Venezuela 2008: Paradigm Shift

So it's been a hot minute since I've been able to blog, two weeks in fact. Venezuela was awesome! God really did some awesome things in and through our team there. The video will give you a pretty good audio/visual experience to get you acquainted with what we experienced and did there [to see it, click here]. There were three churches that came: Allen Baptist, New Hope, and Beech Park.

I have a ton of pictures, and I know that I can ramble when telling stories, so I will attempt [emphasis on ATTEMPT] to give a brief/accurate representation of the week by way of photos and captions.

When the staff team arrived, we helped the Venezeulans finish the missionary rooms on the house we built last year.

This sunset is from the night that we went to pick up the 36 member mission team from Allen Baptist, Beech Park and New Hope

These are the four pastors that are partnering together in ministry in Cabimas, Venezuela. From right to left: Pastor Robert Melton (New Hope), Pastor Darwin Fuenmayor(I hope I spelled that right!), Chris Bumbalough - Pastor of Youth and Missions (Allen Baptist), and Pastor Robbie (Beech Park).

Part of the team did construction everyday, and it's not the same as in the states. here's a few pics of us making cement for a kitchen floor at the church.







Here the boys take a little break...

Here we leveled the cement:



We also went to a couple of nursing homes and held a big party where we loved on some "abuelitos" -- literally "little grandparents," it's just a nice way to refer to elderly people. I didn't get to go, because i was with the construction team, but it looks like it was pretty sweet.







Ok, kids, that's all for right now, coming very soon, visual proof that we loved on some Venezuelan ninos at a street carnival, and the Basurero, and Venezuelan friends. I have decided to do this half post because there is an error and it won't save my progress! so here you go and stay tuned!