One more Friendship Event

On the last day of February, we celebrated the final friendship event for the month--a women's ministry breakfast.  This active ministry holds three breakfasts and one retreat each year and we always celebrate friendship in February.

Today I worked at the registration table with two other women.  We helped check in the more than 100 women who attended.  I was really surprised at how many of the women I knew--I guess that should be expected as we are closing in on five years at Vida Nueva.  I think I was the only "gringa" in the room today, as neither Rachelle nor Tiffany were able to attend.

A few pictures:

Faster Internet?

We've come to realize that our Internet speed was just S-L-O-W when it came to downloading files, skyping with our kids and talking on our "Internet" phone while using the computer.  We pay our bill is person and, normally, the lines are very long.  However, we arrived not to long after they opened and the wait to talk to someone was quite short.  So, after I paid our monthly bill (cable, Internet and cell phone,) I was able to ask customer service what it would cost to increase our Internet speed.  

Evidently they were running a special (don't know when it started) which meant I could increase from 3 mg to 5 mg for about $1.00 per month.  Regular price on their webpage shows $20 more per month.  

I asked her if this "special" was only good for a few months, but she told me it was good going forward.  Supposedly, she activated it while we talked, so we'll be watching for evidence that things are faster.  So glad I asked today as we probably would not have paid the additional $20 per month for the extra speed.  God is good--even in the details.

  

What a Saturday!

There were five things on our Saturday calendar and we managed to work four of them in.  

My day started early with a 7:30 a.m. breakfast/baby shower for Annie Sofia, the baby girl that Erick and Lila are waiting to meet.  Keeley and I went together, but due to the next thing on the calendar, we couldn't stay the whole time.  We enjoyed the breakfast and the first game.  

The afternoon was filled with lunch with our IDEM group (yes, we just had breakfast with them last Saturday.)  Today's lunch featured "sopa de frijoles," Salvadoran style.  Not only did Delmy and William host the lunch, but she also prepared the soup.  Last Saturday when we asked what kind of soup she was making she said, "bean soup with everything" and she was telling the truth!  There was every vegetable imaginable (some we couldn't identify), boiled pork (with bones included), corn flour dumplings and, of course, lots of beans.   The soup was served over rice, with hot homemade tortillas.  A picture is worth a thousand words:

At 4:30 we were back at the apartment waiting for our landlord, Miriam, her son and his girlfriend.  We invited them to see the presentation of Soñador at our church in Miravalle.  They really enjoyed it and it was so fun to watch them laugh and clap.  What was even better was that Miriam made a profession of faith at the end of the evening.  

It was an amazing day from start to finish and evidence of God's hand at work!

Day of Friendship and Love

For some reason February 14 is not called Valentine's Day here. So, instead, we celebrated "Day of Friendship and Love" three different ways over two days. 

FIRST CELEBRATION:  On Saturday morning the 14th we had a potluck breakfast with our discipleship group.  Not wanting to miss the opportunity to share "gringo" food, I signed up to bring biscuits and gravy.  This became a possibility when I saw that SuperSelectos, my grocery store, began carrying various kinds of Johnsonville sausages, including traditional breakfast links.  Of course, the down side of biscuits and gravy is that there are no canned biscuits here--they have to be made from scratch.  So bright and early Saturday morning I was making a triple batch of my mom's biscuits and a huge pot of gravy.  It's hard to believe that not everyone at the breakfast wanted to try them!  Ryan, Keeley, Stephen and I managed to eat our fair share.  Several weeks ago Stephen and I ate breakfast at State's Diner and I posted a picture on Facebook with the caption, "best biscuits and gravy in El Salvador."  However, after Saturday, the four of us decided to amend that statement to "second best."

The company and the rest of the food was also great, as we hadn't had the whole IDEM group together since November.  

SECOND CELEBRATION:   After being up early to cook, we decided to go out for dinner.  We really didn't know what to expect in terms of whether the restaurants would be busy, but decided to risk it.  We walked to our favorite Chinese place which is called 168, and found it less than busy.  The food is always good and, in fact, when we were in Kansas City over the holidays we thought our former favorite Chinese place was just okay.  Guess we've come to appreciate the restaurant here.  It was a great night to walk, and we're loving the fact that we're in a safe neighborhood and the 4-5 block walk is something we can even do after dark, as long as it's not too late.

THIRD CELEBRATION:  Sunday afternoon I was privileged to share with the single mom's ministry at our church.  This month's theme was "friendship" so we learned what some famous people had to say about friendship, including Helen Keller who said:

and Charles Dickens who said:

and, of course, we passed out Hershey's kisses after reading this quote.  Got to keep your audience involved!

However, we spent most of our time talking about what the Bible has to say about friends and friendship. Not surprisingly, it's quite a lot, including telling us about the friendships between Job and his friends, David and Jonathan and Paul and Barnabus, to name a few.  It was so much fun to share with them and Ena did a great job translating for me!   

Depth of Mercy!

I've been downloading and listening to John MacArthur's series on the Book of Romans while I'm on the treadmill.  Since he preaches verse-by-verse, I'll be able to walk a lot of steps before he finishes all sixteen chapters.  In fact, the first sermon in the series, covered only the first "word" of the first verse of the first chapter of Romans.  What was the word you ask?  PAUL." I'm now ready for the fifth in the series and he's still on Romans 1:1-7.  

I'm learning so much and enjoying them immensely.  One of my favorite parts, so far, is how he incorporates quotes, poems, song lyrics and more into the sermons; many of them from the preachers of old.  The other day he quoted the first two verses of the Charles Wesley hymn entitled, "Depth of Mercy." 

The first thing I did after finishing my walk was to find the rest of the hymn. I know that the lyrics from today's contemporary Christian music can be powerful; but, oh my goodness, the words of this hymn are amazing.

Depth of mercy! Can there be
Mercy still reserved for me?
Can my God His wrath forbear,
Me, the chief of sinners, spare?

I have long withstood His grace,
Long provoked Him to His face,
Would not hearken to His calls,
Grieved Him by a thousand falls.

I have spilt His precious blood,
Trampled on the Son of God,
Filled with pangs unspeakable,
I, who yet am not in hell!

I my Master have denied,
I afresh have crucified,
And profaned His hallowed Name,
Put Him to an open shame.

Whence to me this waste of love?
Ask my Advocate above!
See the cause in Jesus’ face,
Now before the throne of grace.

Jesus, answer from above,
Is not all Thy nature love?
Wilt Thou not the wrong forget,
Permit me to kiss Thy feet?

If I rightly read Thy heart,
If Thou all compassion art,
Bow Thine ear, in mercy bow,
Pardon and accept me now.

Jesus speaks, and pleads His blood!
He disarms the wrath of God;
Now my Father’s mercies move,
Justice lingers into love.

Kindled His relentings are,
Me He now delights to spare,
Cries, “How shall I give thee up?”
Lets the lifted thunder drop.

Lo! I still walk on the ground:
Lo! an Advocate is found:
“Hasten not to cut Him down,
Let this barren soul alone.”

There for me the Savior stands,
Shows His wounds and spreads His hands.
God is love! I know, I feel;
Jesus weeps and loves me still.

Pity from Thine eye let fall,By a look my soul recall;

Now the stone to flesh convert,
Cast a look, and break my heart.

Now incline me to repent,Let me now my sins lament,

Now my foul revolt deplore,
Weep, believe, and sin no more.

If you'd rather listen than read, click here for a beautiful version of the hymn sung by the Soundforth Singers of Bob Jones University.

Walking is Good for You

I got my Fitbit more than a year ago and it, along with the Daniel Plan book, helped change my life.   I reached my goal weight last September, but I'm still careful about what I eat and I still try to walk 10,000 steps per day.  Since we moved to our new apartment I have been walking on the treadmill almost every day.  

Yesterday, however, was different.  We had several errands to do, but instead of driving, we decided to walk.  We left the apartment about 3:00 and got back home about 5:30.  Halfway through we stopped at the Galerias Mall, rested for a bit and had a snack.    

Altogether, we walked a 5K, and along the way I was able to buy several of the things I needed for the sewing ministry. 

Yes, walking is good for you!  If you don't have a Fitbit or another type of pedometer, I highly recommend you get one and get going!

Hilo, Aguja y Biblia

Two weeks ago at Hilo, Aguja y Biblia we all worked on cutting drawing and then cutting out the pattern pieces for our appliqued apron project.  By the end of our time, everyone had their pattern pieces, fabric for the applique and their apron fabric.  

We started this Saturday with breakfast!  It's always fun to celebrate and share with these special friends and the traditional Salvadoran breakfast is always tasty!  Once we finished breakfast and cleaned up, everyone got down to work cutting out their applique pieces and placing them on the apron.  Some of the ladies were able to start the embroidery stitches around the small pieces.  

We finished the morning with another lesson in our series from the book of Esther.  

Our parking spot

One of the things we like about living in our apartment is that the parking is in the basement, out of the sun.  Each apartment has two parking spaces.  If the owner paid extra, the two spaces are adjacent; if not, they are randomly assigned across the three floors of basement parking.  

If you know Stephen, then you know that the fact that our two spaces are side by side made him very happy!  He doesn't have to worry about the dreaded door ding because he can straddle the the yellow line.  

 

Early this morning, I went down to the basement to get in the truck.  Here is what I found!

The white car is in its regular spot.  For some unknown reason the Mazda decided to "park" in the space between the white car and our truck. Stephen went to get apartment security and he came down to look at the mess.

I crawled in through the passenger side, backed out of the space and headed to church. Later, Stephen told me that the owner of the white car also came downstairs to leave.  Our security guy recognized the vehicle and called the person who lived in #13.  He came downstairs, apologized to the security guy and Stephen and then moved his Mazda to his #13 "open" spot.  The "why" remains unknown.

Ground Hog Day?

Some times it's nice not to be "tied in" to everything that's going on back in the states. For example, yesterday's news about what Punxsutawney Phil saw means absolutely nothing here. We also watch the weather reports with nonchalance, knowing that the most recent winter storm which is about to drop inches and inches of snow on various parts of the country, won't cause any problems for us. Maybe we sound smug, but it's such a pleasure to count on sunshine and warm weather! We've got nothing to fear until the rainy season arrives in June.