Pupusas and more

Wow I can't believe I have been in El Salvador for a week already..time is just flying by. I'm still loving El Salvador!!!The past couple days I've had pupusas and they are so great!! They are seriously my favorite food!!

On Thursday I chilled and worked on the English website for the church and worked on backing it up as well as doing some other little things of work. Then that night I hung out with Luis and we went to Buffalo Wings at this outdoor mall thing that they have in El Salvador, which was really sweet. Then he showed me all these sweet sights around San Salvador...like we went to this place called Antiguo Cuscatlán and its a famous part of the city and there is this park there that looks out over a big part of the city...its near the massive US embassy....then he showed me downtown San Salvador (like where all the national buildings are like the national palace, national theater and the national cathedral). So it was cool to be able to see some of the parts of ES I haven't seen before. So it was sweet but tiring.

Then on Friday I chilled that morning and played with Victor Raul and Sivita. Then in the afternoon I went with Sarah and Jorge to the offices and Sarah gave me some more sweet ideas of what I can do to help out with La Red (like I'm going to part we are going to have a sleepover for the girls in La Red and I'm going to spend some more time just building relationships with the girls down here, we are also trying to coordinate with the University so our church team can play against the University team and use that as an outreach tool.) to get some work done on the Spanish church website, but I ended up running a lot of errands with Sarah, which was awesome, cause we just got to talk more about the culture and I shared my testimony with her. Then once we got back to the offices we did some more work, but then the band was going to have band practice.

So then I went with Sarah and Jorge to go have dinner over at Jorge's sister's house. First we picked up Jorge's mom...she is totally awesome!!! She welcomed me into her home and was like this is your home also...it was just really touching, how she welcomed me like part of her family like immediately. The hospitality down here is amazing. We also picked up his adorable niece!!! His niece is an amazing singer!!!:) Then we got to his sister's house which was beautiful!!! They have an adorable little girl :) We had pupusas for dinner and they were great!!! Did I mention that I love pupusas lol :) We had some great conversation and it was just fun hanging out with Jorge's family. Then his niece sang for us and it was totally awesome!!!! Then Jorge's niece, Sarah and I showed everyone else how to do the hokey pokey...it was quite entertaining. I have to say that hanging out with Jorge's family was totally awesome and one of best days that I have had in El Salvador...it was just great!! :)

I've realized that it has been hard to adapt to a couple of things here...the fact that unlike in the US where you can't go places by yourself especially walking. This has been hard for me because in the US I'm so use to being able to go where I want and not really have to worry about how dangerous its going to be. With this it results in having to stay at the house quite a bit unless I can get someone to give me a ride. This has for sure been a hard thing to adapt to because I really don't like having to stay in the house, so every chance that I get I leave the house, even if its just to the store or to go pick something up. Another cultural thing that has been interesting to adapt to is that here being out at 10pm is considered really late, which is far from the view in the US. However, here the big reason is that it is just not safe for people to be out that late...for sure an adjustment from living in Ames.

Other than that God continues to revel himself to me. God just continues to open my eyes to his amazing love and grace!! I again ask you to pray for my time here, but more importantly for the church, the people of San Salvador...that we could share Truth with them, and for my building of relationships with the women of La Red.

Well off to La Red!

Adios Amigos

Ongoings

Hey Peeps!

El Salvador is still amazing...I love it here! On Monday and Tuesday I just kinda relaxed and hung out around the house. I've played a lot of Wii with Victor Raul....he absolutely loves that I play Wii with him. Also on Tuesday I started giving English lessons to Silva, Victor Raul and Silvita.I've also done some errands with Christina, but for the most part, I have just chilled and played with Victor Raul and Silvita.

Wednesday I just chilled in the morning and then Christina and I went over to Sarah and Jorge's to have lunch. We had this amazing chicken soup...it was so good! We talked a little bit about how I can work with La Red while I'm here. Then once we got back Victor gave me a task to take the stuff off of the church website and put it all in files and back it up so they can redesign the website with out losing the information, this has for sure kept me busy. Then I went over to Sarah's for dinner (we had awesome tacos with beans, meat,alvacado and cheese they were SO good!) and we talked and started watching a movie. Then we went with Jorge, Luis and some other guys to go watch them play some futbol.It was a good night! Then this morning Sarah and I did an awesome Tae Bo workout video.

I've been learning so much about the El Salvadorian culture and what its like to live here. God is really teaching me what it is like to live in a culture that is very different than the one that we have in the states. I'm continually reminded of how I am so very blessed with everything that I have. In the US we are so blessed! One praise that I have noticed since I have been here is that not only have I been able to eat anything that they have made for me foodwise and I haven't had ANY stomach problems...for those of you who know me well...you know this is huge for me because I've had problems for awhile now...I guess that just means I'll have to cook El Salvadorian food all the time when I get back ;)I'm SO excited for what God is going to do while I am down here.

That's all I have for you now!ps I have epically failed at taking pictures...sorry.

Hasta Luego Amigos

In El Salvador

Hola from El Salvador!!!

I'm going to try and blog every couple of days when I am here in El Salvador. It will all depend on the time that I have and how tired I am each night as to how much I will blog. I'll be blogging about what's going on here and what God is teaching me.

So I got here yesterday in the afternoon and I arrived into a tropical storm that El Salvador was under! This is crazy rain when it rains like it has and the rain affects so much down here, like how snow affects so much in Iowa. My flight was good I was just really tired from having to get up so early to get to the airport. Sarah, Christina and Gabriel picked me up at the airport. Then Christina and I got dropped off at Victor's house were I will be staying for the next three weeks! Then after I got my stuff ready we went to the meeting of La Red which is the college ministry of Iglesia Gran Comision San Salvador. It was really cool to meet a group of the college students and I also met Kumar who is the other missionary here. Sarah gave her Testimony and Jorge gave a really good message. Then we all went out pizza hut and it was sweet.

Today, I got to sleep in a bit. Then I had cereal with milk (Sarah, this is a big shocker! haha) Then we went to church, which was really sweet cause when we came in March we didn't get to go to the church here, so I was really excited to experience it. It was really good and Victor gave a good message! Then Victor and his family, Christina, Kumar and I went to the mall for lunch. Then later Kumar, Christina and I sat down with Victor and talked about out the plans for the time that I am here. So that was sweet! Then we went back to the house and Victor Raul and I played Wii together for at least a couple of hours...haha. Then Victor Raul, Silvita and played some more games, but then I had to to go cause Christina and I were going with Luis and Lelys to see Iron Man 2 which was good but honestly I was kinda lost because I haven't seen the first one. Then we had Pupusas!!! I love pupusas :)


I'm SO excited as to what God will to during my time here in El Salvador...I believe that He is going to do some amazing things!! To Him be all the glory!!!

I do have some prayer requests for you all to me praying for(these are in no particular order):
1. Just your continued prayers for this trip overall and for God to be glorifed in all that I am doing down here.
2. For my Spanish...I can understand a lot but I still have to work on my speaking.
3. The the Lord continues to break my heart for the things that break his


I'm having an awesome time here! I love the Turcios family!! Silvia,Victor,Silvita and Victor Raul are so awesome! I'm SO blessed that they have opened up their home to me!!!

Its off to bed for me cause I'm SO exhausted....still attempting to catch up on sleep from Friday. Anyways until next time

Adios amigos!!

Update

Wow its been so long since, I've blogged. Life has been kinda crazy, but God has been SO good!! So I'll just give you a quick update. Since I've been back from El Salvador, I can't tell you in words how much God has changed me. God is just so amazing, to Him be the glory!!

A couple of huge things that have occured is I have gotten to share the gospel with three of my Chinese friends that I have been reaching out to and building relationships with, this has been SO cool. Secondly, Alexa got baptized!!! Woo!!! I was so glad that I got to see her make that step of faith!!! Love you Lexa!! :)

Finally, big news I'm going back to El Salvador this summer for three weeks!!! Praise Him!!!! This opportunity was totally and completely orchestrated by God. He did what I thought was nearly impossible and made it possible. So quick sysopsis of the story...so when I got back to the states after being in El Salvador, I stayed in contact with Sarah and the other leaders down there about possibly coming down for a longer period of time. Then one day I got an email from her saying that I could possibly come down for three or four weeks this summer. As you can imagine I was super stoked about this opportunity, and I really wanted to take advantage of this, but I was like there is no way work will let me take three weeks off and I haven't even worked there for six months. However, God had a different plan and worked in a supernatural way and I was just completely in awe of Him!! I talked to my boss the next day and she was totally cool with it; she was like yah sure that should be fine we can get coverage for you!! The look on my face must have been priceless. I was just in awe of how God worked!! Praise Him!!! So the past couple weeks we have been working out details and it has become official...I'm going back to El Salvador May 29-June20th!!!! I'm SO excited!!!! God is SO good!!!!!

More on El Salvador

Sorry this post is a bit late but here is a little more about the mission trip to El Salvador. This is still a summarized version, if you want to hear more just ask me!

El Salvador was AMAZING...there are not words to describe how much of
an affect it had on me. It was SO incredible.I REALLY didn't want to
come back, I was so touched and impacted! I am even thinking about
talking with Jorge and Sarah about maybe going back this summer. I
loved it SO much down there and it ignited my passion for missions
even more! I have SO many stories to tell you, but I'll give you the
quick run down on the trip, I can talk for at least two hours about
the trip and thats really saying something for me! First when we were
in the Airport we went to Ruby's and I actually got a cheeseburger and
I ate the whole thing...this is big for me because it was my first cheeseburger in like 9 years lol. So the first night that we got to San Salvador the other half of the group was already at the hotel because I flew on another flight with the
Minneapolis peeps and we got there a lot later than they did, but I
got to room with Julie Johnson the whole week so that was AWESOME cause she is just awesome!

Then the next morning, Monday we started..we stayed at a nice hotel and
we got free continental breakfast every morning. The first half of the
morning we got some cutural training and broke down into our
groups...I was in the Medical group. That group was with the doctors
and after the community would get the medical consultutations then we
would share the gospel with them. So later we went to El Guayabo which
was the poor community that we were going to reach out to and we went
there to set up the appointments for the week and meet some in the
community. This afternoon was SO touching...so while the leaders where
scheduling appointments, I went over to play with this big group of
kids and then there was this little girl and I just smiled at her and
said Hola and she came running over to me and gave me a big hug and
kiss and wouldnt let go of my hand...It was SO precious and cute and
really touched my heart!! (there is a pic on facebook that Marc took
with the little girl). Then there was three kids left toward the end
of the day Brain (who is the cute little boy who hung out with us all week), Esmeralda and her sister Karla. So I wanted to play a game with them so I though about duck, duck, goose because that would be easy to explain in Spanish, however
the funny thing was that I couldn't remember how to say goose in Spanish so I changed the name of the game to pollo, pollo, pato which
is chicken, chicken, duck.

I also got to play soccer like every couple of days with El
Salvadorians which was awesome! The next couple of days Tues-Thurs we
shared the gospel with people who came for medical consulatations. I
shared with a ton of people and 10 people that I shared the gospel
with prayed to recieve Christ!!! PTL!!! It was SO amazing to see God
work!!! There were like 40 people who prayed to recieve Christ it was
SO amazing!! God is SO good!!

Then Friday was the beach day which was awesome...the waves were
wicked sweet!! I got really sunburnt thought but it was SO much fun!
Then Saturday was our last day at the community...it was really sad to
say goodbye to the people of El Guayabo. We had a bazarr in the
morning where we gave away clothing to the people...it was so awesome
to see the joy in their faces and the gratiude that they had! One
thing that was really impacting was that these people have so very
little but they are willing to give what little they have to help
others. Then that afternoon the rest of the group stayed for the
church service and the kids party but Andrew, Marc, Paul, Julie and I
went with Victor to the youth group meeting! However, before this we
had to say goodbye to the people in El Guayabo, which was
heartbreaking, especially saying goodbye to Brain:( Paul gave a sweet
message to the youth group and we got to hang out with the youth group
and have worship with them it was SO awesome!! After though it was sad
because we had to say goodbye to all the locals and our translators.
Then later we had our going away dinner with Sarah, Jorge and
Christina...it was SO good and it made me cry.

This whole trip was SO amazing and I can't fit everything into this
email. I don't have enough words to express the impact this trip had on me...it
was SO wonderful!! God opened my eyes SO much and taught me SO much!!
I want to go back SO bad...it was AMAZING!

Until next time, Peace Out!

El Salvador

I only have a little time, but to sum the trip up in one word was AMAZING!!! God did so many awesome things!! We saw around 40 people pray to receive Christ!!! To Him be the glory!! There were so many touching stories, that broke my heart! I love El Salvador SO much and I want to go back very soon. Sarah and Jorge were amazing organizers!! I miss the people in El Guayabo SO much, especially Brain, Esmeralda and Karla, they touched my heart SO much!! I will write more about the trip later, so stay tuned or just ask me about it and I would love to tell you all about it!! God did amazing things and I was forever impacted!!

Peace out

El Salvador!!!

I leave for El Salvador on early, early Sunday morning!!!! I'm SO stoked!!! God is going to some crazy AWESOME things!!! If you just be praying for logistics in getting there, safety and for God to be going before us and preparing hearts!!!

Peace Out!!!