Category: Venezuela

Last year at this very same time in this very same Mexico City Airport, my Aeromexico flight was delayed and I had to spend the night on a chair in this loud stuffy airport. You may remember me arriving the next day into the 6,000 foot elevation of Bogota and how it did not go well with my body and I suffered probably the worst 8 hours of nausea I have ever experienced.

I hope better things await me this time because the same airline arrived late again into Mexico City and so I will spend the night again in this place and again take the early morning flight to Bogota.

Thanks for you kind prayers for the Lord’s mercy on me.

I guess I’m becoming soft in my older missionary years.

t.

Greetings from Mexico!

It’s that time of year again where I’m packing my bags to head to Colombia to meet with the P’s. I fly tomorrow (Lord willing), and will spend 11 days there.

Many P’s are traveling as we speak. There is much excitement and anticipation to hear the word and be together. Many will travel for several days. Some walk the jungle for 3 days to get to the river. Then they make the 3 day river trip to the great Orinoco. Unbeknownst to many of them is the fact that Venezuela is undergoing political turmoil as tomorrow is the presidential inauguration day, where both leaders believe they are the legitimate elected president. The current government has shut the borders and restricted travel. Will hundreds of P’s arrive to the border only to be turned back? Pray for wisdom and safety for all our dear friends.

To be honest, I’m not looking forward to the grueling schedule of travel, the 100 degree weather, difficult sleeping conditions and the mental/spiritual work load, but I am looking forward to serving the Lord Jesus and to being a part of whatever He has prepared. The joy and the hunger of the P’s is always uplifting. I’m praying that the Lord would provide springs of refreshment spiritually, in this physically desert like place. I am praying that the Lord provide the physical and emotional energy I need and the wisdom for several days of teaching, leadership meetings and then all the private conversations that are waiting to happen. It’s exhausting but also rich.

So, I greatly appreciate your prayers for me this trip as you may think of me during the next 12 days. Many church leaders and spouses usually attend this conference (last year 1,200), but it’s hard to say how many will make it this year under these conditions. Pray for direction and unity for the hundreds of villages and churches represented here, that the Spirit of God would fill and empower all to bring about Jesus’ words, “Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

Fernando, the Colombian audio engineer is coming to continue training the P radio studio team and another shipment of radios will be delivered and distributed! Thank God for this provision! So far only 3 of the 12 boxes of radios has made it to Bogota. Pray that somehow they all make it before everyone disperses again.

Thank you!

t.

1,200 new radios have been manufactured and completed for the P’s by Galcom International. These radios are made with a fixed frequency to our broadcast only. They also contain the entire P audio NT and all the P Bible teaching radio programs to date, installed on an internal chip so that when we are not broadcasting, the listener can find other material to listen to. They are made with a rechargeable battery and a solar panel.

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These 1,200 radios were just shipped to Miami where they will be then reshipped to Bogota. There’s a chance that they might make it to Bogota in time for our next conference scheduled at the border of Venezuela in January. We expect over 1,000 P pastors, leaders and believers to be there and it would be an ideal time to distribute these radios.

Appreciate your prayers that they make it in time!

Thanks,

t.

A few years ago, we had some money given specifically for the P radio broadcast. Russell had said in passing once that the P’s could have their own studio. That really stuck with me and so we used the money to purchase whatever equipment would be needed. I was in contact with Fernando, Russell’s audio engineer, and Fernando hand picked all the equipment necessary. We purchased it, imported it from the US and transported it all to the border last January for the P conference. Fernando spent a week there with a select group of apt P’s, training them on exactly how to operate the equipment and produce good quality music and audio messages. You will remember this from an update I sent you earlier this year.

Today, I received a video call from the group of P “sound engineers” at their new studio. They have finished setting it up.

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It’s really quite wonderful and it is right there in one of their villages! Looking at the photos, you wouldn’t think this studio was in a remote P village! But there it is. On top of that, they did two test recordings. One was an audio where Jose (G’s son) spoke a devotional. You can listen to the first few minutes below.

The other was a song. You can listen to it below.

This is an exciting day for the P church. They have been furnished with state of the art equipment. They will soon be joining me on the air waves and broadcasting the word of God all over their nation. We will also upload all their recorded content on our P website, where any of them connected to WIFI will be able to access all the material (like a P library) on the site.

The kingdom of God just keeps growing among the P’s.

t.

“Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 19:14

When I met Elendie and heard him sing, I was really touched as I could sense the Lord using him. His music was so moving and meaningful and theologically deep. During one of our conversations, he told me he felt like God had called him to use his music to reach children and that he has a ministry with them teaching them to sing. As I reflect back on my initial subconscious thought, I am rebuked and refreshed as that subconscious thought went something like this: “hmmm, with talent like that he should be reaching adults”.

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How wrong our thinking can be. How precious is this calling to reach the children with the love, truth and music of God. Elendie recently sent me this recording of him singing a song in P with the children. I assume he wrote it. I assume he just used a cell phone to record it. See if it doesn’t touch your own heart and see if Jesus wasn’t indeed so right when He said, “of such is the kingdom of heaven“. What an amazing time to plant seeds in the hearts of people, when they are children and when they have believing hearts.

The words to the main chorus say, “Father, I so rejoice in you at this time and my Lord Jesus I will see you in heaven“.

t.