Moving day and More

Yesterday afternoon we moved from our room with the family of 14 to a room at the school.  All in all, it's a trade up for us.  Our room is probably twice the size, has a desk, two tables, a mini-fridge, a TV and faces the garden of the school not a street.  Right now there are two couples and two single girls in rooms here; there is also a family staying in the small apartment on the grounds.  Paul, Sheila and their kids, Bella, Gabriel and Isaiah are missionaries who will be serving in Honduras.    

The cost is about the same, except that not as many meals are included in the price.  Therefore, we are heading to the grocery store this morning to pick up somethings.  The kitchen here is large and well-equipped, so everyone can share the space without too much trouble.  Actually, we are looking forward to eating a bit "lighter" and a big bowl of popcorn will really hit the spot tonight.

Since we didn't have time to shop yesterday, we visited a pizza place that my teacher recommended, and it was delicious.  Stephen also learned that one of the restaurants in town had a piano so after we ate, we stopped by Cafe Flor to check it out.  The owner, Jose is from El Salvador; but he and his wife have been living in Antigua for 10 years.  On Friday nights, he plays the piano and she sings.  We had dessert there (which was fantastic) and listened to 3-4 of their songs.  They were so friendly, even inviting us to stay in their extra apartment if we come back to Antigua for a visit.

One of Stephen's teachers (Syria) and both of mine (Corina and Aracely) are Catholics.  Nancy, Stephen's second teacher is a Christian.  Syria told Stephen that she doesn't believe in eternal security.  Corina's mother died a week ago Friday and nine days later it is traditional to have a special mass and celebration of the individual's life.  She along with her sisters and friends are making 1200 tamales (they were supposed to get started at 3 am this morning) for the people who will be coming to her home after the mass. The family has been frustrated with their local priest who has offered very little support and comfort.  My other teacher, Aracely, is a single mom with a 15-year old boy and 10-year old twins; her financial situation is difficult.  Work at the school is good, but not as secure/regular as she needs. 

Please pray that we for us as we continue to share our testimonies with them as we "practice our Spanish."  Please pray that their hearts will be open to the truth of God's word.  In addition to them, pray for us to have an opportunity to share with the other who are living here.  Daniel and Cassandra are an unmarried couple here from Australia; Jane is a Korean-American from the states and Emma, who just arrived yesterday, is a 30-year old from Holland.  Lot's of diversity here!

Time to sign off and get going.  We are heading to Guatemala City for church tomorrow and looking forward to a day of worship with the Vida Nueva family!  

Pictures 1, 2 and 3 are views from our room in the school; 4 is from the pizza place last night.

June 8, 2012

Two years ago today we boarded a plane for El Salvador . . . . . what a grand adventure it has been.  Some of the things that have happened we expected, but many, many of the others were unexpected.  Nevertheless, the adventure continues . . . . this summer in Guatemala.  God has a way of working out all of the details if we'll just let him.

Looking forward to many more anniversaries here in Central America.

Bit of a rough day

Had a bit of a rough day--but we're trying to be flexible. Made it to Antigua--thanks to Wendy (from our church in Guatemala City) for letting us follow her. Once we got to Antigua, there was a huge procession of some type and the town was one big log jam--we literally sat in the same spot for more than 30 minutes. I finally got out and walked to the school to check in while Stephen and Wendy sat in their cars waiting. Unfortunately, the director of the school didn't know we were arriving today--somehow they still showed an arrival date of June 10. So, no family ready to receive us today and no teachers scheduled to start with us tomorrow. Plan B--we're staying in one of the school rooms tonight and will move in with a family tomorrow. Teachers have been contacted and are going to be here in the morning. God is in control!

Safely in Guatemala

We had no problems on the road today and the lines at the borders were even short than we expected.  The weather for the drive was sunny and clear, even though we prepared for the possibility of rain.  Stephen and William divided the driving and we arrived safely at the Biltmore Express Hotel at 12:30.  About 15 minutes after we parked the truck in the parking garage, it started raining.  It's so great that God's timing is perfect!

We enjoyed lunch at Mexico Linda, one of our favorites close to the hotel.  Although the banks closed at noon, we were able to change some of our dollars for quetzales at the hotel.  We walked to the mall down the street and bought new chips for phones.

The King Quality bus, William's ride home, arrived promptly at 3:00 p.m.  So he is now almost 3 hours in to his 4 1/2 hour trip back to El Salvador.  Buen viaje, amigo!  Muchas gracias por su ayuda!

We're off to Guatemala

We are driving to Guatemala this morning; thankfully, William Flores is going with us so we don't have to negotiate the trip and the border alone.  He will be taking the bus back to El Salvador this afternoon--that's real friendship because a 6-hour bus ride is not anyone's idea of a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

We are going to spend 8 weeks taking Spanish classes at Centro Linguistico International in Antigua.  We will be living with a Guatemalan family and taking classes 6 hours per day.  We will also be working with Pastors Nelson and Javier at Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva in Guatemala City.  

Please pray for:

     Our focus and mental capacity to handle classes and conquer the language

     Opportunity to share the gospel with our Guatemalan family and other students

     Opportunity to bless the pastors and church family at Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva, Guatemala City

     Ministry here in El Salvador, especially for Jeff, Paula and Emily as they continue the work without our help

 

Last day of school

Today is "our" last day to teach this year.  The kids have another week or so, but we're off!  To celebrate, we made homemade ice cream after lunch.  If you're wondering, a 6-quart White Mountain ice cream freezer does make enough for 50 kids, 5 teachers and a few other adults.

Some of the kids helped with the cranking even though they didn't know what to expect.  I'm guessing that this is going to have to be a last day of school tradition.

Stephen and I finished today because we are going to Guatemala on Saturday morning.  We'll be studying Spanish in Antigua for 8 weeks.  We're praying that this will be our final "formal" course in Spanish.

Still happy

One of the bad (good) things about living in San Salvador is that we don't have very many of our old pictures with us.  So, try as I might, I couldn't find a 38-year old wedding picture to post!  I know there may be some of you out there who remember that day.

As I say repeat every year, "Where has the time gone?"  Looking back over almost 4 decades, it's easy to see the many blessings of the past 38 years, including, but not limited to (that's attorney speak in honor of Stephen) Daniel, Shannon, Maleia, Josiah and Jonathan; our families, my Dad, brother and sister and Stephen's parents, brothers and sister; great friends in the states (Steve and Terisa, Jim and Debby and too many others to mention), great friends all over Central America (Jeff and Paula, William and Gilma, Koky and Ena and too many others to mention); a supportive pastors and a great church family at Abundant Life Baptist Church and, most of all, a faithful God.  Only He could have known that our 38th wedding anniversary would find us serving Him in El Salvador.

School's Almost Out

We have 5 days of school left--we finish on Thursday, May 31.  We are taking our ice cream freezer next Thursday and the 4th graders are going to help us crank vanilla ice cream.  We're hoping that the 6-quart freezer will make enough for all 50 of our students to have a taste.  Well, of course, we want to give the teacher's some, as well.  It should be lots of fun and a great way to end "our" school year (the kids have to go another 2 weeks) and start "our" summer vacation.

Residency Process--Year 2

Our residency process for year two is underway.  We brought back our 2012-13 support letter from Abundant Life when we were there in April.  Last week the government-approved translator finished his work.  This week Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva is working on their part of the paperwork--it should be ready tomorrow afternoon.

Thursday all of my school kids at New Life Christian School have a field trip so I don't have classes.  Instead of making the trip with them, we've decided to take our church paperwork to the attorney/notary for his signature and stamp.  Once we have that, we will take everything we have to the Immigration Office.  If things go perfectly, we could be done submitting the paperwork Thursday.  If not, we can make the necessary changes and return to the office on Friday.

Please be in prayer for this process . . . . our cards expire June 29, but we will be leaving for Guatemala in early June (more about this in another post) and it would be idea if we had our new cards before we left.  If not, we will have to return to El Salvador before the end of June to pick them up.

Colors of the Stage

Music was all around us this weekend!  Friday night we had the opportunity to hear the Youth Orchestra of Central America in concert!  There were more than 100 very talented youth from Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic and El Salvador (including Ena and Koky's son, Rafa.)  The music was amazing!

Then, Saturday night we went with William and Gilma to see Jesus Adrian Romero, our favorite Christian Hispanic songwriter/singer, in concert at one of the football stadiums.  I'm guessing we were one of the few, if not the only, gringos among the crowd of  10,000+.  We sing some of his songs at church and it was great to hear them live with the crowd singing along.  He had sung for about an hour when it started to sprinkle.  Unfortunately, the wind and rain moved in and they had to stop the concert early.  Even so, we had a great time with great friends!

Growing the church

There were 15 people here last week--4 from Abundant Life in Lee's Summit, MO, 3 from Louisiana, 1 from Fresno, California, and 7 from Valley Baptist Church in Bakersfield, California.  Together they made up our "mission team" for the week.

This week we were focused on growing the church in Lourdes.  On Saturday and Sunday we set up the inflatables in private neighborhoods and hosted a coffee/pastry reception for the neighbors.  The event included a puppet show and a gospel presentation.  On Monday and Tuesday evening we returned to the same neighborhood and hosted a Mother's Day event and dinner, featuring pupusas for the whole neighborhood.  Once again, we had the inflatables up for the kids, the youth performed their drama and a team member shared the gospel presentation.  Several lucky mother's received early Mother's Day gifts from the church.  Everyone who made a profession of faith or who expressed an interest in coming to the church in Lourdes was invited to a special Mother's Day breakfast being held Sunday morning.  Jeff, Pastor Steve and Koky were thrilled with the turnout--we served more than 300 meals each night.

Monday through Wednesday during the morning, the team visited schools and shared the sexual purity lesson with high school students.  It is amazing to see the Holy Spirit moving among the students as many of them commited their lives to Christ.

Wednesday evening and Thursday morning and evening, we worked to help church plants in Aguilares and Apopa.

 Yes, sometimes Stephen does run the inflatable!

 Kids in Lourdes watching the puppet show.

 Donna and the girls from one of her classes.

 I'm not making pupusas, but I'm waiting to help serve them.

Jim, Donna and Kevin sharing during the door-to-door time before the movie and gospel presentation.

Koinonia--Sunday, April 29

On Sunday all three locations of Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva met together at the Crown Plaza Hotel.  This "Koinonia" service happens every 3-4 months.  The worship music was awesome--I have really come to appreciate the Spanish praise and worship songs.  In fact, when we were at ALBC last week, the music just didn't sound like "home" to me.

Pastor Steve Kern and Pastor Julio Contreras shared the vision for the church for the next three years.  The vision has two parts.  First, there is physical expansion which includes updating the sound, lights, and seating at the main church facility in Miravalle and a completely remodeling the facilities, including a new sanctuary, at the church site in Lourdes.  The second part relates to spiritual expansion or spiritual growth among the members of the church.  This process of growth is known by three S's or S3 (seguidor, siervo, sacrifcio) for short.  The concept is captured in this beautiful butterfly logo:  

The meaning is clear in English, even if the words don't all start with the same letter:  The Process of Transformation at New Life Baptist Church:  Follow, Serve and Sacrifice which encourages all believers to continue growing and maturing in their walk with the Lord.

I'm so thankful that we are able to sit under Pastors Steve Kern and Julio Contreras who, week after week, share the truth of God's word from the pulpit here in El Salvador.  We are blessed!

Family Time

We traveled to Lee's Summit, MO, in April to meet up with our son, Daniel, daughter-in-law, Shannon, and two grandkids, Maleia and Josiah.  Once again our dear friend, Sam Hizer, shared his van with us.  He picked all six of us up at the airport!  We stayed at the Abundant Life Baptist Church mission home and what a blessing it was!  We kept a low profile, staying at home most of the time (except for a couple of doctor/dentist appointments.)  In typical Kansas City fashion, the weather varied from cold, in our opinion, to hot, in Daniel and Shannon's opinion.  One day we had the heat on in the house and another day the air conditioning.

Staying together in the missions house gave people the opportunity to come to us and minimized the need for getting the kids in the car multiple times per day.  On Saturday, we took Maleia and Josiah to the Kite Festival at Longview College, where, unfortunately, there was so little wind the big kites could not get off the ground.  Our good friends, Jim and Debby, their son, Garrett, and granddaughter, Camdyn met us there.  The kite festival was just the beginning of a great day--hurray, we were able to go to Gates for lunch.  I know there are many barbeque opinions, but for our family, a beef sandwich just doesn't get any better than the one at Gates.  I think Daniel and Shannon bought 3 bottles of sauce to take back to California.  By afternoon we were back at home and waiting for Stephen's three brothers to arrive.  The four Parris boys played a quick round of golf at the Longview Executive course.  It was great to have everyone for dinner at the house; a special thanks to Shannon, Denise, Mandi and Tanya for helping with the Lasagntons!

Sunday we worshipped in the 8:00 a.m. service at ALBC and then visited and briefly shared in our Community Group (Sunday School class) at 9:30.  It is always fun to see new faces and connect, if even for just a few minutes, with friends at our home church.  We appreciate everything ALBC does to support us and the ministry here.  We couldn't be here if not for their faithful prayer and financial support.

We caught up with my family at lunch on Sunday afternoon.  I'm telling you that the 14 of us made quite a few trips to through the Chinese buffet at Legends of Asia.

We had hoped Stephen's parents might be able to make it to Lee's Summit, but his mom's health restricts her ability to travel.  So, instead, Stephen, along with his brother, David, traveled to West Plains on Sunday afternoon to visit his mom and dad.

There was a quick trip to the plaza and another one to Town Center, but otherwise, we just hung out with the kids and grandkids.  Okay, we did make it to Custard's Last Stand a couple of times!  Except for the two places mentioned above, we didn't eat at any of our favorite restaurants this time--we didn't even have pizza.  We did, however, eat two meals, in the Guenther kitchen!  Just can't beat Terisa's pot roast, potatoes with all the trimmings for the first and then hamburgers, brauts and dogs on the grill for the second.

I've attached a couple of pictures--enjoy!

 Four Parris brothers, Mark, David, Stephen and Michael

My family--me, my dad, my sister, Kristi, and my brother, Ron.

 Our chunky and very happy grandson, Josiah!

Maleia and Josiah hang out in the front yard with grandpa.

Hilo, Aguja y Biblia--Two Classes Today

I started the day with Hilo, Aguja y Biblia (HAB) in San Salvador. There were 11 women in class today. We made a bag to hold plastic grocery bags or other things. Link to the directions is here:http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2009/01/grocery-bag-holder.html (we made ours from one piece of fabric to save time.) One of the women is going to use hers for socks. I thought that was a great idea; the white socks that her daughter wears with her school uniform are all the same. Put them in the bag after they're washed and then your child can pull out a pair to put on every day. (You may be saying to yourself, this is was a drawer is for, but understand that most of the bedrooms in the homes here are only big enough for a bed--there's usually very little other furniture. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera this morning so I didn't get any pictures.

In the afternoon, Stephen needed the truck to transport an inflatable to a church event he and Jeff were helping with. So, Ena stopped by and we loaded all the stuff in her car. Today was the first Hilo, Aguja y Biblia class at Lourdes so we were excited to see how many women were going to join us. We decided to make an oven mitt (something we did a couple of weeks ago in San Salvador.) I brought fabric (thanks many of my friends in the states for donating fabric) and batting. I'm sorry to say that I underestimated the amount of batting we would need--we ran out right before the last two ladies arrived. All together there were 18 of us--an amazing turnout for our first class. They seem to have a great time selecting their fabric, cutting, pinning, sewing . . . . it's such a blessing to work with them. As usual, we worked for an hour and a half and then started the Bible study. Today Ena shared Psalm 133 with them. Although only 3 verses long, the theme of dwelling in harmony is so relevant in women's ministry. It was a great place to start.

Please pray for this ministry . . . that the women will be able to invite unchurched friends, that lasting friendships will be forged and that Ena and I will be Godly examples for the women participating in this ministry.

Pictures below. If you donated fabric, you just might see it in one of the photos.

Menu Planning

We'll be in Kansas City this coming Wednesday! YEA! We're going to stay in the Abundant Life Baptist Church mission house and Daniel, Shannon, Maleia and Josiah will be joining us there. It will be like having a home again!

I'm in the process planning the menu for the week. It seems that most of the side dishes on the menu are vegetables that we can't get here in El Salvador, for example: asparagus, lima beans (yes, I'm craving them), broccoli slaw, corn on the cob (sweet and tender), edamame, just to name a few. As for the entrees--can't wait to have some good beef since the only beef I buy here is hamburger.

Although you might find it surprising, I'm not planning to make any desserts. I think I'll just let Custard's Last Stand, Orange Leaf and Hy-Vee's ice cream freezer take care of dessert.