A Year in El Salvador

2009-06-22T23:40:00.000-07:00

we just did some cleaning/packing this evening. after a day of last 'discipleship' hangout times with students... it's just all so surreal! Pray for us as we continue to process and start adjusting to re-entry.

side note - the summer project comes friday and we are STOKED!! woohoo!

2009-06-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

2 weeks left!!!! from today. BAHHAhahahahhhhhhheeeeee (just a little giddy freak out cry)

We had a week of outreach based on 'esperanza' (hope), finished ministry on campus, did debrief with WSN, did debrief with our national directors... basically we're closing out relationships, saying long goodbyes, planning for the summer project, processing the year, saying more long Salvadorean goodbyes... It's the final leg!

Every time I talk to my family or friends at home, I get excited for June 30 (our arrival day). I get excited for prospects of hanging out with people I love; for hearing about people's lives and sharing all the Lord has done in mine this past year; for having normalcy and routine... well sort of... I am quite the P on the Myers Briggs scale if any of you are familiar; for seeking the Lord's will in my next life steps... I could really go on an on. Obviously, parts of me will be sad to leave this place. To say goodbye to the ministry we spent so many countless hours in prayer, planning, and on campus to build... and the real friendships we've begun to form with the staff and students. I suppose it's easy to reminisce (and we've been doing our share with debriefing, let me tell ya) all that this year has entailed and look back with abounding sentiments, but I'm surprisingly stoic these days. Maybe it's my response mechanism to the overwhelming idea of emotion overload. I would love to think it's my contentedness in where I'm at, but then I'm reminded of how I really don't want to go to that 9am planning meeting tomorrow... Well. Whatever state my roller coaster emotions choose to take me on a ride for in the next month or so, I pray that my heart and mind is first and always focused on the Lord and how I can minister to the people around me.

I've been thinking a lot about what life will look like when I go home and how my heart has been completely renewed for people and ministry. Don't get me wrong, I'm stoked about possible career prospects, but at this point am pretty much planning to do a lot of seeking. A lot of praying. Keeping my eyes open and my heart ready to be obedient. I have no concrete plans for the future, and in a way I'm thankful. I'll have some time to readjust to life in the states, and most of all, I'll have time to know and understand the Lord's will. It's pretty much all I want these days, is just to know Jesus and figure out what He wants for me... so I guess I'm doing okay after all.

2 Kings 25 says, "Have you not heard that I determined it long ago? I planned from days of old what now I bring to pass..." I find such comfort in these verses (well, let's be honest, pretty much any verses these days bring an Amen to the surface) Man. It's so simple. God knows. He HAS a plan. More than I can say.... and it's way better than mine would be anyways. Amidst all the unknowns that lie ahead I find peace and comfort in really trusting in Jesus to be my all. To be my joy and my hope... my reason for living life when I go home, whatever season I may happen onto.

Prayers for clarity in processing the year would be great, closing our time well, even for good re-entry and safety... but more than that - I ask that if you do lift up a request in the next couple weeks, would you pray with me that both of us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. That come what may, we are ready, faithful, and obedient to his calling on our lives. because as much as I'm in love with the fact that Jesus has made this my desire, I so long for it to be yours as well... gracias y te amo

just some verses

2009-06-08T19:08:00.000-07:00

"When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ear attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time." 2 Chronicles 7:13-16

if we but humble ourselves...

back to basics

2009-06-06T21:44:00.001-07:00

It’s been way too long since I've posted on here and I keep putting off doing blogs on ministry... well, I will shortly, I promise! but for now, just thought I'd share a bit of my quiet time from today
2 Kings 14

It's about Amaziah, King of Judah... one of the bazillion kings in the Old Testament; He "does what's right in the eyes of the Lord" (these guys are hard to come by at times in this book) but ends up challenging the King of Israel to fight him (v.8) "come, let us look one another in the face." In v.10 we learn that it's from a place of greed, pride, selfishness when the King of Israel answers him "be content in your glory, and stay at home, for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you & Judah with you?" He's got some words of wisdom. At times I find myself rooting for people to 'see the light' in the bible. Unsurprisingly, this one's another stubborn fool and goes to war anyways.

It did get me thinking, though, about what I'm going after, where my greed, pride, selfishness isn't satisfied? With just over 3 weeks left, I feel like sometimes I put pressure on myself to return home perfect in all areas. I want to come back to the states and have people see, well, me. It's ugly, I know, but it's true. I want my personality, my experiences, my relationship with the Lord, my future plans... all of it to just look good. And I think these last weeks I could very easily hold on too tightly to relationships with my teammates; expecting too much from them; wanting to be all things to all people. It's so silly really, when I can plainly see how much I fall short, and how beautiful it is when the Lord and the body steps in to take care of all that.

Well, I kept reading and came to a few conclusions about selfishness (and all the ugliness that surrounds it):
- When we go after selfish things, we bring others down with us, whether we see it or not (vs.10 "...you and Judah with you")
- In the pursuit of self, we become blind to truth. We see only our own cravings, lusts, desires, needs, wants - and miss everything else. What God wants. (vs.11 "... but Amaziah would not listen")
- Selfishness is defeating. You're on the brain, and you're all you've got to give. You're bound to lose the battle (vs.12 ...and Judah was defeated by Israel")

In thinking about the chapter as a whole, I was so aware of how these guys are just men. They fail, they make mistakes. Some do good, some evil. But above all, when God is out of the picture, things almost always seem to go awry. It makes sense - we're called to walk with Jesus, to be holy. Our eyes need to be on the Lord for anything to make sense or have purpose. How can we find any value in this life if it doesn't last? If it's not eternal? Don’t' get me wrong - this life is a gift and I'm just as determined as the rest to live it to it's fullest. But I sincerely wonder sometimes why we can't just forget worldly expectations and just be Jesus to people?

I'm praying for that in my life, because I'm human. I fail. I disappoint and sin. But being given grace gives me hope and purpose. I'll keep failing when I do it on my own - so why not just give it all up to the Lord? Let Him take me and use me, wholly surrendered?

It's the basics of Christianity really. But that is my faith. I suppose we all need to go back to the basics sometimes. Refocus our eyes and our lives; make sure we're not just accepting grace but allowing it to transform us as we give everything we are over to the Lord.

"Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." - Ephesians 3:20-21

The Glorious Unseen

2009-05-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

My roommate Bean shared a worship song with me the other day by The Glorious Unseen called 'Hear our Prayers'. I've been so blessed by it lately and am listening it to it nonstop. If you have a minute, check them out... let it play while your at work or making dinner. Worship music is one of my favorite ways to meet with the Lord and I pray you'll be blessed by it too!

http://www.myspace.com/thegloriousunseen

Living to Display the Gospel: Check it!

2009-05-04T22:18:00.000-07:00

Today we had our "Day with the Lord"... Yes. These are scheduled times for our whole team. We do them about once or twice a month. And they're awesome.

This morning was no different. I've been praying through a lot lately - more than I have time to write right now, but this morning before I started a podcast I prayed for a focused heart. For more purpose and goals. To know God deeper and understand him better. For intimacy and a heart for things that He has a heart for.

And, he answered. That and so much more. So many questions I've been challenged with in quiet times and prayers... I flipped back through my journal to see everything flowing together to lead up to listening to this sermon.

You may be in a completely different place spiritually, of course! But - I just wanted to share. If you have time... please listen to it! It'll be the best hour you spend this week, I promise! Love you guys...

http://www.cornerstonesimi.com/special/media_player.html

2 Kings 5

2009-04-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

I've been reading (pretty slowly) through 2 Kings... and have been loving what God's been teaching me. Lately I've been thinking about selfishness and greed in my life - and was challenged by these verses:

(v. 20) "I will run after him and get something from him" - Elisha's servant , Gehazi, ran after Naaman to get some of the sweet goods that Elisha refused to take in payment for healing his leprosy. Immediately I saw his selfish, greedy attitude. Convciting. Man, what am I running after these days? What am I selfishly seeking? Where is greed popping it's ugly little head up in my life?

It's a constant battle to make Phillipians 2:3 true in my life: learning how to see others as more significant than myself. My pastor has been talking a lot of ministry (at least on the podcasts I've been listening to) and what it looks like to minister to others. I want that to be true of me: to use my life to bless. to edify. to give Christ. to give of myself. to seek the gain of others.

(vs. 25) "your servant went nowhere" - Gahazi's reply to Elisha's questioning of his whereabouts. This is exactly where I'll go with greed. In seeking my own gain: nowhere.

May we continue to pursue the things close to His heart and learn to truly lay down our lives for others.

blessings galore!!

gilgal

2009-04-25T14:39:00.000-07:00

Gilgal. Literally it's the place where the Israelites camped after they crossed the Jordan (Joshua 4). Right now it's a little wicker basket on our upstairs desk filled with memories of what God's done these past months that we'll read as a team tomorrow at our weekly Sunday afternoon meeting. It's an activity we decided to keep doing after our Midyear with Joe and Allison. (I've still got to write a few more...) So when I hear Gilgal, I think: place of rememberance. It signified us looking back on the first half of our STINT year, and now - the past months of ministry.

About a week ago I was reading in 2 Kings 4, and one of the verses (38) starts off, "Elisha came again to Gilgal when there was a famine in the land." That Elisha - he knew what was up. He knew the Lord's faithfulness. Where Israel had been and how God had worked. And he expected him to work; to give them food in the midst of famine.

And I was suddenly so aware that I need to return to Gilgal; to be in a place of recognizing the Lord. Who he is, what he's done; and have faith - trusting Him to continue to work. And to fill me. I've been feeling pretty empty lately. It's hard to walk through those kinds of valleys, but at the same time I'm thankful that I'm forced to be dependent on the Lord to fill me. For Him to be the only thing I have to offer. How many times God will have to bring this to light before I live it out, I have no clue. Probably a lifetime. But with about 2 monhts of ministry left - we're all fighting indifference and complacency in ministry.

And after just one week on campus - man, has the Lord been working! Through our first (quite successful!) weekly meeting on Tuesday, Family Life seminars on healthy relationships, English club, new students coming to bible study, and our first Student Leader meeting/dinner last night - we can truly see this movement taking shape. It's totally in the Lord's hands, and we're continually on our knees asking Him to work through us. And we definitely won't stop.

I'm excited for tomorrow - to remember together all that God's been doing. And to look ahead to the coming weeks, with renewed joy, energy, excitement, and faith for what He's got planned!

2009-04-15T22:44:00.000-07:00

Lord it belongs not to my care
whether I die or live;
To love and serve thee is my share,
And this Thy grace must give.
If life be long, I will be glad,
That I may long obey;
If short - then why should I be sad
To soar to endless day.

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord." Philippians 3:8

Oh that I would know the Lord enough to make my losses, crosses, what ifs, should haves, could be's so not worth it, b/c He is all I want.

catching my breath

2009-03-31T13:07:00.000-07:00

Is it really April already? I've sadly fallen into the evil spiral that starts by falling a little behind in updates and ends up turning into an endless black hole of life happenings that just gets avoided altogether. Now I'm left to pick up my mess and let you in on a glimpse of this past month... Oh how I envy those dedicated daily bloggers right now! But in reality, this month has been one of such change, growth, stretching, and pure reason to worship - and I SO want to share every second of it with you!

A while back us women had a bible study based on prayer. Not just any kind of prayer - but the true, faith stretching, utterly relying on the Lord, I really don't believe that this can happen, life-changing kind of prayer. Now, I'm pretty sure a group of recent college grads starting a completely new ministry in a poverty and violence stricken third world country where they don't really speak the language or understand the culture need a lot of faith. And it's true. Nothing about this year hasn't stretched our faith in substantial ways. But months in, I found myself needing more. My personal faith can seem so weak and my prayers so pitiful. I mean, we DO follow the very God who created this life we call our own. The God who's salvation is the hope of the world... Yet so often I'm content to pray selfishly. We challenged on another to ask what GOD wants us to be praying. Personally it was a breath of fresh air to remember how much God not only can do, but wants to do in my life. Confidently coming before him and asking him to do big things here and in my life is exhilarating and has given me a much needed perspective renewal and excitement for the future.
About that same time, I was listening to a Francis Chan sermon on humility (knowing I definitely needed some truth in that area of my life) and was completely challenged by Philippians 2:3 "...but in humility count others more significant than yourselves." He talked about how as Christians we so often forget that we're supposed to be like Jesus. Lofty shoes to fill... but a holy calling nonetheless. During the sermon Francis allotted time to simply come before the Lord in humility and meditate on his holiness. At once my heart was burdened to make this a daily habit. To start each day on my knees before my creator, giving it all up to him and learning how to be a servant - what it looks like to count others as more significant. The entire process was a great encouragement to myself and my team, and while I'm still learning to discipline myself in it, it has been a haven for my soul in times of desperation and chaos.

Ministry-wise we started holding a weekly bible study (co-ed) at 12pm on Thursdays. Manuel, a national staff, leads them and the STINTers take turns helping out. We've seen a few consistent faces but each week it seems to grow and interest has been abundantly expressed. Wednesdays we're continuing to hold English club as well and plan to start up a weekly meeting this month. All of these steps are huge for our team and just evidence of how the Lord is working in building this movement on Matias
One Saturday we spent some R&R time with Layo and Luchy at the beach. Layo gave us one of his famous inspirational speaches regarding his and Luchy's call to be missionaries in El Salvador and challenged us to think of doing the same. The week before we had all been praying about re-stinting as we had to report to the Regional offices what our future plans were. My plans are to return to the States at the end of June and start looking for work; really just staying open to wherever the Lord would have me and continue to seek his will for my life. The same is true for most everyone except Jeff and Brandon. Jeff is planning to re-stint for one more year and Brandon has accepted the position of being Layo's personal assistant for the next 2-3 years. Both are excited about their future ministries here and are completely supported by our team and the national staff. Praise God for raising up workers!!

Many of you probably heard about the Presidential elections in the news a couple weeks ago as well. Despite rumors of possibly violence and riots, the election was peaceful. Nonetheless, we hunkered down in our homes for the weekend for safety reasons and watched movies, played games and spent some quality time together as a team. The socialist/marxist party (FMLN) won the presidency for the first time since the opposing party (ARENA) came into office over 20 years ago at the end of the civil war. The party was formed by guerillas at the end of the war and hasn't held much swagger with the people until now when the country is itching, desperate really, for change. They don't come into power until June, so we'll only be here a month to see what happens - but we will definitely be praying for the future of this country.

About a week and half ago Marijke and Kristen took a day off of school to deal with some ongoing personal medical issues Marijke has been dealing with pretty intensely this year. That night we gathered as a team and listened as the two announced that Marijke would be going home for the remainder of the year to get the best medical attention. Less than 12 hours later we said goodbye and drove away from the airport in awe. I could probably write an entire book about our team in those moments and days after. The reality is that this year has brought us all closer than we could have ever imagined. Our circumstances have caused us to rely on one another, to be vulnerable and honest, to care and love for one another, to resolve conflict together, and learn to work as a team. We are a family - the body of Christ, and losing Marijke was like having a part of our body ripped away. We miss her dearly and pray for her all the time - but have also found so much encouragement through it as a team. We were forced to go to scripture and remember who the Lord is. More than ever we were reminded of God's good plan for us and complete sovereignty over this year. I feel like I say this a lot, but we gained such beautiful perspective in our role here, in our role in doing the Lords work and in God's faithfulness to each of us through it all. God met with us and is still healing many of our hearts, but through it all we are praising Him for His goodness and perfect plan.A few days later Trevor's family came, Brenna got engaged, and the SLO spring break team came for a week. All in all, this month has felt more like a year... Look for details about the Spring break week in my newsletter! I love you all and am sorry for the length of this. I would be so impressed in anyone who spent the time to read it all :) More updates coming soon and thank you for continued prayers and support!

2009-02-26T19:53:00.000-08:00

the team sporting our new "el pancho's es bueno" surf shop shirts - thanks joe and allison! this was the last day of midyear... a time of learning, challenge, renewed vision, and just plain fun. it was awesome because we all got to know one another better by just hangin out and having great conversations on the porches, by the pool, in the ocean...you know. Salvadorian style. This week was really good for me personally as I was challenged to share my faith more boldly with students - and to simply have more faith! It also brought some clarity as to why each of us have difficulties on our team... It took some soul searching, self-analyzation, and reality checks, but we came home and worked through our issues to feel more united and joyful about the next four months. (four months! 6 months done. how crazy is that?!) i realize this is a little out of order.. but i just really loved this time. and these pictures!

week one highlights

2009-02-16T20:16:00.000-08:00

Kristen and Beany being super excited to pass out Vida Estudiantil stuff the first week of campus!! wooot!
Students stopping by the table... we got a lot of contacts and had some awesome conversations
Our first event was a success! Free pizza lunch and raffle the first Friday of school - tons of students showed up for the food, music, and conversation. We were so encouraged by the turnout and amount of students that expressed interest in wanting to really get involved in the movement! Praise God for his faithfulness ...
Manning the table
We're going on week three now, but the first week was such an awesome way for us to reach out to students, promote our group, get our name out there, and make new friends. Our Spanish improved tons that week just because we were talking to so many students about the ministry. In general, students are Christian and/or Catholic. We really don't hear many other answers. Some students blow us off, some pretend like they don't care, some just stare at us - but there are many students who we've had a chance to get to know better over these past few days and are starting to form relationships with. The Lord is definitely raising up students to help launch this movement on Matias and keep it going after we leave. 4 1/2 months to go... and we are SO excited for all that God has already done!!! Thank you so much for your prayers and support all! God is working here in mighty ways... I love and miss you!!

meet Lupe

2009-02-11T21:32:00.000-08:00

we met in costa azul one afternoon as i was tromping around the grounds taking pictures... i turned around to see her curiously watching me from a safe distance. i said hello, asked her name, age... all the normal easy beginner spanish sentences, and she instantly started talking.

she introduced me to polly - the neighbor's parakeet, then pancho, her own families parakeet.. and then mentioned the sunset. so we headed to the beach for a stroll on the sand and she told me all about her favorite animals, how the sea snakes in the bay are dangerous, sharks in the distance and even a story of a girl that drowned at the beach. sounds a little morbid, but she lives a hard life and still finds room to marvel at God's creation.

at 9 years old, the girl easily told me about her life, her school, her family... i understood probably 75-80% of what she was saying. everytime we hang out with some locals, i'm reminded of how much i love kids. they're so simple and straight forward. they give you perspective you could never get from someone your own age. they just want to have fun! so... thanks lupito! te quiero mucho chica y espero que nos vemos pronto!

desire for the abundant

2009-02-03T17:26:00.000-08:00

The question seems to be plaguing me these days... what is my desire? Does anything in my life align with it? What did I just live these 24 hours for... or rather, who?

I'm painfully aware of how selfish my desire really is - that it is oftentimes so far from being an abundance of the Lord. Not that I'm desiring material things; I simply compare, count my losses, and try to avoid the lonely bout with self-pity...scheming ways I can be more the person I would love and sometimes long to be.

I'm forced to count my blessings. My team, my job, my provision, my 'circle', the list always goes on...leaving me humbled and on my knees with hands lifted. And so God clears the clouds: Just because I'm not able to check the next life goal off my list right now doesn't mean my life is falling apart. It means I'm living it. Not prophetic, I know. But to come to grips with simply being on a journey - that I am in a so called "in-between" stage of life can be life-altering. It changes my perspective. It leaves me at peace. God doesn't call any of us to be in a place of having it all figured out and under control. I can honestly say that's one of my favorite things about following Christ - being able to rest in the truth that God's got it under control. I have my responsibilities yes, praise God, but I'm not the boss. I'm the one in a spot to minute by minute be desperately depending on the one who knows infinitely more and has a (really much more creative) greater plan than I could ever come up with for my life.

In reality, the questions and the worry, the doubts, fears ... and the life goals will just keep on coming. You check them off and rid yourself of them only to stumble upon the next beast around the closest corner. And living for that - that will leave you confused, frustrated, and plainly bitter. I am called to live in abundance! To trust Him with every crack and crevice. We're not a people meant to be lost... And to truly live like that - how could you keep it to yourself? We're to live the abundant life and bring others along for the ride.

I'll still question, of course. I'll always want to know more, to check off just one more thing from my "life list," it's how God made me. But if I can switch that innate desire to have it all figured out, the constant pressing to arrive at the next big thing - and turn that into desire to simply know God's truths, his promises, his goodness - to just REST in those - what a joyfully abundant life I could live! I would be free to enjoy today for what it is, to live for knowing God more - and desiring Him more.

ramblings

2009-01-28T21:07:00.000-08:00

as I stress about stupid things like not being caught up on Lost and what job I'll have when I get back to the states - all things that I'm looking to the world to fulfill, or can so easily rely on myself and the plans that I don't even have... wanting to know my future or simply have control of my life -I'm blatantly aware of my weaknesses, and strongly reminded of what I read in Kings today. In chapter 9 God pretty much threatens to destroy Israel if they don't follow his commandments - His own people! It struck me that just as God didn't need the Israelites, He doesn't need them... God doesn't NEED me.
BUT, I need God. I need him more than anything this world could ever have to offer...and I was challenged to ask myself if my life reflected that truth - do I live my life in a way that reveals I am desperately dependent upon the God of creation? Or do I still try to do it on my own. And do I really take sin in my life seriously? I think I've come to a point where sin is natural. It's such a part of who I am; it's expected. And it makes me like everyone else. The humans around me sin, so I will too... my view of holiness has totally been distorted! But - God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, I praise Him for that. And I praise Him that He's revealing the junk in my heart.
And ever encouraging verse made it's way onto my journal pages this afternoon: "my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Corinthians 12:0
anywho... that didn't come out how I'd imagined. I hope it makes sense. This is a pretty late rambling. I was reminiscing earlier about Costa Rica though and decided to post more pictures. The best ones are on F.book. But here's a couple more from the National Park we visited one day.

backpacks and blessings

2009-01-27T16:39:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday our team of 9 (Chepe was in the states - he just got back this morning super early) had the opportunity to serve a small rural community in the barios of El Salvador, Victoria. Layo's uncle, Adonai, is involved in organizing community service events with various members from his church and asked our team if we would be willing to join them for a day of handing out 'mochillas' - backpacks - filled with school supplies to kids at 4 different schools. Our team has been wanting to participate in some kind of community outreach, so we jumped at the chance to serve and see a different part of the country.

Our day started at about 5:30am when we met a small group of adults at a nearby church in Escalon and started the looong trek to Victoria. The city is in the boonies and took us about 2 hours to get to. The group treated us to a tipico Salvadoranian breakfast (eggs, bread, beans, fried platanos con crema, queso fresca, y chocolate). With enough food in us to get us through 2 days of work, we headed to the first school where a younger guy with a tiny red backpack and waterbottle perfomed a short skit that captivated the kids and even scored some laughs... It was a bit hard to hear and all in Spanish, so I can't give an accurate description, but it seemed a better fit than any skit we were thinking of doing.

Okay - back up a step - Adonai called Kristen the night before and asked if we could come up with some kind of skit for the kids to do tomorrow... we had all dispersed for the night and so told him we'd figure something out...probably in the car. So we talked about ideas and came to the conclusion that the easiest one for us to do would be one Kristen thought of... only problem was, all she remembered was there was a chair that said "no tocar" in it. (don't touch). But after we saw this guy do his thing with the kids, we figured we were golden and not going to need to throw something together.

wrong. of course. so myself and brandon had the performance of our lives with a chair, a cardboard sign that said "no tocar" and Brandon toting a "Jesucristo" nametag. I mean, I'm not one to boast, but I thought it was a pretty compelling performance. Sadly, the kids just did not know what to do with us. Or the skit. Guess skits aren't the Salvadoranian way, but we tried our best given a ten minute warning and lots of confused faces.

The best part of course was being with the kids. I don't know how those little guys capture your heart so quickly and just make you want to spend your whole day just loving on them...We didn't stay long at each school as all of them were pretty far from each other, but Brandon and I did get to teach some english on the fly at one classroom. That was after one of the cars ran out of gas and we went on ahead down a dry riverbed.. Brandon is great with winging it, and I'm always willing to go with the flow - so we ended up jumping and waving flags and running around together. Poor kids probably thought we were insane.

Victoria is a pretty impoverished city. A lack of natural resources makes for some dry land and very little opportunity to make a living. The kids were quite malnourished and our hearts broke when 5 year old sized frames told us they were 9. Nevertheless, they were beautiful and smiles broke out right and left as we handed out the backpacks. We're hoping to stay in touch with Adonai to get involved in other community service activities, and possibly invite students from Matias to any future events.

Costa Rica!!

2009-01-23T11:42:00.000-08:00

We're back from our amazing vacation in Costa Rica! (and we've already had 2 planning/devo meetings... so we're jumping right in!) Overall the week was amazing and such a blessing to our team. It was great to spend unplanned time together at the beach soaking up the sun and just enjoying the relaxing atmosphere.

For those of you who are wondering what the vacation was all about - let me explain a little. Half way through the year, every STINT team goes to a 'Midyear' where they travel abroad to meet up with other STINT teams to get rejuvenated, work through problems, and gain renewed vision for the second half of the year. Midyear consists of 2 parts: 1 week of conference type trainings/workshops/meetings/speakers/etc. and 1 week of vacationing around the midyear area to see some sights. Because our team is the first to break STINT ground in El Salvador (and there is no established conference in Central America) we were left with the task of figuring it all out on our own. We've connected with a staff couple from SLO who are coming to do the "conference" part with us the second/third week in February, which left us with one week's vacation time and a quickly approaching new school year. After much research, talk, voting, and budgeting, we ended up finding a last minute deal on plane tickets to Costa Rica and discounted bungalows on Hermosa beach. The rest is pretty much history.

Lauren was finally able to surf her heart out while Bean and I rented boards to see if we were prodigals. Alas, we are not. But we still had a ton of fun trying to look the part. We did a lot of reading a BBQing (kabobs were my fav!)...hangin by the pool and watching sunsets. Sunday we were able to visit Manuel Antonio National Park, which is basicallly a sweet rainforest that has short trails to some coved beaches. There were tons of cute little monos (monkeys) hanging out right at the base of the beaches. Other than those, we saw a sloth, a very not wild deer, a couple iguanas, and, well basically a million crabs. I actually got pinched by one. Not cool. And I scraped by foot on some coral while we were snorkeling. Bloody scratch + sea water is not a good mix. All in all though, it was a beautiful day and nice to get to see another area of the country. And can I just say, for ten white people, I was thoroughly impressed at how little sunburns there were! Yay for saying "no" to skin cancer.

Alright, well, I'll stop making everyone jealous with this vacation in January talk. Here are a couple pictures from the trip. I posted more on Facebook and should upload the rest to Flickr soon!

pictures galore

2009-01-12T16:21:00.000-08:00

I realized way too long ago that I have tons of pictures. And most people probably aren't going to check them out at Flickr - which is totally fine. I personally don't love Flickr. You have to scroll through pictures slowly one-by-one and can't easily download them in their original sizes... but none of that really matters. I decided I'll try to post pictures more regularly on here. I've got plenty to spare - and that way you can hopefully better understand my life and the people in it! Okay. So first off - meet Gaby (above). She's probably the cutest thing to hit this country since her sweet Panamanian mom. Her family is good family friends of Eli, one of our beloved students from Evangelica. Eli is our lifeline here. She's always inviting us to fun events and introducing us to her friends.. taking us new places. And little Gaby is kind of like her extended family. We all spent a day together in Costa Del Sol a while ago... this is her playing with remnants of somebody's lunch :)

And this (above and below) is Costa Del Sol. It's the one beach we've been to that's been the most like Southern California beaches, in my opinion. Lots of white sand... and lots of houses. Here they don't really have public beach access. Of course much of the beaches are public, but you can't really just hang out on the sand without a place to house your things. You generally have to eat at a restaurant or rent a house. This day - they got a house. It was wonderful!!

some adventures

2009-01-10T18:15:00.000-08:00

me, dan, and greg at a coffee garden in Juayua

a view of lake coatepeque from the hotel/restaurant we ate lunch at

we have arrived!

Lago de Coatepeque - it's a lake inside of a huge volcano crater

Family and Dan at La Libertad Beach where the whole team spent a day in the sun

Bienvenidos 2009!

2009-01-09T12:10:00.000-08:00

Feliz Navidad y Prospero Ano Nuevo a todos!!! I hope you all had a blessed and joyful holiday season with friends and family. It's been a whirlwind month...months? Really? 2009? We're all in the "I still write 2008 on all my papers" mode.. I'm sure you are too.

December was quite the month of extravaganzas. Families, boyfriends and friends flew in one after another to celebrate the holidays with us - Salvadorian style. We spent a week with Kristen's friend Ryan before the families came for Christmas, taking him to most of the local sights and a beach house at Costa del Sol - thanks to our friends from UTEC. A few families flew in Christmas Eve and we had a fantastic lasagna and eggplant Parmesan dinner, watched "Elf", and rang in the 25th with more fire works than the 4th of July on crack. Literally - it's out of control. They're legal basically everywhere here. We live at the base of a volcano, so around midnight we all climbed on the roof and watched El Salvador light up. It was quite a sight to behold. Probably one of my favorite memories...New Years gave us a similar experience - though I'd venture to say that the celebration lasted about an hour longer.

My parents and brother flew in the morning of the 25th and stayed until the 31st. My boyfriend, Dan, also came down to spend the holidays with us. We spent a day at the beach (thank you beautiful Salvadorian weather), adventured out to Lago de Coatepeque where we had lunch at a restaurant on stilts (literally), road tripped to Juayua and a coffee garden in the mountains, ate lunch on the side of a volcano, and of course, hit up the local malls and Pupusaria. All in all, it was a blast. I loved seeing my family and was relieved that it felt like I was on vacation.

Chepe had quite the time with his family - healing from a surgery that resulted from kidney stones. Poor guy. He's doing well now, just trying to take it easy until he leaves to go back to the states on the 19th for an additional surgery. I'm sure he'll eat his fair share of in-n-out and come back stronger than ever. He would totally appreciate your prayers though!

Now that families have been gone for about a week, we've all been slowly adjusting back to normal life and getting ready for the new school year in a couple weeks. Most of our days are spent learning Spanish, having prayer and planning meetings, brainstorming outreach ideas, and planning midyear. Midyear is generally a week long conference for the team followed by a week long mini-vacation. Since we're the first STINT team in El Salvador, we get to plan our own midyear. Believe us, it's not as great as it sounds. Our budget is obviously limited, and we're on a time crunch. By the grace of God - we're going to board a plane to Costa Rica this coming Wednesday the 14th. Needless to say we're all pretty stoked to spend a week in the sun bonding as a team before the work piles on for the next 6 months. We get back the 20th and will have about a week before school starts. Sometime in February a staff couple will come spend a week with us to do some training and preparation for part 2 of the year.

So - that's the low down on what's been going on these past weeks. Now that you're more or less caught up, I'll be sure to update you soon with musings on how I'M doing and what the Lord has been teaching me. For now, HAPPY 2009! Love and miss you all!! And thank you for your thoughts and prayers during the season <3

some snapshots :)

2008-12-05T12:25:00.000-08:00

trusting in the 180s

2008-12-05T12:22:00.000-08:00

Heading into our fourth month of ministry and end of the school year, we're being forced to evaluate the progress & obstacles we've encountered since we arrived. We're also re-evaluting our mission and vision in order to ensure we're on track or work on implementing necessary changes. Well, after a team meeting a few weeks ago, we all learned that changes were the order of the day. Layo, the National Director, had been praying about/discussing/contemplating our current reality as a team of 10 spit across 4 campuses spread out in San Salvador. My team of five is often faced with feeling like we're not making much of difference - the challenging staff can leave us seeming hands-tied...wheels spinning... The other team of 5 is struggling with feeling stretched-thin, responsible to take over an existing ministry and weekly meeting, while launching a completely new movement on a wealthy, post-modern drenched campus. Now these obstacles aren't anything we can't handle - especially when we're trusting God to do big things in this country - but they do threaten to cripple our strategic vision.

After talking with our team leaders, Trevor and Kristen, Layo has decided that right now - the best way our STINT team can be most effective and strategic is to focus on one campus - Matias Delgado - to build up a model movement that will be the foundation for building up movements on other campuses. It will eventually act as a kind of training model for the staff on the other Universities.

Matias isn't one of the two campuses that my team of 5 has been working on - so this month will be a prayerful one for us as we prepare to be learners of the campus come January. But our team of 10 will finally be united and under the same schedules (Monday-Thursday 9-3; Staff meetings and Admin stuff on Fridays). A few current realities for the campus are: It's the wealthiest in the country - it is comprised of wealthy students (or, future leaders of El Salvador); Religious views are very "western," post-modern beliefs permeate more abundantly than the other campuses; there is no established movement or national staff currently working on this campus.

This is an opportunity for us to start fresh. New campus (for half of us). New team. New students. New ideas. A time to inspire a stronger partnership and have a more focused mission and vision.

Our biggest question was what happens on the 3 other campuses we've invested these past months on? What happens to all those students? Each of those campuses has national staff working on them (there are 6). We don't plan to let go of those friendships and relationships. Our goal is to keep in touch and continue building them up in their relationships with Christ - but to also connect them with Staff. We HAVE to trust in the Staff here and their ability to continue pouring into these students. To give them resources and to encourage them to be involved in their campuses growing movements. And trust that God is still on these campuses and will be working in and through these students for his glory!

For me, the thought of leaving students has been the hardest... but yesterday as we made plans for a beach day with some students during their Christmas break, I was filled with assurance and peace that we aren't abandoning them. That it will be possible to still be involved in their lives. Yes, it will look different, but I know that God doesn't need ME there to make changes in these students lives. To draw them closer to Him. So now, I am clinging to the truth that God's plans and bigger and better than my own. And that I can be obedient in taking this step of faith with my team.

hearts renewed

2008-11-07T12:07:00.000-08:00

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!

2008-10-17T21:49:00.001-07:00

Well - we've been assigned our roles. In regards to Christmas Conference that is. Brandon and myself are in charge of the big meeting, discussion groups, and MCs. We also have pairs working on schedules, quiet time resources, free/fun time, worship, publicity, and the Friday night party. Yes, that's right. Party. It's gunna be awesome!! We're so excited and already had our first meeting to talk run through details.

Today is Friday - usually my team's craziest and longest day because we have staff devotional/worship/sharing in the morning, a time of waiting for the other team to get out of their meeting, lunch in whatever harried form that may partake, some crazy time at home getting out stuff together, puzzling, taking naps, etc...then off to UTEC, and topping it off with our student leader meeting. Today included most of those things, but somehow - it was awesome. Not tiring. It revived me (praise the Lord that I'm an extrovert!). Kristen and I had great conversations with a couple girls from school, and our student leader meeting was somewhat student led (and got out before 10:30!!), which is a blessing in many different ways...

Speaking of extroverts - this team of mine is somewhat obsessed with the Myers Briggs personality test...you know, the EI-SN-FT-PJ one. Well, turns out - I didn't remember what my four letter alias was when I took the test four years ago in an Organizational Behavior class, so I took the test again, skeptical of any legitimate results. Well, results are in - I'm an ESFJ, otherwise known as "the performer." I'd go into details, but I'm sure I'd bore you, going on and on with details all about me! I must admit though, I think I've turned a new leaf and have come to love and accept who I am! haha...While it does have its self-analyzation pro's, it's become more of a huge joke among the team (oftentimes a necessity for our sanity!)

Well, we've figured out how to convert our living room into a movie theater with bomb speakers and a projecter, so I'm off to enjoy the rest of our night together :) Blessings galore!

exciting news!

2008-10-14T20:09:00.000-07:00

So we found out last week that Vida Estudiantil in El Salvador is hosting its first ever Christmas Conference! Christmas Conference in the states is basically a huge week of speakers, seminars, worship, evangelism, and fellowship extravaganza for all the campuses in the entire Pacific Southwest region. It's a big deal in the "Crusade" world, and is an awesome way for students - especially first years- to get excited about their campus, ministry, summer projects, etc. And it's really a great time of simply growing in the Lord, recomitting your life, and getting to come before the Lord in a real way. I went to 2 in my 4 years involved at Cal Poly and loved them. It was such an amazing time of renewal and refreshment for my heart and soul - as cheesy as that sounds...

Anyways, we're so so excited to be in charge of this. We have a goal! Something to work toward! Right now, we have a date. That's about it.

We're staring from the ground up. It's really awesome because we're not recreating a conference from the states. Yes, that's what we know and we'll probably start with those basics, but this is a two day deal, and our minimum desired number of students is 12. twelve. TWELVE. that's tiny. Teensy. nothing. And we know God can do huge things with this. We're going to aim for something more like 50. Really, we just want to trust God in all of this. We need to allow the Lord to have full reign...that our ideas and creativity and agenda would be His own. I'm sure I'll have lots more updates - because this is probably one of the (ministry) things I've been the most excited about in a while since arriving in this blessed country!

ps - thanks for your prayers all! I love and miss everyone...let me know if you have prayer requests! <3

2008-10-11T00:27:00.000-07:00

tonight i almost risked the next five years of my intestinal health by sticking half of a grape in my mouth - only to have kristen lean over and whisper "this fruit hasn't been washed with vegetable wash"...at which point i naturally pretended to take the seed out of the grape, but instead spit the entire thing out and shoved it in my purse stealthily...all while smiling and holding a conversation in spanish. okay. maybe not that last part. but it's crazy - we wash all our fruits and veggies with this idodine 'vegetable wash' so it's legit to eat and doesn't give us parasites, ameobas, fun salvadoranian bugs.

i spit it out. none-the-less. i still stuck half of an unclean grape in my mouth. please dear lord don't let this be the death of me. if i'm going down, i definitely want to go down guns blazing at a pupusa buffet or something...

ministry update

2008-10-09T11:22:00.000-07:00

The other night Trev and Kristen met with Layo and Luchi (the national directors) and Alvin and Sylvia (staff we are working with on our campuses) to discuss basically everything that's not going okay on our team, on these campuses, with the ministry...not to sound like debbie downer, but it was a lot of stuff. Our team of 5 had been facing mounting frustrations in regards to communication, a lack of vision, a lack of unity, and a general misunderstanding on the part of the national staff in regards to our actual role here in El Salvador. Right now we really have no authority or empowerment with this ministry - and it's been quite crippling. Luckily, words were exchanged in love, gentleness, and grace with our staff. They have such great hearts for students to come to know Christ; we just need to rethink the best way to do that on these campuses.

Tonight we are going to do ministry (bible study groups) at UTEC, and then we're meeting with Alvin and Sylvia to discuss options for completely overhauling the Friday leadership "planning" meetings. This will basically be the first time we will get to voice our opinions, our ideas, and brainstorm together as a team in creating a vision for the student leaders. Needless to say - it's all quite exciting! We want to work together, to learn from each other, to hear each other...

I pray that God would be faithful to lay his will over our own - that we wouldn't pursue our own agenda or try to do this in our own power, but that we would be continually seeking the Lord for a wondrous vision for UFG and UTEC.

It's been an interesting journey thus far - and we're all pretty positive that there's a ton of work left to go, but we praise God for the work that He's done and is continuing to do here!!

Psalm 51

2008-10-04T00:01:00.000-07:00

Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions,
Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
Against you , you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother
conceived me.
Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the
inmost place.

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will turn back to you.
Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise...
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart...

We read this Psalm (half spanish / half english of course!) this morning at our weekly devotionals with the other Crusade staff. I was so encouraged by David's desire to not only be cleansed of his sin - but completely renewed in spirit. Layo spoke about the ineffectiveness of our ministry when our hearts are fully in it; aren't 100% committed and submitted to the Lord.
After the last two stressful weeks, today was a breath of fresh air. I've been convicted of my (not so holy) attitude at times and sincerely want to be transformed like David. I know my sins are forgiven. I know the Lord washes away my iniquities...but we're called to go one step further. Full time ministry requires that my will be submitted before His thrones, in order that God's will can be made known and accomplished. This has been my prayer - and I hope it will continue to be! "...renew a steadfast spirit within me...grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me...and my mouth will declare your praise."

a day in the life of...

2008-09-24T22:55:00.000-07:00

it's been a month.

at first we were saying, 'we've only been here for four weeks!' now we're saying 'i can't believe we've been here for a month already!'

cliched, I know, but how time flies...

Since we still only have one car, our lives are continually in limbo; depending almost completely on Manuel/Ceci or Alvin to dictate our days or give us a ride to the office, to campus, to the grocery store, to get mail...We wait with uncertainty to find out what our days will hold - if anything at all. It can be hard and often frustrating not having a schedule yet - but I keep being reminded that this is year one. This is part of the pioneering stage. No, it's not all pretty. Much of it drives us crazy, or teaches us patience I should say...but in the midst of communication barriers and errors, disunity, uncertainty in absolutely everything we do, we can see the hand of God all around us. He's kept us safe. He's kept us healthy (well, not dying anymore at least!). He's blessed us with staff who love us like children. He's provided us safe homes in the midst of extreme poverty and crime...and He's working in students hearts on the campuses where we are starting ministry. No, we don't know what ministry will look like this year. No we don't know what ministry will look like tomorrow...but we do know that we are called to be here, and we are making a difference. Everyone who gave financially so we could be here is making a difference. Everyone who lifts up a prayer. Lives are and will be transformed this year.

Today on campus we met a girl named Stephanie...she loves to speak english and she loves the Lord. Right away we could tell that she was a leader. I always wonder how we end up talking to these students - and then she answered my thoughts and said 'God will bring the right people into your lives. I'm astonished at what you are doing here in my country, but it's good. And God will provide opportunities for you to speak to people who can make a difference.' Couldn't have said it better, Stephanie.

it makes me think of the cards we received from Layo and Luchi the first sticky night we arrived in this beautiful country..."Welcome to El Salvador...and to the most fun, challenging, life-changing, fruitful, and blessed year of your life." Amen!

mister donut...

2008-09-22T22:03:00.000-07:00

In El Salvador, they have this phenomenon called..."mister donut."

It actually got recommended to us from a couple of really cute, trendy girls from Evangelica University. And in a country where everything is a little sketchy - we take recommendations very seriously. We checked out a newer one at some mall a couple weeks ago and saw that it offered your usual deli array of croissant sandwiches, crepes, etc. as well as the ever popular brightly frosted donuts. It didn't really look like anything special or particularly apetizing, but we see them everywhere...

Last friday, after some time at UTEC doing ministry, we realized that we needed to grab some dinner before heading to another staffer's apartment for a planning meeting. We arrived in a parking lot chalk full of fast food places such as the greasy and satisfying pollo companero, KFC, and some random burger joint...as well as the [literally] jam packed donut man. No joke, the line was forever long. The other places - nothing. no lines. no people. So, of course, we went to Donut man, because that's where Alvin said we'd go. And, right now, we're pretty much doing whatever we're told and going where others go.

After a bout an hour and a half, we had all 'enjoyed' our interesting pizza/sandwich combo's that come with what else but, a donut.

Needless to say, we were pretty disappointed and our stomachs were NOT thanking us later. Tis all part of the experience...

I apologize for the sillyness of these blogs. I plan to get a legit one up soon! Right now, I'm off to bed. Much love to you all!

it was bound to happen...

2008-09-17T14:38:00.001-07:00

Our team has finally had it's first major bout of sickness! (the exclamation is not so much out of my excitement for these circumstances, but more because, well, we knew it would happen sooner or later...and it has)

3 weeks in and we're going on our second day of returning to good health. I was the first to feel it - flu like symptoms. Mostly aches, dizziness, chills...by the next morning it had spread to all but 2 on the team, now we're down to one healthy team member. Lucky Lauren. She gets to take care of us! I won't go into details, but we're getting a lot closer as we experience the after effects of whatever has dominated our systems together.

I've been eating more today and feeling a lot stronger...We're hoping we'll all feel up to campus ministry tomorrow. And despite not feeling my best, yesterday was such a blessing. I had some awesome time in the word and was encouraged by e-mails and some of the girls in the house. It's so encouraging to know that even being this far from home, God is taking care of all of us, and has been faithful to reveal himself to me and draw me close to him!

blunder number 72...

2008-09-11T23:53:00.000-07:00

so, being in a new culture with a different language and such, you can imagine the cultural mishaps that take place in our daily lives...

last night, we had one of these such experiences with Alvin and Sylvia (Sylvia doesn't speak any english, Alvin speaks only a little english) last night on the ride home from Gavidia.

A little background - Kristen is the female leader of our team and with a distinctly parental myers briggs of ESFJ has earned the nickname 'mom' 'mama' 'mother' 'etc.'

Kristen, sadly, was not feeling good last night and so stayed home from campus ministry. On the way back we proceeded to sarcastically joke that we could now 'party and have some actual fun' since momma wasn't around. Sylvia and Alvin then proceeded to laugh hysterically. We, of course thought this was funny as well...but Joe was quick to learn from Sylvia - through hand motions I might add - that the way we pronounced 'momma' did not mean mama, as we thought, but breast. Joe then had to turn back and explain to the rest of what had happened. We called Kristen breast. It was awesome. and there are many more to come i'm sure!

and the fun begins

2008-09-08T11:37:00.000-07:00

today kristen, marijke, and I headed to the boys' place for a morning of "productiveness" - and abuelita's cooking. The other team is at Matias University right now, doing some prayer walking and ministry start-up...whatever that may look like. We'll get updates from them tonight. Our team also starts campus ministry today. We'll be hitting up Gavidia University where there's a guys' bible study that Joe and Jeff will attend. Us girls will find something to invest our time in.

Before we go, we're hoping to have a short devo and time of prayer...It's so amazingly refreshing having to take every little thing we do to the Lord and place it in His hands. We are so useless without his power and spirit, and just the thought of going out on the campuses this year with God in us is so encouraging to me! This morning I read in Joshua about one of Joshua's daughters, Achsah, asking for a spring/well for the land he had given her. I began to think of how useless the land would be if there was no water - it wouldn't produce. it wouldn't sustain. it wouldn't provide for others. In the same way - what good am I with out the Lord? the spirit? the word? It's so crucial for me to be feeding my soul with these essentials in order to be effective. I praise God that he chooses to use us despite our complete lack of ability to do anything without him!

So if you have a second, would you lift up our teams as we embark out on the campuses this week? And that we'd be continuously leaning on the Lord in all we do :) Love you all!!

2008-09-05T14:39:00.000-07:00

Our Brady Bunch-esque team picture! This was at the
sweet coffee gardens we visited last weekend

2008-09-05T14:14:00.000-07:00

On our way to Vida Estudiantil (Ve!) - the weekly meeting at Evangelica University with Andres (Manuel and Ceci's son)

Lauren, me, and Bean. Roomies forever! Or at least through the year :)

Settling in and Thunder Storms

2008-09-05T12:51:00.000-07:00

It's hard to believe a week and counting has gone by...Today is Friday and we arrived last Tuesday! Our days have mostly been filled with errands - stop by the mall, by the bank, by the post-office, by the schools, by the mall, by the bank, etc. But I feel like I'm already getting accustomed to the uniquely odd characteristics of this beautiful country. There are things that I would think should make me uneasy or feel unsafe - like the copious amounts of razor wire on top of buildings, or the random guards on every corner carrying guns...Yet I feel so at peace here.

Despite the fact that we are living in one of El Salvador's wealthiest communities, I'm very much aware that this is a third world country. And my team and I have been called to be servants here - to the staff, the students, and the people we come into contact with everyday. It's really no different than what we are called to do back in the United States, it's just that here, it has become our sole purpose. And there's a language barrier...Pero estamos aprendiendo! (We're learning!)

We attended our first staff meeting this past Monday morning at the Campus Crusade office building where we had a time of worship, a devotion, and prayer requests/testimonies. Kristen and Trevor then announced how our teams would be split (There are 4 campuses we will be doing ministry on this year and so our team decided to be spit in two and each team would be responsible for 2 campuses). On the Evangelica/Matias Campuses where we had already participated in a weekly meeting, the team members are: Trevor, Brandon, Lauren, Bean, and Brenna. Myself, Kristen, Marijke, Jeff, and Joe will be on the 2 other campuses: Tecnologica/Francisco Gavidia which are decidedly less affluent and closer to our equivalent of state schools. When we first learned of this split, we were all a little bummed out - myself included - mostly for a variety of reasons involving team unity. And after our team had our first meeting with the staff from our campuses, our hearts were torn. On one hand, we were so excited to finally be getting started and desiring to come alongside the staff and help in anyway possible, yet on the other hand, we realized that our schedules would look different than the rest of the team, and the inspiring vision that Layo had previously cast in regards to reaching the top leaders and future leaders of this country seemed to not apply to us quite as much...

After some evaluating, team discussion, and time to process - we realized that no matter where we are serving this year - we are here to do just that: serve. And God obviously has a purpose in putting us 5 on those 2 campuses. We may face a few extra obstacles (with language/students' availability and reliable transportation/distance to travel...) but God is fighting for us. He has put us here for a reason bigger than any of us can even begin to imagine right now - and ALL of us are so priviledged to be working for the God of the Universe. A friend of mine left me a wise reminder before I left - There will be great successes ahead - they might not all be easy, but all the stuff that matters rarely is.

It's raining right now. again. It rains a lot in El Salvador - it's the main reason why the land is so lush and green. I know we'll have a lot of rain in our ministry this year. It's inevitable. God doesn't promise an easy life - especially a life fully committed to following after Him. We're going to have to fight...but God is fighting with us and for us. He is a God that desires to give good gifts to his children. And I believe He is a God that desires to do a mighty work in the country of El Salvador. My prayer right now is that I would be diligent to seek God and obediently fight - in all kinds of weather.

2008-08-30T22:19:00.000-07:00

To the left is a the view out one of our upstairs windows...one of many volcanoes in El Salvador

Below is a church we saw while visiting a food festival and coffee plantations in the mountains this afternoon.

2008-08-30T22:16:00.000-07:00

We're Here!!!

2008-08-28T15:40:00.000-07:00

We arrived two days ago...on the eve of the 26th to a warm welcome from the National staff and their children. Thankfully we had no flight, luggage, or customs problems! Us girls (6) are still trying get comfortable in our home, but it's not too hard - a four bedroom hacienda in a beautiful gated community with a great view of the city. I promise we're actually doing work!! The boys (4) have a two story townhome with a live-in maid. "Abuelita Julia." She cooks, cleans...we're trying to keep our jealousy to a minimum knowing the boys need her more than we do!

Last night Layo and Luchi - the national directors for the Central American Region as well as El Salvador - invited us to their home for a welcoming party. They have 3 sons. Manuel (a crack-up and our chauffeur) and Ceci are also on staff and have 2 sons as well - Andres (9) and Giovanni (19). Selegna is on staff as well. She's 29 and from Panama, but has only been in the country for 2 months! The people here are amazing. They are so kind, generous, and hospitable and are simply going out of their way to make us feel comfortable and to give us everything we need for ministry.

I've been so touched by their hearts to see the students of El Salvador come to a relationship with Jesus Christo...we are all so excited to see what the Lord does this year!!

E-Mails!!!

2008-08-01T11:19:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!!

So - here's the lowdown: I'll be using this Blog to write more regular updates and stories, post pictures and videos, etc.

But, I'll also be sending out a monthly - or so - newsletter with general updates and prayer requests! And it would be a GREAT help if I could send out most of those electronically. I have a few e-mails already, but if I didn't ask for yours, or you're pretty sure I don't have it, could you post it here so I can add you to my list? This simply means you'll be receiving my newsletter via e-mail and saving me a stamp! THANKS SO MUCH!!!