:S please pray.

Good morning friends....

Mostly up until this point my blogs have been jolly accounts of the ministry and funny everyday things that are going on here in Merida. Well today I have to write about something a little bit different, so bear with me, and know that I'm writing this to ask for your prayers.

Today our weekly meeting (our biggest event during the week) has been canceled. Why? Well for 3 days now there has been severe rioting on the ULA Humanidades campus. As I mentioned before, riots are normal here....however, that doesn't make them ok!! Simply because students here are forced to live in fear doesn't mean that is acceptable. This week the riots have been severe all over Venezuela. So as not to sugar-coat the issue, I will plainly tell you that already numerous people have died in different cities in different riots here. The past two days at ULA have been filled with students and rioters throwing rocks and burning tires (this is their way of free speech.....). The policia respond with tear gas and rubber bullets. As you may remember from a previous blog, I accidently got in the way of some tear gas a couple weeks ago, and let me tell you....it's not fun. One student told me that there was so much tear gas mixing with the smoke from things being burned that the campus was covered in a weird fog. Another student said that part of his building was destroyed by the out of control police and rioters, whose territory for rioting has now stretched all the way down the main street leading off the university.

Needless to say, we have not been to any of the faculties (campuses) since last Friday. Yesterday, the bosses even went so far as to not allow us to leave the house.....It was a loooooooong day, and I think today will be a repeat of this. While I know this is for our own good, it sucks! It is hard to know that there is absolutely nothing we can do to help. It is so strange to me that this is normal practice for these students. They have to live constantly wondering if they'll have classes, or if they'll even make it home alive....:S It makes me sad to know that they live in this uncertainty and fear. Riots are a way of life here, but they certainly mess up every day life.

This year, in December, there are elections - even more reason for riots (all the reasons for riots are political, dealing with Chavez and socialism, etc...). We have been told that there will be riots off and on from now through December. This will be significantly limiting to the work we can do at the university. This breaks my heart! However, we are hoping to be able to do some other kinds of volunteer work or community outreach during the times we cannot spend time at the university. Still, the situation is not optimal, and seems it will only be getting worse.

All of that being said, our weekly meeting is canceled today. We are still hoping to have things cleared up enough by Friday to have English club, and a Fiesta on Saturday for Eben's birthday. Please, pleeeeeeeeeeeease pray for Venezuela . Pray for these students, pray for these people, pray for the political unrest, and please pray for our safety as a team of gringos, who can't truly understand what is happening. Pray that even as our plans change, and maybe even the face of what the ministry looks like here changes, we would take it all in with a willing heart to do what it is that God has planned for us.....and we would do it with joy, true joy. Thank you friends, your prayers mean the world to me!

If you would like more information, or simply feel like writing to me, my email address is Chelsea.Hasenpflug@uscm.org

In addendum, dearest friends, I want you to know that I do not write all this to worry you or scare you....but rather because you are all on this journey with me. You are my supporters, my friends and my family, I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you, and I need your prayers to keep me going down this road......I know that God is watching out for us, and I know that God has brought us here for a reason, obviously. This is a minor obstruction in the road to doing our ministry, and I am excited to see the ways that He will use it for His good.

Philippians 4:6-7 "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

Amen!