Prayer Request--UPDATE/PRAISE

Praise the Lord, all three of them (Stephen, Joseph and Hayden) received the first anti-rabies vaccination today.  They will receive the second one on Friday.

The injections are normally given on Day 0 (bite day), Day 3 (which will be Friday here), Day 7 and Day 14.  Everyone will be back "home" by Day 7 and 14 and will be able to finish the protocol at that time.

Needless to say, your prayers were heard and God moved a huge mountain for us.  I called the US Embassy to see if they would be able to help and they were able to put us in contact with "the" Minister of Health of Nicaragua--I'd say God let us go straight to the top.  In fact, my embassy contact said that if Ms. Gonzalez couldn't help us, then the guys would have to return to the states for treatment.

Not sure what she did, but by about 5:30 p.m., Ms. Gonazlez let us know that Dr. Gamez would be awaiting our visit and he had on hand one shot for each of them.  Much to their relief, they got the shot in their arms, not in their bellybuttons.  They all heard quite a few "horror stories" today.  We came back and joined the rest of the team at the campaign tonight.

Thank you for praying!  God is our healer, protector and very present help in time of trouble.

Prayer Request--UPDATE

Pastors Felix and Steve took the three guys (Stephen, Joseph and Hayden) to the hospital this morning.  In fact, they went to three different hospitals and none of the three had the vaccination available.  Their wounds were well cleaned and they were started on antibiotics.

According to the CDC, exposure or possible exposure to rabies, while not a medical emergency, is considered a medical "urgency" and treatment is recommended as soon after exposure as possible.

We are starting to call private hospitals to see if they have the vaccination available.  Please pray for us to find a doctor/hospital that can provide the first step of the treatment today.

Prayer Request!

Stephen and two other guys from the states went out to run this morning before breakfast.  While running all three of them were bitten by dogs.  Since we don't know the condition of the dogs and since there isn't a "department of health" to help, we are taking all three of them to the national hospital of Managua this morning so that they can the get the rabies vaccination.  We are not sure what the protocol looks like here, but it will likely require a series of injections.

Please pray for them.  Of course, they were hoping to avoid getting the shots, but we really don't have a choice.

Thanks for lifting them up in prayer today.

Love that Man

I'm going to take this time to say how proud I am of Stephen.  Before we came to El Salvador, neither of us would have imagined that he would do the orientation for the teams from the states OR do the morning devotion/testimony.  Most of our US friends would not recognize the outgoing person he has become.  He has a servant heart, he never meets a stranger; he loves talking with kids/youth and they have a great time with him. 

God has a plan that is often different from our plan, but He always grows us in ways which stretch us and challenge us.    

Platinum to Nicaragua

Last time we had a campaign in Managua (December), we took the King Quality "Platinum" bus.  It's not as expensive as an airplane ticket, but lot's better than taking the yellow church bus.  It was our first trip to Nicaragua using a commercial bus line and, although a 12+ hour trip is always long, it was comfortable (food, air conditioning, movies, wifi.)  The only issue we had in December is that the bus departs El Salvador at 1:00 p.m. and arrives at 12:30 a.m., which is decidedly inconvenient when it comes to someone picking us up at the bus station and causes us to pay for a taxi instead.  The return trip departs at 3:00 a.m. from Managua which means another taxi ride.

So, after checking the price of plane tickets ($450 for a 40 minute flight), we decided that King Quality was the way to go.  Because the week before Easter, called Semana Santa (Holy Week) is traditionally a week of vacation, we bought our tickets more than a week ago.  The bus left on time, about 1:00 p.m., but traffic was heavy and it took longer than normal to reach the El Salvador border.  We spent more than two hours at the border--first having our passports reviewed by immigration agents (normal) and then having two police "interview" each bus passenger asking the purpose of their trip and various other questions.  One young girl's paperwork was found incomplete so she was escorted off the bus and was not allowed to leave the country.  At this point we were about two hours behind the normal schedule.  Heavy rain hit when we crossed into Honduras, which makes for slow progress on the bad roads.  We reached the Nicaragua border at 10:00 p.m. and we all had to retrieve our suitcases from below the bus, open them and have them inspected.  We left the border at 11:00 p.m. and the bus arrived at the station about 2:00 a.m.  Forty-five minutes later after a high-speed-chase type of taxi ride, we arrived at the hotel.  

Even though the trip was long and several of the conveniences we counted on (movies, wi-fi) weren't working, we still had it much easier than the Salvadorans.  Their trip in the yellow bus took almost 18 hours with 7+ hours spent in the various borders.

Tonight was the first campaign of the week.  There was a large crowd and many professions of faith.  It was a good reminder for us to keep our eyes on the things that matter and not on ourselves and our comfort!  We are thankful that God is faithful when we "go and share."  As always, pray for the work here in Managua this week!  

Koinonia--Vision 2020

Today all of Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva, San Salvador, met together for a Koinonia service.  It's always an amazing time when 1000+ voices are lifted in praise. 

 

One of the special treats today was to hear a stage full of Vida Nueva kids sing "Cada Dia Empezar De Nuevo."  

The second special treat was a tag-team sermon from 2 Kings 2 by Pastor Julio and Pastor Steve. 

The sermon also included a very moving video which highlighted the current conditions here in El Salvador and ended with a plea for Christians to step up and make a difference.  

The Pastors presented the vision for the next five years.  There were four parts:

• Continue to expand the kingdom:
• By calling on each individual Vida Nueva member to share Jesus with at least 20 people 
• By planning and carrying out at least 20 evangelistic activities each year 
• By organizing and conducting 20 new, creative ways to present the gospel across all of our campuses
• Continue to transform lives:
• By continuing one-on-one discipleship with new believers
• By increasing the number of people involved in small groups and creating 120 new groups during the five-year period
• By growing mature leaders through IDEM (Institute for Ministerial Development)
• By encouraging believers to continue their spiritual growth by enrolling in seminary classes
• Reach the "other half"
• By providing increased resources/teachers in both the children's and youth ministries
• By beginning a program targeted at helping parents rear spiritually strong children
• By continuing to expand New Life Christian School through 12th grade
• By encouraging interested church members to consider adoption
• Expand MetroAmerica 020
• By strengthening our current mission churches so that they become self-sufficient
• By planting two additional churches out side of El Salvador; considering one plant in a city in Central America or the Caribbean and the second in a city in Mexico or Colombia.  
• By raising up new pastoral leaders to meet the needs of the church here in El Salvador as well as in the new church plants 

In addition to the four parts of the vision, Pastor Julio and Pastor Steve presented the following challenges, centered around facilities

• Finish the children's area at the Lourdes campus
• Construct new facilities at the Apopa campus
• Unify the Miravalle and Crown Plaza campus in a new location
• Form a new campus in another sector of San Salvador

The service ended with a call for 21 Days of Prayer and three days of fasting.  Please join us in praying God's guidance for Vida Nueva.

March Madness and Other Things

March Madness is keeping Stephen busy.  I, on the other hand, have been busy helping the New Life spellers and the ladies of Hilo, Aguja y Biblia.

The fifth graders spent time in the computer lab on Wednesday afternoon and the 7th graders did the same on Friday.  We're using the BigIQKids website because it allows teachers to create personalized spelling lists.  I am able to put in the spelling bee words and then the kids hear the words pronounced and used in a sentence.  There are various activities, including an introduction to the words, games using the words, a simulated spelling bee and a spelling test.  They can even login and use the program at home. 

The only problem we face is that the computers are old and very slow;  there are only 8 of them.  So, on average, it takes more than 15 minutes to turn them on, load the Internet, load the program and get the students logged in.  Still, it allows them to work at their own pace. 

I will try to take some pictures of the computers (let me know if you'd like to help them get something newer) and the kids next week. 

At Hilo, Aguja y Biblia today the ladies worked on their "Hogar Dulce Hogar" (Home Sweet Home) cross stitch projects.  Some of them came with the project almost finished and others had just started.  

Working on my listI

With Daniel and the grandkids here March 1 to 7 and a campaign March 7 to 14, my "to do" list was set aside.  On Sunday, I revised and updated it and yesterday I started at the top.

The first thing on the list (on the list since the first of February) was:  TAXES.  

Our taxes are much more complicated than they used to be when we were both working.  Now, we have pension income, social security income, ministry income and a ton of ministry expenses.  I keep a detailed monthly record of all of our ministry expenses so at the end of the year I just have to total them and be sure everything balances.  I finalized the ministry expense spreadsheet in February, but didn't find time to do the rest of the paperwork until yesterday.  Now our tax "stuff" is in the capable hands of our accountant, Paul Cumberland.  As always, hoping the numbers add up in our favor.  

Second task for yesterday was to make a trip to PriceSmart.  My list wasn't that long, but, as usual, once I get there, I realize there are other things I need.  We do have to be careful not to buy too much as the quantities and large sizes don't fit in our limited storage space.  Nevertheless, on checkout the bill was almost $200--my goodness, when did toothpaste, soap, detergent, canned vegetables, coffee and chicken get so expensive?  Just kidding--there were several other things in the cart, too.

One thing about lists is that completing something on the list usually results in adding other things to the list.  Case in point, buying chicken breasts and other meat in bulk means repackaging it into smaller quantities and freezing it.  If you're confused, check out my past post:  Baggies are a Girls Best Friend.  

That's all the time I have for today . . . . got to bake cookies for our IDEM group tonight and have one more thing to check off the list.

Finished Strong

We wrapped up the El Salvador campaign in Apopa last night.  It was a great week, with more than 500 professions of faith.  

Yesterday morning we went to a "new" school and the kids were so excited to have us there.  

Don stayed with us this week, so at lunch he invited us, Koky and Ena to join him at Restaurant 168, his favorite Chinese restaurant.  

The campaign was in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Apopa and the team was able to meet Pastor Chitty for the first time.  After going door-to-door for an hour and having several kids games and time on the inflatable, the drama team performed the "Everything" drama and Harry presented the gospel (with Vladimir translating.)  

Last day of campaign--ES March 2015

It's the last day of the campaign (again) and everyone is happy, but worn out.  I'm pretty sure that Pastor Steve's devotion will be about finishing strong and "not fainting."  

We have had some very long days because the team was not able to stay at the Crowne Plaza.  Instead they are across town at La Siesta, which means that we need at least an extra 30 minutes for picking them up and taking them home.  We will be leaving shortly so we can make it through the traffic to devotions which start at 8:00 a.m.

Nevertheless, Guillermo's devotion yesterday was from Psalms 9:1-2, which tells us to give thanks and count God's wonders.  So, we are rejoicing with the almost 400 new Christian brothers and sisters who now have a personal relationship with Jesus.

Here are a few pictures of the last couple of days:

El Salvador Campaign--March 2015

During most campaigns the team members arrive on Saturday morning/afternoon and we have an event in the evening.  This time, however, they didn't come in until Saturday night so our first event was on Sunday evening.  The group is small--9 people from 2 different churches in California and 6 from 2 different churches in Louisiana.

Sunday night's campaign was in a neighborhood close to our Miravalle campus.  It was a great evening, with almost 40 professions of faith.

Early airport trip and Hilo, Aguja y Biblia

Saying hello is so much easier than saying goodbye, but after having Daniel and the kids here for a week, today was the day they flew home.  

We had an awesome time and the kids were so well behaved.  We loved showing and teaching them about El Salvador.  

After the airport trip, I headed to Hilo, Aguja y Biblia.  Today we started a cross stitch project.  It was a first for most of the ladies!