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!!