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.
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