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.  

Baby, it's cold outside

This is our fourth morning in the states (already.)  Stephen left about 7:30 this morning (yes, I was still in bed) to (a) run or (b) go to Starbucks.  Neither of the two choices are of particular interest to me; of course, if I had to choose between the two, B would would win.

I'm sitting by the fireplace with gas logs burning trying to get warm.  The adjustment to the cold weather is continuing.  I think that a life of constant flip flop weather has left both of us with "thinner" blood.  At least, that's what I thought before my research on the issue revealed this:

Thinner blood, however, "is absolutely a myth," said Dr. Bruce Lenes, medical director of Community Blood Centers of South Florida, noting that blood thickness isn't influenced by temperature. He said people simply adjust — mentally and physically — to a new climate.

Read more: http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/how-does-south-florida's-warm-climate-affect-your-health%3F#ixzz2nSctKTui

I guess we just need to change our attitude and wear more clothes.  Which, of course, is another problem, as our supply of winter clothes is very low and everything is quite old and out of style.  Not to mention, we're not very motivated to spend money on clothes we only need for a couple of weeks a year.  

Case in point on how our coldness manifests itself to others--last night we picked up Steve and Terisa to go to dinner.  It wasn't until we got to the restaurant and ran into to some people we all knew, that Steve and Terisa admitted that were roasting in the back seat of the car.  We had the heat cranked and the fan on max!

The past three days have been busy with lots of errands--grocery shopping to restock the pantry of the mission house where we are staying, picking up and going through five months of mail, doctor's appointments, etc.  Today I'm hoping to get started on several Christmas projects, before it gets too late.

Tomorrow morning we will be at Abundant Life Baptist to worship with our church family and then have dinner with some dear friends.  Even if we're not physically as warm as we'd like, we've received a warm welcome and are so blessed to be able to be with family and friends for the holidays.