Dear brothers and sisters,

Thank you for your prayers for the pastoral conference in Montevideo Uruguay June 2-7. It is hard to believe over a month has gone by already. What is prompting me to write is my next trip to Venezuela this week. But before I tell you about that, let me give you a quick report on Uruguay.

There were about 100 pastors and leaders that met for our 10 hour conference on "The message and the task of the pastor in times of crisis". When I talked about God using suffering in our lives and that His plan in most cases is not to remove our suffering, this was new to many. These have lived with the idea that if they are suffering it is because they do not have sufficient faith for God to remove it and favor them with better times. A woman who had lost her daughter to a terminal illness a couple of months before, came to me with tears in her eyes because my talk restored her trust in God and clarified her understanding. Another preacher had assured her that her daughter was going to be healed.

I was surprised to find out that Uruguay is primarily atheist. The pastors talked about 3% practicing Catholic and 5% Evangelical. Pedro Lapadjián, an author and pastor of a thriving Armenian church, says there are 49.6% Catholics - the lowest percent in Latin America. The "enlightened" Uruguayans have a history of mocking Christians - they have shown very little interest in God.

Another two statistics that are shocking is that Uruguay has a 75% divorce rate and the third highest suicide rate in the world.

I thank God for the opportunity these trips give me to be in touch with this reality first hand and to see the need to continue to develop courses that will strengthen the church leaders for their pastoral task.

You will see pictures of this trip in a few days, if you turn to our website http://mtwla.org/people/rcrane.htm (or go directly to http://mtwla.org/people/rcrane2-pl/04jul/ )

I ask for your prayers for my trip to Venezuela July 14-26. My schedule there is very heavy:

1. July 15-16 an 8 hour conference for pastors in Barquisimeto, Venezuela
2. July 15-17 a 12 hour course in Introduction to Psychology
3. July 18 - a 2 hour conference with missionaries in Maracay, Venezuela
4. July 21-22 - a 7 hour conference to 300 high school teachers of religion. Venezuela permits evangelicals to teach religion in the public schools!!. This is in San Fernando de Apure - 6 hours south of Caracas.
5. July 24-25 - a 14 hour course in Introduction to Psychology in Maracay.
6. July 25 - preach at a church in Maracay.

I am the only speaker for all these hours!! (I will probably learn something from this!!)
Pray that my voice and health will hold up for all these hours
Pray that the Holy Spirit will enable me to teach and preach His Word faithfully and with power
Pray that I will be kept safe. There is much political unrest these days in Venezuela.

Because of His Love and Grace

Richard Crane

Richard Crane
8460 SW 198 St
Miami, FL 33189
home phone: 786 293 3074 cell phone: 305 310 9599
E-Mail rrcrane@adelphia.net (please note that it begins with 2 "r" s)
office E-mail: rcrane@flet.edu / Office Robyn: office@kbpc.org
Web page: http://mtwla.org/people/rcrane.htm