Day 5 (6/24): Visitation and Workshop

Visitation

After a night of rest, we again were divided into groups and visited some people working in convenient stores. Dr. Wan, Lisa, Grace, and Vivian were accompanied by Florence from Punto Fijo Fellowship to visit people working at an accessory store and a convenient store. We learned more about them and showed them our care.

What's the typical life for Chinese in Caracas and Punto Fijo like? A lot of them are from Guangdong Province in China. Some of them immigrated to Venezuela with their whole families and some still have family members in China. It's very common for them to send their young kids back to China for education. As a result, the family members are scattered around and can't enjoy quality family time. Some young adults might come to Venezuela for better opportunities but due to the language barrier, it could be hard for them to get a job and make friends. They could feel very lonely and bored but felt there were no other options. Safety is an issue in Venezuela. Robbery and kidnapping happens very often and this is detrimental to the development of a society.

We listened them and shared with them they could be hopeful and find the truth and light in Jesus Christ. At the end of the visit, we prayed with them and invited them to come to our workshops in the next few days. For sure life for immigrants is hard but God knows our hardship. He empowers us and leads us through. God, we so need you!!!



Grace and Florence prayed with a lady who's working at a convenient store.


Dr. Wan and Vivian prayed with this young lady before they left. (Don't get me wrong, Vivian is NOT shopping:P)

Some sharing from Grace:

This trip has reminded me how blessed I am to have a good church to attend, much love from brothers and sisters at T4C. I love T4C and all of you, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ!! Brothers and sisters in the Restaurant Fellowship, I miss you all!!!

More Visits

One team visited a couple other families in the afternoon. They've overcome many challenges after moving to Venezuela from China such as learning Spanish, getting used to a different lifestyle, meeting new people, and finding jobs. One of their relatives is going through a really tough time so the whole family is discouraged and feels somewhat hopeless. We shared with them our faith and God can bring us hope and lead us through. Our life is in His hands, God can build us up through challenges so that we can carry out His plan upon us. May you all know Christ and live an abundant life as promised by God!

Workshop on Married Couples Communication 101

No one is immune from interacting with other people in the community. Teamwork is emphasized over and over again at workplace and communication is a critial key to make it successful. It seems like we practise communication every day but why do so many people complain their message isn't heard or their feelings are neglected by their spouses no matter how hard they try? Are women really from Venus and men from Mars? Dr. Wan gave us some tips on effective communication and shared with us five love languages between couples:

1. Words of affirmation; 2. Quality time; 3. Gifts; 4.Service; 5. Physical touch

These skills aren't only applicable to couples but also in other relationships (hey, tip #5 physical intimacy is reserved for married couples though.)

All communication experts-to-be are paying attention to Dr. Wan 's talk.

Participants engaged in the workshop and shared their examples and experiences. It was a good evening.

Story time: The workshop was planned to be held in a hotel conference room but it poured before the worshop began and electricity was out. in the entire neighborhood. After waiting for 30 minutes, we decided to hold the workshop to Willam and Florence's house. (William and Florence are part of the host team of Punto Fijo Fellowship.) Many thanks to both of them for opening their house. We also found it cozier to hold such workshop in their house. Thank God for His better plan :D