The Schadt family left us for a little while this past week to spend some time as a family now that Sofia is with them. So Dan and I were left alone on the property for two days. Each night, it stormed incredibly, which is an INCREDIBLE blessing here. The wind gusted and the rain poured unbelievably. Being like we are, we went running around in the rain like crazy men. Since the storms moved so quickly from the mountains, the rain was cold and refreshing. We spent a lot of time around the property, since the rain canceled all the events we had planned in the evenings. There are no vehicles when the Schadts are gone, so we´re forced to stay in one place.
But like the storms outside, storms have been building here as well. In my heart, a battle´s been raging. I´m struggling here. I feel as though I´m wasting my time sometimes, because I´ve been doing a lot of waiting. I´m not entirely sure why the Lord has put me here, and I´d like to end that on a happy thought, but I can´t in clear conscience. So instead, I´ll ask you to pray for me. Pray that I´m used here, and that somehow my time will get used.
After the Schadts returned, we went and spent four hours at a local man´s house, speaking with him and urging him to salvation. His name´s Raoul. I liked him from the moment I met him. We talked about politics, life, and naturally, religion. He´s intelligent, and he seems to have a genuine concern for his family, but for some reason, he can´t make the final steps and accept Christ´s love for him. He acknowledges that what we are saying must be true, but he´s waiting. Pray that the Lord breaks through and convicts him of his dire need for Jesus. Still, things have changed in his life since his wife became a believer. He was a hard hearted, macho guy before his wife came to faith, and his heart´s been softening since then. So I pray the softening continues...
The next day, we climbed an extinct volcano that dominates the landscape around the church. It took about six hours to finish the whole trip, and it re-defines difficult... I guess I´ll finish this part later, we´ve got to head out.
While Mike was gone, I also found out from one of the kids who comes to English class, Carlos Alberto, that his sister got into an automobile accident and is in the hospital. It was only when Mike returned and started asking that we realized how bad her situation was...
Her name is Silvia. She was getting on a bus, and apparently the driver got tired of waiting and jerked the bus forward, sending her flying onto the pavement. She cracked her skull in three places and burned and bruised her arms. The doctors didn´t think she´d live, but she´s still fighting five days later. Mike and Alex, the local doctor, visited her along with her family. If you knew Alex, you´d know he never cries, but he broke down when he saw her condition. The hospital is like a tin oven. Each room is packed full of people with no privacy, and bugs and the smell of urine permeate the whole building. Five days later, Silvia is still bleeding from her eyes, her nose, her mouth, and her ears. She´s been in and out of a coma, but she did manage to sit up while Alex and Mike visited.
Mike and Alex were so moved by her condition that they went to the local store and bought supplies for her, like a small fan with a clip that can attach to the gurney. We also bought gatorade and water for the mom, who hasn´t left her side since she arrived. The mom wept tears of joy when she saw all they brought for her.
Please pray for this family. They do not know the Lord or the hope he provides, so pray that God will heal Silvia and use this tragedy to draw this precious family to Himself.
Thanks for your prayers...
Here´s to hoping the Lord works incredible things with my remaining time.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Comedy Gold
And now for the lighter side of missions.
So I mentioned that I’ve been meeting lots of scorpions. Now I’ll tell you a recipe for a “great” prank.
- Take one scorpion, freshly discovered from the outdoor storage shed.
- Remove the scorpion’s stinger.
- Place harmless scorpion on your shirt.
- Walk into your friend’s room, acting as though you don’t know about the scorpion.
- Hilarity ensues.
Yeah, this stroke of brilliance appeared to me as I was cleaning the outside bodega. I found a tiny scorpion and was going to kill it, since it’s not a good idea to have them around. Their sting is extremely potent and in some cases, dangerous. But as I went to kill it, brilliance struck me.
I removed the stinger and placed it on my shirt, where it clung there. Then I walked into Dan’s room and innocuously asked what he was up to. He looked straight at me, but didn’t say anything. So he read me something touching from the orphanage. Naturally, I couldn’t ruin the moment, so I listened. (If you have a chance to read it, you really should. The address is http://dustyfeet.wordpress.com)
In any case, he never noticed, so before I left, I took matters into my own hands. I suddenly cried out and looked down in panic at my shirt. Dan sprung into action, looking for something to hit it with. He’s frantically searching around the room and I’m just standing there. Finally, I said, “Oh, I know what I’ll do!”
Then, I picked it up with my bare hands as he watched in horror. Then, with my hand around the scorpion, a huge grin spread across my face.
He probably wants to kill me.
Well… Dan does, not the scorpion.
It was totally worth it.
So I mentioned that I’ve been meeting lots of scorpions. Now I’ll tell you a recipe for a “great” prank.
- Take one scorpion, freshly discovered from the outdoor storage shed.
- Remove the scorpion’s stinger.
- Place harmless scorpion on your shirt.
- Walk into your friend’s room, acting as though you don’t know about the scorpion.
- Hilarity ensues.
Yeah, this stroke of brilliance appeared to me as I was cleaning the outside bodega. I found a tiny scorpion and was going to kill it, since it’s not a good idea to have them around. Their sting is extremely potent and in some cases, dangerous. But as I went to kill it, brilliance struck me.
I removed the stinger and placed it on my shirt, where it clung there. Then I walked into Dan’s room and innocuously asked what he was up to. He looked straight at me, but didn’t say anything. So he read me something touching from the orphanage. Naturally, I couldn’t ruin the moment, so I listened. (If you have a chance to read it, you really should. The address is http://dustyfeet.wordpress.com)
In any case, he never noticed, so before I left, I took matters into my own hands. I suddenly cried out and looked down in panic at my shirt. Dan sprung into action, looking for something to hit it with. He’s frantically searching around the room and I’m just standing there. Finally, I said, “Oh, I know what I’ll do!”
Then, I picked it up with my bare hands as he watched in horror. Then, with my hand around the scorpion, a huge grin spread across my face.
He probably wants to kill me.
Well… Dan does, not the scorpion.
It was totally worth it.
In the valley of the shadow of ______.
Hello once again, friends. I’m writing you from the heat that comes only from four or five days without rain in the humid hot climate of El Salvador. Without a doubt, the last few days have been interesting.
First of all, I’ve been cleaning out the outside bodega (storage shed) at the church. The bodega is where we store a lot of excess construction materials, tiles, etc. I’ve been doing this in preparation for laying some cement, because the dirt floor lets water in, and ruins the supplies. In addition, the bodega has become the home of countless spiders and insects. On top of that, I disturbed one rat’s nest (which I cleared out) and ended up running into three scorpions of various sizes. Miraculously, I cleared the whole thing without getting stung, bitten, cut, or eaten.
Why am I doing all this heavy labor? Forgive me if I’ve explained it already, but the entire church building has been left a mess. Now that we are appointing elders to leave the church, we’re serving them by putting the entire church building in order, from top to bottom. All three of them have families and jobs, so it would be impossible for them to take the time to renovate everything. Enter the Americans. We have plenty of time, so we’ve been using it to do all this work in an effort to wash these guys’ feet before they take over the church leadership.
So while I’ve been battling scorpions, we’ve been dealing with power outages. The worst one yet lasted from early early Monday morning until 10 AM Tuesday. Our first hint that the power was out was when we all woke drenched in pools of our own sweat. Without fans to cool us, it’s extremely difficult to sleep. So we went the day without power. Meanwhile, I started feeling sick. By the time night fell around us and we were all preparing for sleep, I threw up most of my dinner. And it gets better. I’m finally feeling a little better as I crawl into bed when I notice someone outside on our front porch. I figure it’s Mike (the missionary) so I ask, “Who’s there?”
I got no response. And a second later, they threw a little plastic chair across the porch. So now I’m spooked. I go into Mike and his family’s living quarters and Mike’s not in his bed. So I say, “Ahh, it really just was Mike.”
I’m getting ready for bed when Mike pops in my room and asks, “Did you hear that?”
“Great,” I say to myself.
So we all grabbed the heaviest sticks we could, and searched the front porch, fully ready to defend against whoever’s snooping about our home. Meanwhile, the dogs all around are barking up a storm. We stayed up for an hour or two, and finally, after things settled down, we went inside to sleep again. So as a natural response to the excitement, I threw up again.
Thankfully, I’m feeling better now, but I have to admit, I’m treating the night completely differently now.
Other than that, we’ve been engaging in continual ministry with the youth of the area, from the neighborhood children to the older kids that are at risk of falling into gangs. We’re going to take them all on a trip to climb a local mountain, which most of them have never done. They’re excited about it, and it’ll be a good time for them to bond with both us and more importantly, the elders. Pray that we’ll have a good impact on them then. And while you’re at it, pray I don’t injure myself on the mountain. I’ve got a nasty track record of injuries here in El Salvador.
The last bit of news I’ll share is the best news I’ve had the privilege of sharing since we got here. The El Salvadorian government has finally agreed to release Sofia into Mike’s custody. Just to remind you, Sofia is the orphan with HIV that Mike and his family fell in love with and started to adopt almost three years ago. They still haven’t completed the adoption process, but they’re one step closer, so keep praying. You have no idea how happy Mike’s family was to have her safely here. She’s been malnourished, so it was a pleasure to watch her eat… and eat… and eat as though she’d never seen food before in her life. She’s absolutely precious. Keep praying that God has favor on Mike’s family and that they’ll be able to take her back to the states.
Will keep you all updated,
- Pablo
First of all, I’ve been cleaning out the outside bodega (storage shed) at the church. The bodega is where we store a lot of excess construction materials, tiles, etc. I’ve been doing this in preparation for laying some cement, because the dirt floor lets water in, and ruins the supplies. In addition, the bodega has become the home of countless spiders and insects. On top of that, I disturbed one rat’s nest (which I cleared out) and ended up running into three scorpions of various sizes. Miraculously, I cleared the whole thing without getting stung, bitten, cut, or eaten.
Why am I doing all this heavy labor? Forgive me if I’ve explained it already, but the entire church building has been left a mess. Now that we are appointing elders to leave the church, we’re serving them by putting the entire church building in order, from top to bottom. All three of them have families and jobs, so it would be impossible for them to take the time to renovate everything. Enter the Americans. We have plenty of time, so we’ve been using it to do all this work in an effort to wash these guys’ feet before they take over the church leadership.
So while I’ve been battling scorpions, we’ve been dealing with power outages. The worst one yet lasted from early early Monday morning until 10 AM Tuesday. Our first hint that the power was out was when we all woke drenched in pools of our own sweat. Without fans to cool us, it’s extremely difficult to sleep. So we went the day without power. Meanwhile, I started feeling sick. By the time night fell around us and we were all preparing for sleep, I threw up most of my dinner. And it gets better. I’m finally feeling a little better as I crawl into bed when I notice someone outside on our front porch. I figure it’s Mike (the missionary) so I ask, “Who’s there?”
I got no response. And a second later, they threw a little plastic chair across the porch. So now I’m spooked. I go into Mike and his family’s living quarters and Mike’s not in his bed. So I say, “Ahh, it really just was Mike.”
I’m getting ready for bed when Mike pops in my room and asks, “Did you hear that?”
“Great,” I say to myself.
So we all grabbed the heaviest sticks we could, and searched the front porch, fully ready to defend against whoever’s snooping about our home. Meanwhile, the dogs all around are barking up a storm. We stayed up for an hour or two, and finally, after things settled down, we went inside to sleep again. So as a natural response to the excitement, I threw up again.
Thankfully, I’m feeling better now, but I have to admit, I’m treating the night completely differently now.
Other than that, we’ve been engaging in continual ministry with the youth of the area, from the neighborhood children to the older kids that are at risk of falling into gangs. We’re going to take them all on a trip to climb a local mountain, which most of them have never done. They’re excited about it, and it’ll be a good time for them to bond with both us and more importantly, the elders. Pray that we’ll have a good impact on them then. And while you’re at it, pray I don’t injure myself on the mountain. I’ve got a nasty track record of injuries here in El Salvador.
The last bit of news I’ll share is the best news I’ve had the privilege of sharing since we got here. The El Salvadorian government has finally agreed to release Sofia into Mike’s custody. Just to remind you, Sofia is the orphan with HIV that Mike and his family fell in love with and started to adopt almost three years ago. They still haven’t completed the adoption process, but they’re one step closer, so keep praying. You have no idea how happy Mike’s family was to have her safely here. She’s been malnourished, so it was a pleasure to watch her eat… and eat… and eat as though she’d never seen food before in her life. She’s absolutely precious. Keep praying that God has favor on Mike’s family and that they’ll be able to take her back to the states.
Will keep you all updated,
- Pablo
Monday, June 16, 2008
Honduras
Days in El Salvador seem long. Really long. It´s not bad, just an observation. In fact, it relaxes me to know that there is so much time in a day. Every week feels like two.
Well, if days are long in El Salvador... they´re even longer in Honduras. Our weekend there felt like a week. The journey over is beautiful, through mountains and wide spreading countryside. The air turns cooler as we get higher up, and instead of the murderous heat, there´s a nice mild temperature and beautiful breezes.
The town we visit is high on a mountain, and the journey to the nearest town takes us on a beautiful paved road (which is slowly washing out) that overlooks a valley. Now THAT´s a sight in the morning.
So we visited, and found our brothers and sisters in the Lord doing quite well there. Marvin, a new brother in christ (only 10 months old in the faith) greeted us warmly. He´s 27, and he and his wife, Daisy just had their fourth child, a beautiful little girl.
Yet things are not all well. Villagers continue to be threated with fines and fees if they´re caught attending church. But in spite of their difficulties, the church has grown to about 16 to 20 members in only a year. Their prayer and worship is a beautiful time. And despite the persecution and hardship from hard work or bad health, they´re not only surviving, they´re thriving.
That´s why James writes that we should count it all joy whenever we face trials and persection... because the trying of our faith produces perseverance.
On Saturday, we held a morning seminar where we covered some biblical truths. Mike covered sessions on Jonah and how to please God, and I had the privlage of teaching on Luke 6:27, loving your enemies. They drank in every word, eager to learn.
Then in the afternoon, I was able to go to the market in the local city with Antonio and Laticia, as they shared the gospel with many there.
Finally, we visited Oscar and Valentina´s house. Oscar is a dear brother in the Lord who lost an eye and nearly all his sight when he had a brain tumor. He knows Mike from Mike´s time teaching english in the states. So here he was, young in the faith, and eager to bring the gospel back to his homeland when he´s struck down with a tumor, leaving him nearly helpless. He has no sense of balance and is unable to work, but he remains strangely joyful.
The quesion I have to ask myself is... would I be so joyful if such a thing happened to me? Would I make the most of my time? Am I making the most of my fully functional body now?
In any case, pray for Oscar and his family. Not a month beofore, a man was stabbed six times with a machete on his street because he was a Christian. He´s naturally somewhat fearful for his family, so pray that the Lord would protect them.
In any case, I look forward to telling you more about the mission there, but my time here is short. So next... my battles with scorpions!
Grace and peace,
- Pablo
Here´s a photo of the brothers and sisters in Honduras.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
The Elders
So, brothers and sisters, the work continues. The past two weeks have no doubt been blessed, but they've also been frustrations.
First of all some of the good. The Church at La Esperanza's transition period has been hard for the people attending. The first week after the pastor's absence, there were few people in attendance. However, God's chruch is not built by men, nor is it kept by men. If God wants La Esperanza to prosper, it will do so despite the leadership change. And indeed it has. This past Sunday, many of the people who were worried about the church returned.
Alex, a local and one of the elders in training, gave an amazing sermon on what Christ accomplished on the cross. The service ran smoothly, and no, the sky isn't falling here. So be encouraged. The Lord is continuing his work.
Much of our time here is spent in training the elders to take over the church leadership when we have to return to the states. It's encouraging to see them talking and debating over spiritual matters. They are serious about their calling, which is encouraging, because Paul wrote Timothy: "If anyone sets his heart on being an elder, he desires a noble task."
There are three elders in training, all three good men worth their salt:
- Alex is the man who first received the gospel in the United States.
He took it back to El Salvador and is the main reason we are here. He's a good man, a hard worker, and a doctor. God is using him in many ways here, and many of his co-workers have come to faith.
- Eduardo is a younger man who works in the local hopsital. His family is quite well off here (which is nothing compared to the states), but he and his family are also very generous people. The joy of the Lord is quite clear in his life.
- Renee is the oldest of the three. I don't know as much about him, but he seems serious about his faith, and wears a smile continually.
These three men will govern the church, shepherd its people, and preach the word. Please be praying for them, as I care for them all dearly. They are all three very busy men with families and jobs, so pray that God will give them the wisdom to balance their family and the Lord's work here. Pray that God will turn them into the men they need to be to lead this church.
As for my time here, I've spent much of it ordering La Esperanza. It's fallen into disrepair over the past few years, and we don't want to leave the elders with a mess. So in order to serve them, we've been cleaning and organizing the whole church property, a massive project. No doubt, we've braved scorpions, unbelievable heat, and fire ants, but we're making progress. (And yes, as a wonderful surprise, they DO have fire ants down here)
Yet it's been discouraging somewhat. Even though Mike and his wife, Sandy have legal guardianship over the orphan they're adopting, the organization in charge of the orphans has refused time and time again to give them custody. It's ridiculous. They sit in air conditioned offices with all the latest equipment, and the orphans in their "care" are suffering from malnutrition. And even with all their job perks (air conditioning is a HUGE perk here, believe me, I miss it every day), they refuse to help adopt a single orphan. You have no idea how angry this makes me, but we're stuck waiting for the Lord to act in our favor. So while Mike's been trying to sort this all out, a lot of the projects and things I've wanted to do while down here have had to go on hold, which is discouraging. And last but not least, I've been trying to remove viruses from the computer lab we've set up for the local children and pastors to use. Yes yes, I thought I'd escaped the evils of computing while I was in the third world... I was wrong. While we were away, someone accidentally loaded a virus onto them, so they're all infected. Worse yet, everything I've tried to disinfect them hasn't worked yet so far. When (or if) I get the lab working, we'll be able to use it to train the locals on computers, as a resource for kids to do research, and as a resource for pastors when they visit. Be praying that I don't get discouraged.
We're going to Honduras this weekend to visit the persecuted church plant there. Be praying friends!
So while I am somewhat discouraged, remember that the Lord is doing a great work here.
Things to pray for:
- The church to Grow
- The elders
- Sophia, the orphan that Mike and Sandy are trying to adopt.
- The demonic computer lab I'm trying to fix
In Christ,
- Pablo
First of all some of the good. The Church at La Esperanza's transition period has been hard for the people attending. The first week after the pastor's absence, there were few people in attendance. However, God's chruch is not built by men, nor is it kept by men. If God wants La Esperanza to prosper, it will do so despite the leadership change. And indeed it has. This past Sunday, many of the people who were worried about the church returned.
Alex, a local and one of the elders in training, gave an amazing sermon on what Christ accomplished on the cross. The service ran smoothly, and no, the sky isn't falling here. So be encouraged. The Lord is continuing his work.
Much of our time here is spent in training the elders to take over the church leadership when we have to return to the states. It's encouraging to see them talking and debating over spiritual matters. They are serious about their calling, which is encouraging, because Paul wrote Timothy: "If anyone sets his heart on being an elder, he desires a noble task."
There are three elders in training, all three good men worth their salt:
- Alex is the man who first received the gospel in the United States.
He took it back to El Salvador and is the main reason we are here. He's a good man, a hard worker, and a doctor. God is using him in many ways here, and many of his co-workers have come to faith.
- Eduardo is a younger man who works in the local hopsital. His family is quite well off here (which is nothing compared to the states), but he and his family are also very generous people. The joy of the Lord is quite clear in his life.
- Renee is the oldest of the three. I don't know as much about him, but he seems serious about his faith, and wears a smile continually.
These three men will govern the church, shepherd its people, and preach the word. Please be praying for them, as I care for them all dearly. They are all three very busy men with families and jobs, so pray that God will give them the wisdom to balance their family and the Lord's work here. Pray that God will turn them into the men they need to be to lead this church.
As for my time here, I've spent much of it ordering La Esperanza. It's fallen into disrepair over the past few years, and we don't want to leave the elders with a mess. So in order to serve them, we've been cleaning and organizing the whole church property, a massive project. No doubt, we've braved scorpions, unbelievable heat, and fire ants, but we're making progress. (And yes, as a wonderful surprise, they DO have fire ants down here)
Yet it's been discouraging somewhat. Even though Mike and his wife, Sandy have legal guardianship over the orphan they're adopting, the organization in charge of the orphans has refused time and time again to give them custody. It's ridiculous. They sit in air conditioned offices with all the latest equipment, and the orphans in their "care" are suffering from malnutrition. And even with all their job perks (air conditioning is a HUGE perk here, believe me, I miss it every day), they refuse to help adopt a single orphan. You have no idea how angry this makes me, but we're stuck waiting for the Lord to act in our favor. So while Mike's been trying to sort this all out, a lot of the projects and things I've wanted to do while down here have had to go on hold, which is discouraging. And last but not least, I've been trying to remove viruses from the computer lab we've set up for the local children and pastors to use. Yes yes, I thought I'd escaped the evils of computing while I was in the third world... I was wrong. While we were away, someone accidentally loaded a virus onto them, so they're all infected. Worse yet, everything I've tried to disinfect them hasn't worked yet so far. When (or if) I get the lab working, we'll be able to use it to train the locals on computers, as a resource for kids to do research, and as a resource for pastors when they visit. Be praying that I don't get discouraged.
We're going to Honduras this weekend to visit the persecuted church plant there. Be praying friends!
So while I am somewhat discouraged, remember that the Lord is doing a great work here.
Things to pray for:
- The church to Grow
- The elders
- Sophia, the orphan that Mike and Sandy are trying to adopt.
- The demonic computer lab I'm trying to fix
In Christ,
- Pablo
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Being American is Overrated
So the thing I didn´t mention in my last post a few seconds ago... was how we completely shot some poor kid´s view of ´rich´ Gringos.
See, we have this black truck... with oh about 50 million miles on it (378,000 to be exact). And we come driving up to this gas station when suddenly the driver´s door busts open and nearly smacks a passing car.
So Mike slams the door back and is holding it as we pull into the gas station. And the attendants are just standing there staring at us. The steering wheel is held together with bungee cords, and the door is hanging slightly ajar.
So we´re trying to figure out how to keep the door from opening on the 20 minute drive home, and we manage to find a tool box which is ALSO bungeed closed. We take the bungee cord from the tool box and start trying to bungee the door shut.
Meanwhile, this kid who is helping with our gas is just standing there with his jaw completely dropped.
Then once we jury rigged the bungee to go over the top of the door and hook in on Mike´s seat belt, he tries to get in and close the window completely. And he´s straining to get it closed, but the bungee is in the way.
The kid´s still staring at us.
Finally, we´re like ¨Mike, the bungee´s in the way.¨ He just kinda shook his head as we drove off. Surreal.
The kid must be thinking, ¨Man if this is what it´s like to be an American, I NEVER want to go to America.¨
Hopefully that was funny, but seriously, we need a new truck.
See, we have this black truck... with oh about 50 million miles on it (378,000 to be exact). And we come driving up to this gas station when suddenly the driver´s door busts open and nearly smacks a passing car.
So Mike slams the door back and is holding it as we pull into the gas station. And the attendants are just standing there staring at us. The steering wheel is held together with bungee cords, and the door is hanging slightly ajar.
So we´re trying to figure out how to keep the door from opening on the 20 minute drive home, and we manage to find a tool box which is ALSO bungeed closed. We take the bungee cord from the tool box and start trying to bungee the door shut.
Meanwhile, this kid who is helping with our gas is just standing there with his jaw completely dropped.
Then once we jury rigged the bungee to go over the top of the door and hook in on Mike´s seat belt, he tries to get in and close the window completely. And he´s straining to get it closed, but the bungee is in the way.
The kid´s still staring at us.
Finally, we´re like ¨Mike, the bungee´s in the way.¨ He just kinda shook his head as we drove off. Surreal.
The kid must be thinking, ¨Man if this is what it´s like to be an American, I NEVER want to go to America.¨
Hopefully that was funny, but seriously, we need a new truck.
The First Week
Everyone, thank you so much for your prayers.
I´m currently writing you all from an internet cafe in El Salvador in the local village.
Things have been interesting this week. God called the pastor of La Esperanza (the church we´re with) on to a new church in a nearby city, so we´re in a transition period for the church.
Since new Elders for the church havn´t been appointed yet, the task of running the church and keeping everything in order has temporarially fallen on us, the gringos. So we´re cleaning and organizing the place, which has been a lot of work. I was in a small dark cabinet area cleaning every object out... with my bare hands. Of course, this is no problem in the states, but here in El Salvador? My prayer was: Yea though I climb through the valley of scorpions, I will fear no sting.
I´ve gotten quite used to the idea that this is my home surprisingly quickly. I credit God to that, because as a friend of mine pointed out, ¨Man, we really put up with things here that we wouldn´t in America.¨
For example, things like having bugs in our room constantly, no air conditioning, and always having that sneaking suspicion that when you step out of your bed at night, you´ll land on an angry scorpion.
And oddly enough, despite the cleaning and everything we havn´t seen a scorpion yet. I´m betting they´re just waiting to surprise welcome us...
Thankfully, from the moment we arrived until today, it´s rained nearly every day, which means that the normally murderous temperatures have been much more mild. Still, it´s gotten almost comical, ¨Hey guys! MORE rain. Who would have thought?¨
On Friday, we visited an orphanage and played with the kids for some time. They are so attention starved that we hardly get a moment to catch our breath. Mike, the missionary says they have ADD (AFFECTION Deficit Disorder). I´m confident that places like that are the places Jesus has called us to. The orphans have no hope apart from Him, so we´re more than happy to go and get exhausted and dirty playing with and showing orphans love.
Mike is adopting a young orphan girl named Sophia from the orphanage there, and he hopes to take her home by the end of the summer, but things aren´t working out with the officials, and it looks like he might have to wait another 6 months. Please be praying for the adoption process. It´s already been two years since they started. She is HIV positive, so the sooner they can get her to the states, the better her condition.
The elders we´re training are hungry to learn more about their Biblical role. We had a meeting this past monday, and at the end, we asked them when they could meet again, thinking it would be at least a week. They talked amongst themselves for a few minutes, then told us that they were expecting to meet every Monday, Friday, and Saturday. Mike and I just looked at each other, shocked.
Their enthusiasm for the gospel and for the work of God is amazing! Their lives are already busy and difficult with work, family, and helping with the church, yet they´re putting aside three evenings a week so that they can serve the Lord. Pray for these men!
Their names are Eduardo, Renee, and Alex. There are two others who may be joining.
In any case, I´ve rambled far enough. Thanks so much for your prayers. Be encouraged, the Lord is working in my life and the lives of the people here.
Keep seeking and serving Him
I´m currently writing you all from an internet cafe in El Salvador in the local village.
Things have been interesting this week. God called the pastor of La Esperanza (the church we´re with) on to a new church in a nearby city, so we´re in a transition period for the church.
Since new Elders for the church havn´t been appointed yet, the task of running the church and keeping everything in order has temporarially fallen on us, the gringos. So we´re cleaning and organizing the place, which has been a lot of work. I was in a small dark cabinet area cleaning every object out... with my bare hands. Of course, this is no problem in the states, but here in El Salvador? My prayer was: Yea though I climb through the valley of scorpions, I will fear no sting.
I´ve gotten quite used to the idea that this is my home surprisingly quickly. I credit God to that, because as a friend of mine pointed out, ¨Man, we really put up with things here that we wouldn´t in America.¨
For example, things like having bugs in our room constantly, no air conditioning, and always having that sneaking suspicion that when you step out of your bed at night, you´ll land on an angry scorpion.
And oddly enough, despite the cleaning and everything we havn´t seen a scorpion yet. I´m betting they´re just waiting to surprise welcome us...
Thankfully, from the moment we arrived until today, it´s rained nearly every day, which means that the normally murderous temperatures have been much more mild. Still, it´s gotten almost comical, ¨Hey guys! MORE rain. Who would have thought?¨
On Friday, we visited an orphanage and played with the kids for some time. They are so attention starved that we hardly get a moment to catch our breath. Mike, the missionary says they have ADD (AFFECTION Deficit Disorder). I´m confident that places like that are the places Jesus has called us to. The orphans have no hope apart from Him, so we´re more than happy to go and get exhausted and dirty playing with and showing orphans love.
Mike is adopting a young orphan girl named Sophia from the orphanage there, and he hopes to take her home by the end of the summer, but things aren´t working out with the officials, and it looks like he might have to wait another 6 months. Please be praying for the adoption process. It´s already been two years since they started. She is HIV positive, so the sooner they can get her to the states, the better her condition.
The elders we´re training are hungry to learn more about their Biblical role. We had a meeting this past monday, and at the end, we asked them when they could meet again, thinking it would be at least a week. They talked amongst themselves for a few minutes, then told us that they were expecting to meet every Monday, Friday, and Saturday. Mike and I just looked at each other, shocked.
Their enthusiasm for the gospel and for the work of God is amazing! Their lives are already busy and difficult with work, family, and helping with the church, yet they´re putting aside three evenings a week so that they can serve the Lord. Pray for these men!
Their names are Eduardo, Renee, and Alex. There are two others who may be joining.
In any case, I´ve rambled far enough. Thanks so much for your prayers. Be encouraged, the Lord is working in my life and the lives of the people here.
Keep seeking and serving Him
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