Women's Ministry Trip to Fort Worth

All eight of us flew to Fort Worth on Tuesday, September 27.  I flew from California and the rest of the ladies flew from San Salvador.  We were warmly welcomed by the women's ministry leaders of Christ Chapel Baptist Church and treated to dinner in Sally's beautiful home. 

Ena, Patty, Isabel and Roxana stayed in two different homes; Deborah, Isabel, Mirla and I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express.  Either way, we were blessed! 

On Wednesday morning we met at the church for the first of a many meetings.  In the first, Bill Hampton, Pastor of Missions, talked to us about how the relationship between our two church began.  He also gave us a tour of the facilities at the church--my goodness, we were amazed!  Before lunch we piled in the van with Kathy Harrelson, who is in charge of the women's ministry to working women, and headed to downtown Fort Worth.  The church has a space called "Common Ground" where they host a free lunch for working women once a week and offer Bible studies after work.  We were blessed to hear two remarkable testimonies and share lunch with almost 50 women. 

We returned to the church and had a session with Deb Hagan, who is one of the writers of their women's Bible studies.  She gave us information regarding the process the use to write their own Bible studies for the women of the church.  There are over 900 women who participate in one of the two Bible studies each week (morning or evening sessions.) 

We had a great dinner with the women's ministry board at the home of Lynn Kitchens, wife of the senior pastor, Ted Kitchens.  We were introduced to King Ranch Casserole--a Texas staple!

All of the women were such a blessing and so willing to share with us.  We returned to our host homes/hotel with our heads spinning, but determined to figure out a way to apply the lessons we learned in the ministry in San Salvador.

Women's Ministry Opportunity

The women's ministry of Christ's Chapel Bible Church in Fort Worth, TX, has invited eight of the women's ministry leaders from Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva to participate in leadership training at their church.  I have the privilege of being one of the eight and am very excited about this opportunity.  

The eight of us met last week for a pre-trip planning session, which included discussing cultural differences, making arrangements for airport drop-off and pickup, planning for the hostess gifts we will take and more.  Groups of two will be staying in four different homes.  

We will all fly into Fort Worth on Tuesday, September 27, and then return to El Salvador on Sunday, October 2.  

Great Week with the Team from CCBC

We had an awesome week with the team of families from Christ Chapel Bible Church in Fort Worth, Texas.  There were nine adults and ten children, most of whom were between seven and fourteen years old.

They all worked so hard sharing the forgiveness lesson at the schools in the morning and sharing door-to-door in the evenings.  The kids used the evangelism cube to share the gospel with other kids and with adults--they were not the least bit shy.

They also used "soccer" as another way to talk to the kids at the schools and in the neighborhoods--it is a universal language here in El Salvador.

On Friday we visited the boys at the Remar orphanage outside of Santa Ana.  It's always a treat for them to have visitors.  We brought food to make lunch (sandwiches, chips, watermelon, cookies, sodas) for the boys and for us.  The team brought board games (Connect 4, checkers, chess, Chinese checkers, Jenga, etc.) and one group played them with the boys, while another group played soccer, of course.  

We ended the week with a trip to Pupuseria Coty in Los Planes de Rendero, a spot high above the city of San Salvador.  Nothing like saying farewell with traditional Salvadoran food.