| ¡Hola! My name is Ryan and this is my journal of the
mission trip to Corora, Venezuela that I participated in when I was 14. I went on
this trip July 12-27, 1998 to build a church for the El Roble Seventh-Day Adventist
community. So without further ado...
Sunday, July 12, "The Flight Down"
I am in Venezuelan air space as I am writing this.
This trip started this morning when my mom, dad and I got in the car to drive to the
airport. It was so cool getting on the airplane. I got to go to the front of
the airplane and see the cockpit and I got a window seat that was directly above the
wing. I had fun watching the alerons and air brakes work up and down. We took off to
the north before turning south so I got to see most of the Chesapeake Bay, including Smith
Island where I and my family had just recently spent a vacation for my 14th
birthday. From way up high above the clouds, I was amazed at how different they look
from above, so much more fluffy than from the ground. I could hear the landing gear
lower as we landed in Miami. While we were checking in our luggage, we saw Grandpa and
Grandma and some other people who where going on the Maranatha mission trip like us. There
was a long line of planes waiting to take off and I got to watch a prop plane take off in
front of us. Not long after we left Florida we passed over the island Cuba. I could
see a small airstrip and what looked like a military base. There were lots of islands and
we could see lots of lagoons. The water near shore is a very pretty bright green-blue, but
the farther away you look from shore the water becomes bluer. We saw little white dots on
the ocean far below which were white caps. We passed over the Island of Espanola which
consists of the two countries, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. I could see shadows on
the ground caused by the clouds, as we lowered our altitude – getting ready to land
– I could see the planes shadow too. We passed over the Island of Bonaire, the world
famous diving spot. Near Bonaire was a small teardrop shaped island with lots of
boats near it. I saw a round island with a trail of coral reefs behind it making it
look like a comet so I named it Comet Reef. LAND HO!!! Venezuela is now in sight at 4:46
PM. I keep forgetting to speak in Spanish to the people– what little I know. We made
a quick stop in Valencia before heading on to Barquisimeto.
After we had gotten through customs and baggage
claim, we meet Andrew, my cousin who is the son my Uncle Thom, the group leader. He
had some very bad news. His 2 year old sister, Tatiana and his mom, Elena, had been burned
in a gas explosion. What had happened was that while his dad was trying to light the
stove, gas was leaking out onto the floor because the gas line had been disconnected. Then
he dropped the match because it got to close to his fingers the whole area went up in
flames. Andrew and Uncle Thom jumped out of the way, but Tatiana didn’t know better
so Uncle Thom jumped back in and got her. This happened around 9:30 this morning. They got
her to a hospital in Corora but she needed better care so they took her to the best
hospital here in Barquisimeto. Some of the group stayed behind to help like the
group’s doctor , while we went on to Corora and the job site.
Monday, July 13, "First Day
on the Job"
Today is our first day at the job site. The church
stands on a small hill, which is great because it is windier and helps to keep you cool.
The concrete base, sidewalk, baptistery, stage, and the steel framework are already up.
All we have to do is raise the block walls and mount the metal roof. Andrew and I had fun
learning how to lay mortar for the blocks. We also shifted sand with the local kids which
they loved.
This afternoon we mostly tried to talk to the
kids. It was hard because we didn’t bring our Spanish/English dictionary or
electronic translator so all we had to use was someone else’s. Andrew saw a lizard
and wanted to know what they called it in Spanish. I drew a picture of a lizard in the
sand to find out what they called it and they finally got it and said "El
Iguana". Then they wanted us to go hunt for iguanas in the nearby hills with them. We
tried to tell them to go without us and they did, but some of the boys didn’t go so
we thought they hadn’t gone until we saw the rest away up on a hill. They didn’t
bring any back for us to see, oh-well. Tomorrow we’ve got to bring our dictionary and
electronic translator.
Tuesday, July 14 "The
Kids"
Today we brought our Spanish/English dictionary and
electronic translator. The kids would all crowd around Andrew when he had his translator
out. The kids kept asking to borrow my gloves too. They liked to box with them and put
them on when they would play goalie for soccer. Someone would try to hit a wall with the
soccer ball without the goalie stopping it. Andrew and I got a turn and we both made it.
The wall was only about ten feet away so it was pretty easy. Today is the first day we get
to go swimming. I think the pool was a military pool because the wall by the entrance said
"Militar Carora". Andrew and I had fun trying to dunk my dad and the trip’s
doctor.
Wednesday, July 15
"Cardnolita Parakeet"
Well, all I had written for today was
"Cardnolita Parakeet". Sorry. Must have been a pretty bird.
Thursday, July 16, "Barquisimeto"
Today we went shopping in Barquisimeto. First we went to the mall and I got a little black
beanie dog for my sister Vanessa. Andrew and I thought the animals were 50 cents in US
money and we were thinking "someone please tell us the price in American money."
We decided to get some and I was telling the clerk "negro perro" (black dog) and
she was picking up a cat and an elephant and so I said "woof, woof" and then I
pointed down and in the corner of the display shelf and she finally got it and the clerk
was smiling really big. Andrew accidentally paid for mine too not knowing what the price
was so I had to pay him back later. I also got a thimble with purple and white
vertical strips for my mom because she collects thimbles from different places. To
bad this one didn't say Venezuela on it. We then did a little shopping in some of
the stores and booths along a street. Andrew and I bought matching green t-shirts
with the flag and "Venezuela" on them. I gave the clerk 2100 bolivars
because I thought that is what Andrew said the price was and the clerk gave me a confused
look and pointed to the price and it was actually 2500 bolivars so I gave then 400 more
bolivars. They gave Andrew and me some candy, I got four pieces so I saved two for
my mom and sister. I also got a shield patch of the country's flag that says
"Venezuela" on the top. I learned a little about haggling when I purchased
a nice wallet form one of the street venders. I also got a crystal elephant that was
gray with white tusks. I did get another thing that I will not disclose because it
is a future birthday or Christmas present. I finally got to see Tatiana and Aunt
Elena tonight while Tatiana was sleeping. They looked really good. They had
been released from the hospital and were in a friends house. We hope they will be
able to come to Corora on Monday.
Sabbath, July 18 "The First
Sabbath"
Andrew is worried about every hair out of
place. I had lots of fun teasing him about that one little hair that kept sticking
up. The funny part was that there was none but he kept thinking there was. Oh well. Church
was the same as ours at home except that there was no childrens Sabbath School and there
had to be a translator. This afternoon I worked mostly on my journal and tossed a
basketball with the neighborhood kids. We had sundown worship with the church on a hill
overlooking the city where we sang some songs and had worship. For worship we had
envelopes on a bulletin board that we drew from and then we would do what it said. I
picked envelope #3 and me and another lady had to sing a song. I sang "Turn
your eyes upon Jesus" in Spanish first and then English. Everyone complemented
me on my voice. While waiting for the bus to come back for the second load we saw
what we thought were flares because it is some national holiday.
Sunday, July 19, "The Pool"
We went to a new pool today. The water in
the pool was from a nearby river and subsequently very cold. The pool was only as
deep as my chin in the deep part and the shallow end it was only up to my knees. It
is always great to get in a pool after being in the heat. Andrew and I go dunk
crazy whenever we get in a pool and we nearly drown each other. I had a soda made in
Venezuela that is called "Friscolita". Very apt name because it was packed
with sugar and very sweet. We played volleyball with some of the guys there.
Monday, July 20, "Up Early"
Today was the first time that I got up at 5:30 to
head out to the work site and the sun hasn't risen yet. Andrew had this mornings
worship. I learned a game that the locals play. The only thing you need is an
elastic loop 12 feet in circumference. What you do with it would take so long to
write. I overheard my Grandma tell Pastor Knight that the temperature was 100F at
noon and tonight it's 95, good thing we have fans directly on us.
Tuesday, July 21, "The
Canvasser"
We finished our part of the church today.
At the pool two girls talked to us. Gabriella, one of the girls, was a generals
daughter. Dad teased me about getting married sense there is no age limit for
marriage so he doesn't have to worry about education expenses etc. We played hide
in go seek with some of the neighbor kids, after we figured out what they wanted to
play. They kept trying to pull out our hair and they would hit us and flick our
hats. We played some soccer and Andrew and I were made the team captains.
At worship Pastor Ivan told us about a
Seventh-Day Adventist canvasser who baptized his great grandfather. The canvasser
was on his way to Columbia and he was almost there, he was preaching in a small town near
the border. But the catholic priest didn't like him so he had him kicked out of the
"hotel" so he had to sleep on the street. At midnight someone called his
name and he stood up and answered and was shot. The priest did not want him buried
in the church cemetery so they buried him between the river and the cemetery. Well,
they had lots of rain and the river flooded. It passed over the canvassers grave and
ruined the cemetery. Today his grave is in the center of the cemetery and if you ask
the guard where he is buried he will show you exactly where it is. He hasn't stopped
preaching yet has he?
Wednesday, July 22, "The Longest
Day"
Today we are going to Quibor where Pastor Ivan
lives to do some shopping and go to a nearby park. On our way to Quibor we stopped
at a store where we bought some quartros which are four-stringed, ukulele-type
guitars. In Quibor we stopped at an archeology museum that was under going
renovation but sense we were Americans they took us on a special tour of the lab and the
deposit (storage) building. At the park we had lunch and Andrew, Pastor Ivan's
little girl and I rode horses around a big circle. It was a little scary because I
felt like I was going to fall of on account of my bouncing around a lot. There are
lots of stray dogs here and so we fed them a little. Instead of waiting for a ride,
Andrew, another girl, and I half ran half walked down towards the river before the truck
caught up with us. We had to get out and walk across the shallow river because they
didn't want to weight down the truck on the crossing. It was a short maybe ¼ mile
hike through a tropical forest before we reached the canyon. The steep hill on
either side of the river grew closer together and the steepness caused less and less
vegetation to grow. Some of us braved the cold water (If the water stopped moving it
would freeze solid in seconds!) because the sides were so step you couldn't walk
beside the river anymore. Andrew and I were the first ones to step into the water
that was waist deep, other people followed us. We left our things and shirts with
someone who didn't come so they wouldn't get wet. The guide caught up with us when
we reached a small water fall and he got halfway between the place we were standing and
the falls. We had to swim out to him the water was so deep. He and Wayne, the
leader who took over for Uncle Thom so he could be with Tatiana and Aunt Elena, helped us
up the small falls. And there it was, the big falls, about 30 feet tall and 3
feet wide. Way above us was a sliver of light because the canyon had closed up
somewhat at the top. Andrew went under the falls and was almost caught in the
churning water. The way back down the smaller falls was very hard because you had
to hold on to a slippery log and walk down beside the falls, the rock had formed little
steps. A couple of people slipped and were sucked under but they bobbed back to the
surface. I had an idea of sliding down the smooth bottom at a place where the river
was narrow so as the make the water flow faster. We said to the guide
"esta bein" or "is okay" and demonstrated and he said
"si" so we slid down it. Before boarding the bus back at the park I
bought an Enpajnada, a hard shelled, taco-shaped, pastry filled with cheese. At the
market in Quibor I bought a replica of the biggest pot in the world. The pot was
right there at the entrance of the market. The pot has three legs, that I only come
half way up on! I believe it is called a triavera. Today was the best day so far.
Thursday, July 23, "Marida
and the Andes"
Today is Thursday the 23rd and today seven of
us are going to Marida, that’s where the Teleferico is. The Teleferico is a cable car
that is inclossed like a train and, I estimate, can carry 30 people. Before we left Carora
dad took a shower and above the shower was a hole in the roof and a cat stuck it’s
head in the opening and watched dad. The cat was very skittish and it kept sticking its
head in and out the hole. We all meet at the bar for breakfast and I had to help
fix it because it wasn’t time for the regular breakfast. We stopped at the place we
did yesterday to buy a couple more quartros and dad bought a mandolin. Then we where off
on the Pan-American Highway, passing through sugar cane fields and desert. We saw them
burning and harvesting the cane. Several semi trucks passed us carrying the stalks,
probably on their way to the near-by sugar cane processing plant that we could see in the
distance. Up in the hills we could see small fires, probably farmers clearing the land for
crops. We saw a huge flock of what we believed were Caracaras, a vulture like bird. We got
off the Pan-American Highway to take a more scenic route. The road wound through the
mountains, there were lots of switchbacks sometimes the curves were so sharp we would make
a complete 180-degree turn in less than 20 feet! We drove by a tree turned and drove by on
the other side! There were lots of mountains and valleys, so we were driving up and down a
lot. We passed by an old cemetery. When we got to Trujillo we saw the "Virgin de la
Paz" or "Virgin of the Pass." The next day being a national holiday and
siesta time lots of people came out into the streets. We got into the city easily because
hardly anyone was out but it took us a while to get back out because of all the people
were staring on their way up to the shrine. Have you ever seen a dog howl in the middle of
the day? I have now! No howling at the moon for this dog and he even got a rooster
going! The dog was across the street from the gas station we were filling up
at. I started howling and crowing with them; the Spanish people were probably
thinking "bobo americino." (Crazy American) I took a picture of a couple plants
with the mountains in the background. One of the flowers was the fralejon or flannel
flower; it looks like a silver sword. We stopped by the side of the road where there
was an almost 90 degree slope and there were three old cars and a lake where it was level
a ways down. In less than a minute you couldn’t see the lake anymore because the
clouds came in. I bought a set of two wooden arrows and bow with string wrapped
around them in fancy patterns and fancy wooden heads they were about 3 feet long. The
Indians actually used them probably only for ceremonial purposes.
At lunch we went to a vegetarian
restaurant in Valarja. It was in one of our guys traveling book. Dad noticed that the
waiters signed to each other and that they didn’t wear jewelry and he started getting
suspicious they were Adventist hearing impaired. Then he noticed a little health food
store and a poster on a column with a poem called "Footsteps in the sand." He
asked Seth (Aunt Elena’s older brother and our interpreter) if he could find out if
the owner was a SDA. Seth looked in the glass case under the register and he a saw a
"Adventista Himnario" or "Adventist Hymnal." Seth asked one of the
waiters if the owner was an Adventist and the waiter said yes, he was. Seth asked if he
could talk to him so the waiter went and got him. When the owner heard that we were
Maranatha volunteers he got really excited. Because he and the Adventist businessmen in
that state were organizing a program to help build churches like Maranatha. They patterned
their churches after Maranatha's design. To raise money they would give concerts, the
Adventist deft club would do the motions to the song that was playing, they already had
the money needed to build the first church.
After the delicious meal we were again on the
road. Up on the mountain in front of us we saw four big telescopes like the ones at Kit
Peak here in America. About one hour from Marida we came to a complete standstill. We
found out that a bridge had washed away and we had to wait until everyone on the other
side detoured on a long one-lane dirt road and across a smaller bridge. While we waited we
got out of our cars and walked around a bit. Across the road there were big 10-ft. tall
prickly pear cactus. Dad got one of the fruits and passed it around for us to try,
I’ve already had them before, you can get them here. The fruit is full of seeds but
it is sweet, it is purple-red in color. In Marida I saw an ambulance, it was basically
just a pick-up with a closed back . We stopped at a bank but being nine o’clock at
night it was closed and we couldn’t get our ATM cards to work so there was no way of
getting the money that we needed. Dad called Mom to see if she could wire money to him,
somehow she couldn’t. Well we went to our hotel, which was a small affair, not many
rooms, and in the center of the hotel was a small courtyard with no roof where the
office was by the entrance. And now it’s about 10 and it’s time to go to sleep.
Friday, July 24, "The
Teleferico"
We got up real early today so we could get in line and
be the first ones up the teleferico. The teleferico is a cable car going up the Andes
mountains near the highest mountain in Venezuela, Pico Bolivar. There were four different
legs, only three of which were working.
The first car was yellow, the
second one was blue and the third one was red. At the last stop, we saw a thermometer and
the temperature was 34°F and here I was
wearing desert clothing and I was cold. Thankfully I was wearing a wool hat and gloves
that we had just bought at the base of the teleferico. We got to see Pico Bolivar through
a telescope. There was a glacier on it. Too bad there were a lot of clouds or we could
have had a better view. We ran down the side of the mountain about 100 feet so that we
could get a better view of two lakes. The lakes looked like glasses because they were
round and there was a thin stretch of land between them. They are called "the looking
glass" lakes. We ran back up to the teleferico which was at around 14,000 feet but
the high altitude didn't hamper my running.
Back in Merida, we parked our car and were
going to go into a museum to see the second oldest bell in the world. We parked a couple
cars away from the Minister of Defenses jeep. We then got pizza and I liked the one with
artichoke on it. We then went to an ice cream parlor that boasted the most flavors in the
world. There were lots of flavors. I got Jurassic Park. I wanted to try the Yucca ice
cream but they didn’t have it out today. Back on the road, we had to drive around a
place where some people were mixing concrete right in the road. There were lots of
flowers, including lots of orchids, and lots of trees along the roadside and the hills as
we traveled. Spanish Moss was just hanging from power lines all over the place. One place
on the road, there were only five dashes for passing other cars. This makes it rather
difficult to pass. Well, we got back to Corora safely.
Sabbath, July 25, "The Last
Sabbath"
It was so nice this Sabbath because we had the roof on
and not the tarps for a roof like we had last week. After church, we had potluck again
like last week. They had some juice in one of the buckets like one they used during
construction. Andrew and I were like "No thanks!" Well, since this was the last
day we said our ‘good-byes’ to the people we had met, got packed then got about
five hours of sleep.
Sunday, July 26, "Home-ward
Bound"
Today is Sunday the 26th. We got up real
early to board the bus that would take us to Barquisimeto where we would begin our flight
home. The arrows that I got in the Andes I accidentally left on the bus. Pastor Ivan said
that my pastor’s name, Charles Oliveri, sounded familiar. And when I got back home I
asked my pastor about Pastor Ivan and he said that he probably knew him from some mission
work in Cuba. In the plane the water cut-off valve in the kitchen broke spilling
water all over the carpet. My dad went back and stuffed a paper towel into the pipe and
that stopped the leaking, but there were still a big delay in our flight because we had to
go to Caracas to board another plane. This was because they were afraid the water would
leak down to the wires and cause an electrical short. The Caracas airport and surrounding
area looked just like it did when I flew there on my flight simulator. It was between the
mountains and the sea just like I had seen in flight simulator. We were stuck there at the
airport for several hours. We didn’t get any breakfast either but we did eat some
snacks. While there, I saw several 747s. They are big! Finally, we got on the same plane
that had had the leak and were off to Miami. On the way, I could look down and see Florida
Bay. There were lots of little islands in the bay. At Miami, it was night time, and since
we had not had more than 5 hours of sleep for the past 2 days, we decided to spend the
night. So our 14 day trip lasted 15 days!
Monday, July 27, "Home"
At the airport we said goodbye to Grandma and
Grandpa and the others we had become friends with. We then boarded our final flight back
to D.C. Dad showed me Cape Canaveral where he grew up, just a little ways from where the
rockets are launched and where his dad worked. We also passed over Lake Ocaccobee and
I-95. The clouds were really thick so it was hard to see things. Below and to the west of
us we saw jets going by in the opposite direction. We met mom and Vanessa at the airport
and we went and got our luggage for the last time. We stopped at some stores in Manases
and we came home and Frostie was so glad to see us and we were so glad to be home. Then we
unpacked and went through our mail and there was a lot of it considering we hadn’t
gotten ours for two weeks!
In Venezuela the people
do not have the luxuries that you and I have. Where we stayed was in the poor section of
town. The water came on only at night to refill the storage tanks above the houses. So we
had to be very careful not to use too much water or we might run out before night. The
showers were not hot but thankfully the sun shone a lot so it would heat the water in the
tanks. We had to put the toilet paper in the trashcan because the toilets were not the
best and they had a tendency to clog if too much was flushed down at one time. It was
really hot, usually between 90 and 100 degrees. I got used to it though, but at night it
was a different story. We had to aim fans towards us and place wet rags on us in order to
go to sleep. Being in the desert it was very dusty and the floors were so dirty when I
walked on them barefoot the bottom of my feet turned black. We had to get rid of all the
standing water because the water was a breading ground for mosquitoes. Thousands of people
had already died of Dengae fever because the mosquitoes carried the germ, and I
didn’t want to get it. As you can see life in Venezuela is very different than
it is here. It's a learning experience to live like the poor and it helped me to have more
compassion for them because I know what they are going through. I believe everyone should
have the opportunity to go on a mission trip like I did.
The completed El Roble
Seventh-Day Adventist Church. |
