May 2008

Dear Friends and Family,

O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens (Psalms 8:1).  What a wonderful God we serve!  Many times it is so easy to become distracted by the things going on around us, but praise the Lord we have His Word and His presence to remind us how truly excellent He really is.

April has kept us very busy.  So busy in fact that I am including this letter with our May prayer letter to update you on our deputation progress.  This past month has taken us to many locations including Royston, GA, Graysville, TN, Lizella, GA, and Vidalia,GA.  We appreciate the hospitality that the churches that we visited have shown to us. My wife and I even had the opportunity to go to the meeting in Lizella, GA by ourselves.  The boys stayed with their papa and nana.  As much as we are a close family, it was nice to have several hours of uninterrupted conversation that we usually don’t get while on the road. 

We covet your prayers with the current political situation in Venezuela.  The problems there continue to increase and it seems as every day that the president nationalizes one more part of the country.  So far, the telephone companies, oil companies, electric companies, and concrete companies have now been taken over and run by the government. On a national level there is a shortage of food available to the people.  Often times someone will have to travel to 5 or 6 stores before they can ever find a basic staple like milk.  We have friends who are missionaries in Venezuela who are back on furlough to raise more support. They left for the field 2 years on approximately 50% support and had to return because they were unable to make it any longer on half of their support.  Many missionaries have left the field and yet many still remain.  We just received word from a missionary the other day that the government was now requiring churches to provide pictures of their members as well as submit giving records of all the people to the government.  There was even a government raid on a Baptist camp just a few short weeks ago.  

In all of this we have sought God over and over and we sense the pleasure of the Lord on continuing toward Venezuela.  Deputation has taught us many times already that when the odds seem against you, simply trust in God.  That is where this current situation has led us.  We simply need to “trust and obey” for there really is no other way.  God knows the situation in Venezuela far better than we do and God knows what the future holds for that country.  We just need to continue to be faithful as He has been faithful to us. 

 Thank you for your continued prayers.  We truly can sense God’s people uplifting us in prayer.  We have traveled many miles without incident and we want to give God the praise for that.  Thanks to those as well who have chosen to partner with us financially. We realize the faith and sacrifice involved and we thank you for your faithfulness to the Lord!  

 Gratefully Serving our King!
Jason, Sarah, Samuel, and Luke Syke