Motion of Mercy

Francesca Battistelli--"Motion of Mercy"

Almost three months since God sent me to serve Him in Venezuela and this song captures how God has blessed my life. Thank You--- to those who God used as my financial and prayer partners, and to all who cared about me as I trusted God in His journey. Praise God for this summer!  

Glory to God

"My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12: 9

Musquito bite infection


I would have never thought that a musquito bite would bring pain, but the musquito that bit me did. Early July I was bitten by a musquito and the bite got infected. This bite prevented me from walking and to endure pain that would bring me to tears at night. My host family took me to clinics to get it checked, but nothing that the doctors gave me seemed to work.  But after two days of questioning what was going on in my leg, I was riding back from a day of service in a taxi and God reminded me of the bible verse in 2 Corinthians 12:9 and it was life changing. That same day I decided to forget about the pain and edure it for God´s glory just like Paul did, I wanted to be just like Paul, I left my pain in God´s hands and careand seeked God.  God took care of me by putting in my host families heart to take me to the hospital that same night, it was about midnight and my host family was ready to take me no matter how late it was. I went to the hospital and what I felt was unexpected happened, the Hospital was not allowing anymore patients inside, but the doctor still offered to see me. The first thing he said was "Why didn´t you come sooner?" and I had no response, I could only tell him I had visited clinics.  He contemplated having me stay in the hospital overnight, but I immediately said No, (I didn´t feel unhealthy enough to stay there, given the fact that there was a row of sick people in beds with ivys). He sat me down and said we will have to drain the bites liquid right now because its already infected. This was the begining of a painful procedure where I got injected three anesthesia shots in the wound and was drained. Due to the infection I had to go through a ten day treatment that would help me with the pain, inflamation and infection. It was eye opening when the doctor said  at the end that the hospital was closed for the night and no patients were allowend, but the only reason he offered to see me was because he did not want to be bored. God´s hands where over all of this. God took care of me and had the hospital doors opened for His daughter even when it was closed to everyone.

After enduring a week and a half  of not being able to sleep,  pain, not being able to walk, laying in bed for two days, I am finally perfected in God. God gave me the strength to endure all of this and Glory is to God. During this physical challenge God surrounded me with love and grace; my team was extremely caring, my host family did all they could to alleviate the pain and to love me, I was filled with prayer from my host church, UTPA BSM, Go Now and all who learned about my incident. I was given love in Venezuela and God provided that.

God is good and I learned a lot through this experience, the musquito bite was a blessing. God gave me the opportunity to grow in Him and to trust Him and I am thankful to God and celebrating the victory that I found in Him. In all of this, Glory to God.

July 17- Comunidad Mi Dulce Refugio in Caño Seco, we did a week of evangelism and lead Sunday service. This was also the Dia del Niño celebration. 

July 19- San Carlos, Zulia, we evangelised for two days and lead bible studies. 

July 23-Arikok National Park in Aruba. We served in a Vacation Bible School camp in Aruba. 

Myrlanda. 

Aruba´s Beach. 

Having fun at the beach with the campers. 

The egg game. 

Dushi yiu = sweet (Papiamento Language)

The Believers Team- We won the camps competition! 

Mountain Formation in Aruba.

Cas di Oracion (Papiamento Language) Vacation Bible School Camp site in Aruba. 

Sand Dunes in Coro, Venezuela. 

  

Sunday Service--Our last day serving at Kilometro 9




We would see buffulos as we drove to Kilometro 9!




Children´s Ministry

 

Iglesia Bautista Jesucristo El Salvador, Kilometro 9, Merida



God has granted us various opportunities to serve and  to achieve the great commission that He has sent us to do in Venezuela. We have continued to build relationships, strengthening an ongoing children's ministry and had opportunities to lead and participate in the worship ministry at Shalom Baptist Church in El Vigia.

We were also sent to Tabay, Merida, for four days (about three hours away from El Vigia), the main goal was to evangelize in the town. This was truly a learning experience because I had to think about the best way to share God in a short amount of time and to stay focused, I was a messenger to the person who opened the door and I knew it was crucial that I said what God wanted me to say. We knocked door after door everyday to share God with people, we were able to minister to youth, adults and elderly, some people were interested to know more and we were able to arrange second visits with a Tabay missionary that would visit again to share more. Tabay was wonderful, as well as Mucurutan which was about 15min away from Tabay, Mucurutan was the location of our four day host home, mountain scenes surrounded the home, seeing the view was overwhelming beautiful. Here at Mucurutan was the first time in 10 days that I finally got to shower in warm water, it felt great. Our hosts were also kind enough to take us in a Jeep excursion to Sierra Nevada where we were able to walk the mountains and taste the water of Rio Chama.

This week we have began to serve in Jesucristo El Salvador Church (Kilometro 9, Merida), we will be serving in this church for a week through children's and youth ministry, visiting a Mission that the church has, evangelizing and much more, our group has already had an opportunity to lead worship and deliver a message and helped lead the ministries, its amazing how God has worked in this church when they have only been established as a church for 7 months. The people have been very welcoming and are excited to have us serve there. I feel blessed that we have been surrounded with people that have been hospitable to us and want to provide us with the best that they have through out this journey.

There's more work to do! I pray that I continue to have the motivation and strength to continue to wake up early and work hard for His glory.

Shine in Venezuela,

Tabay, Merida
We evangelized door by door, the majority of this town was evangelized.

El Vigia, Merida
The view as I climbed a mountain.

Children´s Ministry at Jesucristo El Salvador Church (Kilometro 9, Merida)

Rio Chama at Mucurutan, Merida

Grateful

Praise God that my team and I arrived safely to El Vigia, Merida, our summer serving location. Wow, its been a fast pace week, I tend to not have reason for time and date, we have been kept busy since we arrived, we have a well organized schedule which I am truly thankful for, we have our two months set with daily activities in which we will be serving in different cities in Merida. We arrived and everyone is so loving and have accepted us with open arms, they have been great hosts, they are very nice and have made us feel at home. 
During these five days that we have been here I have had an opportunity to share my testimony and word of God through a Christian Radio Station name Luz y Vida 101.9FM here in El Vigia, served in the church with children´s, worship and youth ministry, done outreach in Caño Seco and here in El Vigia, given a bible study to youth and adults, helped at a new upcoming Christian Bookstore and visited Merida! Tomorrow we are getting ready to visit an elementry school to be able to share the word of God and talk about moral values with students. It´s already a busy start and more to go! I pray that God continues to give me motivation and strength to fulfill his purpose, I am grateful.

Our daily routine begins in the morning and ends at about 10pm, we eat a lot here, we are constantly being fed, I have eaten yuka, pollo a la braza, cambur (which is delicious!), paella, pechuga rellena a la merida, pavellon (traditional food) and bread (we eat bread with the majority of the meals) all the food has been great! I thank God that my body has been receptive to all the food.

As the days passed by I have created a word bank of Venezuelan words that I have learned and have begun to use! For example, chamo, chevere, poquitico, muy fino. I really want to be part of the culture! lol.   

I thank you for your prayer and support, I encourage you to continue to pray for my team as we serve. 

Shine in Venezuela,