December 14th

Today was our last day doing outreaches. We first went back to a church that we had visited earlier in the trip and did a seminar type thing where we taught the locals a drama and how to be clowns, and make balloons. It was fun. Then we went to lunch at the Metro Center, one of the largest malls in El Salvador, and the largest mall that I’ve ever been in. You could get lost really easily in there. After lunch we went back to the first place we had done an outreach, back on that first Sunday in San Salvador, in the parking lot. We set up chairs and a small sound system, and just started an outreach. It went so well. Part of the local group that practiced that morning did the drama and it went SO well, it was great to see that our impact wouldn’t end tomorrow, but would keep going with the dramas. The clowns did their drama and we did music and a testimony. Then Chris gave a message and we started balloons and candy for the kids. After a bit of time playing and spending time with everyone, the pastor in that area asked us to sit down in the chairs because they had a surprise for us. So we all sat down, and the men took some of our equipment for props and turned on a song. They had written a drama for us. They first came in lugging the guitar, the bongo, and a suitcase that we used for ministry supplies. They stopped as if they had arrived to San Salvador and put the stuff down and started pretending to take pictures; it was so funny because we did exactly that. Off to the side there were a couple boys who were sitting next to each other and they started fighting so the three men went over to them and did a very good interpretation of sharing the gospel with these two boys. They both prayed and then reached out to other people in the audience. It was adorable. And then at the end of the skit, the song about how they thanked God for us coming to them and sharing with them the good news. There were very few dry eyes among our group. We boarded the bus soon after that and went to what we thought was home…only to stop at a gas station and someone telling us to get off the bus. We then followed Tanto and ended up in front of this nice restaurant. It was so awesome. The food was really good and everyone was excited to have really good food. We then did this little survey of who was the best soccer player in the girls and of the guys and other things. It was fun. After all the numbers were tallied, they announced them to us, and gave out prizes. The gifts were hilarious. We had a Papusa man and a Papusa woman and they got these cool gifts for getting that category. Like, Gabby, who we voted the best clown, we gave her this funny mask that everyone laughed out loud at. It was just so much fun. We also got to go out for ice cream. We then took Eric, Mike, Kristin, and Tanto home. As we dropped them off, I was sitting next to Fermin, and he happened to look down at his temperature gauge to see that the bus was starting to overheat. I could tell he was concerned and I just reassured him and told him to just get down the hill and to the nearest gas station. The first gas station we stopped at had no water, so we moved on to the next one. This next one had water and a bunch of people sitting with their cars. I ran inside for a moment and came out to the whole group outside the bus pulling out the CD player. They had decided to totally do another outreach right there in the middle of the gas station and they had a pre-made audience too. It was awesome! Rachel and Chris did the best job ever on their dance and then we had the Fix You drama team do the drama and it went so well. I was watching on the outskirts and I could totally tell we had the most captivated audience from the whole time we had been in San Salvador. And then Jared got up with one of our translators, Ana, and totally busted out his testimony with a gospel message. He did so well, and I know that it touched people’s hearts, I could just tell in the spirit that it was heard and accepted even if they didn’t walk up to us. We finally left that gas station and Fermin called Greg up to the front. Fermin proceeded to tell Greg that his bus had never overheated in the whole time that he’s driven and owned the bus and that he hadn’t used a bunch of water and the temperature went down almost immediately and was fine on the rest of the drive. It was a definite “oh snap!” moment. It was awesome! And I could tell that it had impacted Fermin. We have left our imprint on Fermin’s heart and he is coming to HSE next semester Lord willing. All of us are so excited for him to come, and it sounds like we’re gonna have a grand ol’ party when he gets here. It’s so hard thinking about the fact that we leave tomorrow, even though I’m excited to go home, I’m going to miss all the people I’ve met here and the friends I’ve made in Eric, Mike, Kristin, and Tanto, Fermin, Ana, Sarah, and countless others who impacted the influence of our group in San Salvador.

December 13th

Today we split up into two groups. We had one group that went back to the church from the previous night to paint and the second group went to Santa Ana to do a couple outreaches. We painted the whole sanctuary inside and out, with three different colors. As Dan puts it, it was like 80-90 hours of work that we completed in about 6 hours I believe. It’s crazy. And there was only 12 of us doing the work, and it only started with like 4 people working because we didn’t have enough supplies to have everyone painting, so Melissa, Erik, one of the men from the church, and I went to get paint supplies. When we got back we had to water down the paint so that the paint would be able to be stretched and it worked so well. Everyone had a blast painting and laughing. The second group went to do a couple outreaches in Santa Ana. The group was told one thing after another and nothing went as planned. They ended up visiting this poor community that was built in a trash dump area. It was so sad. Gabby said that at one house it was like piles of bags of stuff, just like a pack rat, while the house next to it, even though it seemed buried in trash, the house had order and a sense of cleanliness to it. That whole group was so impacted by the outreaches and the people they saw and talked to. When we had all gotten back, we cooked dinner and blew a fuse of some sort, so we had like no electricity. It was sad, but we all made the best of it, and many of our group didn’t get to shower because the water pump is the reason the fuse box was getting so hot. Thank God that Travis was an electrician even if he couldn’t tell us exactly what was wrong because he didn’t have the tools; he gave the best advice he could about the situation. Praise God that our house didn’t burn down and that Suzette smelled the melting plastic and the sparks that came from the fuse box. God is truly good.

December 12th

Today we got to spend time getting ready for the afternoon outreach/VBS (Vacation Bible School) that we were going to have. We had to create a children’s friendly program with crafts. It was so much fun. We created a Christmas Drama with lines and we had a bunch of awesome crafts that Kristin pulled out. We got to the church around 3pm and went to work. We put on an outreach sort of program for the first hour. It went so well. We did three skits/dramas. And each went well. We also did a story and Whit did a Jonah and the whale story with a balloon. It was cool. And the kids really enjoyed it. For the second hour, we had crafts and balloons and face painting going on. There were about 60 kids (we were planning for 90, so the 60 was nice because we over prepared and so we had enough for the kids to do multiple things. When we finally wrapped it all up, we came back to the house and had devos. Since we were going to Fermin’s Church for dinner we decided to have devos before we left and it was nice to have devos early instead of late. The devo was on relying on God’s strength to get through the last few days. It was a really good devo. Then we went to Hephzibah church (Fermin’s Church) and had the best papusas EVER! It was so much fun.

December 11th

Today was different from most of our days. We got up and ate breakfast and did devos. We then left to do an evangelical outreach where our team went out and just talked to people about God. We prayed right before we left about this particular outreach and prayed for some specific requests for the time. One of those requests was that we would get to talk to some people who spoke English. I asked Breanna to tell me a bit of what happened. When she got there, the first guy she talked to was a Christian. He helped her learn how to read the Spanish in the little green book. As she was walking around, she handed out a flyer to another man, and he happened to be a pastor. He listened and wanted to get hooked up with the Festival of Life and so, Erik, on the Festival of life team, gave him their number. During this whole time she was giving out flyers. One person she gave a flyer to asked her about something on the flyer. The flyer said that Christianity isn’t about a religion but a relationship and he was really curious as to what that meant. So, they started talking and he was really interested in Christianity. So, Breanna hooked him up with Fermin’s church and she is hoping that he will go and get more involved in the church. She also got to talk to an older gentleman and he was a Christian, and he had his only flyers too. He was 84 years old and became a Christian when he was 20. He told Breanna that he knew that Christ was going to come very soon and that we needed to be prepared. She also got to pray for him. The last person she talked to, Hanna and a couple others got to talk to him. He was from L.A and he was very bitter towards Christians and the church. He was born into the Catholic religion and had seen a lot of hypocritical Christians. They talked to him about faith and how it’s an active process. This particular man was in a wheelchair. He was a counselor who taught people to do good things. He wasn’t as open at the beginning as he was near the end. When we all got home, we ate lunch and then got back on the bus for an outreach in a small town outside of San Salvador. I wasn’t feeling very good, so I didn’t get to go around inviting, but I was told that the houses they went and stopped at were very run down and pieced together with whatever they could find from around. It really broke a lot of hearts to see the condition of the homes. When everyone got back, we started our outreach. We had music and then the dance. The music went really well considering it was partly thrown together because Suzette didn’t get to come with us because she got sick from food poisoning and she was the one who knew the Spanish songs the best. But it seriously went so well. We incorporated a clown skit that we had started at the end of last week, and like, everyone loves the clown skit. It’s so cute and shares how you can’t get to heaven by a ladder, a spring, or wings. The only way you can get to heaven is to have a personal relationship with God. We also did the Sin Chair skit, and it was so funny. Everyone loves Sin Chair because the music is upbeat and the actors really get animated in this play and it opens up the door for a good message/explanation. We then had someone give their testimony and do children’s songs. During the whole outreach, there were a few people in the bus making balloons and becoming deaf because the balloons kept popping. But the three of them continued on and worked at not getting discouraged when the balloons popped and it actually helped the clowns to have three people inside creating the swords and hearts and dogs. It was such a good day.

December 10th

So, today was our second Rest and Relaxation day. There were going to be two groups of people doing different activities, until Camille found out that the ruins were closed on Mondays…so everyone ended up going to the beach and to go shopping at a town on the beach. It was beautiful there. The sand is so much darker than San Diego sand, and it’s all sparkly. It’s pretty much an open market in the middle of the town and I enjoyed strolling through the town and eating shrimp cocktail and fish. We also went to this really nice private beach resort. It was so nice. They had wireless internet, a nice pool, and access to the beach. The bathrooms were nice and had showers in them and room to actually move around in them. I also believe that there was warm water in the showers…we take showers here at the house in cold water all the time…we don’t have hot water…so people take showers very quickly. Everyone enjoyed hanging out at the resort, it had a deck with hammocks strung up and Nate brought his zip-line and Jared practiced till his ankles hurt trying to walk across it without help. The water at the beach was so refreshing and everyone got a bit darker than before. Sorry for all you people stuck with cold weather, we’re enjoying the warmth of not being in winter country. We do get random rain showers however…as one happened today during evening devo. A few people scrambled to grab their hammocks (that they bought) from outside so that they didn’t get wet and there are several people outside sleeping in their hammocks. It was a nice day of relaxation…really no schedule, just being together having fun. It was lovely.

December 9th

Today, just like last Sunday, we had a group go and feed the homeless somewhere in San Salvador. They also passed out the clothing we brought with us to give to the homeless. The stories I heard were crazy. Just like last week, these homeless people were majorly addicted to shoe glue. It’s so sad, and when they left, they were fighting over the clothing, and taking it from the smaller people and just fighting in general. After they got back to the house, we all took off in these two TINY buses called Coasters to go to a jungle village. They were awesome little Toyota van type vehicles. We were heading into the jungle literally. There were no towns or businesses. There were shacks throughout the road, but nothing like grocery stores or anything like that. And the road on the last stretch of the trip was INSANE! Seriously, it looked like the rocks had been put there by hand and there were ruts everywhere. I and several others spent most of the ride praying that the bus would make it to the village without damaging a tire or the engine dying on the hills. It was an interesting experience. When we got to the village, we were welcomed by a bunch of the children and the very kind pastor. Everyone was completely excited to see us. We had brought a lunch of hot dogs (500 to be exact), chips and soda. And we had to prepare them there. The outreach went really well, and we got all the hot dogs finished cooking and put into buns and eaten in a very organized manner. It was so much more calm, though busy than like at the Police Station. It was awesome. After finishing the feeding of the multitude as I like to say, we went to a church service. Jared impromptu brought the congregation a message, and did a very good job of it. Then the Pastor got up and asked all of the team to get up and come stand up front because he wanted to pray and lay hands on each of us. Right before the service, the group had the option of going to the service or staying by the bus and hanging. I’m so glad I went to the service, I was so blessed. There was so much power behind the pastor’s prayer. He really genuinely cared about us as a group, and I have to say it was the best “service” I had been to the whole time I’ve been here. Plus, the music wasn’t a show. They had a cd playing as background, but the singers, they just sung their heart out, and it was wonderful to hear that although they weren’t perfectly in tune, they sang for the praise and glory of God. I was so blessed by that service. I personally think that today was one of the best outreaches we’ve had. The atmosphere was wonderful, things weren’t perfect, but in that imperfection people still shined with God’s love. It was a great day.

December 8th

Today we got up and did devos and had about a half hour of personal devo time. We then left for a tourist town called Suchitoto. It was next to this huge lake and a very safe place since tourists visit there often. The lake was gorgeous. We were supposed to take a boat ride, but it ended up not working out, so we just got to hang by the lake for a little bit before we headed back to the main part of town. Part of our outreach for today was to play soccer (football) with the church’s league. So, when we got back to town, we met up at a “soccer field” and our team was given a uniform for the game. It was really cool and funny. Even Greg dressed up in the uniform…it was a bit small, but we all got a good laugh out of it. We lost the game, but we totally had lots of fun playing and watching. We then jumped on the bus and followed a truck that had three of our clowns dressed up, and Tanto going around and announcing the outreach to them. It was great, because, even though we went door to door during the game, it got more people out of their houses and got them to jump on the bus to go. The outreach went really well. We added a clown drama that got a good response from the audience and Michelle gave her testimony and taught. We then did balloons, and promptly ran out, because we had so many kids. We were given more, but we ran out pretty quick of those too. The kids were so adorable, and it was sad to not be able to give all of them balloons, but there were so many kids, it would have been impossible to give every one of them a balloon. Oh, I forgot to mention who was a clown. Autumn, Gabriele, Loni, Camille, and Chris were clowns. They all did a good job at their part, and I could tell the audience loved them. They are all so animated. After we finished with the balloons we packed up and came back to the house. It was about an hour and a half drive one way, but we always enjoy long bus rides. It gives us more opportunity to talk to each other, or do homework or catch up on sleep that we didn’t get the night before. Good use of the time. We got home and waited for our caterer who has been late almost every time we’ve used her, and got our food. We had devos and then free time until we decided to go to bed.

December 6th

Today we got to sleep in till 8:30, after breakfast and Nate’s devo, we got ready to go out. No one but Whit and Melissa knew what we were doing. We boarded the bus and headed out with our bibles and journals. We ended up going to this park called Balboa Park and getting to spend an hour doing personal time with the Lord in this gorgeous park. We then gathered together and did a couple worship songs and a few people shared what they had gotten out of their personal time. It was great. We then ate lunch, several of us went and got papusas. They were delicious! When we got home, many of us scrambled to prepare for the outreach in the evening so that they could go to the internet café. We then headed out to another small community just outside of San Salvador to an orphanage/church where we did an outreach with a fair amount of children, teens, and a few adults. It was so nice to see some teenagers. This was probably our smallest outreach yet, but it was a lot of fun. Autumn gave the “message”, which I didn’t get to hear, but I know it went well, and I came over just while it was ending. The youth pastor was sharing things with everyone and Erik was translating. He told the group that he wanted to do dramas to draw in more teenagers and then he started talking about who we are. He said that when you look in the mirror, to remember that you are beautiful/handsome and perfect. God didn’t make a mistake when he created you the way you are. It had a strong impact on me and probably many other people who heard his words. For dinner we had (take a wild guess what) papusas, and travis was supposed to do devos, but he asked Chris Kingston to do devos, which he said he would. It was a great day.

December 5th

Today we did another service project all day. We went back to the church/orphanage/radio station from the 30^th that was grassy with a great view of a lake. We planted (by hand) sod. It was CRAZY! It was like, one by one stems of grass put into the ground. That is what we did almost the whole day. From like…9:30 to 4:30. Afterwards, we played soccer with the kids at the orphanage and some of the kids from around the neighborhood. Everyone had a bunch of fun with the kids. Nate pulled out the zip-line, and a few of the kids got up on that with help of course. Even I jumped on for a few minutes and couldn’t stop smiling/laughing. Nate says the funniest things when you are supposed to concentrate or not be silly. Also, today was Whit’s birthday. A group of us went into his room and sang happy birthday to him, and it was SO fun. Because it was his birthday, we went to Pizza Hut and had pepperoni and cheese pizza…and Tammany and Gabriele bought Neapolitan ice cream for desert. EVERYONE was stuffed. Cisco gave our devo tonight and we then got to go to bed early. Everyone was happy to get to bed early.

December 4th

Today we did a huge service project. We went to this church outside of San Salvador. We did four different types of projects: one group painted classrooms and the entryway of the church, one group cleaned the church parking lot, and two groups cleaned two soccer fields. It was a lot of hard work, but it was a lot of fun. We worked from like 9 to 3 with a half hour lunch. At 3:30, after changing into outreach stuff and getting prepared for an outreach, most of us went out to bring people to the outreach. All throughout the day there was a jeep that went around announcing the outreach to the community, so when we finally got around to passing out flyers, most everyone knew already. This was by far our largest crowd, it was crazy. We had this stage that was several feet off the ground and there was a really good band that co-played with Travis, Suzette, and Rachel. It was really cool. We did two dramas, Faithful and Fix You, and both went very well. We separated the children from the adults because if we didn’t, we wouldn’t be able to keep the adults attention, because of the distraction from the kids. We had almost 200 children, it was CRAZY!! I truly believe a lot of people were very impacted by the dramas, testimonies, and the short message that was given. It was a great time.

November 3rd

Today, we split up again into two groups. We all went to outreaches, but in different places. For us, the first thing that happened is that we realized our speaker hadn’t charged last night, so we had no speaker to do worship, and just enough battery to do the drama. It was a bit frustrating. Today wasn’t as organized as the other days, but it still went pretty smoothly. We did two outreaches and at both we did a bit of worship, and then a drama and two testimonies. It was fun. We spent time at an open-air market with a bunch of children and played with them. Sadly, our little buddy (the speaker) died right in the middle of our Fix You drama, but we made it through and it went well. Jared and a couple other people thought that it was better without the music. At about 12:30ish, both groups got together and ate lunch. Then a group of 10 people went up a mountain (hiking) to reach a small church up there whose pastor walks the path every single day and is 73 years old. I found that pretty impressive. The rest of us went to the police station and did a small outreach which turned into a huge outreach. We had dinner for the officers and their families and a bunch of children who showed up for the dinner. It was funny. We had at least 50 kids, if not more and then the families of the officers. We did two dramas and Travis gave his testimony and Greg spoke to the adults. The children however, got to play with bubbles and color and make bracelets. Everything was cheerful and upbeat. Jared pretty much led everything with the help of Greg. It has been awesome to see him step up as a leader for our group as well as Travis and Chris S. Each of them are stretching themselves….Travis by getting up and speaking and by Chris doing devotions last night. I love watching people grow in their walk and in their gifts. I’ve also had the pleasure of watching Nate administrate roles and jobs in the outreaches, and I truly think that he has the gift of administration. No matter what happened, I felt and feel like things run smoothly and without too many disagreements when he leads, because we all look at him and respect him, first off, and he’s the established leader and he does a good job at it. I don’t know how else to explain it.

December 2nd

Today we split up into two groups. One group got up at 4:30 to leave at 5 for outreaches that went all day, and the other group got up at 5:45 to leave at 6:30 for the church outreach planned for them. I personally was on the first group who got up at 4:30 to leave at 5. A good majority of that group didn’t even get in bed till about 12 or 1 that morning, and then got back up and went to the outreach. We first went to a place where there was a bunch of homeless people and fed them breakfast and just loved on them. We planned on doing a drama, but we were told that a lot of the time that people feed them, they have to sit and listen about how God loves them, so we wanted to not be like everyone else, we just wanted to love on them. It was heartbreaking to see all those kids, most of them between the ages of 13 and 20 with a few older than that. Travis and I did worship songs for background music the whole time while most everyone else hung out with the homeless people who were snuffing shoe glue from plastic containers. We made and served them eggs, bread and bananas. I and a few others gave away our sweatshirts to the homeless kids as well. After we left, we headed to a town right outside of Santa Ana, El Salvador, the third largest city in El Salvador, where we (with one translator: Tanto) had the group upstairs doing children’s ministry and Jared and Greg went downstairs and did the sermon. Jared did the majority of the teaching and it went really well. And the children’s ministry stuff went really well as well. The kids were so delighted to have us there, and they shouted out good morning to us several times when we first got there. They were adorable. When church was over and most of the children had been picked up, my group prayed over a young blind boy. It was crazy, because it was so powerful. The whole group wanted to see this little boy with a life ahead of him, to be healed. He wasn’t healed but the step of faith strengthened our group to prepare for what was to come. After we ate lunch, we were just resting on the bus and sleeping when Julie pretty much jumped out of the bus to go to the bathroom. When she got back, the rest of our group was informed that we needed to get Julie some specific medication for her. It was kind of controversial, because we had one more outreach planned for the day, and Greg forced us to think about what we should do. To make a long story short, we headed into Santa Ana following a white pickup truck with speakers to the pharmacy. On the way, the truck pulled over and told us that Julie needed to go with them because she’d be more comfortable, and they gave us the other woman who was in the truck. With the lack of clear communication, we got separated from the white truck. We finally were able to track them down and meet up somewhere but it was a bit of a high emotions time. For me personally, I just wanted Julie to come back to the bus and not leave again. When we finally were back together, everyone wouldn’t let Julie out of their sight. Someone was with her at all times, it was rather funny how protective we were, and it showed how scared we got at being separated like that. The last outreach was one of the hardest outreaches we’ve had. We were reaching out to a group of people who claimed to be Christians, but there was adultery going on in the group of people, and just hardened hearts. It broke a lot of people to see this particular group of people. We actually changed our drama a bit to make it more relevant to the group we were addressing. It was interesting. I was kind of put into a role that make me out to be an adulteress and it made me really think. I didn’t enjoy that role at all. Travis gave a brief teaching time, which he did wonderful for his first time really teaching from the bible that wasn’t a testimony. I was very happy for him, even though he had one of the hardest audiences to reach out to. It was a day where we all got stretched to the limits. It was good though, I know. J Everyone in my group said that it was a good day. I talked to Tiffany about what she did in her group and I wanted to share with you what she said. When they arrived at the church at about 7, they served breakfast to a bunch of the neighborhood children, showing and did one of our drama’s for them. They didn’t really get to stay and chat with the kids because they had to go do some children’s Sunday school classes. The group got split into three groups and did three different Sunday School classes, with about 70 kids altogether from the three S.S outreaches. After they finished S.S. They went to a government-run orphanage. It was very different from the Christian orphanage we went to earlier in the week. There were individual dorms and there were bars over the windows and doorways, almost like a prison. The children ranged from ages 8 to 18 and none of the children had clothing that fit them properly and most did not even have decent shoes. Tiffany told me that she and Michelle spent some time talking to this little boy who was about the age of 11. He had been in the orphanage since he was 3. He was very sick and had bumps all over his body, but they weren’t sure what it was. They asked him if he believed in God and he told them yes, but when they asked him if he believed in Jesus, he said no. They asked him why, but he didn’t really want to answer them. He said that he did believe in God but not Jesus. At the end of the time they spent with him they asked him if they could pray for him. He said no, but both Tiffany and Michelle, who were extremely touched with compassion for this little boy named Robert, are praying for him that he will be healed and that God would reveal Himself to Robert. Overall it was a humbling day. We all experienced the feeling of how blessed we were and compassion for the people we saw.

December 1st

Today was our first R & R day. It was great. We went to the beach and totally hung out all day. Some of us went in the ocean, which was really warm, considering the time of year, and some laid on the beach tanning, and some of us went on a walk and found LOTS of awesome colored shells. I got to see a live Sand Dollar, which was completely awesome, and a bunch of snails that bury themselves into the sand after the water washes over them. It was kinda gross, but cool at the same time. The guys played with the Frisbee and we got to order fish or chicken with a couple sides for like $3. It was a great, cheap meal. J It was so nice to just relax and see the world in a different way. There was like no one on the beaches and the water was so clear. We got home and immediately started preparing for tomorrow. We have a really big outreach tomorrow…well, two outreaches. The groups are going to be splitting up and going to two different things. The first group is getting up at about 4 to be ready to leave by like 5 for the outreach and then they won’t be home till 5 in the evening. And the second group is going to be up at about 5:45 so that they can be ready to leave at about 6:30. J And they will be home at around 2. I hope to get someone from the other group that I am not in to write something about how it went. Also, our team leaders from HSE came today. Elise, Chris Kingston (now there are three Chris’s J), Naomi and Cisco. It is going to be awesome to see them and show them what is going on here in San Salvador.

November 30th

Today we got to sleep in a bit. It was a nice change, not to mention no one was in bed before 1:30 because Devos ran a bit late….well, more like a lot late. But anyways, we prepared for our outreach at a small church in a town outside of San Salvador, and then headed to drop off our laundry at the laundry mat, and then to the mall. It was a nice short break for all of us. We finally got back on the bus at about 1:45 and headed out. We arrived at the church and were promptly split into groups for passing out invitations to the poor people in the area surrounding the church. This church was amazing. There was grass, like, manicured grass everywhere; and there was a soccer field and a nice place for having outdoor meetings like the one we had today. We had the three clowns dressed up for passing out flyers. It was a lot of fun. Camille was one of the clowns, and the mental picture I have right now of her dressed up skipping in between the rows of poorly kept houses was just a sight to behold. She was so cheerful and reached out to the kids out on the streets. I’m personally very glad the clowns were there to help. We got back to the church about an hour before we were going to start. Oh, I forgot to mention, that this outreach was planned for four o’clock but ended up being changed without our knowledge to six, and so we had to change all the flyers by hand. It was really funny, even through the frustration of not being exactly on with what was going on. Anyways, the sound system was put up and worked out, not the way that we would have liked, but well enough to get sound projected to the crowd. It was a really nice setup and a warm, inviting place in my opinion. People started to show up at about five minutes to six but the majority of the people weren’t even there till 6:15 or later. We started with a drama and then a testimony by Angie. She did a great job and she really didn’t want to give her testimony but she did it anyways, and I believe she blessed the audience. We then did a bit of music and then Rachel and Chris S, who we have affectionately nicknamed Justin and Brittany, did their awesome dance and then we had a second skit. After our skit, we had one more testimony and Nate closed us out. It was such a great time. After everything was done, we were hanging out with the kids doing jump ropes and Whit had a child on his shoulders as he skateboarded around the arena. It was CRAZY. I personally told him he was loco. J When we finally left, it was about 8:15-8:30, we drove to the mall and had pizza at Pizza Hut. I think that is the best pizza I’ve had in a long time (we hadn’t really eaten since like 12 that afternoon, so we were REALLY hungry). The closeness in our group is definitely tightening and I feel that we are becoming more of a family every passing day. I know that when we come home, the relationships we created with each other will keep us closer than a family for the rest of our lives.

November 29th

Today we got up and went to a Christian radio station. We got to help promote the station through passing out flyers to people at different street corners. It was a lot of fun. There was a lot of traffic on the road we were on, and we got rid of the flyers pretty quickly, as did most of the other four groups. Our group went around with our banner running between the sitting cars that waited for the green light yelling out the gospel is cool in Spanish. It was funny. Melissa did cartwheels in the crosswalk with the sign being held by Nate. And we climbed on the buses and passed out flyers. When we arrived back at the radio station, we ate lunch and a couple people, Melissa, Michelle, and Jared went and got on the air and answered questions. It was an awesome time. We got home about 3:30ish and a small group went out to do one more outreach for the day at a private bilingual Christian school. It was so much fun. We did the dance team first. We almost didn’t do the dance because we didn’t have the music, but the kids wanted them to do it anyways, so we did. It was a hit. Afterwards the kids were swarming Rachel to show them how to dance. It was adorable. We then did the sin chair drama and then music. We also did the Fix You drama. The kids just soaked it all in. They were so smart, and you could tell that they enjoyed it. When we finished we were served sandwiches and drinks that were provided for us by the staff. It was a great time. The girls went around asking for email addresses and autographs. I could tell it totally made Adam’s night that one of the girls asked for his autograph. It was such a good day.

November 28th

Today was a good day. We got to spend almost all morning preparing for that evening’s outreach. We were going to be heading to the church that had lent us their bus and driver (Fermin) for transportation. When we finally headed out at about 1:30ish we dropped most of the group off at the church to pass out flyers to invite those on the streets and driving to the church that evening. About five people went to go shopping for groceries and two of us, and Fermin went to the mall to get online. By the time everyone was at the church helping out, we had about an hour and a half before church started that night. So, we got more flyers and started passing them out just down the street. There was a group of three or four to a corner. It was so much fun. Tanto and I went out into the street and totally had a blast passing out flyers to the people in the cars and many of the groups on the corners did the exact same thing. It was a once in a lifetime experience, because you cannot just walk into traffic to hand a flyer to the driver in California. People would think you are nuts. J Anyways, when we had passed out all the flyers we had left, we went back up to the church. Dan and I started a sort of soccer game with some of the kids. It was a lot of fun. I happened to wear a long skirt, so I was playing soccer trying not to trip and fall, or step on my skirt. The kids were adorable and had fun playing soccer. When church started the kids went into the back to play with the clowns and watch the Sin Chair skit and the adults and few teens that were there went out front to have a time of worship and teaching. Their worship team got up and lead an amazing time of worship. I realized during that time that no matter what language is being sung during worship songs, the believer knows and can worship God through their songs, even if they can’t completely understand what they are saying. Right after the worship finished, the drama team performed Fix You for the first time. It was intense and the drama affected several people as I was told by several of our team members. It was exciting. Then Michelle got up and gave her testimony. She did phenomenal job. She told me that she didn’t even remember what you said, but it touched the hearts of many people, and several women came up to her afterwards to thank her for sharing and gave her hugs. In El Salvador, the people don’t usually hug each other, so it was a rare display of thanks or care. I believe Michelle was really touched by the women who came to her. We had our worship team get up after Michelle and do a couple songs in Spanish. They sounded so good, it was definitely their best performance in Spanish. Then Greg got up and shared a message with everyone with a translator. He kind of got thrown into the role about a half hour before everything started, which I found out that night during devos. The whole day was wonderful. Everyone was on a high like no other day. The atmosphere was so excited and happy when we got home. And there was an endless amount of joy in everyone’s hearts and words from their mouths. God certainly is amazing and he is knitting our group into a family. Whit got sick today and stayed home, but we got to share with him everything that we did at the outreach when we got back. I think it was good for him to stay home, because he really didn’t feel well. And he prayed for us during our outreach, which was a blessing in itself. We missed him, but God still used it. God is an awesome God.

November 27th

Today we went to do an all day outreach at a poor community outside of San Salvador. It was about an hour drive from our house in San Salvador to the church we were doing our outreach. Halfway there, our third bus popped a tire. It was kind of scary when it happened; because I had my headphones on and then there was a loud noise and Fermin pulled the bus over. We were so fortunate that the bus didn’t fishtail or anything similar. Everyone cheered. It was like a party had happened, like something good had happened. It was so funny. Instead of being bummed out that it was the third bus to break down in three days, we were excited, because we all wondered what God was going to do with this. We waited for a spare tire to be brought to our bus from in town. There were several locals working in a field nearby who helped us call someone to help us get the stripped tire off. It was amazing to see the kindness of the people here. We spent the hour or two that we had playing on the something-line, and doing worship songs and just talking with each other. It was like a needed break for everyone. It was crazy too. We discovered sugar cane and ate a lot of it. We also watched other buses go by at 45 to 55 mph past our bus with people on the street and other vehicles coming the opposite way. It was kinda scary. I’m glad I wasn’t between our broken down bus and the traffic. When we finally got the spare on, we jumped on the bus and drove to a station where they filled up the tire with air. We made it to the little Iglesia there in the poor community and promptly got off the bus to find out that the spare tire we had put on was flat, because it had a hole in it. So we had to take everything off the bus and Fermin, Erik, Greg, and one of the younger boys that came with us got back on the bus to get a new tire. It was crazy. When the bus left, our group was split up into two groups. One group went to clean the lot that the church would be using for Sunday morning service, because the home that they were renting for the church was going to be sold by the owners, and the rest of the team went up and played soccer or set up for the outreach in the church. It was a lot of hard work for the the group that went and cleaned the lot. We cut down two trees, which Jared HAD to point out that you cannot do in America, (he got to help cut one of them down too) and lots of brush and dirt pilled on a cement pad and we got a lot of it removed. It was a lot of fun, and Adam became the human Caterpillar. For those who were like me and didn’t understand, I guess it’s some type of machinery used in construction. It was great. And the soccer game went well as well. Dan got a 2nd place trophy from the kids which he absolutely loved. It was funny, seeing him carry it around and be excited about it. About the time the cleaning crew came back, the outreach had already started, and the bus came back from the tire repair/replace. The people outside who saw the bus (like 6 of us) cheered. The moment we stopped cheering however, we heard a hissing of air being let out….it was the same tire! It had gotten a gash in it. Fermin and his gang jumped back on the bus and hurried back to the tire stop. I could see how tired Greg and Erik were from all of it. And as much as it was funny that we kept having bus trouble, I kind of wanted it to be over, so Erik and Greg could have a break. During the outreach we had two skits, Faithful and Sin Chair. We also had our dance team consisting of two people, Rachel and Chris S, get up and perform for the first time ever. And the did awesome. We had clowns, and jump ropes and played the limbo. It was so much fun to see the expressions of joy and cheerfulness from the children. Autumn, during the outreach inside, actually got to minister to an older gentleman with Tanto, another person connected to Festival of Life, who translated for Autumn. It was a very amazing time for her…because she got to see God work in the man’s life, even if she couldn’t understand him. When the bus came back the second time, the tire was fixed. We weren’t having problems with the bus anymore. It was a complete answer to prayer, because all of us were tired and we wanted to go home. Pretty much a lot of our group slept on the way home. We didn’t have to cook when we got home because Gabby and Jared had decided to get a caterer to do the meal and we had devos and most of us went to bed. I was so tired and I didn’t even care that I had worked out in the dirt and plants a several hours earlier. But it was an amazing time of group fellowship and bonding that we wouldn’t have had if the bus hadn’t broken down.

Children's Hospital

Yesterday was amazing. We got up at 7, had breakfast and devotions and then had a personal time with God. At about 9, we went to one of the churches connected to Horizon and he gave us a brief talk about El Salvador and San Salvador more specifically and how there were different “Christian” groups in San Salvador, but that the Calvary churches were the ones who taught specifically from the Bible. He told us about how there are a couple ministries that the church started and that drifted away from the original doctrine of the Calvary church. It was very informative and interesting. We also got to ask some questions about San Salvador and just talk. It was a great time to take a group picture. Our bus driver, Fermin when we first got there, had to drive into the church parking lot and totally got the bus up a couple steps to get into the parking lot, it was really awesome. After we finished talking to the pastor, we went back to our house and prepared for our outreach at the children’s hospital. The children there were so adorable. Our group split up and went into two different parts of the hospital. We did a skit called Sin Chair, had a clown in each group, Julie and Whit were so wonderful to do the clowns and they looked great too. We made balloons and did bubbles. The children were adorable and totally stole the hearts of our group. After that, we all went home and ate dinner and talked about the day. It was a great time of fellowship and sharing of our experiences at the hospital.

Our first day

We had just arrived in San Salvador only about an hour before. We were sitting, singing worship songs in our broken down bus…the second bus to break down in less than 24 hours. The reactions to our situation from the people around me made me smile. We decided to be cheerful in our tiredness…to be positive, even though we’re hot and we haven’t really gotten a lot of sleep. As we sat singing, I couldn’t help but reflect on the night before…at Chevron, waiting for cars to come pick us up. Our first bus had broken down, and we were stranded, needing to get to the airport and the manager of the Denny’s right next to the gas station came over and offered us use of their big room so that we wouldn’t have to sit outside in the cold. All of us were so grateful, it was so cold…and there was food that we could eat. God provided enough cars to get all of us to the airport, and we made it to the gate with 10 minutes to spare. When we arrived at the airport, we quickly got off the plane and went to get our passports stamped and to find our luggage. We went outside and found the people with Festival of Life who had set up our schedule and housing. We got on our bus, which was like the real “ghetto” bus that you hear about in stories and see in movies. It was awesome. Everyone was excited to get to the house and just sleep. Then, on the way to our house, the bus transmission died completely, with a big bang. There was a complete hush for like a minute. We couldn’t believe our second bus broke down. That’s when we started singing. Rachel was like, get out the guitar and lets sing worship songs. So, Travis got out the guitar and we sang Everlasting Love at the top of our lungs. We finally got picked up by our third bus and taken to the house. By then we knew that the Christmas outreach we were going to be involved in had been canceled for us and we were going to be going to a “soccer field” to do a drama and a couple testimonies. It wasn’t much of a soccer field, but it was a great time. We did one drama and Adam and Autumn did their testimony with a translator. Chris Flores got up and translated for Adam and one of the men, Erik, from the Festival of Life group translated for Autumn. It was very powerful for us, even if it was hard for the Salvadorans to understand completely what was going on. We learned a lot with the whole having no time to prepare for anything. We didn’t have a chance to get nervous, and we ended up doing balloons and playing with the children. It was so much fun and a great day.

Praise Report!

For those who don't know....we have all the money we need and a bit more for our trip! We leave in two days......and I personally am so excited. We will be leaving from the LAX airport at 1:05am Sunday morning. Pray for our trip there and to our homes that we will be staying at. We will be renting two homes with 5 bedrooms each. And one of them has 2 big rooms in it...like a living room and a family room. It will be a great time. Also, keep in prayer our outreaches. We have our first outreach when we get to San Salvador Sunday morning. Thank you for your prayers and i can't wait to tell you how everything goes!

Some Cultural Info for those interested.....

Hey Everyone, One of our leaders, Whit did a presentation of the culture of San Salvador. I, unfortunately was one of the few who didn't get to see it. But he sent out this wonderful email with some of the info that he provided for the rest of the team. I thought maybe you would be interested in hearing a little about the culture of San Salvador, and maybe what some of the things we will be doing....by way of culturally relating to the San Salvadorians.

Current President:

Antonio Saca, since 2004.

Official Currency:

U.S. Dollar (no currency exchange required!)

Area:

El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America. In area, it is approximately twice as large as San Diego County.

Population:

7 million, of which nearly 2 million live in the San Salvador area.

Main agricultural products:

coffee, sugar, corn, rice, beans

Climate:

Weather is generally warm or tropical. The rainy season is from the month of May to October, and the dry season is from November until April. For the month of December, the average high in San Salvador is 82 F and the average low is 66 F. Temperatures tend to be are cooler in the more mountainous areas and warmer by the coast.

Clothing:

Due to the climate, the most recommended clothing is light, thin, usually made of cotton. Comfortable shoes for walking are advisable. You should bring a sweater or light jacket for evenings and in case we go to higher elevations (e.g. on a hike). In San Salvador's business environments, men wear suits and women wear business suits or dresses. Appropriate clothing for us to wear in the city would include jeans or slacks and polo or button down shirts, or modest tops. It is helpful to remember that San Salvador is the capital city and business center of El Salvador, and to dress accordingly while we are in city settings. Please note that throughout Latin America, shorts are generally considered inappropriate for adults to wear, especially in the city. For chores around the house, service projects involving physical work, and recreational activities, t-shirts and jeans are perfectly acceptable. You will want to wear sunglasses and hats to protect from the sun, but hats should not be worn indoors. Also, sunglasses should be removed when we are doing outreaches as they present a real barrier to communication and to sharing God's love with people.



Hope that was informative to you. *smile* Keep us in prayer
Brittany

Video from last Friday

This was during class while trying to prepare for Sunday Morning. Rather funny if I do say so myself.

Big Tent Sale Sunday

The Tent Sale this past Sunday was a huge success!! Many people came and spent time looking around and enjoying the positive and joyful atmosphere. Even though our team had to be there early and we were there all morning and into the afternoon, there was much dedication and love put into the clowns, balloon dogs, hearts, and hats and the face painting. It was a great time to practice for our outreaches before we actually reach San Salvador. Along with Children's Ministry and Clown Ministry, we have drama, art, sports, band, and other evangelical groups that are preparing for San Salvador, and we have a lot to still prepare for. But it's great for us to get to spend this time together learning how to prepare and leading in each of our own ministry before and during the trip. I'm hoping that i will be able to post in the next couple days who is doing what ministry as well as the names of the people in leadership and hopefully more of what each group is doing. I'm so excited and I can see how excited our group is, and how close-knit we are becoming and will become.

Preparation time!

So, as of yesterday, our team, which is going to San Salvador, has been preparing for outreach on Sunday. We've been learning how to make animals and swords and hearts out of balloons, and how to put face paint on the clowns. We've finally been put in our leadership roles for the trip and I, myself, am very excited. And I know that others are very excited as well. This is going to be such a great trip. All the preparation for tomorrow will help us prepare for San Salvador. It's so exciting to see the preparation for San Salvador, and the knowledge that we have only three weeks from Sunday until we leave. It's a bit stressful, but fun at the same time. Hopefully as time goes by, I'll be able to post more information up for everyone.
Have a blessed day.