From Ukraine to Venezuela.

November/25. Ukraine, South and East war front. After visiting several families I have been connected with who had lost loved ones in Kherson, I took off to the Ukrainian East Front (Kramatorsk). A US humanitarian friend had been injured in combat and needed evacuation, so I went to assist with his evacuation. My trip took me close to Provotosk. It was very impressive to hear the battle at such close range, which I understood was one of the deadliest battles in the Western Hemisphere since WWII. My friend was successfully evacuated.  

December/25. Harkiev, under heavy drone and missile attacks in the city, I made it to Harkiev, the second-largest Ukrainian city, only 50 Km south of the Russian border. My goal was to support a humanitarian agency, HUGS. They assist refugee children and handle logistics in support of frontline combat medics. I lived in a compound near the local hospital, so I also assisted wounded outpatients recovering from battle wounds. 

January/26. I travelled back to the east front, Kamatrosk. My goal was to deliver winter camping supplies to emergency responders and assist another wounded partner. In this city, I met several foreign drone operators who confidently assured me that things were turning on the Ukrainian side. A couple of humanitarian volunteers had been hit with a mortar and lost all their personal equipment. Since I was on my way out of Ukraine, I shared most of my personal gear with them, and I decided to return to Kherson, where I had stored some bulletproof equipment donated by British combat medics. After I sent the supplies to the front lines, tragedy struck...  I got injured on my lower left foot, and the injury may have damaged a nerve. I had no access to medication, nor ambulances for my evacuation, and no pain medication since, by then, I had donated all my medical supplies; the pain was unbearable. Finally, after waiting 3 days, I was evacuated to Kyiv, where I had to wait another 4 days for an evacuation to Poland. While waiting for evacuation in Kyiv, I witnessed the deadliest drone and missile Russian attack against the civilian population. While someone pushed my wheelchair to the bomb shelter in the middle of the night, I saw at least three drone missiles hitting civilian buildings. In Poland, I started my long trip to Venezuela, where my prison ministry team was to meet me for our annual retreat. 

January/26. I already had my tickets to Cucuta, Colombia, where I was scheduled to have our annual Venezuelan prison ministry retreat. As I returned, I had scheduled a short visit with my kids in the Netherlands and Canada. Both kids are doing well. Andrea is becoming an accomplished painter and doing well in her professional career. In the meantime, Jonathan's worship ministry has received sponsorship from Sony Music, and five Juno and Grammy award gospel singers have come along to support his first band's album production. https://www.youtube.com The+river+worhsip+album.  

When I did relief work in Venezuelan prisons, I recruited a godly woman as my administrative assistant, who at the time was a children's pastor in charge of over 1,000 Venezuelan children. Later on, Jenny relocated to Ontario, Canada, where she connected with my son Jonathan. They are now scheduled to get married this summer. Our Costa Rican pastors who were instrumental in encouraging Jonathan into worship ministry are also scheduled to travel to Ontario to officiate the wedding ceremony.

February/26. Cúcuta, Colombia. Despite taking treatment for my wounded foot, the infection became worse and more painful. Upon arriving in Colombia, one of my Venezuelan prison ministry leaders, who also happens to be a doctor, drove me directly from the airport to a hospital.   At this hospital, I spent three days in critical care plus two weeks with intravenous antibiotics. Later on, doctors advised me that if I had come a few days later, they most likely would have had to amputate my lower left leg.  Miracle! When it was time to settle my hospital stay, the clerk informed me that a Colombian foundation was going to cover my hospital bill fully.  As it turned out, the hospital administrator had become interested in my humanitarian work in Venezuela and Ukraine and took it upon herself to find a sponsor for my hospital treatment. Another miracle!

March/26. Cuba. My brother Anibal and I have supported over the years a Cuban couple involved in church planting. Cuba has lost the financial support received from Venezuela, thus creating the worst humanitarian crisis in their modern history. My brother and I decided to step in and increase our support for this couple, who, despite the indescribable humanitarian crisis, continue their church planting ministry successfully.  

March/26. Upon returning to Costa Rica, I was still recovering and receiving physiotherapy. A  man whom I had ministered to in prison for over ten years had been released from prison and came to stay with me and support my recovery. We were able to encourage each other, as he was struggling to adapt to his freedom. By the end of the month, I received news from my doctor that I had almost fully recovered and had been cleared to travel. I immediately went to purchase a plane ticket so I could travel to Honduras to one of the most isolated prisons in Central America, where I have ministered every year for the last twelve years. My former LAM Canada mission director, John Steinmann, and I have become committed to visiting this prison every year mainly because we are the only visitors many of these prisoners receive throughout the year. They literally count the days for our arrival. This is a very unique prison, where the prisoner in charge of leading the prisoners is a committed Christian whose leadership has turned this penitentiary into one of the safest prisons in Central America. This is quite an accomplishment given the fact that Honduras is well known for having the most dangerous prisons in the world. Interestingly, without any prior coordination, my former missions director also scheduled himself to come and minister at this very same prison during the same week to accomplish the same goals I had set for myself. This included setting up a carpentry shop so prisoners would have a place to work. We worked together for one week, ministering to these prisoners. In the middle of our mission, my partner John became ill and in need of hospital care. Consequently, I became involved in his medical care and recovery. God's timing by all accounts!

April/26. United States. During the pandemic, I hosted a missions-oriented family with six young children. They became my adopted family. Last year I spent one month with them in Brazil supporting the coming of their sixth child. They have now relocated to the United States, where they continue their family- and expat-oriented ministry. I am committed to supporting them any way I can. In April, they hosted a family retreat with 300 attendees, most of them homeschooling Christian families. I look forward to spending time with this family and supporting their very strategic ministry to young families.  

May/26. While in the US, I received a surprise visit from my two kids! Jonathan and Andrea joined me in the US,  so we had the opportunity to do several hikes in Nevada and California. It was a wonderful time connecting with my kids, especially since on our last hike we travelled to San Francisco to do the same hike Pam and I made after our wedding 36 years ago.    

May/26. Costa Rica. Every five years I have to renew my EMS practicing accreditation. It is an online class followed by a field and theory test. It was a real challenge to pass the test, given that for the last five years most of my emergency medical practice has been in a war-torn country. So, I had to readapt my learning from combat emergency care to civilian emergency care. Both of them have the same principles but different protocols. I successfully renewed my accreditation.

June/26. Venezuela and Bolivia. I returned to Venezuela to meet with my prison ministry team. It was again a time of encouraging each other and reviewing the future of our ministry, as well as providing them with agricultural supplies so they can continue the gardening project, which serves our ministry as a way to maintain a presence in prisons where Christian presence is discouraged. Three days after I left Venezuela, tragedy struck, and the most devastating earthquake in the history of South America hit the center of Venezuela. Thousands of people lost their lives, including members of the family of a couple of pastors we had connections with. By the time the earthquake hit Venezuela, I had travelled to Bolivia. My goal was to assist an elderly couple with whom I had developed a friendship. After two months of civil unrest, Bolivia was completely paralyzed by roadblocks set up by followers of Evo Morales, Bolivia's former strongman. My two elderly friends informed me that after two months of civil unrest, they were running low on supplies. I planned to backpack along Lake Titicaca, which is 3,800 mt above sea level, with temperatures reaching minus 10 Celsius at night, carrying almost 70 pounds of supplies. The hike took almost 20 hours; it slowed significantly because, along the way, I encountered all kinds of people suffering from medical conditions related to their long hikes attempting to escape Bolivia into Peru. By the end, I developed a rather painful face burn from the cold, dryness, and sun exposure. My friends received the desperately needed supplies.  

July/26. Venezuela. I am writing this note from Venezuela. After a short break in Costa Rica and completing my annual medical checkup, I put together a relief team so we could travel into Venezuela.  My team is composed of the two current directors of prison ministry, a Costa Rican, two Colombians, and two Venezuelan missionaries involved with the former mission board New Tribes. 

Our goals: 

• Support the prison we helped to start at a military camp. 

• Support two local pastors. Both have lost everything they own, including one couple who lost their older son and their newborn grandson. 

• Support a couple who have adopted two children whose parents died in their collapsed building and are now sleeping in a car.  

• Continue the search for our former prison ministry director who is still unaccounted for.  

• Deliver needed medical and food supplies and continue delivering agricultural supplies so people can continue planting gardens for subsistence. 

Because of logistical challenges, I had to divide the team. Half is now in La Guaira, where tragedy struck the most, and the other is with me, helping me with the purchasing and delivery of supplies. Pray. Because of civil unrest and the magnitude of the tragedy, logistical hurdles are tremendous. Sorry,  I can share only very little openly. 

For direct support to this mission project, my information is included below for tax-deductible donations. Please get in touch with me.

Nery

Venezuela Relief Team