School in Nejapa

This morning we visited a very poor school in Nejapa, which is on the outskirts of Nejapa.  You know the area is a poor one when there is only one paved road in the community.  Six of our seven teams were able to share the lesson, testimony and gospel in classrooms.  The seventh team wasn't used because one of the classroom teachers was sick and so they sent the students home--not quite the way I remember it happening when I was teaching.  There was one class per grade; there were 48 first graders in the room!

The most exciting part of the day took place after the lessons.  The team from First Baptist, Gulf Shores, Alabama, brought three suitcases of clothing and Guillermo had contacted the administration at the school to identify students who could benefit from receiving the clothing.  We had everything sorted by gender and size, so that each recipient received 2-3 outfits.  The principal called their names and they lined up, by size, to get their bag of clothes.  You can imagine the smiles on their faces as they received the packages!  A couple of our team members "loved" on the kids after they received their clothes.  We wanted to be sure they understood that the clothes were our way of sharing God's love.

 

September Campaign in El Salvador

A team of 13 from First Baptist Church, Gulf Shores, Alabama, arrived on Friday afternoon and attended the Friday night service.  They spent Saturday morning visiting the volcano and having lunch at La Pampa halfway down the mountain.

The team from Passage Community Church, in Missouri, was supposed to arrive in time to join the Gulf Shores group for orientation at 3:30, but their flight was delayed and when it did arrive, all of their luggage didn't.  So, after a short orientation with Gulf Shores, we boarded the bus, went to the church to pick up the translators and then drove to a neighborhood on the outskirts of Lourdes.  By the time we arrived, the park was full of people and the clowns were already at work.  The youth of Lourdes performed a new drama before Pastor Lloyd shared the gospel.

This morning all three of the teams (Alabama, Missouri and Louisiana) were together at the 11:30 a.m. worship.  

Costa Rica Wrap Up

We had a great week with the teams from First Baptist Gulf Shores, Alabama, Passage Church, St. Louis, Missouri, and Faith Baptist, Youngsville, North Carolina.   All 35 team members were faithful to share in the neighborhoods, along the pedestrian walkway downtown, in the market and everywhere else went.  They presented the Respect value lesson in 27 classrooms in three different schools.  There were nearly 700 professions of faith this week and we are excited to hear how many people went to the reception at the hotel this afternoon.

What is even more exciting is that the trip to Costa Rica was just one of the three trips going on this week.  We heard a report at church this morning that there were more than 1000 decisions in Managua and almost 400 in Guatemala.  It was a great week for the kingdom!

Here are a few more pictures of the week:

 The gringos wanted the Salvadorans to experience the fancy bus so they traded.

 Praying before going into the classroom

Beautiful Day for a Campaign

After fighting the weather the last three nights, it was beautiful all day!  The morning at the school was excellent--we visited 13 classrooms.

We were able to visit the neighborhood and lots of kids/adults showed up at the family festival.  Lot's of decisions made the perfect end to a beautiful day.

Costa Rica--Day One

Even though the flight to Costa Rica is less than an hour, the trip overall still takes 5 or 6 hours by the time you drive to the airport, arrive two hours early, fly, go through immigration, pick up luggage, go through customs and drive to the hotel.  However, let me say that I'm not complaining.  So thankful that God has provided the resources for us to make this short trip in place of the 26+ hour school bus ride that the Salvadorans endured to get here.

We walked right in to orientation with the Gulf Shores group when we arrived at the hotel.  Introductions, discussions, questions and more followed for the next hour.  Unfortunately, the group from Faith Baptist had missed a connection and we weren't sure they would arrive in time for the evening event.  But, God had other plans--their flight came in at 2:30 and they were just barely able to get checked in before we headed out.

We had planned to go to Cartago and pass out tracts at the site of the annual pilgrimage, but since we wouldn't have arrived until after 5:00 p.m., Pastor Rodolfo indicated that most of the festivities would be over.  Instead we spent time sharing one-on-one on the pedestrian walkway in downtown San Jose.  

After the event, we went to Pollo Campero with the Faith Baptist group and Stephen did their orientation over chicken!  

Looking forward to joint worship this morning with Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva, San Jose!

Time to Rest

The last two days of the campaign seemed to fly by even though we were very busy.  On Thursday morning we went, for the first time, to a secondary school called INCO (Instituto National Comercio.)  We were able to share in 13 classrooms.  The principal was so happy that he invited us to come back in January and spend two days in order to share in each classroom (morning and afternoon session.)  We met a senior who just happened to have her guitar with her.  She played and sang some of her favorite songs for us which all happened to be praise and worship songs.  

Thursday night we shared in Acacias, a private neighborhood in Lourdes.  The rain held off until we were loading up the equipment and the bus.  Everyone headed back to the church in Lourdes for a pizza party for the translators.  More than 100 of us enjoyed pizza, drinks and fellowship.  

We spent Friday morning at the central park downtown San Salvador sharing one-on-one.  You never know who you're going to meet downtown . . . business people who walk through on their way to an appointment, homeless who live in and around the park, people who travel an hour or more by bus to look for a job, students who hang out after the morning at school, just to name a few.  Stephen talked with four boys and I had the privilege to talk with a young couple.  

Friday night was the final night of the campaign.  We were in Aguilares and made it all the way to the preaching when the giant drops of rain started.  Pastor Bob wrapped up quickly and the counselor's got to work.  Fortunately, we had already rolled up and loaded the inflatable so it didn't take too much longer to load the rest of the equipment. 

We battled the rain in the evenings, but we never had to completely cancel a campaign.  It was an amazing week with more than 700 professions of faith.