Another Book

This week (February 27th) Concordia Publishing House will send to the presses a new book that I have written on Holy Scripture. The book is part of a new series on Lutheran Doctrine in Spanish that CPH is bringing out. This will be my third title published by CPH. A fourth book on the Psalms is in the works. Pray that I would find the time and the wisdom to finish this project before the end of the year.

Thanksgiving

We rejoice with pastor Francisco Cabarcas and his wife Dagnys on the birth of a healthy daughter via caesarean section on
February 14th. Pastor Francisco who formerly served La Paz Lutheran congregation in Petare is now chaplain of Cristo Rey Lutheran School in Maturín capital of the State of Monagas in Eastern Venezuela. Due to the oil boom in the petroleum camps both to the north and south of Maturín the city continues to expand, drawing people from all parts of Venezuela to seek employment in the oil fields. When I began by ministry in Maturín in 1963 the city had less than 50,000 inhabitants and not even one supermarket. Then Maturín was home to the only two high schools in the entire state. Today, Cristo Rey Lutheran Church and School share Christ with the inhabitants of a modern city with bustling shopping malls, universities and the offices of PDVSA, the giant national oil company. Cristo Rey Lutheran School where pastor Cabarcas serves as chaplains as gained a deserved reputation as one of the best grade and high schools in Maturín. As the school with its 300 students continues to expand, pastor Francisco and his wife have an important ministry to carry out as they share Christ with the students and their representatives.

La Paz Lutheran Congregation in Petare that has remained vacant since pastor Francisco accepted the call to Maturín last year continues to hold its own in spite of the pastoral vacancy. Students enrolled in our Juan de Frias Theological Institute have taken over many of the pastoral functions of the congregation. I also try to help by preaching there once or twice a month. Rosie Gilbert our deaconess intern spends one day a week serving in La Paz’s preschool program. The congregation located in one of the poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods in the metropolitan area of Caracas does not have the financial resources to call a married pastor with family. At present it can only offer to help one of our unmarried students.

New Year, New Projects, New Challenges

In this our first Newsletter in 2006 we want to bring our supporters, friends and prayer partners up to date on our ministry and the ministry of the Lutheran Church in Venezuela. We still continue to travel to different parts of the country teaching intensive courses to students enrolled in the ministerial training program of our Venezuelan Church. Travel has been made more difficult due to the partial collapse of the main bridge on the super highway connecting Venezuela’s international airport down on the Caribbean coast with the city of Caracas, 3000 feet above sea level. Heavy rains helped put the bridge out of commission and to washout hundreds of homes.

This has made getting from Caracas to its airport a hazardous adventure – traveling over winding back roads or going down the old La Guaira road that snakes through some of the most crime infested slums in the Caracas Metropolitan Area. Consequently, missionaries and national workers have been forced to make long bus journeys rather than fly.

Many people forced to evacuate their homes due to landslides in La Guaira and in the neighborhoods bordering on the old la Guaira road have been left homeless. In order to find a place to stay many have been invading vacant or partially vacant buildings in the central area of Caracas – taking them over and claiming squatter’s rights. Buildings are being invaded not only by the homeless but by groups of professional squatters who make a living by taking over properties and then reselling them at a profit. To make things worse a group of invaders has taken over the building belong to El Mesías Lutheran Church in the Altagracia neighborhood near downtown Caracas. The invaders claim to belong to one of the many revolutionary organizations that have sprung up like mushrooms after a summer rain. You will remember that El Mesías is the congregation was the church formerly served by the deposed president of the ILV. Pray that our church’s lawyers will be able to recover the property.