Day 1

我們出發了

我們也平安到達了!!

感謝主的恩典, 第一天的行程很順利, 我們每一個的心情也很愉快J

凌晨三時,謝謝Andy Yu願意給開車送四位馬利蘭的弟兄姊妹到機場趕乘早上六時的飛機,天還未破曉

上機昏迷兩小時半,我們終於抵達邁阿密機場, 預備轉機到委內瑞拉的首都carcasa.

我們也終於遇見我們另外二位來自加洲的隊員,及領隊溫牧師. 他們已在凌晨六時到達, 真正”等到頸到長哂”.

溫牧師給我們簡介今次的旅程, 精美的團隊手冊, 除了包括委內瑞拉的簡介, 當地教會的情況,還有歷介隊員的分享, 這些寶貴的資料給我們很重要的背景, 幫助我們對事工及對象有一些更具體的期望.

另外兩小時半後, 窗外的景色令人眼前一亮, 這就是面對加勒比海的首都加拉加斯

景色怡人的一面, 誰會想到在這裡生活的辛酸?

其實委內瑞拉除了出產石油, 還外銷木材, 鋼. 農產品也極豐富: 如玉米,小麥,馬鈴薯, 可可, 咖啡. 但因為貧富縣殊, 經濟低迷,治安敗壞,行政效率不佳等, 大大影響國家發展及進步.

入境是我們第一個考驗, 因為之前聽說一位宣教士在入境上遇上問題

但感謝主,我們都遇上很好的關員, 没有阻難及很多問題, 半小時內便完成過程

第二個考驗是等待寄倉的行李及過海關

感謝主,行李一件也没有失,也没有破損! 過去的短宣隊曾經歷行李

雖然我們有一位組員的行李被略為搜查, 但最後也順利過關

不久我們便與在委京主恩堂的聶牧師（下圖右二）見面, 在委內瑞拉全國緊有的兩位華裔牧師之一, 他也很熱心地在各方面協調及幫助短宣隊及宣教士的工作

之後,我們帶同行李, 預備我們今天第三程飛機: 從首都到巴城. (筆者: 這是我單天計乘最多次數飛機)

這是我們的晚餐, 委國的特色食物Arepas (阿里巴)

其實是粟米粉做的包, 夾上不同的肉或菜.

雖然只是一個普通漢保包的大少, 但卻給我一種食了兩碗飯的感覺.

接機的梁弟兄及玲姐們早已在閘口等待我們

下著毛毛雨, 我們遇上一班同樣是接機的群眾(Dolores 說她坐在他旁), 高舉著用西班牙文寫的”歡迎眾牧師”的橫額

原來是一位受當地人敬重的牧師也回巴城, 他們教會也常常幫助當地華人教會, 聽說他也有1/8華人血統

猜猜圖中共有多少位牧師？答案明天公佈:-)

This is our first day and finally we have arrived our destination: Barquisimeto.

We started early today as we need to catch our flight at BWI at 6am. We are so thankful to have Andy Yu to sacrifice his sleeping time and drive us to airport. We had a smooth and nice ride. We arrived airport at 3:30 but the crew and security checking staffs were still not working yet. The sky is still dark.

Right after we boarded the plane, we immediately fell asleep . The flight to Miami, FL takes 2 hours. The weather is wonderful , and the airport is already filled with Spanish speakers(even the announcement and signs). We felt like we were in south America already.

And we were so glad that we reunion with the other two members from CA Bay area, and Rev Wan our team leaders. In order to get to Venezuela with us, they have been waiting for us since 6am. They are absolutely has the spiritual fruit  “patient”!!

Rev Wan has been very thoughtful to prepare a very informative booklet contains the necessary information of Venezuela and chinese churches and missionaries of the organization. These information is definitely essential and help us to develop a reasonable expectation for our coming visit and ministry.

Another 2.5 hours, suddenly the scence outside the plane was stuning. Check the pictures below. Here we arrived Carcasa, the capital of Venezuela.

Behind the decent environment, does everyone know how’s the life and what could be the difficulties of people living in this country? Venezuela has abundant resources: cruel oil, grains, potatoes, corns, cocoa, coffee…..etc. But due to extreme wealth difference between the riches and poors, unstable economy, poor security and low working efficiency, all these factors hinder the growth of the country.

Next we face the first challenge of the trip: Immigration.

We heard that recently a missionary was refused for entering the country.

But we are truly thankful as some VERY NICE agents were taking care of us. We just went straight through the immigration in 30 mins. This is not bad at all.

Then we had our second challenge: Claim baggage and custom.

We are thankful again as we can all get our claimed baggage. Though one of our member was pick for checking,  he was finally released without holding anything.

In the welcome area, we met Rev. Nip, who is one of the two Chinese pastors in the country. He has been enthusiastically coordinating the visitation of short term mission teams and missionaries.

After we had a fresh orange juice in a local café, we were ready for our 3^rd flight of today: a local flight from Carcasa to Barquisimito.

We had our dinner in the airport, we tried a local corn-flour made bread called Arepas. It’s like the size of a regular burger but made me so full (like I ate 2 bowls of rice).

While Brother Leung and his family came to pick us up to hotel, we met a group of people also welcoming someone with a banner written “Welcome Pastors”. They were waiting for a local pastor that took the same flight as us (actually he sat next to Dolores). He has been always helping local chinese church. His grandfather actually is a chinese embassy of Puru.

It’s 12 mid-night now. Goodnight everyone.