Trece, Dominican Republic

This is a photo of the church building of the congregation in a suburb of Santo Domingo called "Trece"--it's at the 13 mile marker (trece in Spanish). The shortest man in the picture used to preach there, but has since moved to another part of the city to start a church there. This building was formerly his rent house and he gave it to the church. Brother Juan has done okay and has always been generous to the church as a whole, as well as individual brethren. He runs a drug store and frequently gives brethren the medicine they need when they cannot afford.

Juan is obviously serious about his service to God, he has done much to spread the Gospel of Christ. Surely there a crown of glory is laid up for him in heaven.

Tol

Market Day

This particular market is in Roseau, the capital of Dominica. Every Saturday the booths are everywhere around the market area--mostly fresh fruits and vegetables, although there will be some souvenirs and clothing. Oh, don't forget the green coconuts! These are sold as a drink "coconut water", not as food--the ones we get are all dried up. There are the various roots--dasheen, tania, white yams, perhaps a few sweet potatoes. There will be several varieties of bananas, both green and ripe as well as plantains. There are onions, garlic, carrots, various herbs and avocados. Depending on the season there may be mangos, grapefruit, oranges, acerola cherries, gooseberries, or kenip. Most of the year you can find passion fruit (one of my favorites) and limes.

These foods are typical of the West Indies, although several of the islands will have produce uniquely their own--Grenada is known as the spice island, so you will find nutmeg, mace, allspice, all of which come from the nutmeg. They also grow ginger, cloves, and cinnamon. The market in St. Georges, Grenada covers about a 6 block area.

The market brings you the freshest produce, but the only drawback is that it's only once a week, usually on Saturday. So, if you don't get there on Saturday you won't have any fresh vegetables, or only the stale ones you might happen to find in a shop.

Tol

"Everyone did what was right in his own eyes"

We wind up a study of Joshua and Judges tonight, so that's where my thoughts are today. You may remember this quote from the last chapters of Judges, "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes." I believe could be called the theme of the book and helps explain some of the things that are recorded in it--Jephthah's daughter, near extermination of Benjamin, etc. In a lawless time, there is a real tendency for everyone to do just what they want to do.

The last incident recorded in Judges is grisly, to say the lost. A stranger is accosted by the men of Gibeah to have homosexual relations with them (which is bad enough), but instead he gives them his concubine to abuse, which they do all night long, to the point that she dies as morning breaks (don't worry, it gets worse.) He then goes home, cuts her body into 12 pieces and sends a piece to each tribe. In their zeal to avenge this wickedness when Benjamin refuses to surrender the guilty men they battle Benjamin, leaving only 600 men who escaped alive--they kill everybody else. Afterwards they come to the realization that they have sworn to have no relation with Benjamin, so there are no wives for the 600 who are left. In order to partially remedy the situation they kill the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead, who hadn't come up to the "summit meeting" and found 400 young women so they advise the men of Benjamin to kidnap the other 200 they need. Quite a pretty store, isn't it?

We might ask how they got into this situation. It is plainly stated they didn't consult God until after they had made their plans. They accomplished the punishment of wickedness, but at what cost? How would things have turned out if they had consulted God first, then acted? But are we any different? How often do we make our plans, especially moving for a job, and once it's all settled we see if there's a church there? Should we be surprised that such decisions don't "work out"?

There is also the same tendency today for "everyone did what was right in his own eyes". When a society loses respect for God and His laws, disrespect of man and his laws cannot be far behind. The long term answer to crime is not more jails, but rather more Gospel preaching and teaching--the Gospel changes lives, jails usually don't.

Tol

Hurricane effects

Last May Dana and I were in Barbados and met Omari. He is actually from Grenada, but was staying in Barbados with his Auntie Ann. Was school over already in May? No, not in Barbados, but it had never begun that year in Grenada--one of the hurricanes passed right over St. Georges and the middle part of the island. Since all the government offices are in St. Georges, the capital, all government operations were devastated. Grenada is normally below the "hurricane belt", so the buildings there are not as strong as they are farther north.

So they just didn't have school last year in Grenada. Fortunately for Omari, his aunt in Barbados was able to have him come live with her so he could continue his schooling. He also had power, telephone, running water, etc. which Mom, back in Grenada, still may not have had.

I listen to people complaining about FEMA and all the other government agencies and wonder what they would do if they lived in another country, or even one of the US Caribbean territories. St. Croix does have FEMA but it took 5 months for us to get a check from FEMA and even longer to get a loan to rebuild in 1995 and we were one of less than 100 homes that were badly damaged in St. Croix. "But it will take years to rebuild" they whine. It always does, with or without government assistance.

The Lord never promised to shield us from all troubles, but He does promise that He will give us the strength to overcome. If this is true in physical things, how much more true is it in spiritual things? "My grace is sufficient for thee"

Tol Burk

Preaching on distasteful subjects

Yesterday morning I had the task of preaching on sexual immorality--certainly not one of my favorite topics. It is a much needed topic, especially in our world of blurred morality. Nowdays divorce is perfectly acceptable, almost expected and homosexuality is just an "alternate lifestyle". Even many professing some measure of following Christ have decided that almost any kind of sex before marriage, except actual sexual intercourse. Is it any wonder in this kind of environment that young Christians are not quite sure sometimes what is right and wrong?

My goal in preaching on such topics is to be plain enough that those who need to hear what the Word says about these things can have no doubt, but to use language so that those who are too young to know don't get. I try to help parents out, so their young children don't ask "what's ____________" before they really need to know it. I've heard of some sermons about imorality that embarrassed almost everyone present and in my opinion such is unnecessary. You can make your point without using gutter language or getting too graphic. The truth needs to be presented without apology.

When we are uncomfortable with a topic we tend to ignore it as much as possible and I believe that's one reason we don't hear too many sermons about fornication, adultery, even homosexuality. Sometimes we also think such sermons are not needed, after all "everybody" knows that fornication is wrong. Besides, it might make any visitors uncomfortable. While everybody may know, we all need to be reminded from time to time. As to visitors, in my experience the only time visitors have been uncomfortable is when they are in that situation and don't really want to change.

Tol

The new preacher in town

Javier and his family--wife Yvonne and children Javier and Estefany have just begun meeting in a new part of the city of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. Javier is not new to preaching--he's been preaching a couple of years in Cagua, but is the new preacher in Caracas. They began meeting last month with 9 or so in attendance. This church is much more convenient for some brethren who had been members in Las Carmelitas, which is downtown.

Caracas has over 6 million inhabitants and until 3 years ago there was only one church meeting in one of the suburbs. Now there are 3, which still leaves brethren and visitors coming from distances of 30 minutes or more.

Javier & Yvonne were converted after being taught one night by a brother who was visiting from Spain. They studied 3-4 hours one night and Javier said, "If we need to be baptized we should go ahead and do it now" and so they were baptized in the wading pool they had for the kids on their patio. That same night Yvonne's Mother and one sister were also baptized, then a little later her other sister and her oldest son were baptized, then the other sisters husband and daughter. Both Javier and his brother in law Gerardo are now preaching in Caracas, while their nephew Carmelo preaches in San Juan de los Morros. With the exception of his younger brother they are all faithful to the Lord. The Lord will always answer those who are seeking.

Tol

Seasons in the Eastern Caribbean

The two photos above illustrate the seasons in the Eastern Caribbean--wet and dry. Each of these photos is of the same valley, just one looking west and the other looking east. The green one was taken in Nov. (one of the wettest years anyone remembers) while the other was taken in March or April. Yes, Dec.-Feb. is cooler than July-Sept., but not so as most of you would notice. The high in Jan. may only be 85 while it will be over 90 in Aug., so the obvious difference is rainfall.

The main rainy season corresponds roughly to hurricane season and may start in May or June and run as late as Dec., although it typically ends in Oct. It can affect work in this area--preaching in the open air after July can be unpredictable because of the rain. It will also affect attendance at worship services, as most of the members still walk or ride in the back of a pickup. Even where they have transport the rain still cuts attendance--I remember one Sunday morning in St. Croix, after it had rained all night. When the appointed hour came there were 6 of us--our family of 5 and one brother. The rest had slept in, in accordance with old habits/culture, going back to when all work was outside, so if it rained you couldn't work, so you might as well rest.

Not so long ago open air preaching would also be scheduled when the moon was full, to help those who would be visiting in their journey back and forth. If you've ever tried to preach by moonlight you know it isn't much good for reading, especially if you're over 40. I preach something that I can quote the Scriptures for, although I have had a "reader" a couple of times--someone younger who can see to read the Scripture, which I then comment upon.

Yes brethren, we are blessed. The weather is not usually a factor for most of us in whether we attend worship or not. Let us take full advantage of this blessing.

Tol

The church in Owia, St. Vincent

Owia is not the end of road in St. Vincent, that's Fancy 4 miles farther north, but it's not a very big place either. The first time I visited there in 1994 they did not have electricity in the village at all, but by the next January when I returned they did. People live mostly from agriculture, most recently by growing arrowroot, but that has bottomed out, so now it's just more subsistence farming.

Although the village is not large, the church has existed there for some years and attendance has been as high as 70, although it is back down to the 30's, as brethren have emigrated to England or one of the Grenadines for work. Brother Walter has been preaching there since nearly the beginning and at times has been one of the few men who could read. Although in his 70's he still continues to preach and keep things going. This building was finished 7-8 years ago and has classrooms underneath, where Sister Inola teaches the children on Sunday morning.

Even in some remote places there are Christians worshipping the same God, in the same way we worship, and looking forward to the same hope that we do. What a large family the church really is.

Tol

"Liberalism/institutionalism is a dead issue!"

While then lines of fellowship here in the States are very clearly drawn and there isn't usually a lot of conversation back and forth, such is not the case in the Caribbean. In fact, there are now a number of churches that have already rejected liberalism and institutionalism and more are even now in the process of doing so. These brethren were taught that we have to do exactly what the Bible says, so more than one of them questioned the various forms of recreation that the liberals brought with them--money from the church treasury to go to the beach, tour the island, have birthday parties, etc. Eating in the church building was also a question, but they thought they were probably the only ones in the world he didn't think these things were right. Imagine their surprise to find that many other brethren understand these things in the same way.

The liberals have reacted in the Caribbean the way they have in other places--brethren have been labeled, pressured, had their support cut, etc. to "get them back in line". Preachers have been given monetary support to "keep them" and the list goes on. This has worked with some while others have stood for the truth, no matter what it cost them.

There are no "dead issues", at least in a growing church, as there are always children growing up and new Christians who need to be taught on every issue. True, we cannot get stuck on any one issue or group of issues, but neither can we neglect any issue. God has called us to preach the "whole counsel of God"--the positive, the negative, the plan of salvation, the acts of worship, church organization, personal holiness and more. Whatever we fail to preach in this generation will come back to haunt us in the next.

Tol

Preacher needing support

Nelson is a native of the Dominican Republic but has lived in Venezuela many years. He lives, with his family, in Barinas and was one of the early Christians there. This photo was taken in Jan. 2005, so things haven't changed too much since then.

Nelson has been preaching and teaching in Barinas and other places in Venezuela for several years now and is trusted by all the brethren there. He has been working toward dedicating his full time to preaching for a couple of years now. I have known Nelson and his wife for 5 years now and would heartily recommend him as worthy of support. The work in Barinas is the largest church in the country (over 100) and requires someone who is mature, humble, and willing to do the work necessary in such a large congregation--I believe Nelson is just such a man. Barinas is a city of over 600,000 people so the church has steadily grown through the years and have certainly not reached all those who are seeking truth.

If you would be interested in helping support another worker in the Lord's kingdom please contact me for more information.

Tol

The Eastern Caribbean

The Eastern Caribbean is generally considered to be the islands stretching from Hispaniola (Haiti & the Dominican Republic) down to Trinidad with Aruba, Bonaire, & Curacao thrown in. All told there are something like 26 million people on over 30 major islands.

There are 4 recognized languages--Spanish, some form of French, English, and some form of Dutch. In times past every island was its own little world, so every island has its dialect, but they are all educated in the "proper" language in school.

The Dominican Republic & Puerto Rico are by far the largest "language" block--together they are 52 % of the population of the Eastern Caribbean and both speak Spanish. Next come Haiti, Guadeloupe, Martinique and the little French islands, with 38 %. English comes in at around 10 %, but is spread over more islands--from the Virgin Islands to Trinidad most of them are English speaking. So even if you don't know a foreign language there are 4 million people who speak English here. If you speak Spanish & English you are equipped to work with over 13 million people.

Tol Burk

Vacation Bible School in Dominica

If the Lord wills, this will be the 3rd year we have done a vacation Bible school at the church building in Vielle Case, Dominica. The first year we ended with 25 children and last year we began with 21 and ended with 40. This year I'm expecting 50-60, it's hard to know until you get there.

As you look at the church building to the right you may wonder where we put 40 children in this building. Actually, we didn't put them all inside--we had the teenagers (6-7 of them) outside, beside the little window under a tarp. We had 14 children aged 3-5, about 10-13 aged 6-9, 6-8 aged 10-12 plus the teenagers. One of our members, Miss Debbie, got a good initiation into this work with all the little ones. She did have help one day--Sister Charlotte, who is the principal of the school in the next village was there and gave her tips on how to control the children. Debbie learned about "the naughty corner" and what "blows" means.

We plan to do it this year July 17th-21st. I'm hoping we can have it at the school just below the church building--no, separation of church and state is not an issue there. Otherwise, I don't know where we're going to put all the kids. We still need some help with teachers, as all I have confirmed at this point is 3--Dana and myself and one other brother. If you're interested, let me know.

Tol

The Lord's work in Grenada

There are 2 sound churches in Grenada presently. The connection with these churches came from a brother who preaches in Dominica, but had previously worked in Grenada for several years. There is one church that meets in the Capital of St. Georges (in the indention on the West coast, near the South end) while the other meets in Mt. Granby, which is inland from Gouyave, on the West coast also, but the next to the last town on the North end.

The preacher for the church in St. Georges, Brother Godfrey, a policeman and as such has been stationed around the island. He has done the preaching there for some years and is very zealous, not only for the Word of God, but the pure Word of God--the first time we met he "quizzed" me for 30 minutes or more to make sure I was sound. He has also supported the church in Mt. Granby as he has opportunity. The St. Georges church met for many years in a rented building, but recently finished their own church building on the North side of town.

The village of Mt. Granby sits at more than 2500 feet above sea level, which is not that important now that the taxi buses will go up there. The first time I preached at Mt. Granby we stayed in Gouyave, which is at sea level (there is no place to stay in Mt. Granby) and walked up the mountain each morning (about a 45 minute walk), then spent the day in Bible studies, then at night we would preach in a neighborhood called "over the hill" for an hour and a half. Afterwards one of the visitors would drive us back down to our hotel--"you might trip in the dark". They are good brethren and while it is a small village, the church has continued to maintain its own and even grow a little--the spouses of several members have become Christians, etc.

Tol

Material in Spanish

Although Spanish is the language spoken by 62 % of people in the Eastern Caribbean (in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic) there is not much Gospel literature in Spanish. However there are some websites by faithful brethren that you should know about. I know this list is not comprehensive, but it will give you a start.

amigoval.com

billhreeves.com

buscad.com

All three of these have a good selection, as well as links to other sites.

Tol

Buried in Baptism

Baptism in the Eastern Caribbean is not as simple as it is in the States. The logistics of the actual baptism contribute greatly to people making "appointments" to be baptized--as one lady told the church one Wed. night, "I have made an appointment with the Lord for 10 o'clock in the morning to be baptized." Only a few of the churches, like Maracaibo in Venezuela and Vielle Case in Dominica have a baptistry, but even that can be problematic--the one in Vielle Case can take 3-4 hours to fill up and they don't normally keep it filled.

The rest of the churches baptize either in a river or in the sea. As in the picture above in Barinas, Venezuela, frequently the river is not very deep so burial is a bit challenging. The Sunday night after these 2 were baptized 2 more wanted to be baptized and we went to a deeper river, but you have to take at least 15 people with you--to prevent robbery/mugging. In some of the islands a good walk is required to find a pool in the river where there is enough water.

There are NO rivers in St. Croix so we baptized in the sea. After the first couple of times we stumbled on to a very suitable place, it was private and you didn't have to walk very far out to get sufficient depth. Besides that it even had a "changing room"--there was a house that lost its roof in Hurricane Hugo and was abandoned where we could take turns changing out of the wet clothes. I used to say we had a trouble free baptistry--it was never too cold, always clean, and you never had to add water. But there was a real drawback--many West Indians cannot swim so are afraid of the water. While they are willing to "brave" it during the day, they will NOT be baptized at night. I and other brethren have persuaded and persuaded to be baptized "the same hour of the night" to no avail. We tried using a swimming pool a couple of times but it wasn't private and then they were no longer available, so we were back to the ocean.

Brethren in Venezuela have tried using a deep wading pool with mixed success--one of them collapsed right after the baptism, flooding a couple of rooms in the apartment, while others seem to work okay, but again it takes time to put them up, fill them, etc.

By the way, there was another baptism in Las Carmelitas, in downtown Caracas, Venezuela on Thursday of last week. Please rejoice with and pray for our new Sister Luisa.

Tol

The Gospel changes Lives

We say the Gospel changes lives, yet many people seem to make few, if any, changes in their lives after they become Christians. Rom. 6:1-4 reminds us that we have died to sin and so can no longer live in it. 2 Pet. 1:5-8 teaches clearly that faith is only the beginning, not the end--we must continue to grow and become more Christ like. But there are many examples of people whom the Gospel has changed.

Sister Carmencita "little Carmen" of Barinas, Venezuela is one such person. The first time the preacher visited her she was in bed, where she had been for some months--unable to even sit up for more than a few minutes at a time. When she heard the Gospel for the first time she begged him to come back in two days and before a week was out she had been baptized. Before her debilitation had taught self defense and those kinds of things on the police force. When she was still in her mid 20's she began slowly to lose strength and although they have never been able to see why, she weakened to the point that her life was lying on her bed. After awhile I'm sure depression set in, only making things worse, but when she obeyed the Gospel she had a new reason to live. For the first several years she was carried, literally, to each service of the church. Over time she began to gain more strength and the last time I was in Barinas she actually walked into the building--she had to hold someone's hand for balance, but she was walking on her own. She seldom misses a service and takes note of who is absent, who is sick, etc.

Carmencita is still limited in what she can do physically--she tires easily and gets sick readily, but she doesn't allow her limitations to "get her down". The brethren know if they are absent they will receive a call from Carmencita. In fact, some have said there are times they've thought about not going, but decided to go because they didn't want to have to "explain" to Carmencita why they weren't there. A few years ago when cell phones became reasonable in Venezuela Carmencita got one and she uses it frequently in the Lord's work--to call the sick, to call another brother/sister to attend to the needs of the sick, to encourage preachers, etc. I'm confident if text messaging was available to the US from her cell phone that I would receive a text message almost every day--I know several preachers there who get at least one encouraging message each day.

When I "don't feel like" doing this or that I think of Sister Carmencita. I think to myself, "If Carmencita can go to every service, why can't I? If Carmencita can humble herself to ask for help, not only for herself, but for others in need, so can I." The Gospel changes lives even today, regardless of how it may seem.

Tol

Maturin Centro

This is the church that meets downtown (centro) in Maturin, a city in Eastern Venezuela. This was the second night I was there and the lighting was much better--the first night I preached by candlelight, so a picture was out of the question. We had about 20 both nights, which was about average then. At the time this photo was taken the church had been meeting just over one year and had grown from 1 person to 15 members. How did Antonio do this?

First of all, Antonio did not do it--God did! But Antonio was willing to work; visiting, teaching, talking to people. Some of them he had known before but others were new contacts. He preached over the radio and made contacts that way, but more often than not his new contacts came from those he was already studying with. Miru, in the black blouse on the front row, was the source of many contacts, including her sister in the city of Valencia.

The Maturin centro church has continued to grow in spite of opposition from institutional/liberal brethren. He has been labeled all sorts of things, but the brethren have begun to see through that. He has been black balled, but only a small group of accepted that. With the Lord's help, the church continues to grow and is now over 35. May we all continue to press on to the high calling of our Great God.

Tol

"What do you preach there?"

From time to time I'm asked what kinds of things I preach in the Caribbean. Of course that depends a great deal on the congregation and the situation (s) they may be in. Much of what I preach is what we would call "first principles"--the plan of salvation, the worship of the church, the name, etc. Not only are there many new Christians, but there are usually visitors, some for the first time. You have to say something that will pique their interest so they will want to continue or begin a Bible study. One of the themes I've used frequently of late is "Is there only one church?". Even in the smallest villages there are usually at least 2 or 3 churches, all teaching different things, many of them obviously not following the Bible. This has been effective in several settings in getting people to begin studying and attending.

When you preach in the "open air", usually in front of a shop or other place that people tend to gather, the whole idea is to spark further interest. Because of that the sermon must be provocative without being ugly. We are commanded to "speak the truth in love" and even when we show that some religious practices are not true to the Bible we must do so with a view to teaching and enlightening our listeners. Usually there are several speakers and the hope is that even those who stay home in the immediate area will here the preaching. These sermons are expected to be 1 1/2 -2 hours long, so you have time to fully develop almost any theme.

Sometimes I deal with specific problems that I know about--I have preached on marriage, divorce, remarriage; male leadership in the church, liberalism and the social gospel. On one occasion my son went to a childrens' class and at the end they were making plans for next month. This was a class that ranged up to early 20's, both boys and girls. The next week was to be "girls night"--one of the girls would preach, another would lead singing, others would lead the prayers, etc. When Paxx approached the preacher about the unscriptural nature of this he was surprised, but willing to study the issue. For the next 3 days that is what they did, with one group after another, beginning about 8 AM and going until almost dark. The conclusion of all was that there would be no more "girls night", that it was wrong--often times "teachings" that we think "everybody knows" are unknown, so they have to be taught.

A further complication is that some of the brethren do not read or do not read well, so there must be much more repetition. I also frequently tell a story, rather than read it, as when I used to read them I wound up telling them afterwards anyway. Many of the Old Testament Bible stories that we learned as children brethren there have never heard, so more background has to be laid.

If a translator must be used that can really slow down the flow of a sermon--I don't think I've ever preached with a translator because I limit myself to the 2 languages I know, Spanish and English. These two languages will reach 63 % of the people in the Eastern Caribbean.

There are some interesting situations that develop when preaching in other countries. One brother had to finally leave the pulpit and go toward a drunk who kept coming in to interrupt before he would leave--it didn't hurt that Jeff is about 6'3". People come and go during the whole sermon in the "open air". One sister threw pebbles at her teenage son who was asleep on the front row--yes, she got his attention. There were several major distractions in St. Croix over the years, like the time the political caravan made a stop just across the street from where we were meeting. Such a caravan has lots of alcohol and loud, loud music, so I finally had to give up and cut that sermon short. On another occasion we all watched as a man took a little dog and a machete into the bush and drew the obvious conclusion--he was going to kill the dog. When he returned 30 minutes later without the dog you could see the steam rising, until about 5 minutes later when the dog showed up again. This same dog would occasionally come and walk across the podium with me, lay down just in front, etc. On another island I had to step over a medium sized dog to go to the podium to preach--either she wasn't really interested or I was boring, because she left about half way through the sermon.

Despite the differences in the circumstances of the preaching and teaching, the Word of God is still the message. The old, old story still continues to changes hearts and lives as it has through the centuries.

Tol

A bit crowded

This is the church building in Langley Park, St. Vincent. It is a simple building and more houses have been built around it since this pictures was taken. The little tin building is the outhouse. There are no classrooms in the building, so they have their children's class on Monday night. The ages range from 4 to 21 or 22 years of age and attendance may be 50 or more.

I have preached to over 100 people in this small building--there wasn't a vacant seat in the house and a few of the men were standing. I don't think they reached the point where they had to put children on the edge of the podium as some churches in Mexico have had to do, but the building was full. With the drop in the price of bananas a few years ago, some have been forced to either move completely or at least during the week to other areas to find work so attendance is in the 60's now.

Tol Burk

The church in Barinas, Venezuela

The church in Barinas, a city of 600,000 + people, is the oldest and largest sound church in Venezuela. Most Sundays they will have over 100 in attendance, even after 10-15 left to begin a church downtown, which now numbers over 30. The members are active in trying to teach others the Gospel and so they have visitors at most services and average 10-15 baptisms a year. There are a number of young families with small children as well as a number of men in the 50-65 year old range. They have a very adequate building and several class "rooms" for the children. They have had their share of growing pains, including several controversies over marriage but have matured to the point that they seem to handle them without division. More than one preacher has come from this church and there are a number of brethren who help with the preaching and teaching.

The Gospel has also gone forth from Barinas to other areas, as brethren have moved. The church in Guanare, the capital of the neighboring state as well as a church in Maracaibo, the second largest city in the country. From Guanare the Gospel spread to the neighboring villages of Biscucuy and Bocono, in the Andes mountains. The Gospel has reached a very diverse group of people in Barinas from single Mothers to retired men to young people in their late teens to mid 20's. There are Columbians, Peruvians, and even Dominicanos (from the Dominican Republic) mixed in.

The future prospects are good for both of these churches--I forsee that they will have elders and deacons reasonably soon. Please pray that they may continue to grow and be a light not only in this city, but in the region.

Tol

There is still work!

Presently there are 2, count them, 2 sound churches in Puerto Rico. As you can see from the map Puerto Rico is a big island, 110 miles long by 40 or so miles wide, with close to 4 million people. Let that sink in--almost 4 million people and only 2 churches with perhaps 50 Christians between the 2. And only one man is dedicating his full time to preaching the Word there.


The 2 churches are both in the San Juan metro area; one is in Bayamon, which is slightly southeast, while the other is in Dorado, on the sea west of San Juan. There used to be a church meeting in Coamo (in the south central part of the island)but one family moved to the States and the other couple are too ill to meet. A brother and his wife live near Mayaguez in the extreme West and the church met in their home for some years, but he is now completely blind and so is unable to preach/teach.

Please pray for these brethren as they press on to the high calling of God. A group of us will spend a week there in May to preach and encourage them, please pray that the Lord will bless our efforts there, as there is so much work to do.

Tol Burk

Agriculture in the Eastern Caribbean

Although you may not recognize it this is cinnamon bark drying in the sun. You cut the tree down, cut the limbs into manageable sizes, then skin off the outer, grayish bark and cut off this layer. It is then left to dry in the sun, often on a piece of tin as it is here. Cinnamon bark can sell for as much as $8 EC ($3 US) a pound, but of course you have to kill the tree to get it.

As you may have guessed agriculture in the Caribbean is not like in Kansas or Illinois or even Florida. Many of the islands are mountainous and so it's impossible to farm with machinery. The soil is usually fertile but there is no cool temperature, except because of altitude, so the range of crops that can be grown is limited. Because of the year round warm weather nobody cans or freezes--it's available most of the time.

Many of the crops grown are root crops--dasheen, tania, yams of several kinds (don't think sweet potatoes, but rather the white ones usually called yuca in the States). There are also plaintains and a number of different bananas, some miniature, some starchy & fat, besides what you think of as bananas. Contrary to the way we use bananas, they are most often cooked green--boiled or fried and taste more like a potato than a "banana". This would be the staple of many meals if things are normal.

Fruits are available, but only seasonally. Apples, pears, peaches, etc. will not grow in the tropics, but they are replaced by oranges, grapefruits, limes, mangos, pineapples, and one of my favorites, passion fruit (no, not that kind of passion). In Dominica most of these trees are old and often on community land, so whoever picks them can eat them--not much market to sell them, as when it is grapefruit season everybody has grapefruit etc.

Spices is where what little money there is in agriculture is anymore. There was a time that Britain bought bananas at a premium price, to help support the islands, but that was declared "illegal" by the WTO so bananas bring almost nothing. Coconuts used to be dried and used in soap and other products, but that too has pretty well dried up now. Cinnamon is harvested throughout the E. Caribbean. The island of Grenada is known as the "Spice Island" because of the many wild spice trees there--nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon. Allspice, mace, and nutmeg all come from the nutmeg, so it is the major spice there. Ginger is also grown extensively throughout the islands. Many people have a few coffee bushes and perhaps a cocoa tree as well, but mostly for local use.

Generally speaking, agriculture is not to make a living at, but to supply your own food. With the year round growing season most people have enough to eat and are blessed to have a place to stay, the clothes they need, and make it.

Tol Burk

Now that's progress . . .

On the right you see the church building in the El Gaitero area of Maracaibo, Venezuela. It still has a dirt floor but this picture, taken in Jan. 2005, documents the progress they have made. The first time I preached there in Jan. 2002 there was a roof, the wall behind the podium, and the short white block wall on each side. The little water tank behind our two brothers is the baptistry and it was then outside the building, not under the roof. There were 2-3 light bulbs in the whole building, so you would have to say the lighting was poor--I don't see that well at night anyway, so my outline didn't help me at all that time. The two nights I preached were a little breezy so every little bit a cloud of sand would come in (Maracaibo is built on an old beach).

Last year, remembering the lighting, I planned a lesson that I could preach by memory. Imagine my surprise when I come in to this building. The side walls reach to the roof now, the roof and walls have been extended to include the baptistry and best of (at least in my book) was the lighting. These improvements were made by the church and even then were saving up to pour a concrete floor. It's amazing what can be done when brethren have a mind to work.

Tol Burk

Meeting in the Dominican Republic

This picture was taken sometime in 1993 in the Dominican Republic near a place called Playa Grande (Large beach). The brethren live on a hilltop not far from this house, which is the home of a relative. Rather than ask us to "go up" to their house they came down and we had Bible study on this porch. It is a small congregation, so they normally meet in one of their houses. In fact, very few churches in the Dominican Republic have their own building--most rent a small house, one half of a house (think what it's like when the neighbors want to play music or watch TV), or even a shed in the middle of a field. Two of the sound churches do have a permanent place to meet--one in the rent house of their former preacher, which he gave to the church and the other meets on the porch of their preacher's house.

Actually meeting on the porch was a lot more comfortable than most of the meeting places--at least you could feel the breeze. Most meeting places are too small, so everyone is sitting shoulder to shoulder without much ventilation, natural or otherwise. One church has a small fan on a shelf that we would throw away--it has not grill to protect fingers, but that's not a problem as they have to spin the blade to start it up and it spins so slowly I don't think it would hurt you if you hit it. The worst of it is that these meeting places are not usually permanent--at most 2 years and then they have to search and find another place and start all over.

Yet the brethren are faithful in attendance, as well as in life. Many have to travel by bus and/or taxi to get to services. Everybody has to walk at least part of the way but they do this 3 times a week--once during the day Sunday (many Sunday nights there is no power), then Tues. & Thur. or Wed. & Fri. nights. They may not have a lot, but they insist on sharing what they have with you.

If happiness depends on material things brethren in the Dominican Republic will likely never be happy. Yet they are happy and when you are there you can be happy even without. One Sunday afternoon every house on the block had their music going full blast and it was all different--all the noise made me tired. About 5 PM the power went out, which made me very happy--it was quiet finally! We all sat on the porch and rocked until the mosquitoes came out.

Tol Burk

"It's all a matter of perspective"

This is a picture of the church building in St. Croix, US Virgin Islands; well actually it's only half the building. It's a modular, plywood building that measures 24 feet by 48 feet. The auditorium is about 24 X 24. The other half holds two classrooms and the bathroom. The church began meeting in this building in late 1994. We met here for almost a year without power and had to bring water to flush the toilet in 5 gallon buckets. By the time this picture was taken it had been plastered, had a new roof, and new windows, besides power and water. In the eyes of many, this building wouldn't be much, but that all depends on your perspective.

We were overjoyed to have it. 4 years earlier we were meeting in a Methodist church building, which meant we could only meet on Sunday afternoon and they were "encouraging" us to find a more permanent place to worship. We eventually moved to the Boy Scout building, which we shared with a "metaphysical" group on Sunday, the Boy Scouts, the Knights of Columbus, etc. We were able to meet Sunday morning and Sunday night and most Wed. nights, although we met the Knights of Columbus there one Wed. night rehearsing for a funeral the next day. The main problem was Sunday morning--the "metaphysical" group met every other Sunday at 11 AM and we weren't always through by that time. They rather rudely let us know it was "their turn".

After about a year meeting there we purchased a 20' X 40' tent, which we were able to put in a cow pasture, well actually a chicken farm. The "road" was dirt, so when it rained we had to wait on each other, to make sure no one got stuck and we had to tarp "sides" to keep the rain and wind out, which sometimes had to be lowered during services. The plastic chairs had to be stacked and chained together after every service to prevent theft. The song books and Bibles had to be stacked inside the pulpit as well. In the beginning someone had to bring a generator (several brethren had one) for every night service and if that didn't happen we took our chairs to the street light a block or so away. How many times did we begin singing on Wed. night in the dark, waiting for the generator? But I still remember our first service in the tent. The brother who led singing that morning began by saying, "This is our place and no one can tell us when we have to leave. If we feel like singing a lot of songs we can and I feel like singing a lot of songs." We sang about 8 songs before the sermon that day. We were so happy to have our own place, even if it was just a tent--it's all a matter of perspective.

So you can understand how exciting it was to move into our own "building" almost two years later. If the Lord wills, the foundation for a permanent block building will be poured shortly and this should be the "final" church building, complete with air conditioning. Brethren, we are so blessed with the comforts and conveniences we have in this country.

Tol Burk