My blogging has been sporadic and tardy for the last couple of months. I just finished blogging about the most recent campaign which ended on May 21. There was, however, another important event that took place on May 21. It was the day that Hayden arrived.
Hayden is from Faith Baptist in North Carolina and is here (at least) for the summer. He is interviewing for a teaching job in three of the English-speaking private schools here in San Salvador. In the meantime, he's going to be helping with the youth at Vida Nueva and with all of the summer campaigns. He's stayiing with a family from the church so he can work on his Spanish.
Please pray that God will reveal his plan for Hayden, and that he will receive a job offer to teach during the 2016-17 school year.
Wednesday morning after Kid's Club all of the gringos were able to visit Plaza Sandino, home to Managua’s most recognised landmark, a solemn silhouette of national hero Augusto Sandino, who was killed in 1933 in an ambush after a meeting with the Nicaraguan president. The silhouette stands at the lip of Volcán Tiscapa’s crater lake and affords excellent view of Managua. It was a great location for a group picture!
On Thursday night after the family festival we had a time of "good-byes" to the North Carolina team who was flying out very early Friday morning.
After the festival on Friday night we had a time of "good-byes+ to the Arkansas team. There were a fair amount of tears and hugs as the teams prepare to return to their normal lives in the states. The most exciting thing was to hear that there were 588 professions of faith during the week. It's such a blessing to be a part of the work here in Central America.
We spent last week in Nicaragua for a campaign with our two church sites in Managua. Unfortunately, the Internet at the hotel was wolefully lacking so I wasn't able to keep the blog updated. I managed my daily upload of pictures but only if I did it after midnight or before 6:00 a.m. The delay might have been due to the fact that there were 37 team members at the hotel and every one of them had at least one device (some had a phone and a computer) they wanted to connect.
We flew over on Saturday morning--the flight is only 45 minutes! Pastor Felix and his son were there to pick us up. They took us to the hotel and our room was ready! Our friend, Misha, rode the bus over with the Salvadorans, but stayed in the hotel. The three of us walked to the mall for lunch.
Before the Saturday evening campaign in the Villa Venezuela neighborhood we paired up the translators and the team from North Carolina. The rest of the team did not arrive until after the campaign. Even with only 18 people, the team was able to go out and talk to many people in the neighborhood, share the gospel at the door and invite them to the family festival.
One of the new things we have added to our family festival is a group dance activity. This holds everyone's attention after the kid's games are over and the second time through, people from the crowd are invited to join us. Right on the heels of the dance is the drama and then the gospel presentation. There were 35 professions of faith on Saturday evening.
Sunday morning we all worshipped together with the Bolonia church, at their new location. They were able to rent the auditorium in the Chamber of Commerce building; there's also a large parking lot.
Half of the team, 14 from First Baptist, Van Buren, Arkansas, were "newbies," there were 12 high school/college kids and two adults. Even though they were new, they were excited about sharing the gospel so on Sunday night the entire team of 37 shared one-on-one before the family festival.
Another 30 people asked Jesus to save them! Pastor Felix and Pastor Rodrigo are excited about the response to the gospel! Follow-up started the next day!
