The rest of the campaign

I've decided that I'm so far behind that it's best to just wrap up last week's campaign with one more post.  The schedule for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday was similar to the other days (devotion, school and family festival), with only minor variations.  

Wednesday was Don Laity's birthday so before we went to the school, we celebrated with a birthday cake on the bus.  

After sharing the lesson in the school, Stephen and I took the team to the food court at Galarias and they enjoyed seeing the mall and having an opportunity to try Pollo Campero!

Wednesday evening we were invited to set up the event on a soccer field in Cafetalon Park in Santa Tecla.  We took two inflatable and they were filled with soccer kids; our team members spread out through the park to share the gospel.

As I mentioned before, the team was only 8 people, but they worked really, really hard.  Even after one of them got sick and had to be hospitalized, the rest of them didn't lose their focus.  At the end of the week, there were 676 professions of faith!  We were blessed to be a part of it.

First El Salvador Campaign of 2016

It's been a crazy week and I'm so far behind on blogging about our first El Salvador campaign of the year.  Don Laity arrived Friday before the campaign started and stayed at our apartment.  Two other team members flew in on Saturday afternoon so there were a total of 3 gringos for the first family festival in Lourdes.

The drama group from the church in Lourdes was all decked out in various superhero/movie characters costumes and the little kids loved it.

We shared in the Jacarandas neighborhood and the people were very responsive.  Don preached after the drama.  There were 20+ professions of faith.

The team of five from Rock Harbor Church in Bakersfield, California, arrived Saturday evening, so the team was complete on Sunday morning for church.  Instead of walking to church we drove and Don and I left after the first service.  I was supposed to have time to make lunch and have it ready when Stephen got home from the second service.  However, Don and I walked in the house and found out we didn't have water, so we scratched our dinner plans and, instead, we ate at our favorite Chinese place, Restaurante 168.

Sunday night the family festival was in an Apopa neighborhood called "the Alamo."  

The drama group from Lourdes drove to Apopa to help with the campaign!  Even though there are only 8 gringos here this week, the youth and adults from our church also went door-to-door to share.  Here you see Mario praying with a new believer.  Praise the Lord for Christians (wherever they're from) who are faithful to share the good news.

Busy Day on Saturday

Saturday morning Daniella and I were up early to drive to the airport.  Our good friends, Don Laity and Kent Brewer, had a nine-hour layover in Guatemala on their way to Bogota, Colombia for the Good News in Action mission trip.  We picked them up at 8:30 a.m. and returned to Nelson and Rosemarie's home so they could relax a bit.  (No one enjoys a red-eye flight.)  

We were able to go to breakfast with them at our favorite restaurant, Capistrano.  All of the tables at Capistrano have white paper on them and there are always crayons which bring out the creativity in all of their patrons.  While the majority of us just doodled, our artist friend, Kent, drew a masterpiece which I saved.

After breakfast we returned home so that Daniella, Stephen and I could finish packing our suitcases.  Next was a return trip to the airport to drop off Daniella for her flight back to John Brown University and Don and Kent for their late afternoon flight to Bogota.

Stephen and I drove our truck to the Biltmore Hotel and checked in for the week-long campaign.  Shortly after we arrived, we were able to welcome the team from Faith Baptist in Youngsville, North Carolina, as well as the bus load of Salvadorans.

By 3:30 p.m. everyone was ready to go out for the first family festival of the week.  We had 12 team members (7 more arrived later that night.)  Sharing door-to-door went well and the neighborhood really enjoyed the inflatable, games, dancing, drama and preaching.  There were 30+ professions of faith.  A great end to a busy Saturday and even better start to the Guatemala campaign.

Celebrating Stephen's birthday

Stephen's 64th birthday was last Thursday, November 20, and we were in the middle of the Guatemala campaign.  So, we decided to wait and celebrate on Saturday afternoon when we were back at the Rivas home.  We slept in at the hotel Saturday morning and then loaded up the pickup with everything left over from VBS and drove to their house about 10:30 a.m.  

The girls set up the special birthday canopy and set the table.  Rosemarie and I made the white chicken chili and Stephen, Don and Mauricio (with a little help from Camilia) worked on the homemade ice cream.  It was a great birthday lunch with our Guatemalan family and friends.  There was also pumpkin pie and tres leches to go along with the ice cream.  As usual, no one appreciates the ice cream as much as the birthday boy!

Camila learning how the machine works.  She was responsible for the salt!

Hard at work!

Brother Don taking his turn

Table for 10 outside, please

Packed and waiting for us to finish lunch 

Music included "happy birthday" in various styles

Nothing better than a meal shared with good friends

Serving up the ice cream

Fabi is excited to try it 

Cake and ice cream! 

Stephen opening his birthday gift--a picture of the kids