Alright, so that blog was actually written on Christmas, but didn't get posted until just now due to technical difficulties. I'm hoping those are over as I attempt to add my first ever home video clip to this blog.......
These aren't too exciting, but they are funny because you can get a glimpse of what Christmas eve looked like here in VZ for a group of gringos missing their homes.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Feliz Navidad!
Hello Everyone, Merry Christmas! Or down here, Feliz Navidad :) This blog has been relatively quiet as of late, but I do have a few new fun Christmas pics from our celebration to share. In Venezuela, the way Christmas works is that they actually celebrate with family and friends having a large dinner at midnight on the 24th.....After dinner and drinking, they set off fireworks....LOTS of fireworks!! Fireworks were happening last night throughout the entire night with a more consistent chunk at the actual midnight hour. It was fun to watch although the appeared to be extremely close to homes and buildings which 
was rather frightening. I will try and post a video of them sooner rather than later. So as to incorporate a little Venezuelan tradition and also keep our American traditions alive we had a combination celebration. Yesterday the team got together (each bringing one part of the meal) and had a American dinner of roast, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole (made without mushroom soup or french friend onions..interestingly enough, it tasted almost the same! well, maybe it was wishful
thinking....). We spent some time reading the Christmas story out of Luke, and some time in prayer and adoration for our Savior. Then....we each got to open a present! I opened a gift from home (that Eben's parents were so nice to bring down from my Mom) - jeans! Perfect because I am already in desperate need of them. We hung out and actually tried to watch a couple episodes of The OC (weird I know, they were left here from last year's team....). However, there were gliches in the dvd and eventually we called it a night. Amanda and I stayed up until midnight and then watched from our window as fireworks were set off all around the apartment complex and in the surrounding areas. As per usual, they set off all the car alarms, and as
per usual, it was a little scary how close to the buildings the fireworks got, but all's well that ends well I suppose. This morning, we headed over the boy's house (where the Christmas tree is) around 10, to open presents! P.S. We made a pact to all wear pajamas, so that was fun and funny. We spent most of the day just having fun chatting, lounging, eating cinnamon rolls AND pancakes, and calling our families at home. All in all, it was a very weird experience to spend Christmas away from home for the first time, I don't think I want to do it again. However, for what it was it has been good, and I'm so glad I have a group of people who truly feel like family, in the good and bad.....To everyone out there that I love and miss so much - Merry Christmas....and to all, a good night. Haha :)
was rather frightening. I will try and post a video of them sooner rather than later. So as to incorporate a little Venezuelan tradition and also keep our American traditions alive we had a combination celebration. Yesterday the team got together (each bringing one part of the meal) and had a American dinner of roast, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole (made without mushroom soup or french friend onions..interestingly enough, it tasted almost the same! well, maybe it was wishful
thinking....). We spent some time reading the Christmas story out of Luke, and some time in prayer and adoration for our Savior. Then....we each got to open a present! I opened a gift from home (that Eben's parents were so nice to bring down from my Mom) - jeans! Perfect because I am already in desperate need of them. We hung out and actually tried to watch a couple episodes of The OC (weird I know, they were left here from last year's team....). However, there were gliches in the dvd and eventually we called it a night. Amanda and I stayed up until midnight and then watched from our window as fireworks were set off all around the apartment complex and in the surrounding areas. As per usual, they set off all the car alarms, and as
per usual, it was a little scary how close to the buildings the fireworks got, but all's well that ends well I suppose. This morning, we headed over the boy's house (where the Christmas tree is) around 10, to open presents! P.S. We made a pact to all wear pajamas, so that was fun and funny. We spent most of the day just having fun chatting, lounging, eating cinnamon rolls AND pancakes, and calling our families at home. All in all, it was a very weird experience to spend Christmas away from home for the first time, I don't think I want to do it again. However, for what it was it has been good, and I'm so glad I have a group of people who truly feel like family, in the good and bad.....To everyone out there that I love and miss so much - Merry Christmas....and to all, a good night. Haha :)
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Pico Aguila
Welll.....quickly: internet still broken :( We did discover that perhaps somewhere in the confusion of another culture and travels, etc that have happened recently, we perhaps forgot to pay our bill. Boo. Hopefully we'll get that fixed soon, somehow. On the other hand, my cell phone is fixed, yay!
In other news, since we are officially on our "vacation" we have not only been resting, but also having some fun....!! Eben's parents have been visiting from the US, which has been really cool. It's nice having "parents" around, even though they're not my parents. It does make me miss my parents even more though, especially hard right now :(. With Eben's parents being here, we got the chance to make a trip to Pico Aguila - the third highest point, accessible by car, in South America (ok, not that impressive, but I swear it was cool).
Our trip took us up a few hours into the mountains. We made a total of nine stops on the way, at various monuments and cities through Tabay and Mucuchies on the way up to Pico Aguila (Eagle Peak). We stopped at a castle, a memorial for Simon Bolivar's dog (you know you're famous when your dog gets a monument!), a cathedral and various other places. We rode
horses (SCARY!!!!). I named mine Buckwheat Julio Alfredo Papi (funny, but also appropriate for a Venezuelan horse - Venezuelans all have 4 names). He liked to bite the other horses!! I was pretty scared (this was my first time on a horse since I was 5, and the horse I was riding bucked me off and rolled over on top of me). I wasn't so good at giving him commands, at the point which we were supposed to stop and get pictures.....Buckwheat Julio Alfredo Papi decided he would rather walk towards the cliff and start munching on the wild greens.....yikes! I tried to reign him in (haha) but it was to no avail, he was hungry.....needless to say, it was entertaining, 
albeit scary. The all-day trip was a lot of fun, and it was nice to get out of "Merida" and explore a little bit.
More recently I have spent my time Christmas shopping for things for my teammates and working on my snowman cross stitch (yes I'm a premature old lady....I know, I love it) and listening to Christmas music! Christmas is in 2 days, it sure doesn't feel right being in warm weather....but what can ya do! 
Take it as it comes :) More later......Merry Christmas everyone!
In other news, since we are officially on our "vacation" we have not only been resting, but also having some fun....!! Eben's parents have been visiting from the US, which has been really cool. It's nice having "parents" around, even though they're not my parents. It does make me miss my parents even more though, especially hard right now :(. With Eben's parents being here, we got the chance to make a trip to Pico Aguila - the third highest point, accessible by car, in South America (ok, not that impressive, but I swear it was cool).
Our trip took us up a few hours into the mountains. We made a total of nine stops on the way, at various monuments and cities through Tabay and Mucuchies on the way up to Pico Aguila (Eagle Peak). We stopped at a castle, a memorial for Simon Bolivar's dog (you know you're famous when your dog gets a monument!), a cathedral and various other places. We rode
horses (SCARY!!!!). I named mine Buckwheat Julio Alfredo Papi (funny, but also appropriate for a Venezuelan horse - Venezuelans all have 4 names). He liked to bite the other horses!! I was pretty scared (this was my first time on a horse since I was 5, and the horse I was riding bucked me off and rolled over on top of me). I wasn't so good at giving him commands, at the point which we were supposed to stop and get pictures.....Buckwheat Julio Alfredo Papi decided he would rather walk towards the cliff and start munching on the wild greens.....yikes! I tried to reign him in (haha) but it was to no avail, he was hungry.....needless to say, it was entertaining, 
albeit scary. The all-day trip was a lot of fun, and it was nice to get out of "Merida" and explore a little bit. 
More recently I have spent my time Christmas shopping for things for my teammates and working on my snowman cross stitch (yes I'm a premature old lady....I know, I love it) and listening to Christmas music! Christmas is in 2 days, it sure doesn't feel right being in warm weather....but what can ya do! 
Take it as it comes :) More later......Merry Christmas everyone!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Update....
So, I realize it's been awhile since you've all heard from me.....Since we've gotten back from our VISA renewal trip we've been hit with a barrage of situations that have been less than amiable. For the third time our bathroom was out of commission and we spent days with workmen in there hammering the day away and making a mess. Our electricity went out for the few days as we blew a fuse trying to plug in too many things. Our cell phones stopped working about a week ago.....our internet went out a few days ago - and we have no idea of how to fix these things. I'm currently at the boys apartment (which they have to leave soon as the landlord is kicking them out). One of our teammates has been suffering from insomnia for over a month now, one has made numerous trips to the dentist to try and have a simple cavity fixed, and I personally have been suffering from some major back pain which doesn't seem to be leaving any time soon......wow. yuck, right? However, it's less than a week until Christmas! While it's hard to be in the spirit in 80 degree and sunny weather, it's still almost Christmas and that is definitely a reason for joy. Finally a couple days ago we decorated the boys apartment and put up a tree (plastic of course). Eben's parents are visiting for a week and they were able to bring us a few gifts from the US - what a blessing! We had a Christmas party for VIDA which was a lot of fun...you can read all about it in my newsletter which I sent out today - and should be coming to all of you very soon! I'll write again when/if we ever get internet back - you could pray for that! Thanks all, Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Christians....
Christians - By Maya Angelou
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'."
I'm whispering "I was lost,
Now I'm found and forgiven."
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble
and need Christ to be my guide.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak
And need His strength to carry on.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed
And need God to clean my mess.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
But, God believes I am worth it.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner
Who received God's good grace, somehow!
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'."
I'm whispering "I was lost,
Now I'm found and forgiven."
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble
and need Christ to be my guide.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak
And need His strength to carry on.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed
And need God to clean my mess.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
But, God believes I am worth it.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner
Who received God's good grace, somehow!
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
There's no Place like "home"
Alright, here's the promised update about my time in Maracaibo and Aruba.....
The week we spent in Maracaibo was first and foremost HOT! However, all the buildings there have air conditioning, so obviously we spent a majority of the time inside. Maracaibo is affectionately nicknamed La Tierra del Sol Amada, Land of the Loving Sun......it's hot and humid, quite a difference for those of us from the Northwest. Anyway, most of the week was spent in meetings (it was our National Staff Conference) with all the staff from all over Venezuela (both Venezuelans and the US Staff).
The staff did a great job trying to make the meetings interesting despite their length and the amount of material that was necessary to cover. Themes and events included a dinner in which we traveled to the past and were forced to eat with our hands (for any of those of you who know me....I mean, I eat my chips with chopsticks, I'm not much of a hands-on eater....), numerous clips from Princess Bride and Star Wars, a blindfolded dart game, and a day at the pool! Best of all, however, was Thursday, which was Thanksgiving!!!! Now, as you can imagine - they don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Venezuela.....but, because we were with all of the US staff, we got to have a huge Thanksgiving dinner and celebration anyway! We sang the national anthem and some patriotic songs, explained Thanksgiving to all our Venezuelan friends who joined us, and more importantly mowed down on some amazing food. Even though not all the ingredients could be found here, and many substitutions were made, the food resembled "normal" Thanksgiving food enough, it was fabulous! We topped off the evening my all saying what we were thankful for :)
A couple other great things about Maracaibo: we got to meet a bunch of new Venezuelans (staff and students) and hang out with them, we got started on planning the Congreso Nacional that will happen in March - Prueba de Fuego is going to be really awesome! Ivan and Eben went ice-skating, it was really entertaining to watch, and we got to go to a mall - A REAL ONE!, and I bought some awesome earrings....
Aruba, Jamaica, oooooh I wanna take ya (Beatles). After our time in Maracaibo, we headed (all of the US staff) to Aruba for a few days of relaxing and prepping to go back to ministry in Merida, and MOST importantly, renewing our VISAS so the Venezuelan government will LET us stay in VZ Aruba is a small island (only 16 miles across the whole thing) and it is only about 12 miles off the coast of Venezuela. It is owned by the Netherlands. Most people there speak at least 3 languages
(English, Spanish, and Papiamento - which is a mix of English, Spanish, Dutch, and a native language). Papiamento is a pretty fun language to listen to, but it was also nice to have a week of speaking English!! They use two kinds of currency there: dollars and florens. Most of our time was spent on the beach, relaxing. We also had staff meetings every afternoon and got to do some pretty good devotionals and decompressing 
after a couple months straight of ministry. Also, I got my Christmas present from my parents early - they gave me the money to go snorkeling! Our team spent one day on the ship "The Jolly Pirate" which took us to three different snorkeling spots (one of the them over a sunken WWII ship! scaryyyyyyyy!). It was a really cool experience, the water in Aruba is sooooo salty you hardly even have to try and swim. All in all it was a great time of relaxing, but after a few days I was definitely ready to come "home"! It was hard for me spending over 2 weeks away from my friends and home here in Merida....I am thrilled to be back!
A couple unpleasant stories (there was very little even remotely unpleasant, however....) from Aruba: Amanda cracked her head open on the rental van the first evening we were there, causing some panic in all of us, especially the jefes, I got a haircut (thinking it would be wiser there than in VZ where no one speaks English) however, I somehow managed to find a lady who didn't speak more than 3 sentences in English....ahhhh! In the end, I look like a female trucker with REALLY short bangs - I think I'll be wearing my hair up for a while :(
Anyway, I'm happy to be home, although our two weeks away were fantastic....thanks for all your prayers!
The week we spent in Maracaibo was first and foremost HOT! However, all the buildings there have air conditioning, so obviously we spent a majority of the time inside. Maracaibo is affectionately nicknamed La Tierra del Sol Amada, Land of the Loving Sun......it's hot and humid, quite a difference for those of us from the Northwest. Anyway, most of the week was spent in meetings (it was our National Staff Conference) with all the staff from all over Venezuela (both Venezuelans and the US Staff).
The staff did a great job trying to make the meetings interesting despite their length and the amount of material that was necessary to cover. Themes and events included a dinner in which we traveled to the past and were forced to eat with our hands (for any of those of you who know me....I mean, I eat my chips with chopsticks, I'm not much of a hands-on eater....), numerous clips from Princess Bride and Star Wars, a blindfolded dart game, and a day at the pool! Best of all, however, was Thursday, which was Thanksgiving!!!! Now, as you can imagine - they don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Venezuela.....but, because we were with all of the US staff, we got to have a huge Thanksgiving dinner and celebration anyway! We sang the national anthem and some patriotic songs, explained Thanksgiving to all our Venezuelan friends who joined us, and more importantly mowed down on some amazing food. Even though not all the ingredients could be found here, and many substitutions were made, the food resembled "normal" Thanksgiving food enough, it was fabulous! We topped off the evening my all saying what we were thankful for :)
A couple other great things about Maracaibo: we got to meet a bunch of new Venezuelans (staff and students) and hang out with them, we got started on planning the Congreso Nacional that will happen in March - Prueba de Fuego is going to be really awesome! Ivan and Eben went ice-skating, it was really entertaining to watch, and we got to go to a mall - A REAL ONE!, and I bought some awesome earrings....Aruba, Jamaica, oooooh I wanna take ya (Beatles). After our time in Maracaibo, we headed (all of the US staff) to Aruba for a few days of relaxing and prepping to go back to ministry in Merida, and MOST importantly, renewing our VISAS so the Venezuelan government will LET us stay in VZ Aruba is a small island (only 16 miles across the whole thing) and it is only about 12 miles off the coast of Venezuela. It is owned by the Netherlands. Most people there speak at least 3 languages
(English, Spanish, and Papiamento - which is a mix of English, Spanish, Dutch, and a native language). Papiamento is a pretty fun language to listen to, but it was also nice to have a week of speaking English!! They use two kinds of currency there: dollars and florens. Most of our time was spent on the beach, relaxing. We also had staff meetings every afternoon and got to do some pretty good devotionals and decompressing 
after a couple months straight of ministry. Also, I got my Christmas present from my parents early - they gave me the money to go snorkeling! Our team spent one day on the ship "The Jolly Pirate" which took us to three different snorkeling spots (one of the them over a sunken WWII ship! scaryyyyyyyy!). It was a really cool experience, the water in Aruba is sooooo salty you hardly even have to try and swim. All in all it was a great time of relaxing, but after a few days I was definitely ready to come "home"! It was hard for me spending over 2 weeks away from my friends and home here in Merida....I am thrilled to be back!A couple unpleasant stories (there was very little even remotely unpleasant, however....) from Aruba: Amanda cracked her head open on the rental van the first evening we were there, causing some panic in all of us, especially the jefes, I got a haircut (thinking it would be wiser there than in VZ where no one speaks English) however, I somehow managed to find a lady who didn't speak more than 3 sentences in English....ahhhh! In the end, I look like a female trucker with REALLY short bangs - I think I'll be wearing my hair up for a while :(
Anyway, I'm happy to be home, although our two weeks away were fantastic....thanks for all your prayers!
Monday, December 3, 2007
and the NOs have it!!!!!!!!!
Yes folks, it's true. How do I know? Well at about precisely 1:19 last night/morning I was awoken with a start by the entirety of our apartment complex (13 apartment buildings of like 8 stories each) banging on their windows, setting off firecrackers and man-made bombs (purely for the noise effect) and yelling and chanting at the top of their lungs......this proceeded for a couple minutes as I lay in my bed very confused, and a little scared of the bomb noises, for about 2 minutes, and then everything went silent........This had been the drumroll leading up to the announcing of the election results on the TV......And the results are in: By an extremely thin margin (last I heard it was 50.7%) the Reformas have failed!!!!!! That means that Chavez (essentially) was defeated. The party in our parking lot continued for quite a while as people marched through and out to the street out front to celebrate. Although I hadn't been anticipating such a midnight wake up call, I was actually not bothered being awake but rather excited for Venezuela and felt blessed to finally be in the middle of a joyous celebration rather than an angry revolt. All this to say.....God Bless Venezuela, who knows what will happen now....but no matter what, God reigns here the same as anywhere else. All praise and power and glory to His name alone. Amen!
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Pray
Today are the elections here in Venezuela. Please pray for this country, pray for freedom for these people, pray for protection, pray for peace.....
Saturday, December 1, 2007
A-OK
I'm back! Safe and more-or-less sounds, suffering currently from a head cold, but hoping it goes away soon. The two weeks away in Maracaibo and Aruba were fantastic, although very busy. I will elaborate more, as well as upload some pictures in the next couple of days to come, for now I just wanted to let you know that I'm back! I'm thrilled to be back in Merida, I have really missed my friends here (and the weather!). More to come soon.....
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