Hey all!
I know we're definitely due for an update...and there is so much to tell. Since the last update we have finished the semester and completed a month long summer English Club. Now we're taking things slow as we prepare for the next semester to begin in a week!
The last semester was full with our usual two classes at the university teaching American Civilization and Oral to 2nd semesters students. In addition to our classes we began a small bible study with a group of leaders at the university. On Wednesdays at lunch we would meet with some Christian leaders to prepare, and then we would encourage non-believers from our classes and around the university to join in the Bible study. Then on Thursdays there is a completely student led study for people who are already Believers. We saw one person come to know the Lord through this study on Wednesdays and he also was a participant in the study that we have every Sunday in our home.
Speaking of our Sunday study, the studies took on a new look this last semester. We began to use different apporaches to keep the studies new and fresh; we used Nooma videos with Spanish subtitles twice a month, a regular bible study once a month and some kind of comunity out-reach once a month. For the comunity out-reaches, we did a clothing drive, we went to a nursing home, and we went to a farm to help serve a missionary couple who works with children from the barrios (poor nieghborhoods). It was really neat seeing the students serve others in their own unique way.
We have continued our work at the other university under the name of "El Camino." The other university has a different schedule and they are currently in the middle of the semester. We have had a little bit of a hard time dealing with the schedule changes there this semester as well as some other problems that have kept us off campus. We have had monthly meetings with this group trying to mull over what our purpose with "El Camino" actually is. The last meeting of the semester we had 20 interested university leaders in attendance. We are starting to see that one of our roles in the ministry is to network people who are already working with university students with others who share the same passion!

Right now we are currently trying to pass our ministry onto others little by little as we will both be finishing up around Christmas time. We are teaching in our studies on Sundays the importance of taking responsibility of thier faith. We are hoping that for the rest of our time here that the Sunday studies will be lead by the students instead of us and that it will meet outside of our house.
Outside of our small bible studies we have kept plenty busy hanging out and building deeper relationships with our students. From going out to ice-cream, watching movies and even having a decade themed party, we rarely ever stop having fun with our students. By the way, themed parties are the best, our next themed party is going to be "High School Prom" (Don't be jealous)

After the semester ended in June, we had a prayer retreat with all the other missionaries in the country. We got to hang out with the other Jman, Anna Kurtz before she left Venezuela and we met Karla Turner for the first time! Immediatly after we had two straight weeks of voulunteers. We had a professional team from the Dallas area come in one week and then the next week we had a university team from the valley of Texas come. So.. it was a crazy of couple of weeks. To add to the craziness, Debbie got sick with two different types of parasites and a bacteria and both of our cars broke. Debbie got to sit at home being sick while Morgan held down the fort! Like we've said in other posts.. never a dull moment!

At the beginning of July we left for Caracas to pick up our two summer Nexo volunteers, Kayleigh and Stacy. Also, Karla Turner, a new career missionary to Caracas, joined our team here in Valencia to learn from our ministry to see how she may apply aspects of our ministry to university work in Caracas. We love our new roommate. Once she moved here she even adopted a puppy named Lexy. She's a beautiful golden retreiver! Once the girls got here we started a 4 week long English club were we met at two different universities Monday-Thursday. This year's Nexo program helped encourage the already existing students in our ministry and drew in several new ones. Nexo was very intimate this year and everyone involved was touched in a special way. July was a very full month but it was great for our ministry.

The day after we got back from taking the girls to the airport, we left for a five-day trip to Maracaibo. Maracaibo is one of the major cities here in Venezuela located near the Colombia border. The city is on top of a petroleum source so it is VERY HOT. While we were there we were guest speakers at a conference with about 100 people. Morgan and I gave a talk on how to do events with a purpose in ministry. Karla talked about having a good devotional life. It was a new experience being the guest speakers at an event! We went with our pastor here in Valencia who is from Maracaibo. He and his family enjoyed showing off their home town and its history. We saw the place where Columbus first landed on continental South America!
Now we are back in Valencia, we just had a catch-up week where we cleaned up the house and caught up on sleep. This week Morgan's parents are here visiting getting to know our life here. They got here the day before Morgan's birthday so they have already experienced a good Venezuelan birthday!
Next week we start class and then in September we will start all the bible studies up again but they will be run by our students. We only have this last semester left before we go home. We are planning two different leadership training retreats. We are hoping to finish out our time here strong! Thanks so much for staying in touch and keeping up with the ministry here in Valencia! We are thankful for your prayers and support!