Iglesia Gran Comision San Salvador and the staff of the church everyday publish a devotional on a specific Bible verse. They have been wonderful and so encouraging. Last week Sarah who is on staff here and is also the other missionary from the States here wrote an excellent devocional on waiting for the Lord to answer our prayers.
In the devotional she talks about how we all want God to answer our prayers or we are waiting on him for an answer. God answers our prayers if they are in line with will and God usually gives one of three answers, yes, no or wait. She talks about how the most difficult response is wait and I totally agree with her, I would rather God say yes or no than wait. Over the past couple years I've had to learn to wait for God to respond to some of my prayers but He has told me to wait and I really don't like waiting and most of the time I dread the time spent waiting. In this devotional Sarah talks about how God uses this time of waiting for our good and that we should enjoy this week time of waiting. It was such a good reminder that sometimes waiting is the best thing for us even when we want a answer right away and how we should not be upset and say God's not answering my prayers but instead we should enjoy this sweet time of waiting on the Lord...La Dulce Espera.
For those of you who can speak Spanish below is the link to the devocional.
http://lecturadevocional.com/2012/01/14/la-dulce-esperaisaias-4031/
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Saturday, January 21, 2012
One Thing Remains
I've had this song on repeat all week. It's been so reassuring that the LORD is always there. I especially love the verse where it says "Higher than the mountains that I face,Stronger than the power of the grave, Constant in the trial and the change, One thing... Remains" Sometimes I just need that reminder that through everything that I go through, he is constant through trails and changes!
On the other hand I have to say that sometimes its just the small things in life that make me smile...this week Lesley sent me some more sweatshirts for the children that didn't receive one during our Christmas celebration and with that she sent bubble wrap. I love bubble wrap!! I know it may be a bit strange but I got really excited when I saw it :)
On the other hand I have to say that sometimes its just the small things in life that make me smile...this week Lesley sent me some more sweatshirts for the children that didn't receive one during our Christmas celebration and with that she sent bubble wrap. I love bubble wrap!! I know it may be a bit strange but I got really excited when I saw it :)
Monday, January 16, 2012
Bring me Back
"Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;therefore I will wait for him.”- Lamentations 3:21-24
I've been meditating on this verse over the past week or so and God has been just speaking to me so much. I also came across this new Steele Croswhite song and I've had it on repeat pretty much all week, it's called me Bring Me Back and I love it and I hope you enjoy it too!
I've been meditating on this verse over the past week or so and God has been just speaking to me so much. I also came across this new Steele Croswhite song and I've had it on repeat pretty much all week, it's called me Bring Me Back and I love it and I hope you enjoy it too!
Thursday, January 12, 2012
The Start of 2012
It's been a little while since I have I last blogged, things have been a bit busy here. We have been doing lots of planning for 2012 and getting more sponsors for the children at the center as well as celebrating the New Year here in El Salvador.
On December 30th we took the children of the Center on a hike up to El Boqueron national park. The park is actually located on the volcan where El Guayabo is located. Inside this park is where the crater of the volcano is located. We started our hike out at the Center and hiked all the way up to the park, which took about 45min. Once we got to the park we headed up to see the crater. It was pretty cool to see, the crater is located in a valley type area. They said that you can actually hike down to the crater, but it's dangerous and lot of people get lost, so we stuck with viewing it from above. It was a great site to see and the view of San Salvador and the surrounding areas were beautiful. It was also a great little field trip for the children of the Center, because although this park is located on the volcano many of them had never been to this park, because it costs money to enter (a sweet God thing was that we were able to get everyone into the park for free because Silvia and I simply went a few days before to the office and asked if they would give us free admission and they did, it was sweet!!).
View of the crater of the volcano.
Margarita and Claudia in front of the crater viewing area.
Some of the Children and I at the small museum at the El Boqueron national park.
The view from El Boqueron national park. You can see the city of San Salvador and another volcano( I forgot the name of the volcano) Beautiful view of God's amazing creation!!
Hiking up to El Boqueron National Park.
The other big thing that I have been working on is getting children from the Center sponsored by people and planning things for the Center in 2012.We need sponsors for the children bcause we as an organization are not able to provide all these services on our own and we want to offer them for free to the people of Guayabo in order to bless them and build relationships with them and share the Gospel with them. My hope and desire is that soon we will have close to 80 children in the center and be able to plant a church up in Guayabo. I am really excited about what God is going to do here in Guayabo in 2012, He is up to something big and I am so thankful that I get to be part of His plan to draw the people of Guayabo to Himself!!
On December 30th we took the children of the Center on a hike up to El Boqueron national park. The park is actually located on the volcan where El Guayabo is located. Inside this park is where the crater of the volcano is located. We started our hike out at the Center and hiked all the way up to the park, which took about 45min. Once we got to the park we headed up to see the crater. It was pretty cool to see, the crater is located in a valley type area. They said that you can actually hike down to the crater, but it's dangerous and lot of people get lost, so we stuck with viewing it from above. It was a great site to see and the view of San Salvador and the surrounding areas were beautiful. It was also a great little field trip for the children of the Center, because although this park is located on the volcano many of them had never been to this park, because it costs money to enter (a sweet God thing was that we were able to get everyone into the park for free because Silvia and I simply went a few days before to the office and asked if they would give us free admission and they did, it was sweet!!).
View of the crater of the volcano.
Margarita and Claudia in front of the crater viewing area.
Some of the Children and I at the small museum at the El Boqueron national park.
The view from El Boqueron national park. You can see the city of San Salvador and another volcano( I forgot the name of the volcano) Beautiful view of God's amazing creation!!
Hiking up to El Boqueron National Park.The other big thing that I have been working on is getting children from the Center sponsored by people and planning things for the Center in 2012.We need sponsors for the children bcause we as an organization are not able to provide all these services on our own and we want to offer them for free to the people of Guayabo in order to bless them and build relationships with them and share the Gospel with them. My hope and desire is that soon we will have close to 80 children in the center and be able to plant a church up in Guayabo. I am really excited about what God is going to do here in Guayabo in 2012, He is up to something big and I am so thankful that I get to be part of His plan to draw the people of Guayabo to Himself!!
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Christmas in Guayabo
Last week we had our celebration in Guayabo, sorry I had forgot to post about it until now, but it was such a blessing. Words can not describe what a blessing it was to be able to bless these children and really make their Christmas. It was filled with so many blessings from the Lord. First, Lesley E. from Stonebrook (my home church) sent 32 sweatshirts for the children at the center, this was such a blessing to these children who don't really have more than one outfit and most of the time don't have a sweatshirt. so we were able to bless the children of the center so they won't be cold. I know that getting a sweatshirt may not seem like much but to these children it means so much because they have so little. They loved the sweatshirts, so a huge thank you goes out to Lesley! Here are some of the children with their new sweatshirts! :)
We also had some fun with games and pinatas. They children love pinatas! However, I learned that they can be dangerous, especially once the pinata falls/breaks and the candy falls out because it's literally a free for all. We had lots of fun and all the children had a chance to hit the pinata. I think the funniest part was with the second pinata, I was in control of moving the pinata up and down when the children were going to hit it, but toward the end I pulled a bit too hard and I broke the rope that was holding the pinata and the pinata crashed to the floor, it was quite hilarious (you had to be there to really get it) so after I had to get the pinata because it didn't break open but that was a task in its self but I got it and was able to rip it open so all the children could get the candy. It was great fun and a grand adventure.
Jorge and Mimi teaching the children the Hokey Pokey :)
Fun with the pinata! :)
Josi playing a game with the kids before pinata time.
The children taking there shot at hitting the pinata.
We were also able to give the children in addition to the sweatshirts a gift that had things in it that ranged from toys to notebooks to candy. This was a complete blessing from the Lord, because the day before the celebration we didn't think that we would be able to give toys to the children because we didn't have enough. However, God came through in a big way, Jorge called Silvia and asked if we still needed gifts for the celebration and she said yes and Jorge was able to get more than enough boxed gifts(this operation Christmas Child gift boxes) so that we could give to the children. It was such a blessing to give them to the children and the smiles on their faces were priceless! We were able to give these children a great Christmas were most of them would not have gotten anything. I can say what a blessing it was to be able to bless these children all for the glory of God! I am SO thankful that I was able to be a part of the celebration and able to be a blessing in the lives of these children.
Here are a few pics of the children:
We also had some fun with games and pinatas. They children love pinatas! However, I learned that they can be dangerous, especially once the pinata falls/breaks and the candy falls out because it's literally a free for all. We had lots of fun and all the children had a chance to hit the pinata. I think the funniest part was with the second pinata, I was in control of moving the pinata up and down when the children were going to hit it, but toward the end I pulled a bit too hard and I broke the rope that was holding the pinata and the pinata crashed to the floor, it was quite hilarious (you had to be there to really get it) so after I had to get the pinata because it didn't break open but that was a task in its self but I got it and was able to rip it open so all the children could get the candy. It was great fun and a grand adventure.
Jorge and Mimi teaching the children the Hokey Pokey :)
Fun with the pinata! :)
Josi playing a game with the kids before pinata time.
The children taking there shot at hitting the pinata.We were also able to give the children in addition to the sweatshirts a gift that had things in it that ranged from toys to notebooks to candy. This was a complete blessing from the Lord, because the day before the celebration we didn't think that we would be able to give toys to the children because we didn't have enough. However, God came through in a big way, Jorge called Silvia and asked if we still needed gifts for the celebration and she said yes and Jorge was able to get more than enough boxed gifts(this operation Christmas Child gift boxes) so that we could give to the children. It was such a blessing to give them to the children and the smiles on their faces were priceless! We were able to give these children a great Christmas were most of them would not have gotten anything. I can say what a blessing it was to be able to bless these children all for the glory of God! I am SO thankful that I was able to be a part of the celebration and able to be a blessing in the lives of these children.
Here are a few pics of the children:
Christmas
So our Christmas here in El Salvador turned out to be pretty cool. I have to admit that El Salvadoreans really know how to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Like I mentioned before, one Christmas Eve we went over to a friends house at like 11pm and then before midnight set off fireworks and then at exactly midnight the sky was lit up with tons of fireworks (think fourth of July fireworks multipied by 10) it was really cool, because who doesn't like fireworks ;)After we gave everyone a hug and said Merry Christmas and went inside to eat dinner. They had made a huge dinner with turkey and ham, rice, bread and other stuff so it was great. We didn't get back to the house till like 2am and I didn't go to sleep till like 2:30am and that is considered early for a Christmas celebration, mone of my friends here was up till 6:30am. As a result of staying up so late everyone sleeps in on Christmas day.We just chilled and hung out on Christmas day until we went to Church in the late afternoon. Overall, it was a good Christmas.A fellow missionary wrote this on her Facebook wall and I think it sums up what I have felt this Christmas: "This Christmas has been my first away from home - what I've learned, the true joy of Christmas (Jesus' incarnation) dwells in the heart of a believer no matter what the temperature, the traditions, or the people you share it with. Thank you Father for the ultimate gift."
Saturday, December 24, 2011
It's Christmas?
Today is Christmas Eve, but I have to admit to you that it doesn't feel like Christmas time at all. I think part of it is that one I'm not with my family and second there is no snow and it's like 80 degrees outside. They celebrate a little bit different here in El Salvador. Tonight is the big time when they celebrate. They celebrate at midnight tonight (yes, it is going to be a very long night, but have no fear I just drank some coffee so I should be able to stay up). We are going over to someones house and we will celebrate with them and eat with them and then everyone around the country will set off tons of fireworks. I really don't know what to expect on how long this will go on but I will have to wait and see. Tomorrow they really don't do much because they are up so late, so we will sleep in and then late afternoon we will go to Church.
Today has been a bit difficult for me to be honest actually this whole week has been a bit difficult because I am really homesick and wish that I could be with my family during Christmas. Don't get me wrong I totally believe that God wants me here in El Salvador and even during this time I just miss my family, because it's my first Christmas away from home. This morning we went to La Libertad to visit some of Victor's family, we didn't stay very long just ate lunch and then headed back to San Salvador, but I did get to see the ocean. Normally, most people can't tell when I am sad and such because I just don't show it and I can be very hard to read but apprently today was different because I keep being asked "are you sad?, do you miss your family?". I'm excited to experience Christmas in a new culture and with different ways of celebrating but at the same time I am missing my family and friends back home.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas where ever you are and I pray that it is a time filled with blessing and rejoicing in the day when our Savior was born.
Winter Snow has become one of my favorite Christmas Songs, hope you enjoy!
Today has been a bit difficult for me to be honest actually this whole week has been a bit difficult because I am really homesick and wish that I could be with my family during Christmas. Don't get me wrong I totally believe that God wants me here in El Salvador and even during this time I just miss my family, because it's my first Christmas away from home. This morning we went to La Libertad to visit some of Victor's family, we didn't stay very long just ate lunch and then headed back to San Salvador, but I did get to see the ocean. Normally, most people can't tell when I am sad and such because I just don't show it and I can be very hard to read but apprently today was different because I keep being asked "are you sad?, do you miss your family?". I'm excited to experience Christmas in a new culture and with different ways of celebrating but at the same time I am missing my family and friends back home.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas where ever you are and I pray that it is a time filled with blessing and rejoicing in the day when our Savior was born.
Winter Snow has become one of my favorite Christmas Songs, hope you enjoy!
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