FIVE YEARS TODAY

It's been exactly five years today!  On June 8, 2010, about 10:00 in the morning, our son, Jon, took us to KCI to catch our flight to El Salvador.  We checked four large duffle bags, each weighing 50 pounds, and each of us carried on a medium size duffle weighing 30 pounds.  Jeff and Paula Rhoades picked us up at Comalapa Airport and, thus, began our journey!

We're not the same people who arrived five years ago today.  Now we speak Spanish and are able to communicate with the people around us and we consider El Salvador "home." 
  
However, the most exciting things that have happened over these five years have not come as a result of what we have done, but what God has done in and through us.  Here's just a few highlights:

• We've been blessed to meet thousands of people from churches all over the US who have come to share the gospel on a mission trip 
• We've shared our testimony and listened to other's testimonies in hundreds of school classrooms.
• We've seen the gospel shared door-to-door and in the evening family festivals during more than 60 mission trips.
• We've seen hands raised in response to the sinner's prayer thousands and thousands of times. 
• We've been part of a great church that preaches the gospel and focuses on discipling new believers.
• We've made life-long friends as we've loved and been loved by our church family in all of the VidaNueva churches.  
• We've relied on God to lead and direct us in the work of the ministry here.
• We've witnessed what God can do with believers who are faithful to share the good news.  

We still have much to learn . . . and are still very much in the process of growing into the people God intends for us to be.  It's only fitting that we have an appointment at immigration today to renew our residency visa for another year.  We don't know what the future holds or how much longer we will be here, but we trust God to let us know when it's time to move on.  Thank you for being part of our journey; please continue to pray for us as we work here.

Here's to another five years.