Its hard to believe that the year is already half over! What a blast its been! June kicked off with all of the normal things, plus extra excitement too! Pastor Arias is a national pastor here who has a church on the other side of town. He had a family focus month, where there was preaching and a special service every single day for his church family! Pastor Fridenstine got invited to speak weekly, every Saturday night, and we were able to have the opportunity to accompany the Fridenstine family to these special services. It was a lot of fun to experience the way others run their church. For instance, here, after every service, you get a snack with coffee, usually. This church is no exception. They person who is responsible for bringing the food also serves it. We had every thing from tamales to rice milk. Fortunately, some of my students attend this church, so the food that was a little less appealing for me personally-my students were more than happy to help with!
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| Esther and I singing a special at Pastor Arias' family conference |
Pastor Arias was not the only church that hosted a family emphasis month in June. We also had the opportunity to attend a church near Las Palmas, where Pastor was able to preach a special message on the family. Its so much fun to have so many friends in so many places here!
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| New friends Tania and Gaby at a church in Las Palmas! |
Also during the month of June Cherith Brown (younger sister of Esther Fridenstine) arrived. It is wonderful to have here here for the next two months helping in the school, cooking, spending time with her nephews, helping Esther, the church, playing her cello, teaching and just her presence is an encouragement! I know that brothers and sisters can sometimes step in where other people can't-it is exciting to see how much fun she and Esther are having here!
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| Aunt Cherith sharing her glasses with Micah! |
Also here visiting for the summer is another family-the Barreras. Mrs. Barrera and her kids are here to spend the summer with her husband, Francisco (a man who works in the ministry here while getting his visa paperwork completed) and to attend the school (on their "summer vacation" from the States!!) so that the kids can pick up a little bit of Spanish while they are here enjoying the summer as a family. Its so much fun to have new students in class mid year! Marlene is such a blessing as she is jumping right into the ministry here, helping with the ladies events, church upkeep, nursery, and soul winning!
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| Xavion and Francisco soul winning on Saturday. |
In Sunday school we have over 15 now in the teen girls class! Praise the Lord! One by one teens are coming, and they are sticking. It is an encouragement to know that the Lord is blessing here, and that the girls are coming, learning, and applying the weekly lessons in their lives. Change is amazing! Two of the girls, Tania and Johanna, I've been praying for for many months now, but have just met for the first time. Please pray for their salvation!
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| The look of success!! My roommate and I decided to "show the girls how its done" during a game in Sunday School. I won! |
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Pastor and Brother England preaching/translating in the church service
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West Coast Baptist College classes kicked off here again for the summer. Plans are to have 5 college classes taught here in the upcoming weeks. These classes will train and equip the members of our church, other churches, and pastors from all over El Salvador, as well Honduras. We kicked off our classes with the Gospel of John, and Modern Day Cults, taught by Bro. England. What a blessing it was to see 20 new and returning faces in these classes. We even have several students that travel by bus all night from Honduras to attend these classes! Praise the Lord!
This month we also enjoyed hosting a baby shower for a young lady named Isis. I met her and her one Saturday out soul winning, and invited them to church the next day. She and her boyfriend did attend, and after several visits, decided to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savoir. They are now regular attenders of our church. It brings so much joy to see people's lives changed as a result of what Christ does in their heart!
June is also the month of Adam and Esthers Anniversary. Stephanie and I were delighted to help watch the boys while they went out of town for some time away. Somehow, within hours of them leaving to celebrate, Joel fell and cut his head open while playing after school with his friends. Fortunately for us, this is his third trip (to the hospital for stitches) this year. Joel knows the routine, and was just fine after some stitches and ice cream!
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| Ice cream and stitches...what a great way to spend the weekend! |
Lastly, we are praising the Lord for the baptism of three this month. Fernanda (2nd from the right) is a member of our teen girls Sunday School Class and also a student in my 8th grade English Class. She is a joy to have around, and we look forward to having these new members serve along side us in the church! Praise the Lord for his goodness!
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| Church members going to the lake for baptism |
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| Ready to start |
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| All done! |
