Long and winding road

We left the house at 4:00 a.m. yesterday and made it to church in less than 15 minutes--amazing how easy it is to drive at that time of the morning.  Actually, I was surprised we weren't the first at the church.  Nevertheless, our departure time of 5:00 a.m. slipped by almost 45 minutes.  This time we were in the van (air-conditioned) with 6 others; there were another 25 on the big yellow bus. 

The trip was long, but uneventful--the El Salvador border and the two Honduran borders were almost empty.  The Nicaragua border, while not at all full, still took about an hour.  We really didn't notice any damage from the recent earthquake/tremors.  We pulled in to the hotel about 8:30 p.m.

The first four of more than 40 people from five different churches arrived last night.  Most of the rest arrive on various flights today, with the last two coming in on Sunday.  Please pray for the second bus full of Salvadorans who are driving over today and that God's spirit will move mightily among the Nicaraguan people during this week of evangelistic outreach.

Day before Thanksgiving

It's been four years (2009) since I experienced what "used to be" the normal day before Thanksgiving.   Back then, the day included last minute grocery shopping, baking pumpkin and pecan pies, making cranberry sauce or cranberry salad, etc.  

Although we've always made it to the states for Christmas, we've never gone back to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Since Thanksgiving isn't a holiday here in  El Salvador, although we're doing our best to get it started with our IDEM group (see previous post), the final evangelistic campaign of the year is always scheduled the week after.  We are leaving for Managua, Nicaragua, on Saturday morning.  

For the past three years, we've spent Thanksgiving with whatever group of gringos/missionaries happened to be in country.  So, I always spent this day making at least one Thanksgiving dish--usually a pie.  This year we have been invited to share Thanksgiving at the home of Pastor Steve and Pam Kern.  Rachelle LaBotz, our newest gringa missionary, will be joining us, too.  Even better, Pam said I don't need to prepare anything!

So today, instead of baking, I am thankful to be working on the baby quilt (with these colorful and fun fabrics) for my soon-to-arrive granddaughter.  

Catch-up Post (2)

We worshipped with our Guatemalan friends at Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva on Sunday morning.  We have many friends here and it was so good to "reconnect" with them--even better knowing that we will be back in two weeks to help with VBS.

There are always some "firsts" on a trip like this--this time it was singing the old, old hymn, "I've Got a Mansion Just Over the Hilltop," or, in Spanish, "Bellas Mansiones Hay Alla en la Gloria."  I found a youtube video of Elvis singing it, but decided you could search for it yourself if you're interested!

Worship time

Nelson is an awesome expository preacher; he has been preaching verse-by-verse through the book of 1 Corinthians.  We know this because he was just starting the book when we were in Guatemala for 8 weeks in the summer of 2012.  This Sunday's message was on 1 Corinthians 12:12-13.  

Corinth--A church growing in a difficult city

Congregation listening to the message

Small group prayer for VBS

Signing up for VBS donations

 Stephen and Charlie

 Claudia and Andrea working at "Centro de Informacion"

 Gloria Hernandez and her husband, Guillermo, from El Salvador were there
helping to plan the evangelistic events for the November campaign.