First real Week

This week is the week we get in the full swing of activities. We are having such a great time with everyone down here!

Monday: We had our weekly devotional from 9:30-10:30 in the morning, and since the job situation hasn't worked out yet (we probably aren't going to get one) we ended up going to the market and walmart to by everything we need and ended up resting at the house for the rest of the day, and watching a movie at night.

Tuesday we went to the prison and helped out with a ministry called Metamorfosis. We helped make shoes, played soccer, and went swimming, all day till about 3ish. Awesome thing is that we did all these activities with people who once were apart of violent gangs and had committed horrible crimes in their past. We had worship with them too. What an experience - to worship with people who were once so lost, and now saved. Tuesday night 3 of us went to a papusaria, and we ordered 3 drinks, 3 papusas, and 3 tacos. ALL of this only cost 4.95 total! Unbelievable. I know where I'm eating from now on.

Wednesday was the first morning of our Spanish classes, from 9-12. It wasn't bad, but I'm sure it'll get harder. After this we ate, and headed over to the same house we went to last week to watch the Barcelona/Real Madrid soccer game. Then we headed home and rested.

Thursday we went to orphanage about 30 minutes away after we had our Spanish class from 9-12 in the morning. We were in able to see all the kids there after they had just got back from school. They have a chicken house and a garden. It was very cool to see how an orphanage operated without receiving funds from the government. Really if you think about it the government doesn't play a major role in funding an orphanage - God does - and that's all this orphanage has, but then again, He is all they need. We ended up throwing paper airplanes into a fan with the boys at the orphanage and then later we played soccer. After this we went to go get tacos again, and now I'm here writing this blog.

Tomorrow we are going have Spanish class from the same time again, and then we are going to buy food again for the week.

Saturday we are planning on going to the beach again.

I feel like I write a lot of stuff that doesn't matter. If you do read this, make sure you pray that God will bring a wave of love over everyone we interact with - weather it's at the local pizza hut or weather we are doing our actual ministry work. Truth is - we are supposed to be in ministry all the time. Pray that God will be a light in us and for us not to forget what we are actually down here for - to be a light to others! Pray that people see us and want what we have. We have such a great opportunity to impact people down here each and every minute of the day.

So, above is more or less our daily schedule. Pray each day for us! You know what we are going to be each and everyday. Pray that God prepares everyone's hearts for his love and that the language barrier wont be a problem. His love translates over everything!

This is my last post for a while - Much love!!!
-Andrew

First week

Here's an overview of what we did the first week ladies.

Sunday: We went to church at 9am and the church was called La Iglesia. Which means the church! Afterwards we all went to a huge SIT DOWN pizza hut. Never knew these existed. Pizza is different here, but in a better way. After this we headed back to the house and rested for a couple minutes, then Me Parker Mitch Thomas Grace Cameron and Holly all went to play soccer about a 1/2 mile away. We brought 2 balls and ended up giving away one to one of the kids that played with us. Right when we arrived at the field a couple kids joined our game. About ten minutes later we had a 8 on 8 game with lots of locals watching! I felt like a professional. After soccer we ate dinner around 6:30, and then we worshiped and went over our devotional. We are going to be studying the book of Romans - verse by verse. Awesome first day!

Monday: Woke up around 8ish but some of the team decided to go on a run around 6ish. NOT ME! I was waaay too tired. Around 9:30 a lady named Isabel came from Exido (which is the orphanage we will be helping out at every Thursday came by and gave us an introductory of what we will be doing. She was the nicest lady! She explained how most of the kids in the orphanage where either just left there or dropped off there by there parents in a more formal way. All of the kids there range from 3 to 18, and once they turn 18 years old they have the option of staying or leaving. Most of the kids in the orphanage have either been physically or sexually abused, or have come from parents who just don't know how to take care of their children. Listen to this: The lady, Isabel, from the orphanage told us that El Salvador doesn't have good judgement in the laws they pass specifically laws that deal with orphans. Sometimes children are taken away from the parents (who abuse them or just dont take care of them) by the government and then placed in the orphanage. However, if a parents choose to "go to court" with the situation, the government almost always puts the children back in the hands of their parents where they are back in the same situation they started in. Some parents even use there children to beg for money on the streets, the lady explained. These kids just can't catch a break! So, if you would pray that God provides a way in all this mess, that would be great. Pray specifically for better decision making in the El Salvadorian government when in comes to decisions made about orphans. The orphanage is actually not even funded by the government! 26 people work there, and this is their full time job Wait, whaaaat? If you would also pray that God will provide for the orphanage, its workers, and bless them. There is a total of 68 kids, if I remember correctly. Anyways, after this Isabel left, and then we ate (we have our own cook, and her food is amazing!!),walked to the bus route, and we visited 3 malls. These malls where almost right next to each other. We walked to all of them. This took around the whole day.

Tuesday: Our Spanish teach came and met us around 9am and afterwards we headed of the the plaza to get our phones for use between our team. We were going to head to the volcano after this, but it was too cloudy so we headed downtown and visited the local markets. There were places everywhere on the street. I got a El Salvadorian soccer team uniform for around 15 bucks later to figure out that the pants are light blue and the shirt was a slight bit darker. Hmmmm. After this we headed back home and headed out to the soccer field again and played for about 2 hours.

Wednesday: We met the pastor who will be teaching our Bible studies Monday morning. After this we did head to the volcano and it was pretty amazing! We were very high up in there air over looking the volcano and the city. We ate at MacDonalds, came home and then played soccer for about 2 and a half hours.

Tomorrow we are headed to watch the soccer game at a house of someone who goes to La Iglesia. Friday we are headed to the beach to surf, and probably the same for Saturday.

Next week is when our regular schedule kicks in.

Thanks for your prayers!

Here

We are finally here! How great is our God. He gave us a safe travel, no problems and everything worked out perfectly. Plane ride was 3 hours and 1 minute. Exactly. We live in such a nice house - one big enough for all 13 of us! It is right in the heart of a neighbor hood that looks like a great place to meet the locals. Hopefully we can reach out to our neighbors. Play soccer with them, invite them over for dinner, and witness to them.

We actually live about 1 mile away from Wendy's, McDonald's, Pollo Campero (chicken camper - hmmm), and 2 Pizza huts right across from each other. I don't know what to think about that. Our leader Mario said the soccer stadium near us has games every weekend so I can't wait to go to some of those. This week we will be learning our regular routine so we won't be doing anything to serious. I can't wait to get things started - I am so excited!

The country is so nice. It is very very relaxed. Everyone waves to you, and there are wild animals (like cows, donkeys, and I though I saw a llama but they said it wasn't one). Everyone is very friendly and sociable. They love to just talk to you! I already got my picture taken with 4 locals that worked at the subway I ate after the plan ride. It's crazy how friendly people are.

More to come soon!

If you could pray that the team would get rested before things start rollin that would be great! We are all pooped from camping and the activities we did. Also pray that we are not distracted while we are down here.

Thanks-
Andrew

Another Update

First of all - I hate writing. HATE. So I hope that people actually read this, and are somewhat encouraged by what I post and actually pray for us while we are down there, and not just be like "oh, yeah, of course I'll pray," and then forget about it. (Don't underestimate the power of prayer cutie pies)

We leave in 4 days! Unbelievable. It's exciting, but also different. Its not like college -we can't come back time to time and visit our family and friends. It just hit me that Parker and I are leaving everything we have ever had, and really, ever known. At least we are going to get a break for school.

I didn't realize how much I would miss everyone. This last week reality has set in.I'm gonna miss ALOT of people. Mom (strived for our best interest), Dad(great sense of humor), little bros (troublemakers) Victor, Dennis, my two lovely princess sisters (ha) Helen, and Sarah. And all my close friends. (I guess you can say you know who you are)...

I pray God changes our lives while down there as well as the people we work with while down there.

Here is a post I forgot to post in mid June-ish. Oops.

Wow, 30 days away! I hope time doesn't fly while we are down there so we can absorb what God has in store for us. I have been reading through the book of James, 1st Timothy, and Ecclesiastes over and over and over again in order to prepare myself for any trials that I will face before and during our trip. I am about to start on Corinthians, and then try to start on the Gospels.

I find myself thinking what a awesome opportunity we have in front of us. How can we use it in the best way possible? Are we going to use this freedom for Jesus, or abuse our freedom. Yeah, I've heard a lot about freedom - which we will have a lot of while down in El Salvador. I (as well as everyone else) have a choice to make while down there. Are we going to chase after wind, or be blessed while we preserve under the various trials we encounter while down there. Man we are gonna be under a lot of trial down there I can already tell. All the devil wants is for us to sit down and stay right where we are at - I just pray we are all prepared for this.

This is just a short post and probably my last until we all head down, but if you read this, just pray that while we prepare and are down there:

We preserve under trial
James 1:12
and strive to honor God, and not merely chase wind
Ecclesiastes 1:14