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.