Cooler Days and Bills Paid

It's been amazingly cool the last two days; I think the high temperature has been in the upper 70's or low 80's. We actually slept with the window closed and ceiling fan off last night. We've seen some people wearing jackets--give us a year or so and I'm sure we'll be doing the same.

I promised to tell the story of how bills are paid, so here it goes. Bills arrive in the "mail," which means that the company delivers it to your house and slides under your front door. (Yes, there's a gap between the door and the floor which would allow "delivery" of a variety of junk mail, catalogs and magazines, if we actually received mail.) The first bill we received was an electric bill which happened to belong to the tenant who moved out before we got here. Since it was only $3.17, Jeff and Paula suggested that we pay it as our "trial run" of the process. First step is to take the bill and the appropriate amount of cash to your favorite bank. We walked to Banco Agricola at Plaza Merliot (about 15 minutes.) Second step--take a number (reminded me of the local license bureau.) Third step is to wait in line with 40 or more of your closest friends until your number is called. Our number was 56 which of itself isn't a problem until you realize that they just called number 18. It was a bit tricky listening for our turn and it was a good thing we practiced numbers with our tutor last week. There were 6 cashiers open so it only took 35 minutes to be called up. Luckily, laying the bill and the cash on the counter was all that was necessary--no talking required. Several moments later we're exiting the bank with our receipt!

We decided that it makes sense to try to find a date when all/most of the bills can be paid and make one trip to the bank. By the way, this method is also used to pay rent; the only difference being that you must go to the bank where your landlord has an account. Our landlord has an account at Banco Agricola so we can use the same place, thus making our successful trial run a confidence builder. We will pay our rent in cash as we cannot open a checking account here until we have our residency. If we don't have a vehicle by the time our rent is due July 9, we will probably have Jeff and Paula drive us to the bank. It doesn't seem like a great idea to be walking to the bank with $500+ in our backpacks.

Well, that's the cultural difference story for today. Stay tuned for more details as we learn the ropes here in El Salvador. Thanks for your prayers for our transition--they mean alot to us.

Guatemala Trip

Jeff and Stephen left for Guatemala at 5:15 a.m. this morning; they made it in just over 3 hours and had no problems at the border. Stephen sang the special music and Jeff preached. The trip back was uneventful except for the on and off downpours and the bad roads. Paula, Emily and I went to church here in San Salvador. It was a great day in the Lord's house and I hope your Sunday was also great.

We were able to Skype our kids in California and "talk" to and "listen" to our granddaughter, Maleia. Of course, we think she's the cutest baby around and we love her little voice. It seems like she's decided that Grandma is "Bah Bah," but I'll take it! We will see her in just over a month when we return to the states for our nephew's wedding.

We didn't get our homework done tonight, so we will have to find time in the morning before our lesson starts at 9:00. Somehow that reminds me of my past--waiting till the last minute!

That's it for tonight . . . next week I'll tell the story of paying our electric bill--quite an interesting process to say the least.

Por cinco dias (5 days down)

We wrapped up our first week of Spanish classes yesterday. We're so glad we took time in the states to get some tutoring because that helped us out this week. However, are shortly going to be in brand new territory. We spent quite a bit of time yesterday learning how to conjugate the verb "to buy." If you can remember your language arts classes from elementary school, that's what it sounds like: I buy, you buy, we buy, I will buy, we will buy, you will buy, I bought, you bought, we bought, etc. only more complicated. Our teacher, Beatris, is very patient and complimentary so we believe her when she tells us that we're doing well even though it doesn't seem like it to us. It's definitely going to be a long process!

Juntos Together is coming up June 5-12--it's a combined US/El Salvador conference for college students. Stephen has been practicing with the youth band which will play all 5 nights of the conference. The theme song is "Made to Love You" by Toby Mack. We're excited to see people from our home church--there's a group of 15 coming from Abundant Life in Lee's Summit. They are also bringing 3 additional suitcases of our stuff, including more towels, a shower curtain for the guest bathroom, a tablecloth, comforter for our bed (not that we need it, but it will make the room look nicer), more clothes, books and many other miscellaneous items.

Thanks to my son, Jon, I've been making my own bread dough. It's an easy recipe which can stay in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks allowing you to bake whenever you need it. I used it to make pizza dough this week with pretty good success. Space in the kitchen is tight and I don't have a rolling pin, so the dough wasn't pretty, but tasted good. My oven, like others down here, only has one heating element and it's on the top, so it's hard to get a crispy crust. A baking stone would help, but I haven't seen anything like that in the stores down here.

We still have items on our "list" of things to buy whenever we find them including an alarm clock, a ceiling fan for the kitchen, blinds for the windows and a crockpot. We're going to try looking for a vehicle this week (if we have time.) We may switch from a work truck to another type of 4x4 vehicle like a Rav4 or other small SUV.

Well, this is quite an update and even though there's more to say, I need to clean up the breakfast dishes and move a load of laundry from the washer to the dryer . . . . sound familiar?

We are so blessed to see God's hand in all that we're doing. Please pray for changed lives among the college students of VidaNueva as well as the 3 groups from the states. Also pray for Jeff as he prepares the messages for the conference.

Medical Campaign 6-23-10

After our morning Spanish lesson, Stephen and I took a taxi to VidaNueva (in case you're wondering, Jeff has to call them and tell them when to pick us up and where we're going.) Jeff picked us up and took us to the church where the medical team was set up. The building was small, but the pastor was very organized. There were multiple witnessing teams, 3 nurse/triage areas, 4 doctors, 3 dentists and the pharmacy. Although Stephen and I had lunch before we went, everyone else enjoyed a snack pack of chicken from Pollo Campero. If you've ever been to El Salvador, you may have enjoyed some of their chicken. In fact, there's almost always multiple boxes of Pollo Campero heading back to the states on the flight home.

The afternoon was extremely busy. The people are so patient as they move from one line to another. The members of the medical team, whether from the states or El Salvador, really care about the patients. We finished the final patient, packed up and headed back to church about 4:30.

After a stop at Super Selectos for groceries, we were home for the night. A little dinner and some studying finished off the day.

Back to school

Today was the first day of school for us. We met our tutor, Beatriz, and got right down to work. She talks to us almost exclusively in Spanish, which is, I guess, what we need. We worked on the letters of the alphabet and we sound like we're back in kindergarten, but I keep telling myself that everyone started this way. Practice, pray, practice, pray--that's going to be the pattern for the next 3 months, at least.

We ventured back to the small mall that's a 15-minute walk. We didn't notice it last time, but found a Christian bookstore. Stephen had been watching Christian TV (there are several channels on our cable) and was very impressed by Jesus Adrian Romero's music. The store had his new CD and we already have two favorite songs. He was a pastor in Mexico, attended Fuller Seminary in Pasadena (where our son Jon got his masters degree) and now pastors a church in Surprise, AZ. His song, "Cerca de Jesus" ("Near to Jesus") is beautiful and Stephen figured out how to play it even without a piano in the house. As I have mentioned before, the music/worship is very important to us because we can't yet understand the sermons. I encourage you to check him out on YouTube--I believe his music will minister to you regardless of the languge barrier.

Thanks for praying for us . . . . day 2 of school is tomorrow!

Medical Campaign 6-19-10

Yesterday was the first day of our first medical campaign. We left for Lourdes around 9:00 and met up with the team from several churches in Louisiana. Since the people of VidaNueva have experience with this type of campaign, the setup was accomplished in about an hour and included small group witnessing areas, waiting area for triage with the doctors/nurses, waiting area for dentists and pharmacy.

I looked official in the scrub top that Paula loaned me, but was definitely only an almost helpless volunteer in the pharmacy. Stephen and I spent time labeling small envelopes of medicines for distribution as needed.

By end of day, more than 200 people had been witnessed to and received medical/dental assistance. There were many clean teeth seen to be exiting the building. The day wrapped up around 4:30.

Sold

Today was a day for finishing up things back in the states. The sale of our Honda Civic had been pending until today and the closing on our house was today. Praise the Lord both things can now be checked off the list. Soon we will pay our final utility bills and then the home ownership chapter will be closed.

Stephen and Jeff made it to the Mazda dealership on Tuesday to look at pickup trucks. He had pretty much decided on one, but wanted me to look at it. We made our way back over to the dealership on Thursday. We were going to start the paperwork, but found out that the truck on the lot was not the one we would be buying. So we decided to wait until Monday when Stephen could look at "our" truck. Today the car salesman called Jeff and told him that the Salvadoran government just bought all of the Mazda 4 x 4 trucks they had in stock and in the customs lot. So . . . . they won't have any more trucks in for 2-3 months. Wow--when the Lord shuts a door He does it with a bang. Pray for us as we decide what direction to go now. Should we buy a new car (reliable, but not of help with hauling/moving equipment) or a used truck (great for hauling, but may not be reliable since most used vehicles here are those that were "totaled" in the states and then repaired.) They looked at new Mitsubishi trucks and Toyota trucks, but they were either more expensive or not available in the model we need.

The medical campaign starts tomorrow in Lourdes--I'm going to try to help Paula and Emily with dental work. We'll be keeping Stephen miles away from anything that looks like blood or he'll be the next patient they work on. He'll be up front with the team who shares one-on-one with the patients before they see the doctor.

Rainy Season Rain out

We left about 3:00 to go pick up an inflatable at VidaNueva and then make the drive to Coyolito for the one-night campaign. By the time we made it to Aguilares, it was pouring down. We stopped in Aguilares to see the progress of the construction on the new church and met Pastor Manuel. There was just too much rain to continue on to Coyolita and try to set up the inflatable and movie. We will go back tomorrow night and try again, this time in a neighbor in Aguilares.

I've included some pictures of the church construction. They are hoping the building can be dedicated sometime this summer.

We also got a call from the language school that our teacher cannot start lessons until Monday. So, we have 5 days to learn as much Spanish as possible! We have our "text" which is supposed to be basic Spanish, but looks pretty scary to us.

Was this the last shopping day?

We made another trip to PriceSmart (the El Salvador version of Costo) to buy food since we didn't have a refrigerator the first time we stopped there. We were also able to pick up several other items, like a shredder, fire extinguisher and several lamps. Actually, now that I think about it, there's at least one more shopping day as Jeff and Stephen are going to look for a pick-up truck tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow is our first ministry night as we work with a small church outside of Aguilares. We're excited about beginning the "work of the ministry" (Discipleship Goal #4, for those of you who've been through D1 at ALBC). Please pray that there are divine appointments being scheduled right now.

It's official-we're in Central America

We were just settling in for an evening of catching up on email and Skyping family when the power went out! So, we're learning to be flexible. We found a flashlight upstairs (with the help of the light from our cell phone.) Downstairs was illuminated by the light from our computer screen. The bad thing about a power outage here is that not only do you lose electricity, but since the water pump is electric, you are without water, too. Just a short 45 minutes later we were back in business, though. From now on we're letting our family know that any promises to call may be interrupted by power outages! :-)

Tomorrow we are going to Academia Europea (language school) to enroll and set our schedule for the summer. Please pray for us; after all, it's much easier to learn a language when you are young and not just "young at heart."

The music at church was great today--the familiar songs make it easy to worship. We attended the 11:15 service at the Crowne Plaza Hotel (formerly Radisson). VidaNueva has two services at the church location and one at the hotel.

We also covet your prayers for our transition to this culture, our health and the evangelistic "mini-campaign" on Tuesday and Wednesday night.

Quiet Saturday night

Last night's church service was great, Stephen played the piano and we're learning to sing some of our favorite songs in Spanish, like "Here I Am to Worship." The service definitely reinforces the fact that we have to get started on our Spanish lessons ASAP.

Many items on our list of accomplishments today: two loads of clothes, made/cooked three meals, mowed (Weed Eater) the back yard, put away all the clothes (need to buy some more hangers), met the cutest set of identical twin girls who live down the street and made it through furniture delivery all by ourselves. Thank goodness Jeff and Paula were here for the cable/Internet installation!

We've had a great day--once again the rain held off until our living room furniture was delivered. We now have a TV with cable and wireless Internet. We're thanking God for the technology that helps us stay in touch with family and friends.

We're looking forward to a great day in church tomorrow; we hope you are too.

72 hours (almost)

Our mattresses were delivered today and we got the bedroom set put together. We installed the shower curtains; Jeff and Stephen installed the two ceiling fans we bought. They had quite a bit of trouble with the light in the dining room, but I think they were both just exhausted. Paula and I set up the kitchen as much as we could. The appliance installers are there now hooking up the washer/dryer, stove and frig. The furniture store is there putting together our dining room furniture, so it's beginning to look like a house. I posted a couple of pictures on Facebook and have added some here. I love the lawn service picture--the small patches of grass out front were overgrown, so we paid this gentleman $4 to cut it with his machete. He was very efficient and it looks awesome.

We have church tonight at 6:30--looking forward to seeing everyone again. The weather has been awesome--highs in the mid 80's and lows around 75. It's only rained at night which has been a real blessing with all the loading and unloading we've need to do.

We are planning to stay in the house tonight. Our list of things to buy is still pretty long and I will be adding to it as I start trying to cook. The cleaning lady comes tomorrow ($10 per week.) We are still expecting our Internet to be installed tomorrow. We need to go back to the furniture store to pick out our living furniture. We haven't looked at TV's or cars.

That's it for now--we're happy to get email until our phone get installed.

Shopping Spree--Day 2

The service here is pretty amazing . . . . we bought a bedroom set and a dining room table/chairs this morning and they were delivered to our house at 5:00 p.m. However, the people that deliver do not assemble, so that's scheduled for tomorrow morning. The mattresses and box springs also get delivered tomorrow. The appliances were delivered today, but are installed in the morning. All of this to say that if all goes well, we will be sleeping in our own bed in our own home tomorrow night!

Stephen is at band practice and I know he's glad to be back at the piano and excited about playing for the service at Vida Nueva tomorrow night.

Paula has given me a lesson in ministry expense reporting tonight so I'm trying to get my expense spreadsheet going. We've been spending money all over San Salvador and I don't want to get too far behind.

We will be spending the next couple of days unpacking and setting up things at the house, including installing a couple of ceiling fans and a new light for the dining room. I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow.

Deluxe shopping spree

Wow, after months of getting rid of things, we went shopping today: refrigerator, stove, washer, dryer, queen bed, full bed, cell phones--and that was all before lunch. Looked at living room furniture and dining room furniture, but didn't decide on anything. Signed our lease and went to see our new home; we like it. We were able to get our official NIT (identity card.) Stopped at PriceSMART (Costco) and picked up $500 plus of items (microwave, fan, pots and pans, pillows, digital phones for house, paper goods and cleaning supplies.) Tomorrow while we wait for the appliances and beds to be delivered, we will begin unpacking our clothes and the few kitchen items we brought. Lot's more shopping to get the bare necessities like dishes, glasses, kitchen gadgets, shower rods, mirrors for the bathroom.

We are so fortunate that Jeff and Paula are here. We would have been completely lost without them today, starting with the visit to the lawyer's office to sign the lease. They read the 4-page document aloud to Jeff and the only thing we understood was Stephen's name.

Please keep praying--we have much to do before next week when we start our first campaign.

Last day, first day

Yesterday--last day in US (for awhile) and today--first day in El Salvador.

Yesterday--wrapping up (almost) everything in the US: one last truck load of boxes taken to my dad's house, one load taken to the dump (in the rain), dropped off mailbox keys at the PO, dropped off borrowed vacuum and assorted leftover paper goods to Guenther's house, dropped off PO box keys to Yallaly's house, stopped at the bank and headed to the airport. Arrived early at KCI and Continental moved us from the 2:00 p.m. flight to 12:45 flight--weather had been bad in Houston and bad weather was expected in KC in the afternoon--so they suggested we "get out of town." Flight to Houston was smooth and we had plenty of time for a late lunch. Flight to El Salvador was also smooth--too bad I can't seem to sleep. Made it through immigration and customs (with 8 bags) without any problems. Jeff and Paula welcomed us "home."

Today--Up early and now ready to head to the landlord's office to sign the lease. More later.

Last Sunday

Looking forward to the last Sunday at Abundant Life this morning. The added bonus is getting to hear Stephen sing! I know that this day will be emotional so I'm praying for the strength we need to make it through without too many (as Stephen calls them) "waterworks."

There's still box packing and box moving to do today. Although I did get the first of our bags packed last night. It weighed in at 49.2 pounds--I hope my scale is accurate!

"Still" is the word for the day

It's Friday night and things look better in the house, but there are still stacks of books, papers, and miscellaneous items that don't have a home yet. There are still boxes that need to be taken to storage, still items that people need to pick up and still furniture that needs to be delivered. We are praying it doesn't rain tomorrow so we can complete all the deliveries!

The two pianos left the house today so all is quiet--Stephen has no place to practice. Since we won't have a piano in El Salvador, this will be the new normal. Thankfully, he will be able to "practice" on the keyboard at Vida Nueva.

Seems like we haven't had 10 minutes to work on our Spanish for the last two months. It is entirely possible that we have forgotten everything we've learned over the past 7 months.

Still, we press on to Tuesday asking God to help us with every little detail.