House Church Talk - Happy new year!

[Vanessa DiDomenico]

Dear list,

First, I'd like to wish you all a prosperous and God-filled new year. I am
not too much into celebrating any holidays but easter, however, any excuse
is good to try and imrove oneself!

It's been months since i posted, because I had been without internet and
too sick to be going out to use a net access elsewhere. This because the
political turmoil in Venezuela has caused many medications to disappear,
and the first to go were my epilepsy meds. I was on extremely strong meds
for a while, but soon my Trileptal came back on the market. But i am still
having up to 5-10 seizures a day, of the simple partial kind where I do
not lose consciousness but they feel like the 'twilight zone' but with a
worse horror. I can control myself well, but they are terrifying and also
make me feel bad for hours afterwards. Thankfully, however, I only had one
grand mal seizure and my husband found me standing right next to a bunch
of stored glass we have and took me to bed. There i started shaking. God
did not let me fall on the glass, neither has He let me fall in the water
or on the fire. 

And a prayer has been answered: I think it will work out well. At the most
expensive clinic/hospital here I may be starting the first foundation for
epilepsy here, first as a support group, then educating in first aid and
prevention of epilepsies caused by fevers and parasites in childhood, then
raising money to buy medication for the many poor children here unable to
buy them. My daughter has a good friend, I happened by chance to ask him
what his dad does, because i wondered why he was always with a bodyguard,
and he told me the parents own this clinic. It has a great auditorium, and
we hope to bring experienced epileptologists from the US to train
neurologists here in this terrible slap by messengers of the devil (2 Cor
12:9) - the only illness the apostles could not cure and had to bring the
sick son to Jesus Himself. 

For those of you who remember me, we have been advancing quite a bit in
our mission; husband keeps praying with many people near our
house/warehouse, although i have been staying with mother because i just
can't be alone, and here the maids do the housework, which i just can't
handle. However, i was blessed to be able to help some drug dealers who
have been asking me to show them God and to help them free themselves from
that terrible chain - they sell because they consume and that way they
finance it. Note that we are only an hour from the Colombian border, and
this is the top thru-traffick city in the world for cocaine. Even oil
company executives love coming here for the cheap and pure drugs, and the
young girls they can get with it. This fight against drugs and helping
street children is our main mission in this world.

I am just writing educational material for very poor schools, while sick,
participating in international peacemaker groups, and hoping that God will
let me continue to do His work. I was intoxicated on so much medicine,
even my hair was falling out, but now I am in much better shape, after
going through a bad withdrawal of these medicines (Rivotril, Valium, and
Ativan). I hate to say, for while the ONLY availble medicine was
marihuana, and I had to smoke that trash, but gladly, Valium came back in
less than a week. I must say, however, I am now more for legalizing that
pot for sick people, for it helped me immeasurably. My doctor recommended
it. I am now only on a tiny dose of trileptal, and Rivotril which I am
lowering slowly. Today i've only felt dizzy once.

But please pray for the foundation, that we can do a lot for the poor
sick, and stop those epilepsies which like mine come from childhood
fevers. 

Oh, and husband is finally getting his kidney treatment thanks to money
sent to us by our Quaker Meeting in Oregon, which has been financing some
of our work.

So, have a great New year!
Vanessa Di Domenico
Maracaibo, Venezuela 

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