Happy Thanksgiving!

I pray you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We had an awesome time here in Maracaibo- we had 37 people at the Onishi's (national director's) apartment and had a time of sharing what we're thankful for, enjoying turkey, stuffing, etc. and singing a couple patriotic US songs for the Venezuelans! May you have a lot to thank God for during this time!

Chavistas!

Our team is practically Chavista now- Bryon and Emily both got t-shirts and Bryon's got a hat. Amber actually saw Chavez when he came to Mérida the other day. I'm still on the lookout for a free Chavez t-shirt myself (who doesn't like free t-shirts? Plus it would be a pretty sweet souvenir). I've never been to a presidential visit in the states, but it seems to be a pretty big deal here. The main avenue between the ULA and our apartments was blocked off so we had to walk about halfway back before we could catch a bus!

Tonight we're heading to Maracaibo for national staff meetings. We'll be planning this year's congreso- the national student retreat that will happen in the spring- as well as some vision planning for next year. I met the Maracaibo and San Cristobal staff a few weeks back when they came to Mérida, and I'm looking forward to seeing them again. Have to get packing now, will hopefully have a chance to do some updates in Maracaibo. Dios le bendiga!

Un Chiste

Since I'm in Venezuela I figure it's all right to do at least one post in Spanish. This is a wordplay joke that doesn't really translate anyway:

Llegó un circo de Maracabio a Mérida, y en cartelera coloca "el pan que habla." Toda la gente decidió ir a ver al pan que habla, así que en la noche el circo estaba repleto, y sale el presentador y dice, esta noche no pudo llegar el pan que habla por problemas de panadería, pero mañana se lo tendremos. Al otro día lo mismo, y así varios días. A los días después el presentador sale y la gente gritando:¡Queremos al pan que habla! ¡queremos al pan que habla!Entonces el presentador dice:Hoy lo tenemos, pero necesitamos a un miembro del público.Y sale un maracucho, y traen un vaso de agua, y lo derramaron sobre el pan. Entonces, el presentador le dijo al maracucho 'toca el pan. ¿cómo está?
¡'tá blando...!