October 2013 Cojutepeqe, El Salvador

Time flies when you are having fun! I've sure enjoyed this month as things continue to move right along in this ministry.

Praise The Lord again this month for all hes done. We have continued to see the amount of girls in Sunday School each week climb from 9-10 when we first got here, to a regular class size of 20, sometimes more. The few memories I have from my teenage years with my youth leaders are treasured. I hope that the lasting impression I leave with them will influence them well after I'm gone,  in a way that they will in turn influence others. We have also seen the class sizes from the 3-12 year age group triple in the past 10 months! What a blessing! For the most part, this growth is a reflection of what is happening with the adults in the main church services, and Sunday school as well. We owe all the credit to God! We have done nothing special, just moving forward.

I got the chance to spend time with the teen girls from Sunday school class each Sunday afternoon this month again. Its been SUCH  a blessing getting to know them more, and having new experiences around town! It was also fun to have Kenia with us this month! I was able to talk to her one day while running errands and after a few promised Sundays she finally came! Please pray that she would return for another hour of Sunday School with us! We would love to have her in our class every Sunday, and we would love for her to hear the Gospel and accept Jesus as her personal Savior!

Melissa and I during our fun afternoon!

Adriana showing me how to be "cultured."

My fun cultural experience for the month was going to the post office. We used to have someone from the church or school send them out, but, now that I've found the "post office" (its smaller than a 7-11 with PO boxes for 20 people in a town of 80,000....its dinky!) I like to go there myself. It usually takes about 15 minutes to mail whatever I have, even though I'm usually the only one that is in the building. This month when I went, they decided they were on strike. There was a brown paper sign written in purple marker that said "Closed." However, there was a man at the door who wanted to know what I needed. Funny you should ask, since I'm at the post office. .  . I told him I just wanted to mail some letters, but was denied. He said they were on strike, because they wanted to be paid more.  I came back 5 minutes later after purchasing something down the street and the sign, and the man was gone. I was able to mail my letters without anymore discussion, and the woman behind the counter said nothing of the "strike" nor why they decided to end it. I'm grateful that they have been open every time I've returned since that day!

All is well at school and this month brought the opportunity to go on a field trip with 7th grade to a beautiful national park! What fun it was to go on a field trip again! 

7th grade class wandering through the woods

When Sundays come around this usually means that I am with Esther in her class, leading the games, and learning from her lesson rather than teaching. Occasionally I have an opportunity to teach in Kids Church to kids ages 5-9. The opportunity arose again, and we had a lot of fun in one of our classes learning about baby Moses. (See Exhibit A below). I've learned a lot of things since being here, but one of the most important is learning to be flexible, and improvising at a moments notice! We had a fun time with this weeks Bible lesson, and I hope they learned a lot about Moses! They do know that Moses is a boy. . . .

Enthusiastic boys in Sunday School

Improvising-meet baby Moses!

As we move forward and add new people to the church, we have additional people that go door to door with us, visiting, soul winning and inviting more people to church. One of the newest to join us this month was Ana. She is newly married to Marvin one of our construction workers right now at the church/school. Ana told me that she was a little nervous, but as time wore on, she discovered its not scary at all to give someone an invitation to church!! By the end of the night, I turned around and noticed that she had intentionally gone out of her way, entered a gate into a school area, to invite three workers to our church. What a blessing it is to see II Timothy 2:7 in action. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." Its true!

Below is a picture of Marvin and Ana, our newest married couple. Marvin is working with the school and church construction, and Ana makes a great soul winning partner! 

Marvin and Ana, the happy couple

As always, we have been having a good time here, going out twice a week to invite people to church, and to tell them about Jesus. The last month we have been entering new areas, seeing new faces, big dogs, interesting things (bamboo bridges for a start) and beautifully breathtaking views of the sunset over the lake. Praise God for the opportunity to go soul winning and the blessings that come with it, from the beautiful views, to those that come to know Jesus as their personal Savior.

Bamboo bridge, rock path, dirt stairs, railroad...

Beautiful view overlooking the lake.

As the church is growing with more adults, its also bursting with children! At the beginning of the year we never needed to open nursery on Wednesday nights as there were no small children but Micah and Joel, the Fridenstine's sons. Later on in the year we began opening it once a month, then twice, three times, and now; there are so many babies on Wednesday nights that we always have the nursery open.  Wednesday night Bible studies are currently covering common questions that many Christians have, but perhaps do not study and seek out the answers thoroughly.  Pastor has been covering a lot of practical lessons on Wednesday nights that address issues such as music, dress, finances, etc. that have been a point of interest, especially to many of the younger Christians in the church. What a blessing it is to serve in the nursery with the babies while the parents are in church learning more about their Christian walk!

Nursery fun!

Missions conference came and went in the month of October, and my what an exciting time that was. We were delighted to have the Callejas family with us. They are missionaries in San Salvador and have the only Baptist Church in San Salvador with services both in English and Spanish. We were also excited to have the Castro family. Mr. Castro is an evangelist. He travels throughout Central America preaching at churches, revival meetings, and special services encouraging churches and helping pastors.

Mrs. Castro teaching teen girls Sunday School.

Callejas family, missionaries in San Salvador

On our opening night we had split sessions with men and women while Joao Callejas, Stephanie and I were able to work with the kids. I invited Amy (my six year old neighbor kid that spends a lot of time at my house playing with my rabbit and asking me questions-always entertaining) to come with us for this meeting on a Friday afternoon. She said yes and were were excited to have her, and 6 others come with us too! What a joy to see so many people come and learn about missions from the invitation of just one! Please pray for Tatiana, Carmen, and the rest of Amys family to return with us one day, as they have promised.

All the kids listening intently to Joao.

Ashley, Mahomy, and Ashley working on crafts.

Its a small world! I had a great reminder the other day when I got an email from a friend that I knew in the Army. His cousin is here in El Salvador, sick in the hospital. What a blessing it was to be able to make some homemade cookies, and put together a care package with a Bible for this man to read this week while he is in the hospital. Please pray for the recovery of Jose as he is in the hospital. Also, please pray for Pastor Callejas, as he was able to visit him and deliver the care package, and present him with the Gospel.

In the US, October is Pastor Appreciation Month. We decided to surprise pastor by showing our gratefulness for his service with a quick fun video in the service. We also had a fun time this month throwing a combined baby shower and birthday party for Esther Fridenstine on her birthday. How exciting it is to pull off surprises like this on someone who works in every aspect of ministry in the school and the church! She came to the party iPad in hand, ready to take notes at the "teachers meeting."

Surprise announcement for Pastor Appreciation Month!

Opening all the gifts!

Sadly, this month brought another moment of sadness here. One of the kids that we had with us on kids day just three weeks ago was murdered. Please pray for the healing of her family, who have since come to visit us at the church as well. Isaiah 55:8 says, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord." We know that no matter the situation, God has a plan.

Praise the Lord for his goodness. When I left the US in January, I had enough money to cover my plane ticket and get me through January. Although, perhaps from the outside looking in, that's not the smartest idea I've ever had, but I knew God would provide, and He did. Little by little my needs have been met along the way, ever increasing my faith. I am currently at 93% of my support level and praying in the last 7% so I can purchase my plane ticket, as I will be flying back in December.

My smart first graders reviewing for a test.