Venezuela 2001
Calabazo
by: Matt Gordon

I have been to Venezuela three times in my life with this one being the third. All of the times before I don’t think I really realized what the mission trip was about. I always thought that we were down there to bring about a blessing to the people and lead them to Jesus. There was no thought in my head of becoming personal friends with the people or doing more than just witnessing to them. There was something different about this time.

            I went down there expecting it to be like all the other mission trips I had been on, where we would go and bless the people medically and spiritually then come back to the states and everything would go back to normal. I was wrong. We went down there and the people overwhelmingly blessed us. We realized what a real church was supposed to be like. They would go and visit those people who came to our clinic instead of just sending them on their way with no more help. I found out that over half of the people in this church torre fuerte were people that had been touched by the compassion of the church members. What was even cooler was that the leaders of the church ranged from the age of 15 to the oldest being 26. I made many personal friends while I was down there and the friendship I had with them was so deep that coming back to the states was the hardest thing I had ever done.

            When John Powell M.D., the organizer of the church, started off the week with a little speech, he told us that if just one person came to Christ it would be worth it. We didn’t have many salvations but the seed that was planted will be eternally great. Plus we Americans know that those seeds will be fertilized by the visitation of the church members. It’s odd when you expect to go somewhere and bless the people but in turn you are blessed more than you could ever ask for.

-Matt Gordon

For another report of the Venezuelan Trip Click here!