Campamento

I have been here in San Salvador about 2.5 weeks now and still loving the ministry here. I have worked a lot with the Crusade team, but have also gotten to work with a few other ministries. One of the Universities has a ministry led by a couple student leaders. I helped them out with a retreat that they were planning and it was awesome! There were over 100 students that went to the camp and we loaded up in 2 buses and traveled out to a beautiful ranch right on a lake made from an old volcanic crater. The whole camp brought me back to my days of Young Life where we divided up into teams and competed in many different activities throughout the camp. I was constantly asking myself, "what would my crazy YL friends do in this situation?" and did whatever silly thing I could think of to draw my team together. We named out team "Las Aguilas" (eagles) and we had a cheer, hand shake, and by far the most team spirit! We came together and actually won the over all camp competition! On top of that, a few people on our team prayed to receive Christ that week!!! (Williams in the picture to the left was one of them) The student leaders did a great job planning the camp and I beleive 10-12 students accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior that weekend!


The pictures below are of some of the activities that we did at the camp:

El Salvador

I have been in El Salvador just over a week now working with Campus Crusade for Christ in the city of San Salvador. I am really excited to be doing college ministry again and it is the ministry that I have the most experience doing because it is very similar to what I did in Argentina. I am currently staying at the STINT team guy's house and it is drastically different from the sleeping conditions I had in Honduras. I have a mattress, hot running water, electricity, and even internet! So that is definitely a blessing. They are the first STINT team in El Salvador and are pretty much laying the foundation of ministry on a few new campuses. It is exciting to be a part of that and see their vision for the future of the ministry. They are all from California and make fun of the fact that I say words like "yall", but thats OK cause I can make fun of their spanish, having only been here for 2 months. But they are awesome and it is a blessing to be a part of their team for a while.

I am really enjoying the ministry here and the fellowship that I have with the team as well as some awesome Salvadorian Christians that I have met. And I think that I am going to stay here longer than I had planned. But thats whats nice about flying solo. Its just me and God and there is freedom to go or stay as He leads.

The picture to the right is of us using a tool called Selarium to share the gospel with a group of students. It uses a set of 50 pictures combined with a set of questions that help transition into deep spiritual conversations.

Philippians 4:13

¨I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.¨
Philippians 4:13

I went to 3 Pentecostal church services on Sunday, one right after the other and each one lasted at least a couple hours. I was invited to play my mandolin and sing ´´Yo te Busco´´ (I Seak You) in front of the church. That was definitely an honor, but what was much more fulfilling was what happened later in the service. Everyone was worshiping when I saw a guy stumble in off the street obviously drunk or on drugs. I felt called to go talk with him and when I did, he smelled of alcohol and he later told me that he had been using cocain as well. He told me that he was passing by and felt a call to walk in the church. We talked for over an hour and I shared with him my testimony and the gospel and the freedom that we have in Christ from sin. He shared with me about his life and all the things that he is involved in. He confessed that he has killed people and that there are many who are trying to kill him. But he said that before they do, he would like to clean up his life. I told him that it is impossible to do it on your own and that it is only possible through Christ as it says in Philippians 3. We prayed together for Christ to enter his heart and to begin working in is life. I also told him that I wanted to talk with him more when he is not drunk and drugged and he promised me that he would remain clean to be clear minded when we met again. I got is cell number and called him the next day, but haven´t been able to get a hold of him. His name is Juan Jose and please pray that he will seek the Lord with all his heart and that God will work powerfully in his life. Also pray that I will get to meet with him again before I leave for El Salvador. Juan Jose is in the picture to the right.

Another similar story. Yesterday I climbed up a small mountain to get a good view of the town and also to pray, but God had other plans for me. There were three guys already up there and they were drinking, using drugs, and huffing glue. It was such a sad sight and I felt burdened to share with them. The one that was the most out of it was only 19 years old and I could barely understand anything he said. We sat talking for a while and after a few attempts to transition into a spiritual conversation without success, I prayed for God to open the door to share with them. Then one of them asked me to give him my ring that had a cross on it(probably to sell and get more drugs). I asked him if he knew what it meant, and then shared with them what the ring meant to me. We talked for a while, but unlike Juan Jose, they were not ready to recieve the life saving message of Christ. Please pray for them as well and that God would continue working in their hearts and that their satisfaction would not be found in this world.

A Change of Scenery

The week before I left on this journey, I was at the outer banks for my sister´s wedding where we stayed in nice houses with pools, hot tubs, pool tables, huge beds, and big LCD TV´s in every room. The scenery has changed quite a bit since then. I have been staying in a different place almost every night and most don´t have electricity and a few houses don´t even have running water. I sleep on the floor on top of my sleeping bag and ground pad because it is too hot to sleep covered up even though it exposes me to the mesquitos and giant cockroaches. And even though I have mesquito bites head to toe, and shower from a bucket of water, I am loving every bit of it!!! It is a big change, but I am learning so many new things, having advendures every day, and I have already seen God do some amazing things! Ill write about a couple of them.




I learned to make tortillas over a wood fire. So far, all the cooking has been done over wood fires like this one.

I also learned to prepare fish from the ocean. It is a lot more complicated than just cutting it open and pulling the guts out! Fresh fish is so delicious, but I think my hands still smell like fish.

I have also tried so many differnet kinds of fruit and some I had never heard of before. I have eaten mangos, papaya, coconuts, oranges, hicaco, and many others that I don´t remember the names of. But all of them came straight from the tree or ground. The picture to the left is when I learded to cut open a coconut with a machetti. The picture below is of some gourd-like thing that I can´t remember the name of.

I have also seen so many different animals that pretty much go where they want and live in the houses as well. Here are some pictures of them: (Turkey, Baby Goat, Pig, and Crab)

And the Journey Begins...

I can´t believe that just the night before last, I was in my bed at home. I feel like so much has happened since I left. Ill start from the beginning. I finished packing at 2:30am tuesday morning, woke up at 5am to go to the airport, and then flew to Miami on the same flight as my sister and her husband on the way to their honeymoon (complete coincidence I promise). I then flew to San Pedro Sula, Honduras after being told by the man at the check in desk that I wouldn´t be allowed through customs unless I had a return ticket. I told him that I would take my chances and just pray that I get through... and I did. I then met Victor, a pastor from Honduras, his wife, Justancia, and their 2 year old daughter Eliabeth (Ill post a picture when I get a chance) and we drove 2 hours to Victor´s home town called La Entrada. I met the family, went to honduran birthday party, and then to a prayer meeting at his church. I got more stories, but no more time to write. But I do feel like I hit the ground running. I am really excited about the road ahead!