Birthday Breakfast

Nine of us got together for breakfast to say "happy birthday" to our good friend, Patty Contreras.  She is the second on my left.

One of the best things about going out for breakfast here is that many of the restaurants have 2 for 1 specials--my breakfast cost $3.25!  

I am so honored to be a part of this great group of women, and I count them all as dear friends.  I don't know why I was designated to take the "selfie," but it didn't turn out so bad!

Schedule Changes, Weather and the Birthday Girl

Yesterday I celebrated my birthday for the 7th time in El Salvador.  About a week ago we made reservations to stay at a home on the beach--this home is available free to missionaries through a ministry of missionary care.  

Stephen has band practice on Monday night, so we planned to drive down to the beach on Tuesday and return on Thursday so he would be able to play for the Thursday evening service.  However, it seems that things are always in a state of flux here so we weren't really surprised when our schedule changed.  Band practice was moved from Monday to Wednesday to accommodate a special event at the church on Monday evening.  In addition, we found out that our Biblical Counseling seminary class was scheduled to meet on Tuesday evening.  With these changes, we canceled our reservations and promised to reschedule at some point in the future.

We decided we would go out for a birthday lunch at La Pampa since Stephen would be tied up in the evening.  

About 10 a.m. Stephen got an email that he didn't have to go to band practice nor would he have to play on Thursday night.  If we'd only known sooner, we could have gone to the beach Wednesday through Friday, but such is life here.  

Hayden called and said he would like to take me to Red Mango (frozen yogurt) for my birthday.  We decided to change our lunch plans at La Pampa to dinner  plans.  Hayden came to the house around 12:30, the three of us went to La Pizzeria for lunch and then to Red Mango. 

About 7:00 p.m., we finally decided we might be hungry enough to eat.  However, a storm passed through with crazy lightning and heavy rain so we just stayed home, watched a movie and had popcorn.

The best things about my day were the phone calls from my family, starting with my dad and siblings at 7:40 a.m., Jon at mid-day and Daniel at 10:00 p.m, and hundreds of Facebook messages from dear friends all over the world.    

I intend to collect on my postponed birthday plans--meal at La Pampa and beach house stay--at some point in the next week or so.   Stay tuned for more.

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.

Six Days in Panama--Part 2

We celebrated Stephen's day of birth on Friday, November 20.  We made our way to Casco Viejo--the old part of the city--and one of the highest rated restaurants on Trip Advisor.  The best thing for Stephen was that they serve breakfast all day.  So even though we didn't arrive until 11:00 am, he was still able to have eggs and bacon; and, then, because it was lunchm he was able to have a complimentary chocolate cupcake with a candle!

The old town was fascinating--quite a mixture of very old ruins, remodeled old buildings and new buildings.  There were lots of restaurants, old churches, the presidential palace (they wouldn't let us get close) and very narrow streets.

We walked back to the hotel along the Cinta Costera (path along the ocean) and met this fun family.  

We took a quick dip in the pool--it was really pretty cold considering how hot is was.  After a couple hours of rest, we walked to La Vespa for dinner.  It was great Italian food and the servers were very nice.

It was a happy, happy 65th birthday for Stephen.

Happy Birthday

Monday was my birthday and I made my favorite dessert--a cherry cobbler--to celebrate.  We had a nice, quiet day at home only venturing out to eat lunch at

(love their sweet potato fries) and then walk to

for dinner.  

There were phone calls from kids/grandkids and family/friends, plus hundreds of Facebook greetings from good friends all over the states and Central America.   

Maria Elena, Ena and Isabel took to me breakfast at 

on Tuesday morning.  It was a great time of fellowship:  talking about Hilo, Aguja and Biblia and enjoying each other's company. 

I'm so thankful for God's blessing in my life . . . there's just nothing better!

July Campaign, El Salvador

We started a campaign on Saturday evening with a small group of 11 from Fresno and 2 regulars from Bakersfield.  Although the sky looked very threatening, the evening was going fine until half way through the movie when it started to sprinkle.  We stopped the movie, Pastor Steve preached a quick message, the team counseled those who made decisions and we left before the rain turned into a downpour.   Since that night, we haven't seen anymore rain!

I celebrated my birthday on Sunday (not admitting to the "number) with church in the morning, lunch at my favorite Chinese restaurant and a campaign on Sunday night.  

Here are a couple of pictures of from the week so far:

Back home in El Salvador

We flew back on Wednesday, July 17, spent Thursday resting, unpacking, replenishing our food supply and going to church.

On Friday morning the three Hilo, Aguja y Biblia leaders (Ena, Maria Elena and Isabel) took me to breakfast for my birthday, which was on July 6 while I was in the states.  We went to the Denny's which opened on July 8.  The parking lot was full and there was a wait.  In case you're wondering, I didn't order a grand slam! They were very impressed with the food--I thought it was just like a Denny's in the states!  The thing about leaving at 8:00 a.m. to go to breakfast here is that you must be sure that you've cleared plenty of time on the calendar.  After we finished eating and visiting, I dropped off one of the ladies at church and made it home by 11:30 a.m.  Nevertheless, that left plenty of time to do laundry and update our expense spreadsheet with all of the receipts from our extended stay.

Quiet evening at home . . . . . . perfect ending to the day.

Happy, happy 2nd birthday

Happy SECOND birthday to our sweet Josiah!  Wish we were in California to celebrate with him, Maleia and their parents!