God is Faithful!

Sorry that it has been months since my last post. These last few months have been what I would call a very long trial but in and through it all God has been faithful and most importantly he has drawn me closer to him and even though these past few months have been some of the hardest months I have had in a long time I learned so much and now I am seeing the fruit of it and how God used this trial for his glory. At the end of August after being sick for a few weeks and even after taking medicine and not getting better. Dr. Inri came and examined me and diagnosed me with severe pneumonia and took me to the hospital to be admitted because I was have seriously problems breathing. I have to admit that I was quite scared when he said that he was going to admit me to the hospital because I've never been admitted to a hospital in my life and now the first time, is going to be in El Salvador and my mom wasn't here with me, talk about a little nerve racking, but after my initial reaction and a lot of prayer, God started to give me this peace.I was in the hospital for three days and after that they gave me the ok to go back to my house in San Salvador. I am so thankful for Dr. Inri who took care of me at the hospital, he came to the hospital every night after working all day three hours away to make sure I was improving. That is for sure an example of being a servant of Christ! After close to two months of basically being confined to the house so I could recover because my lungs were so weak, I am finally better and last Friday I was finally able to go back up to the Center!! I can not even fully describe to you how wonderful it felt to be back at the Center and to see the kids again. The moment that I got to the Center I was engulfed in hugs from the children and they all very concerned asked why I hadn’t been coming to the the Center and then all of them wanted me to help them with their homework. It has brought tears to my eyes just to be back loving on these kids and sharing truth with them. The funny thing is that even though I haven’t been at the Center for almost two months, I was able to jump right back in and it was like I had never left. It has been such a heartwarming experience to leave the Center each day because every child wants to make sure they give me a huge hug. I have to admit to you all that first day I don’t think I could have smiled any bigger all day because I was not only so incredibly thankful to God to just be back up at the Center but also so very thankful that God has given me the opportunity to help these children and to be able to speak truth into their lives each and every single day. God is so good!! That is a quick update for now but I hope to be blogging more frequently! I will be heading back to the States in November to do some support raising, spend time with family and friends and get my wisdom teeth out, I hope to see many of you soon!

Busy Busy

Wow I can't believe that almost two months has passed since my last post (sorry I will try and keep everyone updated more frequently)! I have been here in ES for a little over 11 months, it's crazy to think that almost a year has gone by and I have to say that I have grown so much, have been stretched and have experienced God in so many ways and I am so thankful! It has been a very busy couple of months. We have had three mission teams, changes at the Center and the church has finally found a new location to meet at. It's been a time of true blessing and as I look back on it now, I can describe how thankful I am to be a part of the ministry here in El Salvador. Glory to God!! To summarize these crazy few weeks, I won't be giving much detail but if you want to know more just let me know. We had three mission teams in June, wow I can say that this was such a busy time but it was such an blessing! I really enjoy working with the mission teams and serving alongside them. They are a huge part in what we are doing here in El Salvador and they have blessed so much in helping build the new Center (we are about 50% done with the new Center!! PTL!!) I will post pics later or just check out my Facebook. I want to share with you all a song that I have had on repeat and this song has been so wonderful. The song is called Dame tus ojos and one of my favorite lines are: "Dame lo que necesito Para ser como tu // Dame tu voz, dame tu aliento Toma mi tiempo es para ti Dame el camino que debo seguir Dame tus sueños, tus anhelos Tus pensamientos, tu sentir Dame tu vida para vivir //"

What a month

Sorry it's been over a month since I last blogged but things have been a bit crazy here. Things include a short trip back to the States, moving houses, a mission team and new things at the Center. This past month and a half has been super crazy but in an through it all it's been so wonderful and such a blessing to me. God has refreshed, encouraged and challenged me in so many ways and I just give Him all the glory for what he is doing in my life and the lives of the people here in El Salvador.

I ended up making a very quick trip back to the States from April 30th to May5th, to get my documents that I need to apply for residency. My time at home was short but oh so wonderful! It was for sure one of those things that I really needed because I had been really homesick and really missed my family and to get to spend all that little bit a time with them was priceless and so refreshing. It's always amazing how God always knows exactly what we need to be refreshed.

The day that I left for the States, Victor and Silvia told me that they had finally found a house that we could rent after months and months of searching and trusting God to provide. So the day that I got back, we went from the airport to the new house. They had moved some small things over but we weren't gong to move completely until the next week. I've moved lots of times and this time was no different but it was still exhausting. As of today we are finally completely settled in here and I love our new place. Our new house is in Santa Elena, which is a really nice area, it is a little bit bigger than the old house and the part that I love most is that there is a huge park and it has security 24/7, so I can go running outside everyday!!! I just praise God for his faithfulness in helping us find a house so that we can use this house to bless others!

The week after we moved into our new house, we had a mission team from New Life Church in Michigan come to help serve mainly in the university but they also served in Guayabo and in La Libertad. It was such a blessing to meet new people and to serve alongside this team. They were such a blessing to have here in El Salvador and the Lord did some awesome thing and we just give glory to God for that!

Finally, things at the Center are going really well. The rainy season has started so that will bring quite a few problems for the families in Guayabo because many of their homes are not very well built and leak water, so please be praying for these families. In addition to this the new Center is continuing to be built and we are still hoping that it will be finished by the end of the year! Please be praying for the three teams that we will be having in June that will be working in Guayabo and especially on the construction of the new Center. Well that is all for now, if you want any more details on what has been going on just let me know!

Circulo 3

GCLA Easter Conference: I just got back from San Pedro Sula, Honduras on Saturday, April 7th. I was in San Pedro for the GCLA Easter Conference. This is like the Faithwalkers of Latin America, there were people there from all over Latin America. There were people there from 35 churches and nine countries. What an amazing time of fellowship and time of learning with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ! The theme of the conference was Circulo 3 (which is circle 3). The main theme was that there are three circles in how we live our lives as Christians and the center (circle 3) is living in the glory of God. The big theme was that we are to live our lives completely for the glory of God. The theme verse for the conference was 1 Corinthians 10:31

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

This conference was encouraging and challenging, especially when Sergio Handal challenged us to look at our lives and ask ourselves, everyday that I get up do I want to live my life for glory of God? If not then we are not giving all that we are and every aspect of our lives to God to use for use glory, wow was a challenging question to ask. This challenged me a ton, but I am going to live my life for the glory of God!! I praise God for this time of edification, encouragement and fellowship with over 3,000 other believers! One of the songs said this, in all that I say, do and am be for your glory God!! This is the cry of my heart!

I'm so thankful that I was able to go to this conference and enjoy a great time of fellowship and learning. I am also so thankful for all the hospitality that the brothers and sisters in San Pedro showed us. Dona Soyapa and her family for letting us stay in their home (which was huge and like a mansion, I don't think I've ever stayed in a house that nice which is kind of ironic because I have lived in the US) and also for Ricky's family for letting me chill at their house during the days of the conference when we had free time and to his mom who was so sweet! I also had an amazing conversation with her about our families and the stuggles that and we had a great conversation also about prayer and giving things to the Lord and giving Him complete control of everything!! What a blessing this was for me! My time in Honduras was such a blessing and I praise God for my time there.

Te Daré Lo Mejor

As I sit here working on stuff for the Sponsors of children at the Center, I was just reflecting on many things but most of all about what it's like to give God all that we are. Today and for the rest of the most of April we are going through a series at church which is call Disciples and what it means to be an disciple of Christ. This series is something that already after just one message has encouraged me and convicted me and challenged me to make sure I am daily responding to the call that Jesus gives us to follow Him and be his disciple. I think that sometimes when we have those high moments and are on fire for God is easier to be his disciple but Jesus doesn't ask us to follow Him when we feel like it, but every moment of our days and lives we need to respond to His call to follow him and give him our best. One thing that Pastor Victor asked was for us to take some time and talk with God and really ask ourselves have we responded to the call Jesus made to us? Are we really serving as disciples of Christ? What a time of great self reflection. We also sang a few songs that really just struck me ( If you don't know already Music has a huge effect on me) one is called De Tal Manera and Te Daré Lo Mejor and wow I can't explain how edifying,encouraging and challenging these songs are!! I love how one of the songs says that I will give the Lord my best, this is the cry of my heart!!! I will continue to pick up my cross daily and follow you Lord!!!

Here are the two songs:





On another note, please be praying for the church members and I here in San Salvador as on Tuesday and Wednesday we will be driving to San Pedro Sula, Honduras for the Easter conference (think Faithwalkers of Latin America). I am super excited to be going for the first time. Please be praying for a safe trip, that the time at the conference would be used to glorify God and we would be open to what God wants to teach us!!!Thanks for praying!

More Pics

Here are a few more pics from when the mission team was here.Check out Facebook to see more. Hope you enjoy!!


Ruth and Wendy helping out at the school when the mission team was here.
Sheila, Judy and Ricky helping out at the school.
Ana Carolina and her friend playing during recess.
Praying for Dr. Inri as he is leading the Bible studies up on the volcano.
Carmen she lives next door to the site where the new Center will be. She is a sweet little old lady.
Judy and Roxana playing at the Center.
Annette and I at the Center.
Annette and Karla playing with the children at the school.
Ruperto at the school.
Ana Carolina at the school. Margarita playing in the bounce house at the party for the children. A ministry that throws block parties with bounce houses came and threw a party for the children,
Here is the bounce house. The group also brought cotton candy and ballons. The kids loved it.
Elias working up at the construction site.
Working on building the new Center.
Working on building the new Center.

Stonebrook Mission Team

Hey all!

Sorry it's been so long since I blogged last, it's been a bit crazy around here but God is doing some amazing things. The biggest thing that had happened is that the mission team from Stonebrook (my home church) came down for a week to serve in Guayabo! Words can not describe what a blessing it was to have them here. We were also blessed with having five translators from the Great Commission Church in Honduras to help us with translation. It was an amazing week and God was so glorified through it all.


The mission team from Stonebrook Community Church was our first mission team of the year and they were such a blessing to have here in San Salvador. They were such a blessing to the local church and the Guayabo Development Center. God was glorified so much during the week that the team was here. Here are some of the highlights from the week.

Construction of the New Center: One of the biggest things that the team did was that they were the team to start the construction of the New Center. The team began by clearing the land by cutting and digging out trees, stumps and other plants. It was lots of hard work but the team loved it. The team also laid the foundation for the new Center. It was such a blessing to have all these hard workers serving the people in Guayabo.

Helping out in the Center: Another thing that Stonebrook did while they were here was that they helped out in the Center. They were such a blessing to have in the Center and the children loved them! They lead our Bible story times every day and one day one of the translators gave an amazing visual Gospel presentation to the children at the Center.

Helping out at the school in Guayabo: The team was also able to help out at the school. Three mornings that the team was here in San Salvador they had the opportunity to go to the school that is near the Center. It was an amazing way to just be able to serve the teachers at the school. It was really cool to see how the teachers in both classes just handed over their classes to the missionaries. They missionaries taught numbers, letters and shapes in English and with the little kids using Mr. Potato head they taught them body parts in English.

Leadership Seminars: One huge blessing to the local church was the leadership seminar that was help Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night. We had about 40 people attend the leadership Seminars. All three nights were great and filled with so much truth and it was a very encouraging time. Brad (the pastor from Ames) shared two nights on leadership and it was such a great and then Duane taught on Nehemiah, which was also so great and a great example of what the Bible says about leadership. The local church was tremendously blessed by these seminars and many of the locals have came up and said that these seminars helped change how they view leadership, what an amazing blessing.

Women’s Conference: On the day after the team got here the local church put on a conference for the women of the church. It was the first women’s ministry meeting this year for the church and it was such an encouraging time. We had 36 women attend the conference. Annette Barrett, Diana Whipple and Judy Anderson shared on topics ranging from the importance of spending time with Jesus to having hope to what it looks like to be a woman of God. The women from the church were so blessed by the time and many left the conference very encouraged.

House Visits: Each member of the mission team had the opportunity to go to a home of a child that attends the Center. It was an opportunity for the team to see how these children really live and to really see how needy these families are. It was also an opportunity to talk with these families about God and share the Gospel with them. Both the families and the missionaries were very blessed by these visits.

Parent’s Meeting: On Thursday, when the team was here Brad and Annette Barrett shared with the parents of the children that attend the Center during a parents meeting. There were about 14 moms that came to the meeting and at the end of the meeting the Gospel was shared and four of the women raised their hands and said that they wanted to accept Christ. Praise God!

Party for the Children at the Center: The last day that the team was up in Guayabo the team threw a party for the children at the Center in the afternoon. They partnered with a ministry that is called Hope 4 El Salvador and they go all around El Salvador throwing block parties for churches and using bounce houses as part of their ministry. The children absolutely loved it! Many of them have never seen a bounce house in their life or have eaten cotton candy, to say the least the children really enjoyed their time as well as the missionaries.

Overall, the trip was amazing and we here in San Salvador cannot thank the team from Stonebrook enough for your servant hearts! God did some amazing things this week and the friendships that we have formed will continue for eternity! For me it was such a refreshing and encouraging time and I am going to miss everyone. I will be writing about a couple of events more specifically later but God did some awesome things this past week through the mission group from Stonebrook and it was such a blessin gto have them here with us.

Here are a couple pics but check out my Facebook page for more because I took a ton!

Playing Simon Says with the kids at the Center.
Leo( who was one of the translators from Honduras) and I at the Leaders seminar.
The mission team from Stonebrook with Sarah and Victor.
Working on constructing the new Center.
The translators from Honduras, members of the local church and I at Don Leo's coffee shop.

So Thankful!

Over the past couple days I've been blown away and completely humbled by the way that God provides for us. I don't even have the words to express my thankfulness to the Lord, because thank you isn't a stong enough word, but so thankful for that even when I can not adequately express my gratitude, the Holy Spirt in essence translates it for me and above all the Lord knows my heart.

A little while ago I wrote about the "dulce espera" or the sweet wait in which I talked about how sometimes in life when we are praying about things God gives us an answer of yes, no or wait and how at times the answer of wait is the hardest, but how instead of saying how hard this wait is we should enjoy it and I've experienced this first hand this past week. There have been three/four huge prayers that I have been seeking the Lord on regarding decisions I have to and will have to make and wow I can say that I am so thankful that the Lord didn't give me the answers right away, because through this past month of just competely surrendering all these things to the Lord and daily seeking and praying to the Lord, I have been drawn closer to the Lord and our relationship has gone deeper. It's so amazing! I'm just so thankful for what the Lord is doing in my life!

So I encourage you when going through trials or seeking the Lord on certain things to continue to trust in the Lord and wait for his response and enjoy that dulce espera.

Visa stuff and Valentine's day in El Guayabo

Hey Everyone!!

I have great news!! They approved my visa extention to stay in El Salvador for 90 more days in order to continue my application for residency here!! Praise God!! Thank you so much to everyone who has been praying and SO thankful that I am able to stay here in ES!Please continue to be praying as I am still waiting on some paperwork from the States in order to apply for residency.

Yesterday as you know was Valentine's Day and La Red put on a party for the kids at the Center. In Spanish it's call Dia de la amistad y amor. It was a great time and the kids were so blessed by the time. We played games like Twister, had pinatas and the children also received cookies and a drink. Then to end the time we gave each child a Valentine's Day card made by people from La Red and the children loved them!!

Here are a few pics from the party:

Dios sabe

Dios sabe means God knows and I have been repeating this phase over and over to myself this past month and a half. As I wrote before there have been a lot of aburpt changes with having to move and stuff like that and the other big thing that I've really had to keep handing over to the Lord is my visa situation, as some of you know I've had quite the time with trying to get my stuff all together in order to apply for residency. We'll I still haven't gotten the permission to stay in the country from the El Salvadorean goverment in order to complete the process of applying for residency, so what that means is I have until tuesday night to get the extention or I have to leave the country for 72 hours and go to Costa Rica or the States in order to get a new tourist visa and as I have been looking into flights, flying to Costa Rica is almost as expensive as flying back to the States, so as you could imagine I've been a bit worried about this, especially since if you know me I always like to get things done before they are due and I am always early for things if I am in control of it. However, in the midst of all of this I've have this deep seeded peace and that soft whisper saying Dios sabe, meaning that God knows how he is going to work this all out and that worrying isn't going to solve anything. It times like these when situations like this I'm so thankful that Dios sabe when I don't. I am going to the immigration office Monday morning to ask for my extension, so pray that this all goes well but most importantly that I would just continue not to get super anxious or worry about this situation and continue to just trust that Dios sabe and if I have to leave again to go to the States or Costa Rica, Dios sabe why I need to leave, because God has a perfect and flawless plan for everything in my life and even in those times when I can't see where I am going I know that I can confidently rest in the fact that Dios sabe y Dios es en control!

First week at the Center and Tremors

Hey all! Last week was our first week back up at the Center and it was great to see all the kids again. Not all the children came last week because they were still getting use to going back to school so they didn't come. Overall, it was a great week and the Lord really blessed! Here are some pics from the first week.








Another thing that has happened the past couple weeks has been that I have felt my first earthquake tremors. We have had three really strong and kinda long tremors in the past three weeks. I have never experienced a tremor before that and I have to say that it is for sure a weird feeling to just feel everything shake. I'm hoping I don't actually experience a real earthquake but people here are saying that since we've had three big tremors in the past three weeks there is a huge chance that there will be an earthquake soon, so we'll just have to wait and see.

More waiting and trusting

It's been a little over a week and wow how things can change and happen especially here in San Salvador. If there is one big thing that I have learned about the culture is that things can change on the dime and you just have to get use to it. Praise God that I moved many times when I was younger so I can adjust to change and for the most part I am a very chill person so when things change I can just go with it.

This past week has really lead me to just continue trusting and waiting on the Lord more and more each and every day. In the past week God has put some circumstances in my life here in El Salvador that I really don't have a lot of control over and he has really challenged me to just continue trusting him but also to not worry about all these things (phil. 4:6-7) and to remember that no matter what is happening or what ever happens he has EVERYTHING under control.

Some things that I've been really waiting on the Lord and trusting him to provide are a building for the church here in San Salvador. We were told a couple weeks ago that the place where we have been renting to have our services is no longer going to let us rent there and we have till the end of Feb. to find a new place (remember things can change out of no where). So please be praying for this and also be praying for a location that we are seriously considering and it would be great for the church but we are praying to see if this is God's will and if we can raise the money for the new place. Another of the big things is regarding housing here. As many of you know I've been so blessed to be living with the Turcios family since I have been here and it's been such a blessing. The thing is that the people who the Turcios rent the house from also came last week (last week just wasn't a week filled with great news) and told us that the owners of the house wanted to move back and we have to move and be out of the house by May (I praise God that they at least gave us some time!). So this can be kind of stressful but I ask that you all be praying that we continue to just wait for the Lord to provide that perfect house that He already has picked out for us and that we would just continue to trust him in this.

The last two things that have really been on my mind and in and through them God has been teaching me more about waiting and trusting in are about my trial of trying to get residency here and a big decision I have about my time here in San Salvador. I won't go into to much detail now because I don't have a ton of time but I will give you the quicky version but I would so appreciate if you all could be praying! As some of you know I've already had problems with getting some of my documents in order to apply for temporary residency here in El Salvador and on Tuesday that hit another snag and lead to a little bit of frustration. I went to the immigration office on Tues to get permision to stay in the country longer while I was getting all may official stuff that I need in order to apply for residency, however they did not give me permision (big yuck duck) because they want even more information than what they had originally told me. I only have 12 more days before my visa is up here and so if I don't get all the paperwork that I need and they don't approve my extension I will have to go out of the country for 3 days (which most likely means to Costa Rica, because El Salvador has a pact with the 3 countries surrounding it were you can travel freely between the four without needed a new visa but to get a new visa you need to go outside of those countries and then re-enter. So please be praying for this situation and pray that everything falls together whether I can get all my documents and the extention or not but that I would be able to continue my time serving here in El Salvador. As I mentioned before I've really been praying and seeking advice about a certain decision (a pretty big one, if you want to know specifics, email me, Skype and I'll tell ya) I have to make regarding my time here in El Salvador. Seeking the Lord's will in this decison for sure has no doubt brought me closer to the Lord! So please be praying for desernment and wisdom as I see the Lord's will in this decision.

Well I think that is it for the most part, sorry for such a long post but I wanted to bring you all up to speed. We have however started classes back up at the Center, Monday this week was our first full day. I will post more soon and it will include some pics of the adorable children at the Center!

Adios!

La Dulce Espera

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/

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 :)

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!

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!!