Scribbles in the Sun

It's been a bit of a stressful week for me here in Caracas....It's that time of year again, when I make the trek to the immigration office to renew my visa (which usually turns into 4 or 5 treks).  My last trip to the office yesterday included an officer who had no interest in answering any of my questions, who yelled at me (because he didn't understand what I was asking), and who walked away from me while I was still asking questions. I followed him out as he left the office, and he started yelling at another lady who had obviously been waiting to talk to him. I know that the Angers have also had some run-ins with him while they have been waiting for their ID cards but thankfully God gave me an extra helping of grace as I walked back to my car. It's been a rollercoaster, as we are still learning how things work here when it comes to our documents as foreigners but I'm thankful that it looks like things will work out so that I can arrive in Canada in August.  Would ...

So, my favourite worship band right now is "En Espiritu y En Verdad" and they are from Spain.  Obviously I listen to more Spanish worship these days compared to English....but I suppose that is a part of being separated from the North American worship culture.  I'm just not up to date on what people up north are listening to!  But this is a great band, and I'd like to think that even if I didn't speak Spanish, I'd still enjoy listening to them.  Just thought I'd share a great song that I'm enjoying these days.

I was going to title this post "Meet the Team"...but then the Flintstones theme started running in my head; "Flintstones, meet the Flintstones.....".  But what is done is done and I suppose I'll be singing that song for the rest of the day.  But I do want to share the most up-to-date photo of our team, and you will notice that we have gained 4 people!  The Angers family joined us here in Caracas recently and we are enjoying getting to know them!  Martin and Nadia have come all the way from Quebec, and have had Venezuela on their hearts for many years.  They have 4 children, 2 have also joined us here in Caracas; Eliana and Jean-Samuel.  On the right side of the photo is the Hiebert Family; Chris, Angela, Mackenzie (R) and Lukas (L).  And I am stuck in the middle, a great place to be with these 2 families who are my family here in Venezuela.  While the Hieberts and I head back to Canada for the next year, the Angers will be "holding down the fort...

I often find that weekends are the busiest time of the week for me.  During the weekdays, I'm usually at home trying to get some reading done, answering those elusive emails (oh...sorry to those who are still waiting!), grocery shopping, meeting/prayer with our team, trying to do some organizing and planning for home assignment, and other various "stuff"....it's different every week.  But come the weekend, I'm not home very much!  This past Friday, we had a team meeting at the Hieberts' house, then I went out for supper with the Angers, the new family who has joined our team here in Caracas.  It was a great opportunity to just spend some "fun" time with them.  Saturday morning I was up and drove over to Altamira in the rain to meet up with the English conversation group I'm a part of.  It's always great, and as usual, what is planned for 2 hours together turned into about 6 hours together!  We met under a big tent at the park in the rain, cra...

If you like reading missionary bios, here's a short one that I read today of a Canadian-born missionary who worked in the DRC.  Thankful for the encouragement gleaned from the pioneers. Click HERE to read the bio!