Reflections

Almost everyone we talk to asks "how are you doing?" "was it the right decision?" or "what do you miss?" Now that it's been almost 8 weeks, I thought I would take a stab at answering all three of the questions.

1) We are doing great! We love our little townhouse and our neighborhood is very nice. It is gated, self-contained with 102 townhomes around a central park. The park has a basketball court/soccer court, playground equipment, picnic tables and lovely landscaping and trees. Stephen bought a basketball and occasionally has time to shoot baskets with Douglas or Jacob. We have a living room, dining room, kitchen and half bath on the first floor. A sliding glass door leads out to the patio (backyard) and laundry/storage area. Several rose bushes, hibiscus and my herbs are outside.

We have met several of our neighbors, especially the kids who ride their bikes and play outside. Yesterday Gabby was waiting for us when we came home . . . she had kicked her small soccer ball over the wall between our houses (about 10 foot tall) and had to wait for us to come home so she could get it back.

We're comfortable going to SuperSelectos (grocery store) and Vidri's (hardware store.) The local pharmacy has all of my prescription medicine and it's very reasonably priced. We can also drive to "Wal-mart" by ourselves, but haven't learned the way to "Costco" yet. It will have to wait until we get back from the states in August.

2) It was absolutely the right decision. When God has a job and place for you, that's exactly what you want to do and where you want to be. We've loved the people here since the first time we came (2007) and nothing about that has changed. Everyone is so helpful and patient with us . . . even though our Spanish is terrible or non-existent. We're excited about what God is doing here and anxious to work with the students at New Life Christian School beginning August 24. Stephen loves playing the piano in the band--he has practice on Thursday night (same time/night as at ALBC.) He plays for the Friday night service and for the 3rd service on Sunday morning. Several times we've talked about what we could have been doing in our retirement . . . but this is exactly what we want to be doing and where God wants us to be working.

3) There are some things that we miss and, of course, family and friends are at the top of the list. (Even if we had moved someplace else in the states, we would have missed family and friends.) So the things I miss are: getting the mail (not sure why on this one), going to the library to check out books, being able to meet friends at Custard's Last Stand anytime we want, good pizza from Minskys or Spin (sorry Pizza Hut--it's just not the same), Pastor Phil's sermons (at this point, any sermon in English sounds good to us), Kingdom Seekers class on Sunday morning, a dishwasher (other than me), getting drinking water from the tap and being able to communicate with everyone to name just a few.

Even though no one has asked, I want to mention a few things we love about El Salvador: pupusas (traditional Salvadoran dish) are awesome (Stephen thinks I should learn how to make them so I can share them with family and friends back in the States), working with and being mentored by Jeff and Paula, singing awesome Spanish worship music, getting to know new friends from this country and around the states and, most importantly, being able to serve our Heavenly Father to help bring the gospel to the people of El Salvador and Central America.