Venezuela
By Dalila Correa
Venezuela, a beautiful country in South America with friendly people, is suffering the greatest migration in its history. Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have fled the country in the last two years, due to the political and economic situation. They flee to survive, but God took them out of their land to show He is God and invite them to trust and to depend on Him, so they can be used to bring the message of salvation to all nations.
Oscar Luy, 28-years-old and of Venezuelan nationality, arrived in Peru in January 2018, hoping to find a better future for his family. He and his wife, Oryani, have a three-year-old daughter, Charlotte. Oscar works as a barber, though he has a bachelor’s degree in science. Oryani is an administrative assistant.
While still in Venezuela, they attended a small church for the first time in December 2016, and they both received Jesus Christ as personal Savior that day. Their passion to share the Gospel with others was so intense, they opened their home to start a ¨Bible Cell,¨ but they did not have much knowledge of the Word of God. They prayed for God to show His will to them.
The situation in the country worsened, so they got help from a relative for Oscar to leave Venezuela. Months later, he was able to send for his wife and daughter to come to Peru by plane. They attend a Baptist church and both have enrolled in the Bible academy, and are studying SLM lessons.
¨Our churches in Venezuela need these lessons to learn more about the Word of God,¨ said Oryani. She also has family in the Dominican Republic and would like them to receive SLM lessons. Oscar says, ¨I understand now that God brought us to Peru to teach us to trust and wait on Him, to be trained in His Word so that we can return to Venezuela, prepared to share the message of salvation in Jesus Christ.”
Nelcy Arenas
Nelcy Arenas, 39 years old, was raised in a Christian family and received Jesus as her Savior as a child. But as she grew up, she went away from God. At the age of 22, and raising her three children alone, she returned to the ways of the Lord. She began to attend church to raise her children in the Word of God. Nelcy worked as a technologist at a medical laboratory and everything went well until the situation changed in Venezuela.
A cousin, who lived in the USA, supported her in prayer to consider leaving the country in search of better opportunities, since things went from bad to worse in Venezuela. This happened on August 17, 2017. Nelcy contacted a Venezuelan in Peru, who encouraged her to travel. God worked extraordinarily and in ten days she had the money to travel to Peru, where she arrived on August 27.
Nelcy immediately got a job at a grocery store, and on the fifth day working had to sell a few bottles of beer. When she got back to her place, she wept before God, saying: “Lord, you did not bring me to Peru to sell beer. Please guide me. What should I do?” Two days later, she visited a Baptist church where she was told to consult with an American missionary who runs a Christian organization and might be able to give her a job.
On September 17, Nelcy began working at a Christian organization, as a caretaker of the missionary’s wife who suffered from Alzheimer’s. This organization is a neighbor to our office of Fuente de Luz Peru. Nelcy was able to bring her whole family to Peru. She has completed two series of SLM lessons, and is studying the doctrinal series. She has already begun discipling two young Venezuelan ladies.
Jesus Roa – Pastor in Venezuela
Recently, we received a letter from Jesús Roa, Pastor of the House of Prayer Church in Venezuela.
“For a long time I have been praying for Source of Light materials, because thanks to them I was trained and discipled at the beginning of my Christian life. That marked my life in a very special way, first because they are courses grounded in the Word and second, are dynamic and practical. I received them from a missionary but have long ago lost contact with him. By the grace of God, I serve as a pastor at this time and really consider fundamental and necessary that something so good and uplifting as Source of Light lessons can continue being distributed in Venezuela. For now, we face many difficulties as a country, but the work for the Lord continues, and we would like to be able to count on Source of Light courses to work on the internal growth of the church, and at the same time on the evangelistic area on the streets.”
The mysteries of God are so amazing and unusual that we can only, in awe, give him all the glory and praise. God, in His love, does not want anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance.
In Peru, there are more than 750,000 Venezuelans and it is estimated that by the end of 2019, there will be more than 1 million.
Many, of those who live in Peru, attend Christian churches and maintain contact with their families back in Venezuela. They are being used by God to share God’s call to repentance and salvation in Jesus Christ.
Pray for the relationship with Pastor Jesús Roa. We are asking God to lead us if he might be a key individual to begin a Branch in Venezuela.
