Triple Trip Preparations

We've been hard at work helping Guillermo prepare for the triple trip; as you can imagine, it takes a lot of preparing to be able to send 100+ Salvadorans to join up with 120 North Americans in three different countries at the same time. Here is a list of some of the things we've been helping with:

• Verifying those who will be going on each trip and what their role will be, i.e. translator, evangelism, logistics.
• Verifying paperwork for all minors (under 18) who will be traveling, which requires legal documentation from each parent authorizing them to travel out of the country with the church.  All of these documents have to be notarized and multiple copies made.
• Purchasing, assembling and documenting contents of the first aid kit for each country. First step on Monday was to buy $80 of various types of medicine--it's definitely a blessing to be able to buy things here without a prescription.  For example, we bought 9 antibiotic regimes (10 tablets each) so each kit would have three.  We also added lots of over-the counter medicines like Alka-Seltzer, Sudafed, cortisone cream, gauze, alcohol, adhesive tape, cough drops and much more, all the while hoping that no one needs any of these items.   
• Assembling everything that needs to go to each country, Bibles, tracts, equipment, etc.
• Ordering and organizing the MetroAmerica 0-20 t-shirts which we will be selling to the North Americans in each location
• Ordering and organizing the MetroAmerica 0-20 mission trip t-shirts which are gifts for everyone from the church who travels with us
• Making up packets for each country which contain the "Jesus drawing" (see below for pictures) for each night of the campaign (total of 20 presentations across the 3 countries.) 
• Attending and presenting at three training sessions (one for each country.) The Nicaragua training was last night, Guatemala tonight and Costa Rica tomorrow night.
• Lists, lists and more lists

Of course, there's also our regular personal preparations including paying all of our bills ahead of time.  This time we are going to go to both Guatemala and Costa Rica, so that has added to our packing issues.  

Here are a few pictures of last night's training for the team going to Nicaragua.  

Please pray for everyone involved in the trip and for the people who will hear the gospel, some for the very first time, in each country.  Pray safe travels and good health for our team and the teams from the states.      

Farmer's Daughter?

When I was nine-years old, we moved from town (Jefferson City, Missouri) to a 60+ acre farm out in the "country."  It was quite a shock to me, and I can remember not being very happy about it.  My dad still worked for the newspaper in town, so I wasn't a "real" farmer's daughter.  

When looking back I can see the move provided an opportunity to learn some life lessons I would have otherwise missed.  Many of those life lessons were centered around food!  We had an acre-size garden with every imaginable vegetable, fruit trees (cherry, pear, peach), chickens (from time-to-time), at least one milk cow and herds of "beef" cattle.  In addition, my mom was always finding other local "farms" where she could pick or buy the other fruits we didn't grow, i.e. strawberries, blackberries, grapes, etc.

Although I didn't love the labor of picking fruits or vegetables, processing them and then canning or freezing them, I certainly loved the end product--cherry preserves, blackberry jelly, strawberry jam and more.  

We didn't always have a milk cow, but when we did, my favorite thing to do was to churn butter.  Just when you were about to give up thinking the liquid was never going to come to anything, a few more turns of the churn and you'd hear a clunking sound as the butter came together.  A few minutes later and you could be spreading said butter on a piece of bread, and if it was homemade bread, that was even better!   

Now, before you think I've been making butter here in San Salvador, let me tell you that I have not.  I have, however, been making my own Greek yogurt, which is pretty close to butter, right?  You might wonder why am I making my own Greek yogurt, so here are the reasons, in no particular order:  

• It's easy--I make it in the crockpot.  I use this recipe:  Easy Greek Yogurt
• It's good--thick and rich, even making it with 2% milk
• It's less expensive than buying it--Greek yogurt is quite expensive here in ES.  For the cost of a gallon of milk, I can make 64 ounces of yogurt which breaks down to about $2.50 per 32 ounces of yogurt.  (Yes, milk is $5 per gallon here.)
• It's low-fat and sugar free--regular yogurt is popular here, but almost all of it is full-fat, sweet and fruity.  I can (usually) find plain Greek yogurt at PriceSmart (our Costco), but trips to PriceSmart are a once-a-month, if not less, event.  I use a lot of Greek yogurt in recipes, so I needed a more stable supply.

The process is easy, but not quick--taking about 14-15 hours in total.  There's lots of waiting time, but I do need to be around at all of the critical moments, so it takes some planning.  Here's a picture of the final step which is straining the yogurt to remove most of the liquid.  You can skip this step, saving 2-3 hours and have regular yogurt, instead of extra-thick Greek yogurt.  

  I'm glad I still have a bit of the "farmer's daughter" in me!  It's come in quite handy living here.  

Lazy Days

There were supposed to be two July campaigns this summer, but both of them were canceled due to worries about the Zika virus.  As a result, we've had a lazy July with time to relax and catch-up on things.  We're not used to the time off!  Of course our regular activities have continued (band practice, Bible study, seminary class).

This week we will start preparing for the triple trip which is coming in less than two weeks.  Good News in Action will be hosting three trips in three different countries at the same time.  A team of 45 is coming to Guatemala, a team of 46 is coming to Costa Rica and there will be 24 in Nicaragua.  All of this means that Vida Nueva will be sending many, many translators and other support persons to each of the three countries.  

Stephen and I are going to spend the first two days in Guatemala.  We'll be riding the Vida Nueva bus over.  On Monday, we will fly to Costa Rica to spend the remainder of the week.  Pastor Steve and Pam are starting their trip in Costa Rica, which allows us to start in Guatemala. This will be the first time we've visited two countries, but a team from First Baptist, Ferguson, MO, is coming to Guatemala and we want to be there to welcome them.  Pastor Steve and Pam will fly out of Costa Rica on Monday and we will fly in.

Please pray for the teams who are coming from the states, our teams as they prepare for the trip and each local church.  

Birthday Lunch

We were able to get away to the mountain, actually the side of the volcano, for lunch at La Pampa last Friday.  The restaurant is very nice, the views are amazing, the food was excellent and the company even better, even if he didn't want his picture taken.

Bogota Campaign, Part 4

Our third trip to Bogota was about three weeks ago, and we were busy from morning to night.  However, since our flight was not until late Saturday night, we had time to see some of the sights on Saturday.  Hayden, Stephen and I took a taxi from the hotel to Bayron and Teresa's apartment on Saturday morning.  From the apartment we took the bus to Usaquen, a residential/commerical area in the northern part of the city.  There are always street musicians, street artists, artisans peddling their wares and many, many excellent restaurants.  We had visited Usaquen in January, 2015, and were excited to have the opportunity to return.

We had lunch at a nice Mexican restaurant and then coffee and dessert at one of the many cafés in the area.  It was just starting to rain when we finished dessert, so we made a run for the bus stop to return to Bayron and Teresa's place.  It was mid-afternoon when we got back to the hotel.

All week we talked about returning to the senior citizens home to visit our two friends, but just couldn't fit it in.  Here's a bit of the history of why we wanted to return.  

The first campaign in Bogota was in January, 2015; we had the privilege to be there with a team from Valley Baptist, as well as a few others.  Besides sharing along the main street outside the hotel, the team also had the opportunity to visit a senior citizen's home which was walking distance from the hotel.  You can read more about that first visit here:  Senior Citizen Home.  It was during that trip that we first met and visited with Orlando Guerrero and Marta Cano.  

 

 We returned to Bogota for another campaign in December, 2015.  Although there wasn't a team visit to the home, Stephen and I walked over to see our friends.  We found Orlando walking in the garden and had a great time reconnecting with him.  Unfortunately, Marta was at a doctor's appointment so we didn't get to see her.

After we returned to the hotel, we realized we would have time to walk over to the home, visit and still be back in plenty of time to get to the airport.  As usual, we stopped at the gate to sign in, but when we said we were there to visit Orlando, we knew something was wrong.  The security person told us that, unfortunately, he had passed away during the past week.  We were so, so sad that we hadn't made it over to visit earlier in the week.  However, we talked with one of the nurses who said he was hospitalized the second week of July and died of respiratory failure on July 15, two days before we flew to Bogota. 

Marta was there and we had time to visit with her.  She was as feisty as before, and very glad to see us.  We told her about trying to visit in June, but she said no one told her we stopped by to see her.  This time, she let me pick a pair of earrings (she was selling them to make some extra money) to take with me.  We promised her we would be back to see her the next time we are in Bogota.  

We know time isn't guaranteed to anyone, not at age 86 or at age 8.  Still, we were surprised that Orlando wasn't there.  It was a clear reminder of how important it is to share the gospel so that people have an opportunity to have a personal relationship with Jesus.     

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.

Bogota Campaign, Part 3

Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning we went downtown Bogato to share along the "Septima," or 7th Avenue.  The street is closed to traffic for at least a mile, so there are pedestrians everywhere.  There is cross traffic to watch out for and people on bicycles, but otherwise it is wide open to walk and share the gospel.  We ran into several people who spoke English--one pair was Jehovah Witness and the other pair was Mormons!  

There is a little bit of everything on this street, including two beatiful Catholic cathedrals, typical fast food places, souvenir markets, bookstores, street musicians and dancers, people with carts selling everything from bread to Colombia soccer jerseys to ice cream treats.  There are also many people who will stop to talk and listen to the gospel.  There were 25-30 professions of faith each morning.