Today I talked with an old friend in Venezuela, Hageo Herrera.  We discussed the possibility of a team coming to Spain to minister next year.  And there are some exciting possibilities.

But the really exciting thing was a trip Hageo just returned from.  He had visited some churches down in the jungle.  You may know that President (for life) Chavez kicked North American missionaries, particularly New Tribes Mission, out of their works in the jungle a few years ago.  So I asked Hageo what the climate was, if there are any restrictions to ministry.  He answered "only for gringos".  Venezuelans can work freely.  In fact he told me that his church had adopted a work that New Tribes had to abandon, among the Panare.  I asked him if he knew Joe and Jana Price.  The Prices are friends supported by our church, Elmbrook.  They had translated the Panare New Testament and continue to work on the Old Testament.  They gave their lives to working with this tribe and expressed concern about the continuing work when we saw them a month ago.

Hageo is very encouraged by the state of the Panare churches.   He said there are about 1500 believers among the tribe, and there is a solid core that has a passion for evangelism and for planting churches.  Hageo is president of a Venezuelan church association and is committed to leadership development among the Panare.  When I hung up with Hageo I called the Prices in Florida.  They were encouraged by the report of God's continuing work in the tribe which they had given their lives.

This was a great reminder to me that God works through us, He sometimes works in spite of us, but He doesn't need us.  He gives us the privilege of serving Him and blesses us in many way as we do so.  But even when we think all is lost He continues to work.  What an encouragement!

We continue to work out exactly what our assignment will look like when we return.  And we will need a place to live when we arrive, both short term as we arrive and longer term.

Greg arrives tomorrow night and we are looking forward to seeing him for about 3 weeks.  The weather is not supposed to be great, so please pray for safe travel.

Thanks for your prayers,

Mark and Kay