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.