Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Trip to Colombia:

My trip to Colombia began on Tuesday morning the 18th of November, with a clear assurance of God's presence. Soon after I settled into my seat on the plane, the lady next to me and I got into talking (I thought I was going to get a three hour nap, since I had to get up at 3:45 that morning!). She was a Colombian-American living in Miami on a business trip for a computer company and planned to visit her son. We talked about Colombia, yet we soon discovered that we were both Christians and our talk shifted to the point that we had a blessed three hours of fellowship and prayed out loud there for each other. Her son was into drugs and he was the only one that wasn't a Christian in her family. I promised to continue to pray for Oscar. She was so touched with my ministry that she insisted on giving me some money. I told her I would give it as a scholarship for a needy LOGOI/FLET University student.

The coordinator of Flet in Colombia, together with a student picked me up at the airport. I gave her the $50 dollars that I had received from this complete stranger on the plane, for which they were very grateful. Flet is very well organized there with over 500 students in the country. It took us 45 minutes to get to the Flet office (Bogotá has over 10 million people). Then we went to the hotel where I was to stay and where the classes were to be imparted. The first 12-hour course that I taught was on the master's level "Crisis Counseling". This was a new course that I am creating for Flet, and the need for it in Colombia became immediately apparent. As we got to the hotel, the Flet student that was driving us from the airport told me that her father had committed suicide two years before, that her oldest son had been murdered, and that she was in the midst of a divorce. All I could do at that point was to give her a hug as tears came to my eyes. She is the mother of three children, and she later told me that the two oldest had been kidnapped a year ago after school. Due to her persistence and some tips she received she was able to recover them within a day. Corrupt officers took them into a "ministry of justice" headquarters.

The problem of corruption is high in the agenda of the president of Colombia Alvaro Uribe. According to CNN, Colombia has the world's highest kidnapping rate, at 3,000 per year. The ELN and the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia carry out most of the abductions for ransom. A practice the kidnappers have is what they call "la pesca milagrosa" (the miraculous catch). It consists in stopping a line of cars on the highway and checking the ID of each person in the cars against a computer data base that they have right there with them. They then hold for ransom any one that has a certain amount of wealth.

The next day in class as we discussed the topic of death and grief, another student said her brother had been kidnapped two years before and still is missing. I later asked how many in the class had experienced kidnapping personally or this was the experience of some family member or another very significant person to them - approximately 18 out of 73 students raised their hands!

Sixty students took the Crisis course, and seventy-three students took the Introduction to Psychology course. This second course was another 12 hours on Friday and Saturday. (You can link to the pictures album at: http://www.mtwla.org/people/rcrane2-pl/dec03a/) These are pastors, wives, and leaders from dozens of evangelical denominations who minister in different cities of Colombia. Many traveled over 18 hours to get there - at great sacrifice and risk. These students had very little previous training in such important topics in Crisis Counseling, such as: Divorce and Remarriage, Death, Dying and Grief, Suicide, Stress, Depression, etc. It was all too short and there were many issues we were not able to address. I was able to point them to some good books that are available to them and gave them my E-Mail address. I thanked God for the privilege to open God's Word and point to the Gospel on these issues with them and to be a part of their preparation as they minister to thousands in Colombia.

I went to a church service on Saturday at 5 PM (which finished at 7:30 PM). Afterwards I enjoyed a typical Colombian dinner with the pastor and his family. We talked about the church in Colombia and the church in Chile. This church is part of a denomination called CENFOL started by Campus Crusade in the 1970's. The pastor told me that many evangelical churches have worship on Saturdays. A practice started because of great opposition from the Catholic Church when services "competed" for the same hours on Sunday. They rent a house for the 400 hundred members they now have. The house is very luxurious with mirrors, passageways, saunas, 17 telephone lines and an indoor swimming pool. The pool was filled in to accommodate the sanctuary. Why am I describing this to you? - Because the house was built by narcotic traffickers who are now Christians, and rent to them at a very modest sum of money.

On Sunday before I was taken to the airport, I was able to sight see some of Bogotá and its outskirts driven around by the dear lady I described above, and the director of FLET and her 7 year old son. As we shared as members of the same body of Christ (different denominations) I was struck by the way God is working there in Colombia. In the midst of great crisis in which practically every family in Colombia suffers loss and pain of one sort or another, God is building His church. Much of their old foundations and securities have been removed and people are displaced. They have been made very vulnerable and open to the gospel. They have understood the fellowship of Christ's suffering and they worship God with raised hands, tears rolling down their eyes, and a peace and joy that only God can give them in those circumstances. Christ has become their Steadfast Rock.

On January 19 through 23 I return to Cuba this time to another 120 FLET students who are preparing themselves for the pastorate, and a different course Introduction to Counseling.

Thank you for your partnership with us in this ministry of preparing FLET University students all over the world for the gospel ministry. If you want to give to FLET, earmark it: "Flet University" and send it to 14540 South West 136th Street Suite 200, Miami Florida 33186. (Phone: 305-232-5880)

Before I close I want to thank you for your prayers for Susana. This past Monday December 1, after being off all medication for a week, her EEG test turned out very good and the neurologist was very encouraging in his evaluation. Her headaches are diminishing and she is getting back to normal routines. Praise the Lord!

For His Kingdom

Richard, Robyn, and family.

Richard Crane
8460 SW 198 St
Miami, FL 33189
home phone: 786 293 3074 cell phone: 717 201 8649
E-Mail rrcrane@adelphia.net (please note that it begins with 2 "r" s)
office E-mail: rcrane@logoi.org / Office Robyn: office@kbpc.org
Web page: http://mtwla.org/people/rcrane.htm