Mission: El Salvador

Can’t believe it’s already Thursday..

The Team — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 01:48:11 +0000

Time is flying and we are not looking forward to Monday at all. Again, we started the day off with construction at the church. We finished laying concrete on the courtyard yesterday, so today we moved on to something new. There’s a section of the church where there is scraps of material, sand, gravel, and wood stacked layer after layer but there was also trash all over the place in this area. Our job was to gather up all the trash and also a few piles of sand they had piled back there. We’re not exaggerating when we say it seemed like the entire church was filled with dust from shoveling the piles of sand into buckets and then hauling them up to a garbage truck on the street. After the trash was finished and a few baseball size spiders were killed underneath it all, some began digging a ditch for drainage along the side of the church while others were involved in demolition. They want us to demolish one corner of the church next to the street to allow another entrance to be there. We will be finishing up the drain and doing more demolition tomorrow, our last day of construction ..

After lunch, we headed to the beach! We took two buses full of the team and some of the Salvadorian helpers from VBS and went to a beach house about an hour away from the church. The entire team was looking forward to this day and didn’t really know what to expect because we were told the beaches were black. When we arrived, we headed around the back and saw only water…. and rocks. It was not your typical beach but it was beautiful none the less. There was no sand where we were and the waves were extremely high. Some of us were scared to get in the water because we didn’t know the best way to get in.. There were huge waves crashing into the rocks and pushing much of the smaller pebbles back up at us. Some decided to leap in but didn’t stay for too long because walking on the rocks and some of them hitting our legs were just too painful and awkward to walk on. There was also a pool at this house so a lot of the team and the Salvadorians swam and played games in there. We stayed a few hours and it was very neat to be able to be in a different atmosphere with the members of the church. After the hour drive home, we are now sitting here waiting for Carlton to finish our dinner so we can feed our faces, fellowship some, and hit the sack for our next day where we will be doing more construction and then heading to Exodo Orphanage!

The Team — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 01:48:00 +0000

(DUE TO MORE TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES WITH THE INTERNET IN THE MISSIONARY HOUSE, WE ARE AGAIN LATE IN POSTING ON THE BLOG)

Wednesday was a long day for the team. We still are not all in the habit of waking up early and having devotions at 6:45, and then departing for construction at Ezel by 7:30. Although some of the team members may not have been completely awake, we made it to the church to begin some more bucket brigades. The team lined the church to carry the new load of gravel from the street level entrance to the playground, four levels below. Instead of having the team pass the heavy buckets of gravel the entire distance, the construction leader Ricardo told us that we could dump it over a ledge to the playground, and in the process cut out two levels of carrying. The men mostly worked mixing ten buckets of sand with eight buckets of gravel, and then two 90 lb bags of concrete mix using shovels with glorified tree sticks as handles. The concrete was then used to cover the rest of the playground area. Randy, Jordan, and George continued tiling the new bathrooms upstairs. The girls helped Lisa complete some last minute tasks for the Vacation Bible School crafts.

At two, the kids started pouring in for the second and final VBS day at Ezel. We had a strong showing of around 175 kids and found ourselves running out of crafts, which is a praise. The two stories for the kids on Wednesday were the “rich young ruler” in Luke 18 and becoming “fishers of men” from Luke 5 … The kids worked on weaving a magnet fish craft and decorating it with eyes and a verse. The other craft was a wooden puzzle demonstrating that what seems to be impossible with man, is possible with God. The preschoolers painted their hands for the story of Samuel and enjoyed their unique craft.

After VBS concluded around 4, the team relaxed at the church until the praise and prayer service at 6:30. After singing songs exalting our all-powerful, majestic, invincible God, we had a time of sharing prayer requests and praises. Many members of Ezel stood up and tearfully shared their petitions with the church body. We then broke up into groups of 10-12 and prayed for those requests. These requests will surely be lifted in prayer numerous times in the next few days, weeks, and even months, as the team really took the prayer time to heart. It was such a blessing to hear the Salvadoreans and Gringos praying at the same time, in different languages, to the same God. The Holy Spirit was moving in the sanctuary and making intercession for us as we prayed for our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

The day ended with pizza at the mission home at around 9. It was a long and eventful day, and the entire team was tired and ready to get some much needed sleep. We ask that you would continue to keep us in your prayers; for safety, health, and strength as we endure some very long and busy days. The team members will certainly be returning home with many stories that were not posted in the blogs, so be sure to get in contact with any of the members to hear about their specific experiences. Thanks for reading, and God bless.

Back up and running… Update from Monday and Tuesday

The Team — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 04:40:43 +0000

Monday was our first day of waking up extremely early. Most of us were up a couple hours earlier than we needed to be since the clocks on our phones did not automatically update to El Salvador time. We had devotions at 6:45 before departing for Iglesia Ezel at 7:30 to do some construction. The first thing we had to do at the church was move gravel down five flights of stairs via the bucket brigade. A truck unloaded a large amount of sand on the street and gave us some 90 lb bags of cement mix to carry downstairs, which was six flights down. The team pitched in on mixing the concrete by shovel in order to finish the playground area for the kids at the church. At 2 we started VBS with the kids and the team members were in charge of various age groups. We had two Bible story stations about Nicodemus and Philip the Ethiopian eunuch and a couple craft stations where the kids made mobiles and fans. There were about 188 kids at Vacation Bible School at Iglesia Ezel, including the teens that were learning to share their testimonies with Tim, Lori, Jenna, and Andrew. After VBS we came back to the mission house to have some dinner and relax before sharing time and prayer.

Today we started off with devotions again and went to Iglesia bright and early at 8AM. A few of us went straight to the kid’s playground again to start mixing and spreading large batches of concrete. Jordan, Randy, Carlton, and George were on the top floor tiling the walls of the new bathrooms that were built during this past year. Lori, Jessi, Laura, Kelsey, Kate, Briana, Amanda, and Lisa were painting either the bathroom or the outside walls along the stairwell. Altogher, the construction lasted about 4 hours and we started preparing the church for the eyeglass and dental clinic. We started at about 2PM today and many Salvadorians from around the church area came to receive toothbrushes, floss, toothpaste, and also eyeglasses if they needed them. The eyeglass clinic took place below the sanctuary where we had two sunday school rooms being used for the observations. This was something new that our team did this year and we saw good results. At the end, the gospel was presented and many of the members from Iglesia Ezel prayed with the locals coming in. As a result, we know of at least 4-6 who made spiritual decisions! After tallying up the numbers, we estimated there were about 300 that attended. We cleaned up and headed to the mission home where our wonderful cooking team prepared bbq chicken sandwiches and chips. Around 6:30, some members from the church picked some of the team up and drove us to a park to have our annual “Gringos vs Salvadorians Basketball Tourney.” The young USA men took home the crown this year and the Gringo girls played with the church ladies, kids, and some of the men also. We stayed a couple hours, headed home, and finished up the night with prayer and sharing. An excellent day and looking forward to what God has on our agenda for tomorrow! Stay tuned…

God Bless

One down…

The Team — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 03:37:55 +0000

(DUE TO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES WITH THE INTERNET SERVICE HERE, WE ARE RUNNING LATE WITH OUR BLOG POSTS)Unfortunately, our first full day here in El Salvador is in the books. As mentioned in the earlier blog, we went to the afternoon church service around four o’clock, and didn’t return home until some time around eight. The afternoon service was just as moving as the morning one, with a testimony from Jenna Wright,a sign language presentation of the song “Who Am I,” and a powerful message from Pastor Orozco. Pastor taught from Acts 13:1-12 about the motivations for serving. We are motivated by being Spirit filled, by being set apart for service, and by being sent. This message was directed a lot towards the team, as we are all missionaries and are in need of feeling motivated to continue on. After the service concluded, we spent time being mobbed by children begging for “Candy! Candy! Pleeeeeaaaase!!!” The elders of the church ate dinner with the team afterwards and we enjoyed more fellowship with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Tomorrow will consist of an early morning of construction followed by Vacation Bible School in the afternoon. Due to the long day at the church tomorrow, we will not be able to blog until the evening, but it is sure to be filled with details from our eventful day at Iglesia Ezel. Thank you for your continued prayers and God bless.

(FYI, below is a list of the team members)

Norris & Randy Pickens

Jim, Lisa, Laura, & Taylor Cornell

Tim, Lori, & Jenna Wright

Jessi and Joe Aprile

Meghan Gudgeon

Kelsey Farnsworth

Amanda Owens

Andrew Moran

Paul Feldkamp

Jordan Andersen

Carlton Talifierro

George Kees

Briana Bezilla

Kate Scott

Cindy Blanco

Sarah Johnston

Already feel at home…

The Team — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 21:32:38 +0000

Halfway through our first day, we already feel like we are back at home.. Even a lot of the newbees have already said they feel like they’ve known some of the Salvadorian people for longer than a day. Starting last night with the bus full of church people picking us up to now, they show us so much love. Today, the team went to Iglesia Ezel for the first time and saw all of our friends and family. We were welcomed with the kids asking us for candy and wanting hugs.. During Sunday School, Lisa organized a skit about David and Goliath and much of the team was involved. The kids loved the skit and our translator, Cindy, translated the entire skit. We also brought down different pitched bells and some of the team played “Jesus Loves Me.” After we played the first time, some of the kids came up to try and they did pretty well! For Sunday school alone, we were just shy of 100 kids all packed into one room. Before we left for the trip, we cut out a bunch of Bible verses, attached them together, and shipped them down with us to pass out to all the younger kids to memorize this week. After one of the kids memorizes a verse, they have to come up to one of the team members to let us listen and initial the verse. The child who memorizes the most verses by next Sunday wins a special prize. During main service, Tim and Lori gave their testimonies in front of the congregation and we sang many Spanish songs praising the Lord. It is so neat to be in a different culture worshipping the same God in a different language. After church, we came home to our delicious American sloppy joe’s handcrafted by Carlton and then played an intense game of Kempse while some relaxed. Now, everyone is getting ready to leave for the second service and then we are eating dinner at the church for our first taste of Salvadorian food.. We will let you know how it went! Hope all is well in the States

We Made It!!!

The Team — Sun, 12 Jun 2011 06:12:48 +0000

Its late here in El Salvador, and we are all getting settled in for the night. The flight here was smooth and had few complications, so the Lord answered those prayers. Like always, some fifty or so members from the church met us outside the airport doors to take our luggage for us and greet us with hugs. From there, we all headed to the mission house for pizza and fellowship. That’s about it for today, as we all are anxious to get some rest. Tomorrow consists of church in the morning and evening, as well as a dinner with the members of the church after the night service. We will post a more detailed blog of our day tomorrow. Thank you for the prayers, and for checking out the blog. Over and out.

Today’s the Day

The Team — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 16:33:01 +0000

The day we have all been waiting for is finally here.. We are meeting at the airport in about a half hour and we take off at 3:10.. The flight to Houston will be about 2 and a half hours and from there to our second home, about 3 hours.. Right when we walk out of the San Salvador airport tonight we are going to be greeted by all our friends.. They always bring a big bus to come pick us to with some of the church members and kids.. Tonight we will be having a pizza party at the mission home with the youth and I will be blogging tonight about how the day went and what to let you guys know about for tomorrow..

Next time we’re blogging, we will be in El Salvador!!!!!

Now less than 24 hours away from take off!

The Team — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 22:04:27 +0000

The big day is now tomorrow and you know it’s almost here when all the newbees on the trip are calling us asking what else they should bring and how much of each item We are so excited about this team God has put together and we know He has a big week planned! Most of the team is taking off around 3PM tomorrow but we have another member, Carlton, who will be traveling a little earlier and meeting with us at the mission home. 24 hours from now we will be in the air and on our mission and we are ready! Make sure to tell everyone about this blog and remember, you can leave comments and we will make sure to reply during the day..

Out of Cincinnati in 3 days!

The Team — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 16:05:26 +0000

The week has been flying and Saturday is coming very soon! We are getting the last few things together and I believe Norris is already packed All week this week, our friends from the church have been on facebook telling us how excited they are and we are probably even more excited. I can speak for the team when I say that they are our family down there and we wish we could be down there longer than 10 days. Starting today I will be blogging everyday talking about our last minute details and if any prayer requests pop up. Please pray for our safety and that everyone traveling Saturday will be HEALTHY. We want 100% of our team to be going on this trip. Thanks already for your prayers and hopefully the people reading this blog can come with us in the future!

Joe

5 days until we fly out!

The Team — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 22:02:33 +0000

The day we have been waiting for to get here is coming this Saturday. We fly out early in the day to arrive in the evening down there. In the past month, all of our friends from the church have been facebooking and emailing us saying how excited they are and we are just as excited! Make sure you tell all your friends about this blog and also please remember to pray for us!!