Continuing Residency Saga

We turned in our permanent two-year residency papers at the beginning of June and were given a 6-month temporary card.  We were told to wait three months and then call to see what progress had been made.  I checked online last week and it still showed that our paperwork was still in the resolution phase.  We weren't concerned as, technically, the 3-month period isn't over yet.

Then, Monday we got a call from the church letting us know that the immigration office called them.  Don't know why they didn't call us, but through the church we found out we had an 8:00 a.m. appointment for our interviews at the immigration office downtown.  We called around to find someone who could go with us as we had never been to this location, not to mention the traffic at that time of the morning and the usual problem with parking.  

David Aguilar (our good friend and campus pastor) offered to go with us so we picked him up at 7:15 and he directed us to the place.  He even parked and waited for us at the truck.  We waited only 5-10 minutes before the interview process started--me first and then Stephen second.  The questions focused on our ministry (what activities do we do) and our money (where does it come from and how much is it.)  She took notes of everything we said.  When she was done, she told us that what remains to be done is a home visit and an interview with the pastor of our church.  Oh, she also gave us a list of additional documentation that we need to provide:

• Three personal reference letters
• Copy of our the rental contract for our apartment
• Copy of a water bill and electricity bill
• List of the Americans in our church  

The interview at our home is scheduled for Friday morning; we don't know what they want to see or what they will ask while they are here.  We do have all of the documentation ready to give her during the visit.  When she finishes with us, she will go to the church to talk to Pastor Julio.  

We aren't sure what happens after this step in the process, but are hoping that final approval of our residency is not far away.  Please pray that everything goes smoothly and that we will soon have our permanent residency cards in hand.

Costa Rica Trip--Wrap Up

If the trip ended almost two weeks ago, it's definitely time to finish up the blog entries.  

During the week, we had the opportunity to share the "Forgiveness" lesson in two high schools.The lesson has several great illustrations, including the use of a backpack and three or four large rocks.  Adding rocks to the backpack one of the students is wearing illustrates what lack of forgiveness feels like over time.  The burden can manifest itself as bitterness or pride and it gets progressively heavier as we refuse to ask for forgiveness or forgive others.  When we are forgiven or offer forgiveness the load we've been carrying disappears.  This is a very visual illustration for the kids and before the lesson is over there are almost always some students who are crying.  The most exciting result is that they begin to understand that Jesus offers them forgiveness, no matter what they have done up to this point in their life.  The come to understand that all they need to do is admit their sins, believe Jesus died and rose from the dead and confess their sins and ask forgiveness.  He is faithful to forgive them.  Praise the Lord, there were 150 professions of faith in the schools in Costa Rica.

   

Reality Check

As many of you know, El Salvador is a violent country, in fact, per capita it is the most violent country in the world.  The statistics can really scare a person, but we don't dwell on them because this is the place that God has called us to work.  Most of the violence is a result of rival gangs who juggle for more territory and punish outsiders who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

We live in a safe part of the city and in a very safe apartment building.  We have a 24-hour security guard/doorman who checks ID of everyone who enters the parking lot.  In addition, there is a second on-site employee who takes care of maintenance and cleaning.  Juan and Gerardo alternate 24-hour shifts with Tulio and Jose so the building is always staffed.  Gerardo is about 25 and is Tulio's son-in-law.  On Monday, Gerardo was not working so he was at home in a small city outside of San Salvador.  We don't know all of the details, but evidently he and his wife were walking to their house when he realized he needed to go back to one of the little shops.  He told her to go on home, and he returned to town.   When he didn't come back home after 30 minutes, his wife tried to call him, but got no answer.  He hasn't been seen since Monday, and they believe, based upon gang activity in that town, that he was probably killed.  They don't know if his body will be found.

Please pray for his wife (I don't know her name), his parents and his in-laws.  If the guards don't work they don't get paid, so Tulio was at work on Friday.  Unfortunately, situations like this are repeated daily in this country; please pray for El Salvador--Jesus is the only solution to the problem as only He can change hearts, heal hurts and bring about true peace.

Costa Rica Campaign--Tuesday

After devotions on Tuesday morning we went downtown San Jose to shop for souvenir and share the gospel on the street.  Everyone found a place to eat lunch on their own, meeting back at 1:30 so we could rest a bit before going out for the evening campaign.

 

We left the hotel at 4:00 and arrived at the neighborhood for the family festival about 5:00 a.m.  Although the traffic is not as bad as Colombia or Guatemala, it's still not easy to get across town.  The team visited homes, invited the adults and children to the family festival and shared the gospel with as everyone who would listen.  The festival was well-attended and there were 25+ decisions for the evening.

Costa Rica Campaign--Monday

We spent Saturday and Sunday with the team in Guatemala and then flew to Costa Rica early Monday morning.  We arrived about 10:30 and Pastor Rodolfo was there to pick us up and take us to the hotel.  A walk to Subway for lunch was just what we needed; after which, we met with Pastor Steve to share info on the Guatemala trip and learn what had been happening in Costa Rica.  He flew to Nicaragua about 3:30 p.m., but we were our paths crossed if even for a short time.

The team in Costa Rica is one person larger than Guatemala--47.  They came from Murrels Inlet Baptist Church, Murrels Inlet, South Carolina; First Baptist Church, Foley, Alabama; Ridge Avenue Baptist Church, West Monroe, Louisiana and Woodland Park Baptist Church, Hammond, Louisiana.  As always there were both familiar faces and new faces--just the way we like it.

Last year and again this year we spent August 1 handing out tracts and praying for all of the people who were making the journey to the national cathedral in Cartago, Costa Rica.  Here's a recap of what this pilgrmage, called the Romeria, is all about:  

In August the Basilica of our Lady of the Angeles is the object of extensive pilgrimage and visitation by about 2.5 million believers throughout Costa Rica and other surrounding countries, many of whom join in the celebrated 22-kilometer walk to the basilica during the Romería. Though many people start the pilgrimage from locations all over Costa Rica, some, as a demonstration of their piety, choose to crawl the 22 kilometers on their hands and knees.  (Click here to read more about it.)

We started by forming small groups and praying together and then for thirty mintues we walked along with the group and passed out a tract called "The Words of Mary,"  after which we walked against the flow (still passing out tracts) until we returned to the park.  Because we want to be sensitive to the event, we only stop and share the gospel with people who are not participating in the walk.  

August Campaign--Guatemala

We rode the church bus to Guatemala on Saturday, July 30, with the rest of the team from Vida Nueva, San Salvador.  The trip was uneventful--just the way we like it.  We arrived with about a half hour to spare before the scheduled evening event.  

Forty-six people from four different churches (First Baptist, Ferguson, MO; First Baptist, Gulf Shores, AL and Bell Shoals Baptist, Brandon, FL) came to Guatemala to help us share the gospel and help our Guatemala church.  

Instead of a regular family festival, after a short meeting to assign translators, the team went out on the streets around the hotel to share one-on-one.  It was awesome to see the group jump right in and share with the people on the street.

There was a 5K road race near the hotel on Sunday morning, so after orientation, the group picked up some bottled water to pass out and headed over to the park.  Although the church had a regular church service, it was the first time I can remember not joining them for worship.  There were hundreds of people in the race so there were many opportunities to share with the runners and their families and friends who came to watch.  Even when the race finished, this area of the city is full of families who spend their Sunday running, walking and visiting.  

  
After a quick lunch break and a short rest, we all returned to the park for the afternoon.  The crowds seemed even larger in the afternoon.

Triple Trip Preparations

We've been hard at work helping Guillermo prepare for the triple trip; as you can imagine, it takes a lot of preparing to be able to send 100+ Salvadorans to join up with 120 North Americans in three different countries at the same time. Here is a list of some of the things we've been helping with:

• Verifying those who will be going on each trip and what their role will be, i.e. translator, evangelism, logistics.
• Verifying paperwork for all minors (under 18) who will be traveling, which requires legal documentation from each parent authorizing them to travel out of the country with the church.  All of these documents have to be notarized and multiple copies made.
• Purchasing, assembling and documenting contents of the first aid kit for each country. First step on Monday was to buy $80 of various types of medicine--it's definitely a blessing to be able to buy things here without a prescription.  For example, we bought 9 antibiotic regimes (10 tablets each) so each kit would have three.  We also added lots of over-the counter medicines like Alka-Seltzer, Sudafed, cortisone cream, gauze, alcohol, adhesive tape, cough drops and much more, all the while hoping that no one needs any of these items.   
• Assembling everything that needs to go to each country, Bibles, tracts, equipment, etc.
• Ordering and organizing the MetroAmerica 0-20 t-shirts which we will be selling to the North Americans in each location
• Ordering and organizing the MetroAmerica 0-20 mission trip t-shirts which are gifts for everyone from the church who travels with us
• Making up packets for each country which contain the "Jesus drawing" (see below for pictures) for each night of the campaign (total of 20 presentations across the 3 countries.) 
• Attending and presenting at three training sessions (one for each country.) The Nicaragua training was last night, Guatemala tonight and Costa Rica tomorrow night.
• Lists, lists and more lists

Of course, there's also our regular personal preparations including paying all of our bills ahead of time.  This time we are going to go to both Guatemala and Costa Rica, so that has added to our packing issues.  

Here are a few pictures of last night's training for the team going to Nicaragua.  

Please pray for everyone involved in the trip and for the people who will hear the gospel, some for the very first time, in each country.  Pray safe travels and good health for our team and the teams from the states.      

Farmer's Daughter?

When I was nine-years old, we moved from town (Jefferson City, Missouri) to a 60+ acre farm out in the "country."  It was quite a shock to me, and I can remember not being very happy about it.  My dad still worked for the newspaper in town, so I wasn't a "real" farmer's daughter.  

When looking back I can see the move provided an opportunity to learn some life lessons I would have otherwise missed.  Many of those life lessons were centered around food!  We had an acre-size garden with every imaginable vegetable, fruit trees (cherry, pear, peach), chickens (from time-to-time), at least one milk cow and herds of "beef" cattle.  In addition, my mom was always finding other local "farms" where she could pick or buy the other fruits we didn't grow, i.e. strawberries, blackberries, grapes, etc.

Although I didn't love the labor of picking fruits or vegetables, processing them and then canning or freezing them, I certainly loved the end product--cherry preserves, blackberry jelly, strawberry jam and more.  

We didn't always have a milk cow, but when we did, my favorite thing to do was to churn butter.  Just when you were about to give up thinking the liquid was never going to come to anything, a few more turns of the churn and you'd hear a clunking sound as the butter came together.  A few minutes later and you could be spreading said butter on a piece of bread, and if it was homemade bread, that was even better!   

Now, before you think I've been making butter here in San Salvador, let me tell you that I have not.  I have, however, been making my own Greek yogurt, which is pretty close to butter, right?  You might wonder why am I making my own Greek yogurt, so here are the reasons, in no particular order:  

• It's easy--I make it in the crockpot.  I use this recipe:  Easy Greek Yogurt
• It's good--thick and rich, even making it with 2% milk
• It's less expensive than buying it--Greek yogurt is quite expensive here in ES.  For the cost of a gallon of milk, I can make 64 ounces of yogurt which breaks down to about $2.50 per 32 ounces of yogurt.  (Yes, milk is $5 per gallon here.)
• It's low-fat and sugar free--regular yogurt is popular here, but almost all of it is full-fat, sweet and fruity.  I can (usually) find plain Greek yogurt at PriceSmart (our Costco), but trips to PriceSmart are a once-a-month, if not less, event.  I use a lot of Greek yogurt in recipes, so I needed a more stable supply.

The process is easy, but not quick--taking about 14-15 hours in total.  There's lots of waiting time, but I do need to be around at all of the critical moments, so it takes some planning.  Here's a picture of the final step which is straining the yogurt to remove most of the liquid.  You can skip this step, saving 2-3 hours and have regular yogurt, instead of extra-thick Greek yogurt.  

  I'm glad I still have a bit of the "farmer's daughter" in me!  It's come in quite handy living here.  

Lazy Days

There were supposed to be two July campaigns this summer, but both of them were canceled due to worries about the Zika virus.  As a result, we've had a lazy July with time to relax and catch-up on things.  We're not used to the time off!  Of course our regular activities have continued (band practice, Bible study, seminary class).

This week we will start preparing for the triple trip which is coming in less than two weeks.  Good News in Action will be hosting three trips in three different countries at the same time.  A team of 45 is coming to Guatemala, a team of 46 is coming to Costa Rica and there will be 24 in Nicaragua.  All of this means that Vida Nueva will be sending many, many translators and other support persons to each of the three countries.  

Stephen and I are going to spend the first two days in Guatemala.  We'll be riding the Vida Nueva bus over.  On Monday, we will fly to Costa Rica to spend the remainder of the week.  Pastor Steve and Pam are starting their trip in Costa Rica, which allows us to start in Guatemala. This will be the first time we've visited two countries, but a team from First Baptist, Ferguson, MO, is coming to Guatemala and we want to be there to welcome them.  Pastor Steve and Pam will fly out of Costa Rica on Monday and we will fly in.

Please pray for the teams who are coming from the states, our teams as they prepare for the trip and each local church.  

Birthday Lunch

We were able to get away to the mountain, actually the side of the volcano, for lunch at La Pampa last Friday.  The restaurant is very nice, the views are amazing, the food was excellent and the company even better, even if he didn't want his picture taken.

Bogota Campaign, Part 4

Our third trip to Bogota was about three weeks ago, and we were busy from morning to night.  However, since our flight was not until late Saturday night, we had time to see some of the sights on Saturday.  Hayden, Stephen and I took a taxi from the hotel to Bayron and Teresa's apartment on Saturday morning.  From the apartment we took the bus to Usaquen, a residential/commerical area in the northern part of the city.  There are always street musicians, street artists, artisans peddling their wares and many, many excellent restaurants.  We had visited Usaquen in January, 2015, and were excited to have the opportunity to return.

We had lunch at a nice Mexican restaurant and then coffee and dessert at one of the many cafés in the area.  It was just starting to rain when we finished dessert, so we made a run for the bus stop to return to Bayron and Teresa's place.  It was mid-afternoon when we got back to the hotel.

All week we talked about returning to the senior citizens home to visit our two friends, but just couldn't fit it in.  Here's a bit of the history of why we wanted to return.  

The first campaign in Bogota was in January, 2015; we had the privilege to be there with a team from Valley Baptist, as well as a few others.  Besides sharing along the main street outside the hotel, the team also had the opportunity to visit a senior citizen's home which was walking distance from the hotel.  You can read more about that first visit here:  Senior Citizen Home.  It was during that trip that we first met and visited with Orlando Guerrero and Marta Cano.  

 

 We returned to Bogota for another campaign in December, 2015.  Although there wasn't a team visit to the home, Stephen and I walked over to see our friends.  We found Orlando walking in the garden and had a great time reconnecting with him.  Unfortunately, Marta was at a doctor's appointment so we didn't get to see her.

After we returned to the hotel, we realized we would have time to walk over to the home, visit and still be back in plenty of time to get to the airport.  As usual, we stopped at the gate to sign in, but when we said we were there to visit Orlando, we knew something was wrong.  The security person told us that, unfortunately, he had passed away during the past week.  We were so, so sad that we hadn't made it over to visit earlier in the week.  However, we talked with one of the nurses who said he was hospitalized the second week of July and died of respiratory failure on July 15, two days before we flew to Bogota. 

Marta was there and we had time to visit with her.  She was as feisty as before, and very glad to see us.  We told her about trying to visit in June, but she said no one told her we stopped by to see her.  This time, she let me pick a pair of earrings (she was selling them to make some extra money) to take with me.  We promised her we would be back to see her the next time we are in Bogota.  

We know time isn't guaranteed to anyone, not at age 86 or at age 8.  Still, we were surprised that Orlando wasn't there.  It was a clear reminder of how important it is to share the gospel so that people have an opportunity to have a personal relationship with Jesus.