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:

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."

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!

God has always got our back

I have a great God story that happened tonight and it shows me once again that God is ALWAYS watching over us! Tonight I went with Jorge, Sarah and Sofi to Las Bambas in Santa Tecla, which was having it's grand opening tonight and Jorge's dad was singing at the place. Las Bambas is located on the street called El paseo del Carmen and it has become a hotspot in Santa Tecla, there is great places to eat and live music and such. There were a ton of people there and they have the street closed off so everyone is just walking around. It has a really neat atmosphere and it has people of all ages.

Now back to the awesome story about our God. So we arrived and we parked the car and such and walked like 5 blocks to Las Bambas. Once we arrived we talked for a while and then we ordered food which was actually pretty good and it was just a great time spent with great friends!! :) Then since it was getting late and Sofi was getting a bit cold, we said goodbye to Jorge's dad and then headed back to the car. Once we got the car, that's when we got a little worried, Jorge couldn't find the keys and then at that moment I remembered that the last time I saw them was when we put them on the trunk in order to close it and put Sofi in here carrier thing and that's when we started to worry a bit ( Sarah and I were saying if somebody did take them why didn't they steal the car, so we weren't sure if we had really left them there.) So we continued to look through all of the diaper bag and everything and then the security guard who was patroling the super busy street came up to us and was like you left your keys on your trunk and I picked them up to keep them safe and he handed us the keys to the car! Wow, was all that I could say, God was for sure watching out for us, because if that security guard hadn't taken the keys the car most likely would have been stolen! It was such a blessing that God placed that security guard there that night, because I truly mean that this place had lots of people walking around and anyone could have easily taken the keys. Thank you Lord!

Another thing that was cool to see was that when we offered him money for protecting the keys/cars he decline and said that he was here to serve us (for those of you who don't know in situations like this you almost always offer money and nobody ever turns down money). So tonight, I am just super thankful that God watched over us tonight!

What a day

Today is one of those days where all I can do is laugh at how the day has unfolded. It started off one of those days where I couldn't sleep at all, but suprisingly I was actually awake, Thank you Lord! Then we were off to church and it was such a great time and we sang one of my favorite songs in Spanish "Desde mi interior" (The song "From the inside out" in English). I don't know what it is about that song but God speaks to me so much through this song. Then a bunch of us went out to lunch at a Chinese resterant and it was a great time and I enjoyed it so much! After that is when the excitment happened...once we got back to the house I needed to get something out of my room, so I went to go into my room and the door wouldn't open, we tried and tried but it wouldn't open. So lucky Carlos Cordova was at the house for a meeting with Victor and he came over and was trying to open the door and finally he got a knife and was using the knife to try and open it, finally he got it open. However, that was not the end of this, he wanted to see what was wrong with the door handle that caused it to not open, so he went into my room and shut the door (that was not a good idea) and then we couldn't get him out because the door wouldn't open again! We all started to just laugh, because honestly it was hilarious, but then we had to figure out how to get Carlos out and take not my room here is really small so there isn't a lot of room to move around. It took a long time and practically breaking down my door but we finally got the door to open back up. It was quite the adventure but I can tell you that I won't be closing my door anytime soon because I am scared that I will get locked in my room and although that though is quite funny I wouldn't like to be locked in my own room with no way out. To say the least it has been a crazy day and the day in not even over! I do just thank the Lord that he knows how to make me laugh, espcially in a situation and day that could have easily became super stressful, so I am super thankful for that and sometimes you just have to laugh at the things that happen in life and this was one of them.


On a completely opposite note that really doesn't have a lot to do with the rest of this post but alas I want to let you guys know about it. On Friday night we had our Christmas dinner for La Red. It was great, only a few people made it but it was still great and I enjoyed being with some people who are my age. It was also awesome because I got to see Sophie (Sarah and Jorge's little girl) and she is adorable!! I also have to say that I love that Sarah is back in ES because she is awesome and it's nice to have another person from the US so if cultural differences or things that I don't understand in Spanish she has that experience.

Giving Thanks

Today is Thanksgiving but it sure doesn't feel like it but that is because they don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in El Salvador.I have to admit that the day was a bit strange for me, but I thoughly enjoyed it. I work up at 5:30am this morning just like I do every other weekday to get ready to go to up to Guayabo, normally on Thanksgiving I sleep in a lot. I spent my whole day getting to work up in Guayabo and it was such a wonderful time and I am so thankful for the time I get to spend up in Guayabo.

I have to admit that I really missed my family and friends today. I miss the part about Thanksgiving that brings people together to just share what God has done in our lives in the past year. I did get to celebrate a little bit today, because the Turcios family wanted to celebrate and so we had a little bit of foods that you eat at Thanksgiving for dinner and on Saturday we are going to make Pumpkin Pie because I brought stuff for it when I was in the States (I'm excited for this because Pumpkin Pie is one of my favs).

I have to say that this year I have a lot to be thankful for, even though A LOT has changed since last Thanksgiving, I can't thank God enough for what he has done in my life. I thank God for his steadfast and unfailing love, I thank him that he has taken care of me and through every situation he has been with me. I thank God that he has brought me to El Salvador and for the friends and family that I have made here. I'm also so thankful for my friends and family back home, I love them and miss them so much!! I can't thank God enough for what he is doing in my life and that I get to serve him here in El Salvador!

My God has blessed me beyond measure and so as this Thanksgiving comes to a close, I just thank God that he saved me and redeemed me from my sin. I also love the fact that giving thanks is something that we should do everyday, not just on the holiday. Thank you for taking the time to read this! I love you all and I hope that you have all had a very blessed Thanksgiving!!

Trip back to the States

Hey All! I am now back here in El Salvador. I had a wonderful time in the States. I have to admit that all the things I had wanted to do I wasn't able to accomplish, but God for sure blessed my time at home. I got to spend a lot of time with my family and just hang out with them and that was so refreshing and enjoyable. I have missed my family quite a bit, especially my nieces and nephews. I wasn't able to visit my friends in Ames, because my car wouldn't start so that kind of dashed a big chunk of my plans for my trip back home, but like I said it was stil a great time.

I got to MN late on November 5th and when I came out of the airport, my niece Evie (who is almost 9 months) stopped crying and gave me this huge smile it was adorable and was the best welcome home I could have recieved. Then we went over to my sister's house to celebrate my mom's birthday the next day, when I walked in the door my nephew, Cyrus, was so excited to see his auntie. It was like I had never left and we continued to play all sorts of games and such like we would before I left. I know this seems like something very simple but I think that one of my biggest fears when leaving for El Salvador was that I was leaving my nieces and nephews and that they would not really understand why I was leaving them. I praise God that although my plans for my ten days didn't quite work out I got spend a lot of time with them.

I spent most of my time during the week actually still working on things for the Community Center, because somethings with the website still needed to be worked on. I also got my fingerprints done again and sent them off to the FBI, so hopefully they will get processed correctly this time. I also got to have two of the things that I miss most from the US, Caribou Coffee (although ES coffee is still better, I just love Caribou Coffe) and Macaroni and Cheese from Noodles and Company! These were for sure treats of being back in the States and I even got to see some light snow fall, I was hoping for at least an inch but never the less I got some snow. I am really going to miss the snow, this year, especially around Christmas time, because I have never had a Christmas without snow.

On the Saturday before I returned here to ES, my niece had her birthday party. She had her birthday party at a place called Adventure Park, it is this huge playplace ( imagine the playplaces in McDonalds or Burger King on Seriods). It was great and since my nephew is still to small to climb through the things by himself, I was his partner and we crawled all over that thing and it was a blast, but I do have to admit that one it was almost more of a workout than going for my run and my knees hurt so much after that from crawling through all those plastic tubes (note to self bring knee pads the next time lol).

Overall, it was such a wonderful time and I am so thankful that I got a chance to see my family again, I have missed them! I do admit thought that I missed being in ES so much and was ready to come back. I do truly believe the statement a friend told me once, no matter if you are in the US or in ES you are always going to miss people from the other country. Well, that's about it, thank you for all your prayers for my time in the US, I really enjoyed it!

Life is a Pair O' Ducks

Hey all! I am sitting writing this when I really should be asleep since I have to get up in a few hours to head to the airport but I can't sleep so I thought I would share a few quick thoughts.

I can not count the number of times I have applied or used things that I learned at SPLICE. It was such a blessing to be equiped with cultural things as well as everyday life things that I really didn't even think to think of. One of the biggest things is the yay duck and yuck duck, this has been so amazing to have and I praise God that they talked about this because it helps put into words a little bit more about how to describe situations in life.

As I sit here, I am for sure experiencing a big Yay/Yuck duck moment. I am excited to be going back to the States, because I miss my family and I can't wait to see them, especially my nieces and my nephew. I am also super excited to see my friends, because I miss them so much also. However, at the same time I am sad to be leaving El Salvador, even if its only for ten days, I can say that I actually feel at home here. The people here have become like my new family and the children in Guayabo, I just love those children and not to see them for ten days is going to be hard. I can't describe or put into words how much the Lord has taught me and how much He has blessed me since I came here. I also can't tell you or thank the Lord enough for the Turcios family, they are amazing. They have not only welcomed me into their home but they treat me as if I was always a member of their family. It has been a true blessing. The past couple days I've been reminded of the fact that life is a pair of ducks there are moments that are exciting and sad at the same time. I've learned that I am going to miss people where ever I am, when I am in the States I miss people from El Salvador, SPLICE, etc and when I am in El Salvador, I miss the people in the States. It's for sure a paradox but that makes me all the more excited for when we get to Heaven. Then we will all be in the same place at the same time and we can all hang out together for eternity!!! :)

I just praise God for all that he has done and all that He will do!! To Him be the glory!!

My next post will be from the States, please pray for safe travels! Adios!

What's Up

As I sit here writing this after a relaxing day here in El Salvador, I still can't believe that at this time tomorrow I will be back at my parent's house in Minnesota. This comes with both excitment and sadness...it's for sure a yay and yuck duck situation. I am so excited to see my family and friends, especially my nieces an my nephew, but at the same time I don't want to leave ES, I truly feel that I am finally feeling really at home here. I love that I have the opportunity to share Christ with the children up in Guayabo. The children in Guayabo are becoming like my little brothers and sisters and I just love them so much and pray that they would come to know the Lord.

I will be back in the States from Nov. 5th to Nov. 15th. I will be spending most of my time up in MN with my family but I am also planning a trip down to Ames to see my friends there. I do have to say that God totally provided and blessed when I went to purchase my plane ticket for this trip, normally the prices for flights from ES to MN are usually the same but the day that I went to buy my plane ticket, the ticket was almost $200 dollars cheaper than normal! PTL. The biggest thing that I will be making sure I get done while I am in the States is get everything that I need for my background check all settled and good to go, so prayers would be appreciated.

Things up at the communtiy center are going great! We finally were able to go back up to the center this past week, thank you for your prayers...it finally stopped raining and November marks the beginning of summer for them so we most likely won't have any more mega rain storms. I know I have said this before but I love what I do I love that I get to love and serve these children. I've been working a lot with the children in helping tutor them in Math. I actually kind of find it funny how God has used that subject because in school that was my least favorite subject but it has been a true blessing. This past week I had the opportunity to go and visit some of the homes of a couple of the children at the center.. It is for sure a reality check and reminds you of how blessed I am with all that the Lord has given me.

Here are some pictures from the past week! I am heading to bed here because I'm getting up early tomorrow because we are having a evanglistic concert tomorrow at church, it is going to be awesome!!! Thank you so much for your prayers and support and I can't wait to see some of you soon!

Prayer and Glorifying God

Hey All,

First of all I am asking all of you to be praying for El Salvador, it has been raining pretty much non-stop since last Tuesday here and at times the rain has been very intense. The land here can not handle all this rain and a state of emergency has been declared for El Salvador, because in many parts of the country there is tremendous flooding and there have been many land/mudslides, people are being evacuated from their homes and all the rain makes many road impassable. So please pray not only for the people but also that the rain would stop soon. Especially pray for El Guayabo, as many of the people there do not have well built houses and it rains into their houses as well we have heard from our friends up there that part of the way up the volcano to Guayabo is impassable because of all the trees that have fallen and near the entrance to the community center is blocked because there was a mini mudslide that has blocked the way. We have not been able to go up to Guayabo since last Tuesday, because with all this rain and of course the impassable roads. So please be praying and pray that the people of El Salvador would turn to the Lord and the even through the midst of this crisis in the lives of these people that they would seek His face and come to know him.

Yesterday, I was completely humbled in the aspect of what it looks like to glorify God in the midist of intense adversity. This month the theme/series that we are talking about is glorifying God. This has been such a freshing series but also a very convicting one. I also have to admit that although I can pretty much understand everything since I got here, I am finally to not only just understand the messages, they are actually getting through to me (I don't know if that is the right word) but this past Sunday, I actually wasn't just listening and translating to understand what the message said, but God really spoke through the message.. I think that the first two months that I have been so focused on understanding that even though I knew the words that were being said I didn't focus on the actual message. I praise God that I have finally been able to acutally listen and understand the message. We are all to give glory to God in all circumstances and through this we are a light unto the world because that is something that sets us apart from the world that in the midst of adversity we can still praise and glorify God. I was humbled and amazed by a few of my brothers and sisters here in the church, yesterday. As I mentioned many people have been evacuated from their homes and there were a few from our church who were evacuated and they didn't have much time to get out of their homes and try and find somewhere to stay. Yet, through this adversity they still were giving God glory and thanking them that they still had clothing and they still had their family and that they had brothers and sisters in the church who welcomed them into their home even though they didn't have much room. It was a great reminder and it reminded me that through all things we have something to give God glory for because God has saved us and everyday He blesses us more and more even when we don't recongize it as a blessing. I'm just so thankful that our God is all powerful and in control of all things! To Him be the glory!!

Eres Todopoderoso

Eres Todopoderoso, means you are all powerful. That for sure defines our awesome God. He is always in control of all things so matter what may happen. I was really reminded of this the past couple of weeks, especially in regards to my visa situation. I have to admit I was a bit stressed out about it because I didn't know how it would all work out if I had to leave ES, because we are in the middle of starting up some big things with the Center, but as always, God not only had it all under control, he had an awesome plan. :) So I found out that I will have to return to the States and get my fingerprints done for my background check in order to apply for residency( don't know the exact dates yet but it will most likely be between Nov. 5th and Nov. 15 and I will be back for a week to 10 days). The cool thing about this whole thing was that not only will I get to see my family and friends that I miss, but as I was talking with Victor( who's family I am living with and who is the pastor of Iglesia Gran Commision) said that he is try to make it work so that he can visit Stonebrook (my home church in Ames) in the beginning of November and we would be able to talk about what what we are doing at the center, so that would just be really cool, if it works out but either way I am really excited to see my family especially my nieces and nephew as well as my best friend Sarah! So I will update as to when I will be back in the States, I will in Minnesota for most of the time staying at my parents house, but I will make it down to Ames for a day or two, hopefully. Thanks to all of you who prayed about my visa situation and continue to pray for my ministry here! I'm so thankful for your prayers.


Eres Todopoderoso is also the title of one of my favorite songs in Spanish, so here it is because I love music.

Prayer Request

Hey All!

I hope all of you are doing well! I have a quick prayer request. As you may or may not know, when I came to El Salvador, on August 16th, I entered the country on a 90 day tourist visa. The plan was to apply for temporary residency once my fingerprints and my background check were processed by the FBI and got all the apostille on it, because I need the background check with an apostille in order to apply for my residency. My mom was going to just send me the completed background check once it got processed and everything since I was already set to leave before I was going to get the document back. However, this all has not gone to plan :( and I now have a slight problem, the FBI send all the stuff back to my mom and said that my fingerprints that I had taken were not good enough and had to be redone and they could only be redone in the US, so here lies my problem is my tourist visa is up on Nov. 16th and I have to be able to get permission to stay in the country longer otherwise I am breaking the law (which would not be a good thing).So here is what my options are...I was directed to information about getting a visa extension and I have contacted the immigration services here in El Salvador about seeing if they would extend my visa until Aug when I was planning on going back to the US next, however, it's not looking very likely that they will give me an extension for that long. So right now it is looking like I will be heading back to the States the first week of November to get all my fingerprints and such redone and such. So if you guys could be praying about this situation,mainly because a lot is just unknown right now and it can be stressful at times. I just SO thankful that God is in control, so in the end everything will work out!!

Thanks so much for your prayers!!

The Happenings

These past couple weeks things have still been going great, here in El Salvador. I just praise God that I have the opportunity to serve the Lord here. I truly love working with the children in Guayabo, even on those days when I am stressed or tired, they always make me smile! :) Since I have been here a month the kids and I are starting to bond and they are actually starting listen to me now, which is very important because many of the children pretty much have free regin in their homes and haven't really ever experienced discipline or have been taught a lot of what we would consider proper behavior, so when I would tell them not to throw things they wouldn't really listen but now they are starting to listen to me, PTL!! I know this is going to be a process and some days are better than others but I praise God for this progress!

I have also have had a few times in the past couple of where I have had to "exit my world and enter theirs" and I have to say it's a lot easier said than done!!! Exiting my world and entering theirs is something we learned about at SPLICE and I'm SO thankful that we did, because the times when I have encountered these moments, I did not expect them and I wouldn't have been about to do it with out God's help. During those moments I was so very thankful once again for the time I spent in CO at SPLICE!! I am so amazed at how much I use the stuff I learned at SPLICE everyday. I also miss my amazing friends so very much! I would love to be able to go shoot some hoops and play some Monopoly Deal with the Posse!!

Here are some more pics of the beautiful children I get to work with everyday!! :)

One Month!

Well it has been one month since I arrived here in San Salvador! It doesn't even seem like I have been here a month, it seems more like a week or two. El
Salvador already is starting to feel like home. When I got here I hit the ground
running and started going up to Guayabo and working in the community center everyday
during the week. It has been amazing to be able to work and serve these children!
At the center I’ve been helping the students with their homework as such as math, reading and writing. Also we have been working on various projects with the kids because September is the month of El Salvador’s indepencence so we have been decorating the community center in order to celebrate.

I’ve also have been able to continue to learn Spanish more and more everyday, which has been a huge answer to prayer. The biggest thing for me is that El Salvador has a lot of slang and idioms that they use and sometimes I have no clue what someone says when they use those words but I praise God that I have friends who help me out and tell me certain words that are only used in El Salvador and how to use them and such.


Here are some more pics of the kids at the Community Center!! :)

Feliz Dia de Independencia

Today is El Salvador's independence day! It's has been great so be able to experience how the people of El Salvador celebrate their independence. In El Salvador it's not just the 15th of September that they celebrate, people are celebrating and preparing the whole month, which I think has been really kind of cool. The kids at the center all month long have been working on projects to decorate the center with El Salvador's colors and flag. They would randomly break out into singing the national anthem of El Salvador and they were just so excited.

So we got up early this morning to go to the parade that they have. I was told that it is tradition to get to where the parade is going to be early (because otherwise there is no parking) and eat traditional Salvadorean food and then head out to watch the parade. The parade was cool, but it was strictly a military parade which is where all the branches of the El Salvadorean military march in the parade. It was cool to see all the people and the music, although they didn't throw out candy like they do in the states, but I have a feeling that the whole candy throwing things really only happens in the States. I got to wear my El Salvadorean soccer jersey today also so that made me very excited. It has been a wonderful day and I'm excited that I have been able to experience independence day in El Salvador.

When I am weak, You are strong!

As I have mentioned before one thing we talked a lot about at SPLICE was the stages of transition. I have to say that I am still in the chaos stage but hopefully I will exit this stage soon. Don't get me wrong I have loved my time here so far but this week was one of those moments where I felt like I couldn't say anything correctly in Spanish and at times having trouble communitcateing and I got hit with a big dose of homesickness. I have to say that I think one of the most humbling things in cross cultural ministry is when you aren't able to communitate what you want to communiate. This experience this past week has just lead me to cry out "God Help!" I was also just reminded of 2 Corinthians 12:9

"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me."


It's weeks like this past week that I am so incredibly thankful that where I am weak, God is strong!

Yesterday I got hit with a huge wave of homesickness. I don't know what happened exactly but I really started to miss my mom and my nieces and nephew. I think its probably because my niece, Amelia, is starting her first day of kindergarden tomorrow and I wish I was there, because I helped raise Amelia for the first 2 years of her life and I am really going to miss not being there for her first day of school. I also just really started to miss my best friend Sarah. I miss seeing her and hanging out with her. However, I'm thankful that in the midst of my wave of homesickness, God gave me something to smile about...Victor Raul and I have started to become real good buddies :) and as I was really feeling homesick, he comes running up to me and says with a smile on his face, "Alyssa, mi mejor amiga quieres jugar conmigo?" it was so cute and def put a smile on my face and it was def my yay duck moment for the day. :)

Music speaks to me so much and this morning at church God gave my a song that really hit home today and it was just a really good reminder that He is all I need no matter what is going on in my life. In English it's the song called All I need by Hillsong but I love the song SO much more in Espanol. :) I couldn't find the Spanish version so this one has English subtitles but its still really good!

A week of yay and yuck ducks

Well I would have to say that this past week was a week filled with yay and yuck ducks. The yuck part of the week was that Saturday morning I woke up and I had a really really bad cough and I had no voice. Silvia called Doctor Henry and he said that I probably had picked up a throat infection from working with the kids at the center and he told me what medicine I needed and told us to go to the pharmacy ( I learned that you can buy a lot of RX drugs here without a RX). I laid low the next couple days all of Saturday and Sunday I couldn't talk at all and it was not fun! :( becauseI do have to say that being sick and such made me miss home and as much as I don't want to admit it I kinda just wanted my mom to come and take care of me because I really felt terrible. I do have to say that Silvia took care of me, it was such a blessing she kept asking if I needed anything and then she made me homemade chicken noodle soup, which was wonderful and a huge comfort thing that reminded me of home in the States. However, I finally started to feel better on Monday but not totally better so I stayed home from Guayabo.

I did have yay duck moments too! :) I went with my friends Luis and Pamlea to BW (which is one of my favorite places to eat here) and celebrated the birthday of Luis's sister Andrea and then after we met up with peeps from La Red to go see a movie. We saw super 8 and I didn't think that it was all that great. Then I got to hang out with the kids in Guayabo the rest of the week which is wonderful. It's been really cool to see that now the kids are getting use to me being one of their teachers so we are bonding more and more. :) One thing that I have found quite funny is that at first many of the students have trouble pronoucing my name because my name in no shape or form goes well with the Spanish language. I just found this funny because a lot of people can't pronounce my name in English either. The best and funniest thing was Silvia (one of the little girls) came running up to me and was like Senorita Suzie I need your help...you kinda had to be there but it was funny and I have no idea where she got the name Suzie. ;) I've also realized that the kids LOVE getting their picture taken...if they even see my camera case they ask if I will take a picture :)








I do have to say that in this past week I experienced my first bit of missing being in the US. It was mainly because I was missing my nieces and nephew, because they are just growing up so fast. My niece who is six months old said her first words earlier last week and my sister sent me this pic of her and it just made me miss her more!

One Week

Well it has been a week since I arrived here in El Salvador(actually its more like a week and a half but I've been too busy to blog). It's still kind of sureal that I am actually here and being able to serve the people of El Guayabo. It's been such a blessing. So far things are going well and I praise God for that. Last Saturday I got to go to La Red again which is the college age/young adult group and it was SO nice to connect back up with a lot of my friends. We had a great time studying the Word as well as just hanging out and having fun. Then on Sunday I was introduced to the whole church and such, which was fun and then later that afternoon, I went with some of the girls form La Red we went to play some FUBTOL!!!! It was wonderful, I have really missed being able to play actual games of futbol!

I went up to Guayabo with Silvia on Monday,Wednesday and Friday and I met some more kids who attend the center but where not there last week and on Friday we had students from one of the local universities come and give dental consultations to all the kids. However, the bad part was I think that something I ate Sunday or Monday morning was not really safe for me to eat because I got really bad stomach pain, but it went away on Tuesday night. I think that it helped that we didn't go up to Guayabo on Tuesday because both Silvita and Victor Raul were both sick so Silvia had to stay home, so I got to relax during the day which was really nice, because it was really the first time since I have gotten here that I have been able to slow down a bit because I have been going going going constantly since I got here, so it was since to be able to take a Sabbath and just rest in the Lord. Thursday I didn't go up to Guayabo either because I was going to have a conference call with GCM, GCLA, Stonebrook and Victor,so I couldn't go up to Guayabo since there is no internet. It was actually really good and encouraging meeting. :)

Like I said today (Friday) we had students from UEES who are dental students and they came and did dental work on all the children in the center. It was such a blessing for the children and their parents to have the children to be able to have their teeth looked at because these families can not afford dental care. It was a really good time but most of the children cried while they were getting their teeth cleaned and such which made me really said but in the end they are going to be healthier for having cleaner teeth. Afterwards, I decided that we were all going to play games to help cheer the crying ones up and it kind of just turned into four kids grabing my arms and legs and wanting me to carry them around but it was fun and later I was giving piggy back rides and they think that that is just the coolest thing ever :)

That's about it for now. It's been a great first week and a half and I'm excited to see what God has in store next week, but for now I am going to head to bed, but first here are some pics from today.



This is Darling and I
This is Aldo Josue
This is Margarita and I
This is Yulexia and Emerson
This is Tatiana Damaris

El Guayabo

I've been here a little over three days now and I'm adjusting well to all the transitions. I think that it has helped a ton to have stayed with the Turcios family when I was here before because that gave me a little glimpse of what was to expect, but there are still many transitions and changes that I am adjusting to.


Today was my third day up at the community center. It's been wonderful to work with the kids and help teach them. God is doing to do some amazing things in this community. Today all the kids learned how to say my name and the rest of the day randomly they would yell out "Alyssa" and I would ask them what they needed but they would say nothing I just wanted to say your name...it was funny( the best part was the huge smile on their faces :) We had a lot of fun playing this afternoon because since it is Friday the kids have a bit more free time and they love that I will play with them and today all they wanted me to do is to swing them around in circled while holding onto their hands....it was hilarious :) then I have piggy back rides.

I finally took some pictures today of the community center and of some of the kids. So here are a few that I took...I'll post more on Facebook when I get a chance.