, the project and for Venezuela. The political, economic and social situation remains very complicated here with the most serious being the lack of gasoline into the country due to the closing of the Brazilian border.
Together with COVID-19, these issues have brought Venezuela to a virtual standstill with only a few essential services working and even then, only for limited hours. Thankfully they are at least allowing the entry of food.
The latest official numbers on COVID-19 came in on August 23, 2020, with 39,564 cases recorded. Of these reported cases, 29,966 patients have recovered and 329 are now deceased. However, we know the numbers are much higher than this as we have friends who work in hospitals who say the health system has collapsed.
This month several of our acquaintances, including pastors, family members of our church congregation and even church members have died from the virus.
Currently, two of our Brazilian missionaries are showing symptoms of COVID-19 but there are no tests where they are so we cannot say with certainty that they have been infected. Thankfully, they are accompanied by a doctor and, while they cannot leave to be tested, we’ve received news that they are feeling better. We ask for prayer over them and their one-year-old baby.
The others are all in good health but we know the risk of contamination is high because many people are attending church to ask for help.
On August 22, 2020, 82 tons of humanitarian aid arrived from Europe into Venezuela with the aim of helping alleviate the humanitarian crisis that has worsened since COVID-19. Among other things, the shipment included medicines, biosecurity clothing, water and sanitation supplies, and personal hygiene kits.
We know this isn’t very much compared to what this country needs however, we continue to pray for God’s mercy on Venezuela and the rest of the world and we continue to do what we must, that is to show love to those around us so as to glorify the Lord.