Military Investigation, Then Back to the U.S.
IRR training time cut short
March 1 to 6, 2007

By Corrie Sample

Dear Friends and Family,

Sorry for the long silence. I really don't have much of an excuse for it. I arrived home two weeks ago and I really should have written this email sooner. Naughty me. :)

Now that I am home let me fill you in on the last few things that happened to us in Venezuela. In my last email I mentioned that we would be going to Guyana. Well, that never happened. The Friday before we were supposed to leave, two government officials showed up to search our compound and inform us that an investigation was being started to verify if the accusations against us had any foundation. We were also told that until the investigation was over, we would not be allowed to leave the country. So goodbye Guyana! The officials stayed until midnight Friday and before they left they told a group of us to come to the military compound the next day for more questioning. So Sabbath morning Dr. Michael, Dr. Brent, Bob Norton (the pilot), Daniel, Heather, myself, the two village captains, and Selso (one of the village leaders) headed to the military compound about 10 minutes from Maurak.

I have to admit that I was very nervous during that whole Sabbath. We all were. Donald was the first one to be questioned. He was gone for more than 3 hours. Daniel, Heather, and I had a bit of a worship service there in the waiting area. We sang some hymns and read the Bible. It was such a huge blessing! We sat around the entire day there but in the entire 9 hours they only questioned four of us, and I wasn't one of the four thankfully. We went home that night with the realization that God had everything under control and He had changed the attitudes of the government officials. The night before they had been gruff and not very friendly. But we sang and shared some with them and by the end of Sabbath they were saying that they really didn't need to question anybody else. They were much more friendly and the two village captains were becoming more upbeat that everything was going to turn out fine.

And it did! :) One week later we were on our way out of the country. We were not deported so we can go back if that is where God leads. We did not go to Guyana because by the time everything was said and done we only had about 2 weeks left so there really wasn't any point in spending the money to go to Guyana. Some of the students feel that they didn't get the medical training and experience that they signed up for, and they are right. We only got to do three different medical trips instead of the intended 6 or 7.

But God had different lessons for us to learn. He wanted us to learn to depend completely on Him especially when things are tough. We did not know what was going to happen from day to day, but we did know that God was holding us in His hand.
God worked in amazing ways during those final weeks and I want to thank each and every one of you for the prayers that you sent heavenward. I am convinced that it was because of your prayers that He was able to work in such amazing ways.
God bless!

In His Service,