hearts renewed

First off, I sincerely apologize for the lack of updates lately...the past 2 weeks have been a whirlwind of craziness...
Last week all the presidents from Central America came to El Salvador for some conference of sorts, which coincidentally resulted in most of the major roads around our homes being closed. So we were on campus only 2 days last week. Wednesday night we got to go to a Hillsong concert with some students. It was in a large covered stadium with aweful sound quality and lots of high schoolers...The best thing about the evening though was our friend Rosa. We just met Rosa about a month ago -by the grace of God. She had just made a pretty life altering decision to turn her life around and back to the Lord. She speaks near perfect english and has been such a blessing to meet with, talk with, and really just encourage in the Lord. Anyways, she came with us to the concert that night, and skipping the details was basically just broken before the Lord there. She has a lot of stuff to deal with right now, but God is working in her heart so much and it's so exciting for our team to see! Please keep Rosa in your prayers as we start bible study and discipleship with her soon...

Thursday we had a chance to go to una playa - Costa del Sol - with some other students and their family friends. What a beautiful day! This beach was more similar to CA beaches than the last cliff enclosed cove we visited... there are houses lined up on the sand...there's no real public area. It was so wonderful to just get out in God's creation and enjoy fellowship with one another! (I'll have some pictures on facebook soon!)

Friday was Halloween - not a holiday widely celebrated here. We saw a couple kids dressed up at one of the "elite" outdoor malls...but other than that, trick-or-treating was nowhere to be found. Saturday, however, was Dia de los muertos (day of the dead) which is celebrated in some of the smaller rural towns around the country. Layo and Luchi invited us to Luchi's hometown where they had a celebration/parade. We ate at Luchi's sister's house and just walked around the quaint town as kids ran past us with kites and raced each other on their bikes. A part of me always longs to stay in those communities - ministering to the less fortunate. There is just something about those towns - it's peaceful, yet so welcoming and warm...
Well, we witnessed our fair share of craziness that night with kids dressed up as screaming brides and headless preists pulling burning wagons with fake dead bodies. The morbidity of it all was offset by cute toddlers in angel costumes, teenage girls nominated for city "queen" sitting on a stage, and some free molasses soaked pumpkin they handed out in the middle of the town park under a gazeebo. It really did make us feel the most Salvadorian since we've been here as we could see how the culture is entwined in the daily lives of the people.

I know I know...it sounds like we're doing a lot more playing than working...and that may just be correct this past week and a half - but it's also encouraging and exciting for us to know and experience this culture we're living in and ministering to. Hanging out with students connects us to their lives and makes us more a part of their community than simply saying "hey" on campus ever could. And visiting these towns gives us such an accurate portrayal of who these people are and where they come from.

This week Deb and Dan Goodson (a staff couple that used to be on the SLO campus but now is pioneering ministry at Berkley) were here this week to basically check in with everyone/everthing and simply encourag us in all that we've done...as well as give us resources and tools to continue moving forward. What a refreshing time it was for everyone - and SO good to get an outside perspective. Since we are the first STINT team to tread Salvadorian grounds we are taking care of so many of the details that will be crucial to the success of future STINT teams. Of course that isn't our overall focus, but it's our strategy. Either way - we can easily become discouraged in thinking we aren't making a difference and only seeing small day-to-day successes. But the Goodson's gave us some 'gold stars' and encouraging words that made us all excited to continue on...looking at specific strategies and evaluating our personal motivations...I could probably post a whole blog on this week..and maybe I will. But..right now we're all definitely in a place of renewal and are simply ready to go out and conquer!