Dear friends,

 

Testimonies come in different packages and colors.  One of the great testimonies we heard this week came from Luis Chacón.  We´ve written you about Luis before, how God saved him from a life of drug addiction and satanism.  The sign of true conversion to Christ is that one's testimony continues to grow and change, and that's certainly the case with Luis.  He has ministered to a child in a cancer ward and led family members to the Lord.  He has helped a brother-in-law drug addict get into a treatment program. 

 

Thursday, in "800 Macho", he shared a testimony from his business.  He is a graphic artist, and had a bid in to the mayor's office of one of Caracas' largest urbanizations.  They called Monday to say that he had the business, if he would give the person inside a kick back.  He said that as a Christian he couldn't do it.  This was particularly difficult, first because he has a non-Christian partner.  Humberto didn't understand, though Luis told him that he could go with the contact, but that Luis didn't want anything to do with it.  Finally Hunberto decided to abide with Luis' decision.  It was also difficult because the business has been struggling to the point that they were considering closing it.  Both were pretty sad, moping around the office Monday afternoon, though Luis did have an inner joy at doing the right thing.

 

Tuesday Luis got a call from a man he'd met on an airplane a year ago and promptly forgot.  But the man represents a company that distributes grain throughout Latin America, and is starting operations in Venezuela.  It's a large account and he handed it to Luis.  Then on Wednesday Luis got a call from the mayor's office saying that he'd gotten the account in spite of not giving the kick back!  Luis was praising God, while Humberto the partner chalked it up to good business practices, like handing out his card on the plane.  But Humberto was in church this morning.

 

That was great because we had a Celebration for Jesus in church today.  We were packed!  A lot of non-Christians were present, including Humberto and almost the entire neighborhood association that Kay serves on.  They heard good music from our own hard working praise team, an on target gospel message from TEAM's Executive Director Charlie Davis, and some neat activities, like a play on a popular TV show called, Be a Millionaire, where one has to answer difficult questions.  This one was, "Is Jesus Christ the Messiah, the Son of God?".  The multiple choice answers were that Jesus was: A. A good moral teacher, B. Lunatic, C. Liar, D. The Son of God.  We had lots of fun with it.  At the end of Charlie's message many stood indicating they had made a decision to accept Jesus Christ as Lord.  Pray for God's help as we follow up.

 

I say "we" in the corporate sense as the Johnson's furniture slowly disappears and we get ready to leave June 13.  Our friends and former co-workers Charlie and Kris Davis are staying with us until Monday.  How could we say no, when they were the ones that introduced us to Venezuela, picked us up at the airport, and allowed us to stay with them when we first arrived in Venezuela?  The CCB was really the Davis' brainchild, and they served here many years with us.  It's been fun having them and showing them what God is doing in the CCB.  Charlie was there Thursday morning for Luis' testimony, and Charlie and Kris were in Ramon Brazon Thursday night for the "good bye" from our dear brothers and sisters in the barrio.

 

Thanks for praying about the accident with the motorcycle.  Giovani, the driver said he was going to go to church this morning, though he didn't show.  But I did go through the 4 Spiritual Laws with him this week and he has Christian family members, so pray for him.

 

And, again, thanks for your prayers.  We can feel them!

Mark and Kay