May Campaign, Part 2

Sunday morning church was at the hotel, as usual, and everyone on the team seemed to enjoy the service.  While they had a few hours rest in the afternoon before the first campaign of the week.

We were in one of the Apopa neighborhoods on Sunday night and it didn't even rain.  (There seems to be an unusual correlation between Apopa campaigns and rainouts.)  All but two of the team were rookies, but they learned quickly.  

May Campaign--Day 5

Wednesday morning we shared at a very large high school.  The principal asked us if we could add another group, so we reorganized a bit and shared in ten classrooms instead of just nine.  The kids were very receptive with more than 147 professions of faith.

The team from Truett-McConnell college included many members of their girl's soccer team.  They played a scrimmage against the girls team from the high school.  It was a fun afternoon of friendly competition and testimony sharing.

We ended the night in a neighborhood called Atlacatl in central El Salvador.  

May Campaign--Day 3 and 4

After devotions on Monday morning we had time to come back to the apartment.  Since there were only five people, they took the morning to visit the volcano and go to the gringo market.  I, on the other hand, finally had time to go to the grocery store and re-stock after our three weeks in the states.

The other team, a group of 28 from Truett-McConnell College was due in around noon, but . . . .  But, like our recent flight, they were delayed (mechanical problems) and didn't arrive in time to go to the evening campaign.

Instead only the Alabama team was able to go up north to El Paraiso (Paradise) for the family festival.  This is Pastor Manuel's newest church plant and it is being directly supported by Pleasant Grove Baptist.  They were excited to see the building they are renting and to meet Pastor Manuel.  One of their Sunday School classes sent a $300 gift--the money was raised by selling fresh eggs which are donated by one of the class members. 

Tuesday morning the whole team was in place for morning devotions,  Pastor Steve shared and then we headed out to our first school of the week.  The new value lesson, kindness, was well received by the students.  There were 100 professions of faith.  We shared with two sixth grade classes, but they met outside because they are part of the afternoon session.  Unbelievably, almost all of the students in the class came in the morning to hear the lesson (even though they had to return for their regular classes in the afternoon.)

Tuesday evening's family festival was in Santa Tecla and it was well attended.  It was the first campaign for the team from Truett-McConnell in Georgia, but they all got right to work sharing the gospel.

May Campaign--Day 1 and 2

Our May campaign started off slowly and by that I mean that the first team that arrived was a small, but mighty group of five from Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Molton, Alabama.  It was the first mission trip for the four women, but you wouldn't know it.  They have been so faithful to share the gospel even though they were nervous and felt unprepared.  However, as we all know, obedience is the key!  We went out on campaign Saturday night, to church in Lourdes on Sunday and then out again on Sunday evening.  

Final Two Days

The campaign ended today--it was an awesome week.  Even though it was a small team of nine people, they faithfully shared and there were more than 400 professions of faith. What's even more exciting is that some of the people who made decisions this week have already visited one of our churches.
Yesterday morning at one of the schools, one of the team members brought a boy over to me who wanted to know the times of the services.  I wrote the times of our Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday night (youth service) and both Sunday services on his copy of the tract he received.  This morning, Pastor Steve announced that one of the boys from the school was at the service last night!  Wow!

Here are a few pictures of the campaign in Apopa last night and then a few of pictures of the school this morning.

Three Full Days

The mornings start with devotions . . . . yesterday Pastor Julio shared several verses from 1 Kings 8, reminding us that we need to focus on "the cause" which is "that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other."  Today, Pastor Steve shared how we can stay joyful in the face of circumstances which is exactly what Paul talked about in his letter to the Philippians when he said, "to live is Christ, but to die is gain."

We have been in the schools in the mornings and the kids have been great.  The value lesson we've been sharing is on "Respect."  It's easy to come up with examples of disrespect and the kids are more than willing to admit that sometimes they disrespect their parents, their teachers and their friends.  In our class today, there were 31 students who made professions of faith . . . it doesn't get any better than that!  

 

The weather didn't look from the beginning, so we didn't put up the inflatable (which was still wet from last night's downpour.)  The team had about 30 minutes to go door-to-door before it started raining. 

 I got some shots of the Pastor Steve, Guillermo and the rest of the team playing basketball and Stephen and Paolo playing ping pong in the park.  About 15 minutes later they were all completely soaked!

 Please pray for our day tomorrow; they weather forecast is for it to rain most of the day/evening.  We're happy for it to rain, as long as it holds off until we finish the preaching.