Maracaibo, Venezuela

  Maracaibo, Venezuela

Joshua and Carolina Abbott

Joshua and Carolina’s journey to Venezuela began in 1998 when the couple visited Carolina’s hometown of Maracaibo for a family emergency. Carolina’s father had fallen into a coma. A week later after many prayers, he woke up but it was only the following year, while Josh and Carolina were on vacation that Carolina’s father and brother professed Jesus Christ.

The Abbotts went to Maracaibo in 2006 with their four-year-old son Caleb, reaching out to the city that God put in their hearts eight years ago. “Every time we came to Venezuela, we saw the need and the desperation in the people. There is such a harvest and an openness in the people.” Close to 2/3 of the country’s population is under the age of 30.

This was the same time that Joshua felt called to being a full time missionary. “We knew that it would only be a matter of time”, Joshua shares, “We received many prophetic words confirming God’s call for us to plant churches and raise leaders in Venezuela.” The subsequent years found the Abbotts involved in ministering at churches in Murfreesboro and Nashville, Tennessee. A three-month training stint in Manila, Philippines helped equip them for their eighteen month tenure in Lima, Peru in 2005.

“It was two years ago that Carolina, Caleb and I moved to Venezuela with one other family - Luis and Pati Azañero. Originally we planned on bringing a team of over 20 people. The Azañeros along with us were to be the first installment and then two months later some of the rest of the team was to begin trickling in. Well, all for different reasons, the rest of the team never got here. That left Luis and I primarily starting from scratch. We didn't know anyone and we didn't know how to get anywhere but we were convinced that God was ready to start something here in Maracaibo," Joshua shares.

Joshua continues: "So, we officially began our outreach in February of 2007. Thirty people came to our first outreach just before Valentines Day. It was a 'dressy casual' coffee break styled event we called 'Lovers and Friends, the True Romance'. From those first contacts about 5 began to regularly attend a weekly Bible study on Sunday nights.

Water Baptism in a Kiddie Pool

Since that time we've seen several give their lives to Christ including two entire families. We've baptized and taught on making disciples and just two weekends ago we conducted our first 'Victory Weekend' here in Venezuela.

The most exciting thing to see for me is that now, the first converts are becoming leaders and the real force of outreach. This is good and it's necessary because after giving 2 years of their lives to go to a country they'd never even seen, Luis and Pati were willing to leave everything they knew to take the Gospel to a needy people. They even had their firstborn child on the Venezuelan mission field.

After two years of faithful and courageous service, Luis and Pati feel that God is leading them back to Peru to be missionaries in their own land. I am forever grateful for the tremendous sacrifice they made to help extend the Kingdom of God here and they will always have a place here in Venezuela. Please pray for them as they begin their new life in Lima, Peru and please pray for us that the Lord will raise up many like Luis to take the work to the next level."