NEWS FROM VENEZUELA-JOE AND MILLIE'S NEWSLETTER

7. THOUGH I WALK IN THE MIDST OF TROUBLE, thou shalt revive me: thou shalt
stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies and thy right
hand shall save me.

8. The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy O Lord,
endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.
Psalms 138:7-8

Dear Co-laborers in Christ,

Psalm 138 has been blessing our hearts in these days and especially the 7th
and 8th verses. For truly we have seemed to be walking in trouble these
last days and months. So many unforseen problems and trials to try our
souls but like the Psalmist says, He shall revive us. He will hold all of
our enemies at bay and He will perfect that which concerneth us.

We do appreciate all of the financial help that you give and all of the
prayers that go up to the Throne of God on our behalf. We know that the
prayers of
God's Saints are what keeps us here and keeps us able to function. We thank
you each on and we thank God for each one of you!

Well, we are in the countdown now as Joe approaches his 90th birthday. He
has three more days until the 28th and since there is no February 29th this
year he will celebrate it on the 28th. He is in good spirits and is still
able to get up each day and dress and sit in his favorite chair in the main
part of the house most of the day. He does take a lot of catnaps but all in
all for his age and condition he is doing well. We thank and praise the Lord
for this.

We are still without our electric plant here in Cosh as it still needs a
water pump. Mike ordered one and it came and was put on some time ago but a
flange which did not come with it and which was not in really good shape
caused the new water pump to tear up in just 2 days and that is where we
find ourselves now. The plant still down, another water pump ordered plus
flange but we are still waiting on getting the part here. This leaves us
without the big plant to be able to use our appliances (washers and dryers)
as well as the fact that all our water comes from a well drawn out of the
ground by an electric submergible pump. Thank the Lord Mike has a smaller
plant that he uses to pump water once a day for this whole place plus the
village needs so when the water is on we all spend a good bit of time
filling up every bucket, container, pot, pan, can, etc. etc. that we can
get our hands on and store that water for our daily use. Then I fill my two
kitchen sinks and wash all the clothes that Joe and I used the day before
and take one day of the week to wash the sheets, towels etc. These I hang
out on the fence in the back yard and the blistering tropical sun dries them
in short time. We have a small electric plant that we run about 4 hours in
the morning and 2 in the night which we use to keep our batteries up to par
and keep our freezers and fridges going so as to keep perishables from
spoiling. So even though it is a lot of hard work and time consuming we are
still able to keep going and do what has to be done.

My dear old lady friend, Louisa who was the wife of the old headman of the
village, Old Luis, comes pretty regularly to visit with me and I look at her
and realize just how fortunate I am in my old age. She is so sad and so
neglected. I made her a new dress the other day and she was so happy when
she put it on. She said, "I'm so glad to get this nice, new clean dress.
Look here at this old rag I've been wearing", and she shook the dirty old
dress that she had taken off which in reality was and old cotton night gown
I had given her sometime ago. Then she said. "You know, my children say,
'Mother why should you want a new dress? You're so old and so dirty. A new
clean dress would be wasted on you.'

I thought about how much love and good attention my children all give us and
I felt like crying for her. I hugged her and told her. "You know, just
because we get old doesn't mean we have to be dirty and wear dirty clothes.
We still like to be clean and look nice just as much as anyone."

She hugged me back and smiled through her tears and said, "Yes, you're
right. We don't like being dirty and smelly."

Now I am making a new dress for the other old lady in the village who also
comes to my door regularly for a handout and is also very old and very
dirty. She is the lady that I refer to in my book as "Baby Killer".

I've been giving these old ladies clothes down through the years but now
with not getting back to US and with groups not coming as they used to it is
hard for me to find things to give them. But even though I now have to sew
these dresses up by hand I'm going to try and keep them in a decent dress to
wear.

My two Math students have now multiplied to 5 and they seem to really be
enjoying studying their Math. They are Joshua and his brother Alexis,
Elvis, Cristobal and his brother Mequisale. I enjoy grading their books and
putting more math in for them to do the next day and try and stick Bible
verses throughout the notebooks as I add the Math. Since I can no longer
teach school as there is a government school here I can still teach these
boys. They are not students as they are too old for the School here. So no
one can fault me for interfering with the school.

Bautista still comes regularly to see Joe to sit and talk with him about the
Lord and the Scriptures and about the old days and all that went on. He too
is getting old and needs prayer for his continued health. He still works
hard in his garden.

Faith and Sharon are such blessings to us as they do so much for us in
making bread, cooking our lunch, and just being near-by when we need a
helping hand. Mike is run off his feet with all that has to be done here
plus having to run to Esmeralda so often to try and find a little more
gasoline. Keila is teaching preschool and keeps very busy also. So we will
all appreciate your prayers in these days as never before. God bless you
each one!

Until Christ Comes,

Joe and Millie Dawson