But how did this all start? According to CNN, the International Monetary Fund estimates that inflation could reach one million percent by the end of the year.

“Basically, the value of your money goes in half every 26 days,” explains Steve Shantz of Trans World Radio. “You might have 500 dollars today, but 26 days from now it’s only worth 250 dollars.”

According to Shantz, “The Venezuelan government believes there is an economic war against Venezuela and that the problems that they have were brought on by external forces rather than internal ones.” As a result, they’re looking for internal solutions.

“In order to stem this inflation, they basically knocked five zeroes off the currency. Then they issued new banknotes that are called Sovereign Bolivars.”

These new replacements for the Strong Bolivars are tied to a cryptocurrency called the Petro. The Petro, in turn, is tied to oil reserves. In theory, the new currency will “stem hyperinflation and solve their economic problems.”

But the people of Venezuela aren’t so convinced.

“This is leaving a lot of people in the country confused because they don’t know what this is going to mean, they don’t know how they’re going to be able to buy and sell,” Shantz says. People are going hungry and losing their jobs, so they’re resorting to evacuation.

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

“People just don’t see hope in the present situation. They’re looking for relief, so they’re going to Ecuador and Columbia and Peru,” Shantz says. Some people have even made it down to Chile and Argentina looking for jobs and “a better way of life.”

These are people who want to be able to meet basic needs while everything around them is crumbling. More than ever, the people of Venezuela need hope.

And Trans World Radio knows where they can find it.

“What we try and do in this situation is bring people back to the Word of God and try and bring people a message of hope through God’s Word that God is in control in these situations in spite of what they see around them,” Shantz says.

“We try and bring a message of hope. We do not bring a message with a political viewpoint. We don’t try and create unrest or discontent in people’s lives, but we try and bring them to the scriptures and show them that God is what they need in their lives to help them navigate these times.”

Want to help? Pray for Venezuela as her people stumble toward stability, and learn what you can about the situation as it unfolds.

“I think it’s very important for [anyone] in North America who knows the Lord and has a compassionate heart to start following the news, if you’re not already, and really track what’s going on in Venezuela,” Shantz says.

Hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing Venezuela on foot. Most don’t know if they’ll even be able to enter other countries.

“One of the developments is that [some countries], Ecuador and Columbia I believe, are now saying ‘you need a passport to cross the border, not just an identity card,’” Shantz says.

“Pray for these people as they’re on the road trying to have their basic needs met. Pray that there will be people of compassion along the way that will help them, that will give them food and assistance and shelter for the night.”

TWR’s Venezuela team is still working in the country, using generators to create and send programming to TWR for distribution. They’re also holding “radio rallies” for kids to help them learn about the Gospel and find joy in the middle of hardship.

You can support those efforts by clicking right here.

Header photo courtesy of Jorge Andres Paparoni Bruzual via flickr at https://www.flickr.com/photos/venex/2155381419/in/photostream/

(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Helen Williams of World Missionary Press says that’s completely wrong, especially in countries like Colombia.

“There’s been the tumult with the rebellion, there’s been government upheaval over the past years, there are stories of missionaries’ difficulties out of Colombia, kidnappings and other things. It’s a really difficult field for many over the years.”

As much as anywhere else in the world, people need the hope of Christ, and there are challenges to the workers who go. From Chile to Peru to Colombia to Rio, World Missionary Press is trying to get the Word of God out and into the hands of those who desperately need it.

(Photo courtesy of World Missionary Press)

Williams says it’s important to remember that there are many aspects to ministry.

“If as a church, if as believers, we only go to just the preaching, if you will, we need to show that it reaches every part of our lives and that the Lord cares about the individual,” she explains.

From providing physical help to telling the most important story ever told, there are many ways to catch people’s attention and tell them about the hope that can be found in Christ.

Williams gives an example: “I like the idea of leading people, asking, ‘Is there something we could pray for you about?’ That tells them that we know there’s a source of help, and we’re willing to engage that source to meet their need.”

But WMP is struggling to meet the overwhelming call for more Bible study material.

“World Missionary Press, our burden is for the resources to be more. I have a list of almost a hundred million booklets on order, people waiting around the world trusting there’s a hundred million, and we just, we wanna do more.”

Do you want to get involved?

(Photo courtesy of World Missionary Press)

“You can be part of what the Lord’s doing in Thailand and Malaysia and Indonesia, Russia and Kenya and Bolivia,” says Williams

Obviously, prayer is a huge part of any ministry, and World Missionary Press is asking for yours. Pray about if you’d want to participate in any way as the booklets are passed out and people are introduced to the story of Jesus for the very first time.

“This is an opportunity where you can reach around the world by just four cents for a little booklet, and if you have on your heart to try to do more and you feel that there’s no way, there IS a way.”

Neighbours reported to police having seen two men running from the parish.
Investigating officers found the priests' bodies in the residence they shared
near the church.

Open Doors Colombia notes that in the last year alone, eight
priests have been killed.

According to police and media reports, two men broke into
the residence while the priests were celebrating 8 p.m. Mass and awaited the
priests with knives. The murderers fled with offerings, a computer, and an iPad.

Local authorities convened a security council meeting where
Ubeimar Delgado, governor of Valle, linked the double murder to organized
crime. General Rodolfo Palomino, national police director, promised that his
organization would not allow the snatching of this community's most sacred
members: its spiritual leaders.

After the priests' Sept. 30 funeral, Roldanillo residents
peacefully marched to demand justice for the murders.

In Medellín early Sept. 28, disabled priest Luis Javier
Sarrázola Úsuga was found stabbed to death in his residence in Manrique
neighborhood. According to media reports, a woman bringing a meal to Sarrázola
Úsuga entered his home as an unidentified young man fled with a suitcase. The
woman and neighbors found his body, which had been stabbed in the chest more
than 30 times.

Sarrázola Úsuga, 48, operated a charity called by its acronym
FUNEPALIS, or Educational Foundation for Peace and Social Freedom, which served
the poor in Medellín's Carambolas neighborhood. Some media reports state that
Sarrázola Úsuga was affiliated with the Anglican church.

According to the Episcopal Conference, in the last 29 years
in Colombia 84 Roman Catholic priests and two bishops have been murdered.

Pray that the Lord would strengthen and sustain the families of these priests. Pray for the village of Roldanillo and Medellín's Carambolas neighborhood. Pray for the Lord's guidance for the new spiritual leaders appointed.

Consisting of men, women and infants, the group was captured
during a community meeting summoned by the Kogui governor. Believers were taken
prisoner by the governor and his followers; community leaders shouted insults
at the Christians throughout the night. Non-Christian leaders who supported the
imprisoned believers were shamed.

The governor intends to eradicate the Christian faith from
Kogui members through imprisonment and forced denial of the faith. The world's highest coastal range, Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, is home to the Kogui
people, and Kogui Christians number around 120 of the entire 11,000-member
tribe.

Reportedly, two of the kidnapped infants have fallen
seriously ill. Pray for their recovery and for the immediate release of
these believers.

VOMC says the largest inhibitors of religious freedom in
Columbia are guerrilla and criminal groups. They target Christian leaders who
actively oppose corruption and the drug trade. Pastors and youth leaders also
fall under opposition because they influence Colombia's youth, making it
difficult for Marxist and paramilitary groups to recruit them.

You can post a prayer for suffering Christians in Colombia
by clicking here .

Both the Book of Hope and The GodMan film are being warmly received in classrooms and are transforming lives for Christ. The Book of Hope is reaching youth and children alike. A teenage boy named Juan never knew his life needed transformation before reading the book, and 15-year-old Angelica says she was unfriendly and intolerant. Now she feels God's love swell inside her. Duvan, a 12-year-old who didn't believe there was any such a thing as a "free" gift, said his life has been changed by the Book of Hope that was freely given to him.

All three of these youths found hope for the future and became followers of Jesus after reading the Book of Hope. Although many countries are "closed" to the Gospel, Colombia welcomes Book of Hope to bring the truth of God's Word to many schools in the nation. While the door is open, Book of Hope wants to walk through it to bring the hope of Christ to many young lives. The government is even helping to distribute the Book of Hope.

In La Guajira, the assistant minister of education himself drove the truck containing Book of Hope materials to his city, and the government provided meals and lodging for the Colombian believers who came to help with distribution and conduct Hope Fest concerts. Teams placed God's Word into the hands of over 100,000 students, and during the two-week distribution period they were invited to every school in the state.

33 cents reaches one student, and three youth can be reached for less than a dollar. You can help the Book of Hope reach even more young people in Colombia by clicking here.