San Jose de Tintin is a small village founded around 1854. In the past was a long distance of Barquisimeto, but now the city grows and is bordering the edge of San José de Tintin. The village place in the center-west of Venezuela, in Lara State. The place is semi-desert: the soil is clayish, the vegetation is cactus and “cuji” (tree adapted to no-watered soils), and the animals are kids and lizards, in the day the temperature going up to 38 ºC but in night downing about 13 ºC.
Poverty and un-employment are very frequent. Most men are working make adobe-bricks and the women works like house-cleaner, because they didn’t learning to do any other occupation.
The village never becomes a city. The village was start with 6 families. In present these families and another people living in San José de Tintin. In last census (2005) were 240 houses and about 1000 persons. Most people are catholic and have a Saint Joseph festivity as a principal meeting. There is Pentecostal, but is for foreign families that coming to San Jose last 5 years.
The water potable coming 2 or 3 times a week and the people has to keep it in barrel. The personal safety is poor, the robbery and assault of houses and people are common. There isn’t much patrol and police’s help.
There isn’t health center. When the people are sick, they need to go in bus or car far away to the hospital.
There is one school. The children can’t study well because there parents can’t help with the homework and don’t have books to search. More and more young that will not going to high-school and will work in farms harvest vegetables.
The Misión Luterana “San Gabriel” (Lutheran Mission “Saint Gabriel”) is a new congregation in building of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Venezuela. In January 2001 started the work of share the God’s New with San Jose de Tintin`s people. We had worship service and extra-class help with the homework as our main task. Now we have: Worship every week, Bible’s class, Luther’s Small Catechism class, Confirmation class, Tareas Dirigidas (homework help), Women’s Group, ORAD Group (Orientation for teenager), Workshops to teenager and women to learn cocking, sew, etc. In school’s vacation we have Vacation Bible School, “Summer School” – to learn English, Christmas Workshop for children. In Easter we have “Via Crucis” and in Christmas we have “Nativity Theatre” with young acting.
“San Gabriel” at present has 23 members, 45 close friends (people that maybe can be members in the future). They are 98 authorized children to participating in the homework help and the others activities. All the work is doing in a house, which was building to people lives inside. We changed the bed-rooms to office, classrooms and library, the living-room to worship area and main place and the kitchen to learning cook’s place. The house now is too little, usually we have 35 people in worship and 30 in homework help. Most of the time we have to limiting the number of participant in the activities because isn’t enough room.
