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Paul's Ponderings
Hard Disk Crash Survivor
5/26/2008
Last Saturday I went up into the mountains outside Caracas and gave a worship workshop to a small group of Venezuelans. It was good to get back into the groove and reconnect with the Venezuelans after my time in the States and in Asia. I feel like I am just now getting my Spanish back to the point it was before I left in February. I made some good contacts there, and I have been invited to preach at the church there as well as give a talk at a small group of Venezuelan business men! We'll see if anything comes of those invitations.
This Friday night I will be the accompanist at the ACIC Spring Concert. It has been a LONG time since I have done 'legit' music so I have been practicing quite a bit to prepare.
Probably the biggest news of note is that the church that owns our apartment decided on Sunday to begin the process of selling it - which means we will ultimately have to move out. We are sad, but are trusting God to show us what He would have us do and where we are to go. Thanks for your prayers on this.
Now that my computer is working again I'll try to do a more timely update. Thanks for hanging in there with me/us.
Paul
Two weeks later
4/29/2008
Well, 2 weeks have flown by since I last updated this site. Where does the time go??? Anyway, I put some new pictures up n the Family Fotos section for you to enjoy. What have I been doing these last couple weeks? Well, mostly preparing for what promises to be a very busy May and June. I have been more involved at church as well. I have begun to participate in the worship leading, usually by playing the piano. Benjamin doesn't miss a week - he loves playing in the worship band. It is fun to be working with him on a regular basis.
I also have begun a formal coaching arrangement with Wilmary. I am meeting with her every 2 weeks or so for the next 6-8 months, and taking her through a coaching series. This is the training I received in Tokyo, and I am excited about being able to put it into practice. We had our first meeting last week and it went well. Tonight will be the first true session since last week we were basically setting everything up.The other thing I have initiated is a more intentional and in-depth time with Jose Anotonio, Carlos and Alejandro. My method is that I have invited them to join a 'band' that I am forming. It will give me a chance to develop this "musical disciple" idea I've had rolloing around in my head for the last decade. I hope to rehearse with them Thursday nights. We'll be doing mostly jazz-fusion and some of the more complicated worship music. I wanted to give them a chance to stretch themselves musically - something that rarely happens doing music in the church. Another cool aspect of the band is that I have also invited my son, Benjamin to participate. He will fill in on keys or guitar - depending on what the song calls for. We all had dinner together last Thrusday, and I explained to them what I was wanting to do, and they all seemed to be in agreement. We'll have our first musical rehearsal on May 1st. My plan is to take them through the Thomas Kinkade book - "the Art of Creative Living", little by little as we walk and grow together. This should be a highlight of my ministry here for some time to come.
The last thing I'll mention here is that I am now booked to give worship workshops 3 different times in May and in June. In June I will be traveling about 8 hours away from home by bus to give a weekend of worskhops. I'll give more info on that as it gets closer.
Oh, and Jody is going to AUSTRIA on May 9th, to return on the 21st, so for a good little stretch during may I will be donning the apron and caring for my 3 kids while Jody gets a much-needed break at a CRM women's conference there.
Until next time...
Home at last...
4/11/2008
After an amazing 2 month, whirlwind tour of the US, Singapore and Japan I am finally back home in Caracas with my family. While on the trip I kept a journal on Facebook. If you want to read it, click on this link, it is a public journal so you needn't be a facebook member to view it. Since I've been back I've taken phone calls from three different pastors requesting my worship workshops in the next couple of months. I like it! I also like being able to give my wife and kids a hug every now and then (they were in Maine while I was globetrotting...) Well, I don't have much else to write at present, I just wanted to get something down for the re-launch of our family website. I hope you are happy, Joanie!