Residency--the process begins

Tomorrow we will make our first visit to the office of immigration in El Salvador. William Flores, worship pastor at VidaNueva, is going with us to "run interference." At this point, we believe we have all of the necessary paperwork to complete the first step, but we won't know for sure until after our visit tomorrow. There will be two lines: one will be very long (El Salvadorans trying to get visas to leave) and a much shorter line (foreigners trying to get residency for El Salvador.) We will be in the short line!

Jeff and Paula said not to be surprised if it takes multiple visits to get the initial paperwork completed correctly and accepted by the office. More steps follow, but for now we are taking one step at a time.

Nejapa Medical Campaign Pictures

Dental Assistant for a Day

Two vans, 2 pickups, and a couple of cars left the church this morning around 7:30, heading for Nejapa. The team of 35 church members from VidaNueva set up a medical clinic at the school in Nejapa. There were people waiting at the school when we arrived. At the first station, the ministry team shares the gospel with each person/family. The second station is the clinic where doctors talk with each patient. Patients who need dental work are sent to the dental clinic. The final stop is the pharmacy where patients can pick up the medicines prescribed by the doctors/dentists and find the glasses they so badly need. (I can't even imagine trying to make it through my daily life without the "readers" I have tucked away in every room and still manage to lose.)

Dressed in scrubs, Paula and I spent the day in the dental clinic. There were three dentists available most of the day. Thanks to on-the-job training from Paula and the dentists, I now know how to load needles and anesthetic for injections, prepare a tray for extractions, and provide the instruments needed for the procedures. I don't know how many people we saw today, but it was a constant stream for more than 5 hours.

Stephen worked the crowd--entertaining the kids who were waiting in line for the dental clinic. As he said, he "pulled out all the stops" today showing them card tricks, demonstrating the moon walk and taking many, many pictures. I've attached some great ones.

It's definitely hard work and my feet are tired, but we are so fortunate to work with the members of VidaNueva who are faithful to share Jesus with the people of Nejapa while they are meeting their physical needs.

NEW DETAILS: Just heard that the team saw 475 people today!

Independence Day

Tomorrow El Salvador celebrates their Independence Day with parades and sometimes protests. Today on the way home from school, we saw a marching band (in full uniform) returning to their buses after practicing. It nearly brought traffic at the roundabout to a standstill.

With the national holiday, we don't have school or classes tomorrow. We will stay tucked in at home away from the parades, parks, traffic and protests, if any. Stephen does have band practice tomorrow night at 7:30 so, hopefully, all of the celebrating will be done by then.

Today they interrupted all the cable programming to recite the pledge to the flag which, by the way, is really long--paragraphs long and definitely isn't committed to memory. I guess that's why they read it aloud on TV the day before the holiday.

We've heard a few fireworks, but not many because there aren't any fireworks stands set up. Evidently fireworks are mostly reserved for Christmas Eve at midnight and New Year's Eve at midnight.

We are setting up a one-day medical campaign this Saturday in a very poor neighborhood outside of San Salvador. If you were part of the ALBC mission trip last March--it's the neighborhood around the school where they were fumigating and we met outside to share with the classes. We also returned in the evening to set up the inflatables, show a movie and present the gospel.

Stay tuned for more news from here in El Salvador.

25 years and other odds and ends

Last night VidaNueva Baptist Church celebrated Steve and Pam Kern's 25 years in the ministry. They came to El Salvador in 1985 in the middle of the war. One of the statistics they showed last night was that there have been over 220,000 professions of faith during their 25 years on the field. God has done an amazing work through them and their faithful service. There is a link to the service on Facebook if you are interested in checking it out. The evening was topped off with the gift of a trip to Hawaii for the two of them.

Today has been a very productive day--always a good thing. The Mazda dealership called on Friday and said that the bed liner for our pickup finally made it through customs. William went with Stephen to get it installed and although it took longer than they planned (not surprising for here), it's done. We can now haul various and sundry items without (Stephen) worrying (too much) about the bed getting scratched.

I stayed home and did laundry, including the kitchen and bathroom rugs. It was sunny so I hung them outside to dry--makes them smell good and doesn't use any electricity. Our electricity bill seems to be expensive relative to the size of our place especially when you consider that we don't have air conditioning, so it's great to save when we can.

Lesson planning, "grading" and recording papers took up my afternoon. I'm going to have to figure out a way to work faster because with campaigns I am not going to have all day Saturday to work. Stephen walked to the mall and bought a new basketball net to replace the torn one on the court here in our neighborhood. Last Thursday the doorbell rang and a couple of players wanted to borrow Stephen's pump to air up their basketball. I think he is becoming the equipment manager for the neighborhood.

This date is also a time of reflection. Today is one of several historic dates for which I can remember exactly where I was when I heard the news. We watched a 9-11 special on the History channel last night that followed the timeline of the event. We pray for the United States and El Salvador--both need real, lasting peace that only God can bring.

Thanks for joining us on this journey!

Favorite things

So far the 3rd graders favorite things are: 1. Mr. Stephen showing them how he can moon walk, 2. Bald eagle story (did you know their wingspan can be 2.5 meters?), 3. Mr. Stephen's card tricks and 4. My imitation of the way a penguin walks. They were working hard on their animal comparison chart today and, if they didn't finish, it's homework that's due on Tuesday.

Second grade: 1. Using the glue sticks I bought, 2. Drawing pictures on the white board with Mr. Stephen and 3. Trying to help us learn Spanish words.

First grade: 1. Going to the board to point out English words and then being able to give the marker to the next person, 2. Getting drinks of water and 3. Using the glue sticks.

We wrapped up the second week today! We've been getting to school around 12:20 or so--about 40 minutes early. All of the students are eating lunch so we get a chance to talk English with them.

Tomorrow--Spanish class for us, maybe a trip to PriceSmart (Costco), planning for next week and church at 6:30.

What this parking pass for anyway?

Every time you drive into a mall parking lot, there is a guard shack and the guard hands every car a laminated "pass." We remember Jeff telling us to be careful with the parking pass and not to lose it. So, when we have been to a mall we would put the pass on the dash so any guards who walked by our car would see that we had it. After awhile, I asked Stephen why they gave us passes in the first place as it just didn't make sense to pass them out and then collect them when you drive out.

On Saturday we went to La Gallerias (mall) with Jeff and Paula. It's farther than the other two places where we normally go, but worth a visit. As Jeff was driving in he got the typical parking pass and I asked him why they hand those out. He said it is to prevent car theft, i.e. if someone walks into the parking lot and steals a car they won't have a parking pass to give to the guard when they exit. Oops--guess that means we shouldn't be leaving it in the truck! We didn't know it, but we were inviting car thieves to take our truck by leaving our parking pass in plain sight on the dash! Yikes--lesson learned and we will now be taking it in the mall with us! Thanks for divine protection during our naive stage!

Lazy, Rainy Sunday Night

Church was great today . . . . I know I'm really going to enjoy Pastor Julio's sermons when I can understand more of them. His sermon series on Sunday mornings is in the book of Mark--today it was Chapter 6 where Jesus visits his hometown and they are "underwhelmed" by his teachings. As Pastor Julio said, "deciding to believe or not to believe is a decision." According to verse 5, "he could do no mighty work there." Their refusal to believe translated into a lack of faith and faith is the catalyst for Christ's power in our lives! Please pray that our faith will never limit what Christ wants to do through us!

On the home front, it was a lazy afternoon with only a trip to the grocery store. Rainy evening with fresh, homemade peach cobbler to make it cozy!

Tomorrow is a regular work day for us . . . . Spanish lessons in the morning. (By the way, Guillermo didn't met us at church today, so we will try again next Sunday.)

First week wrap up and Friday night's sermon

We finished up our first week of school on Thursday. We had a great time with the 3rd graders who were very interested to hear about bald eagles. I have to admit I was amazed by some of the facts myself: they have a wingspan of over 8 feet! After dismissal, Stephen was playing the piano in the sanctuary while the kids were waiting to be picked up. It caused quite a stir as I heard kids saying, “Mr. Stephen is playing the piano,” and then they ran in to see him playing. A few minutes later there only Sofia was left. Stephen played a chord and she would play a few notes—they played quite a song and Stephen got the sweetest hug from her when she left. :-)

Pastor Julio is preaching through Ecclesiastes—tonight's message was from Chapter 3:14-22. Between his PowerPoint and my ability to recognize/understand more Spanish words than 2 months ago, I can usually get the big picture (at least.) He mentioned the latest Steven Hawking news; if you haven't seen it, according to Hawking, God wasn't necessary for the creation of the universe. Good grief—this is what I say to him:

“By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap; he layeth up the depth in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought; he makes the devices of the people of none effect. The counsel of the LORD standeth forever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.” Psalm 33:6-11

I intended to get this posted on Friday night, but our Internet was out when we got home from church. It's now Saturday morning and we're back in business.

Hope all you Americans who are living in America enjoy the holiday on Monday! We will be working away here in El Salvador!

First day of school!

Today was "our" first day of school and, as usual, I couldn't get to sleep last night. There's just something about the first day no matter how many years you've been teaching!

We arrived early and had a chance to talk to Roxana (principal) about last minute things. Then . . . . it was time. We are teaching English as a Second Language (ESL)so, ideally, the classroom is to be a SOE (speak only English) environment. We started with second grade--7 girls and 1 boy. You wouldn't think a classroom of 8 could keep two people busy, but it did! :-) Introductions all around--Miss Cheryl and Mr. Stephen. They have difficulty with "Cheryl"--first, CH is usually pronounced like chart and chip, and then Spanish doesn't have words with the "ryl" sound. At this point, I will answer to anything close or even just "Miss" which is what they say for their regular classroom teacher, "Miss Daisy." The vocabulary test featured two words for every letter of the alphabet. If they knew the word, they were to circle it. As we thought, the directions are the most difficult part as they require us to use words that the students don't know yet. One of the girls in particular, was good enough at English that she was translating what we said for the other students--nice, but, not exactly what we had in mind? When it comes to spelling, they are having the same problems that Stephen and I have . . . . if I say that the second letter is "a," they write the Spanish vowel "e," rather than the English vowel "a." It will take a lot of reinforcement of the English alphabet and sounds for them to be able to use the textbook. It was the first class after lunch, so they were still quite lively, I think their favorite thing we did all day was cut out pictures from their workbook.

First grade was next; there are 8 girls and 5 boys. They talk very quietly, so the introductions were hard to hear. When they have questions, they ask in Spanish . . . of course, we don't understand most of what they are saying! At this age, it's difficult for them to put their questions into English as their vocabulary is still limited. We will start on lessons from their book on Wednesday . . . and will need to work on vocabulary as we go. It was a good day--we had introductions, finished the vocabulary sheet and got their names on their books.

We finished the day in third grade--only 30 minutes for this group of 9 boys and 3 girls, which includes twin girls, Gabriela and Jimena. This group was the easiest to talk to because they are the most familiar with English. Their vocabulary test had 78 regular words and 10 challenge words. I'm checking the papers tonight, but I believe these students were most realistic about the words they knew and didn't know. School is dismissed at the end of the 30 minutes, so Roxana came to help. We ended with a prayer, putting away books and lining up to go downstairs to meet their parents.

All of the students are so cute in their matching uniform shirts and even after one day, we can see their individual personality's showing. One of the best things about school is that each day brings a new opportunity to open the minds of these great kids. It's going to be fun watching and helping them learn.

After a stop at Office Depot to pick up a few more school supplies we arrived home at 4:30. I just can't tell you how grateful I was when Paula called to say she had homemade soup and cornbread to bring over for our dinner! Thank you, Lord, for great friends who support us physically, mentally and spiritually.

Well, I have papers to check and seating charts to complete . . . . somehow I remember that a teacher's work is never done. I'm glad it's just 3 days a week because, as a student myself, I need to review the Spanish verbs we learned in our class yesterday.

Fifth Sunday

When a month has a fifth Sunday, VidaNueva Baptist Church holds one service at the Crown Plaza Hotel. Last night Jeff and Stephen spent 2 hours helping move equipment over and getting the screens and projectors set up. The technical and sound guys were there for hours longer. It's so much work, but having the whole church family worship together is really awesome. There were about 650 adults at today's service and probably another 100 kids. The service was amazing, with great music from the worship band and praise team, music from two guest singers, a video about plans for growing the church and expanding ministry options and an insightful sermon from Pastor Julio. You might wonder how we fit everything in, well, it's not that difficult when the service is 2.5 hours long! Of course, everything has to be broken down and returned to the church building when the service is over. I think it was almost 2:00 when we got home.

Our schedule is about to change with the addition of three days of teaching each week. We have Spanish classes on Monday, Wednesday, Friday morning from 9 to 11. We teach on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday afternoon from 1 to 3. Stephen has band practice every Wednesday evening at 7:00 and we have church on Friday night at 6:30. Please pray that we are able to balance all areas of the ministry and be good stewards of our time.

Stephen has been hanging out at the basketball court with some of our neighbors. They are pretty impressed with his shooting. :-) Just tonight two of the high school boys asked about our church, and said they might want to go with us sometime. Please pray that we can be Godly examples for these two boys and that they will be go to church with us on Friday.

We are continuing the process of pursuing our residency in El Salvador. The next step is for the church to start putting together the paperwork necessary to apply for a religious visa. We're hoping that we we will be able to make our first trip to immigration by the middle of September--stay tuned for updates.

Back to School

Yesterday was our "back to school" day for our Spanish classes. We spent several hours on Sunday reviewing all of the material so we would be prepared. Unfortunately, it doesn't take long for us to forget what we know and get confused about the new stuff. We keep telling ourselves that everyone who learns a new language must feel the same way . . . but since we are the only people in the class we have no way to confirm it.

Today we met with Roxana Mendoza, principal of New Life Christian School, to discuss our teaching schedule. We mistakenly thought that school started yesterday, instead it starts next week. We will be working with 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade students three days a week in the afternoon. Our schedule is 45 minutes each with 1st and 2nd grade and 30 minutes with 3rd grade on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Lesson plans are "due" on Monday of each week--reminds me of past life. :-) Roxana said that the 3rd graders will be a challenge; the class has 3 girls and 10 boys! I'm praying that my years of rearing two boys will be of help!

Stay tuned as I'm sure this experience will produce some interesting blog topics!

Home Sweet Home

We landed in El Salvador at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning and I can safely say that red-eye flights will never be our favorite time to travel. All of our luggage made it safely and Jeff was waiting to pick us up.

It was about 8:00 a.m. when we made it home. We decided to turn on our cable modem, TV and wireless router so we could email or call our family to let them know we made it back--bad idea! After about 30 minutes of trying to get things up and running, we gave up and went to bed. A call to Jeff around noon confirmed that his cable was working. There's no quick way to call about service here, so he and Stephen went over to Tigo to report the problem. Amazingly, they had a serviceman at the house at 2:30 p.m. and he worked his magic and we were soon back in business. We managed a trip to the grocery store for absolute essentials and then ate a quick dinner of pupusas at our favorite restaurant.

Still jet lagged on Thursday, we were very glad we didn't schedule our Spanish classes to start until Monday. The truck is very handy to have! We ventured over to PriceSmart (Costco) on our own and filled up with meat, frozen food, etc. We also bought a 6 ft.table and cube storage bins to put an office and sewing room in our spare bedroom. I say office for now because my sewing machine is still safely in my dad's basement in Lee's Summit.

I spent the rest of the day unpacking 3 of our 4 suitcases. Thanks to so many friends at ALBC, our kitchen is now stocked with hard- or impossible-to-find items. I've already used a can of the beans, and I have to promise myself to use the items sparingly as they have to last until Christmas! Stephen had band practice so I set up the office and storage shelves.

We went to church to pick up the textbooks for our English/phonics classes. We will be working with 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders--I spent 21 years in the classroom with students in grades 7-12, so this is going to be a real challenge! School starts on Monday, but we won't start phonics for a week or two while the students and teachers get their routine established. Please pray for us as we undertake this new ministry.

After a day full of laundry and cleaning, we made our way to the Friday night service. We love worshiping with our Salvadoran brothers and sisters; it was great to see everyone as we were gone almost 3 weeks.

Today is another catch up day: preparing/sending our August prayer letter, blogging and getting our financial reports up to date. So, since the letter and this blog are now done, it's now time to sign off and catch up on my financial report.

Comings and Goings

We are sitting at the San Jose, CA, airport waiting for our 8:00 p.m. flight to Los Angeles. We will depart LAX (and the US) at 11:30 p.m. and arrive in San Salvador at 5:30 a.m. It will be a long night!

It has been so wonderful to spend time with our friends and family. We've spent the last 7 days in California with Daniel, Shannon and Maleia. She is a beautiful and happy girl! She's pretty independent for 17 months, but says "please" when she needs help of any kind. She loves to "hide" and then be found or hide her baby and then find her. You can almost see her little brain soaking up new things! Stephen was quite a photographer following her around like the paparazzi and getting great shots (a few pics are included here.)

We are excited to return "home." Our language classes start again on Monday, August 23 and then we begin helping with English at New Life Christian School on Tuesday, August 24. We covet your prayers for this new phase of our ministry.

Catching Up--Part 2: Kansas City (8/6-8/10)

The next five days were all about family and friends. Golf (Stephen), lunch with friends, rehearsal dinner, lunch with family, haircuts, wedding, wedding reception, church at ALBC, lunch with friends, church at ALBC, game night with friends, errands, lunch with family, dinner with friends, Custard's Last Stand with family, packing and back to KCI, some running (Stephen) and sleeping was sandwiched in where appropriate. I've included several pictures from the wedding--5 Parris cousins (only Daniel was missing), a GQ pose by Jon and Stephen and a family shot!

It was so awesome to be at ALBC for the early service (hurray a sermon in English) and then in our Sunday School class. The class gathered items we have trouble finding in El Salvador so we are going back stocked with BBQ sauce, lime jello, orzo, Rotel, black beans and many other goodies.

The time was so short that we didn't get to see everyone we wanted to see . . . . our trip home for Christmas is longer so if we missed you, please check your calendar and let us know when we can “get together” over the holidays.