El Salvador 2010 Day 8

Short post for today. We are in San Salvador Quality Inn Airport. We have just completed our banquet after a day of shopping, sightseeing or resting in the hotel. Our departure time from the hotel for the majority of the group is 5 am so details will have to follow.

Great week and we are ready to come home.

Buddy for the team.

# Posted @ 9:22 PM on Friday, March 19, 2010
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El Salvador 2010 Day 7

Day 7

Breakfast at 6:30 a.m. Scrambled eggs with ham, yeast rolls, assorted tropical fruit, and of course BEANS. Strong coffee and fresh-squeezed orange juice, too. All on the veranda overlooking the lake at the 'Vista Lago' (lake view) hotel. Be on the bus by 7 or they'll leave you.

One thing that is really impressive on this trip is the young people. I am especially proud of ours from MJ, but there are several from other congregations here, too. They are all patient and long-suffering all day long. I have not heard any of them complaining. They are on time and ready for every occasion. They play with the children who are always around the clinic, sing out during devos and services in English and in Spanish, and have made a lot of friends here.

Which brings me to one of my least favorite topics: leaving the friends we've made here. But let me tell you about our day first. Today we only had a half day of clinic time so that we could pack up the trunks of supplies and do a proper inventory, something they weren't able to do last year with so many people sick. Several people went back to the hotel with the materials and did the nitty gritty job of counting and listing everything. Many of the rest of us went out to schools or to Bible studies with our Latino preachers and spent our last few hours in Tonaca enjoying the warm sunshine and cool breeze.

It has been my honor the past two days to be a silent partner for some great Bible scholars including Elias Roque, Sr. and Elias, Jr. They each have a great manner of approaching people and helping them see what the Bible says for their lives. I am so impressed with the way they can decide so quickly which verse applies in a situation, turn to it, and teach with authority from God's word. Although only one of the studies resulted in a restoration, many good seeds were planted in hearts that should yield results later.

At 5 p.m., just after the baptism of a new sister, the men began setting up the chairs in the street for our evening "culto" (worship service). We sang in English for 30 minutes while people gathered under the branches of the ancient rubber tree (it's at least 100 feet tall and 50 feet wide), outside the clinic for our final night of the campaign. At 5:30 one of the preachers from Panama began his sermon, while the little ones and teens went off to their classes, and we began our nightly "mystery time" listening to a Spanish sermon, searching for "Segundo Timoteo capitulo uno, versiculo dos" (or whatever he said). We adults resort to elementary behaviors, whispering what we think he said (in English), turning to it if we can, then trying to follow along as he reads too quickly in Spanish. We are easily distracted by a fussy baby or whiny toddler. Several of us whip out lollipops for the toddler and offer to hold the baby. We notice the dog that walks through the middle of the congregation, the doves that flit overhead, as well as the passersby who choose to walk directly behind the preacher. The speaker system broadcasts the whole service across the central park where locals sit eating pupusas and sipping horchata in little "mom & pop" cafes. Some listen and come closer, others act unimpressed. After several verses of the invitation song, we are dismissed.

Now, time is running out. It's getting to the dreaded "goodbyes". The routines of running the clinic are over. The huge room where we have arranged and rearranged folding chairs for our morning devos, group meetings, divisions of the clinic, and children's class is being swept by our fabulous Roy Shannon (what a hard worker!) and his trusty sidekick, Justin from Brushy, TN. Chairs are being loaded on a truck to be returned. The inflatable pool we've used for a baptistry is deflated. The computers we've used to enter data for the pharmacy are shut down and packed away. Children are walking away with all their "loot" from their class. The teens are taking pictures of themselves with various young'uns. I hug the ladies we've met, murmuring "Dios te bendiga" (God bless you). Oh, no. Many of our eyes are getting teary. I shake the hand of the man whose office we've used all week, who has been so gracious to let us use his desk for the data entry. I look around for the local preacher, Enrique, and his wife, Isis. They are busy loading things. I look for the bus. We usually run there after services, hurrying to get to the hotel and supper, but this time I am the first "gringo" on the bus and they must honk the horn and yell "andale" many times to get all the team members untangled from their many hugs. I am unable to walk the half a block back to get anyone. For one thing, I'm tired out. For another, I don't want to say "goodbye" again.

Back to our hotel for our "last supper" by Chef Rone. He leaves tomorrow; his talents have been a great blessing for all of us. There are close to 90 campaigners with all the local people who have come to doorknock. Tomorrow all of the Latinos will head for their respective countries: Panama, Honduras, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. It's hard to realize that these hard-working men (and two women), who have translated, taught Bible studies, and pitched in with every job, will be gone from us so soon! Once again, it's difficult to part from dear brothers who have shared in a concentrated effort like this.

We are all thankful that we've not had as much of the sickness or to as great a degree as was experienced last year. A few people have had some "down time", but we've made it through the actual campaign part. Tomorrow we'll do some sight seeing.

El Salvador 2010 Day 6

Day 6
Wow. Words, in English or Spanish, don't do justice for the experience we've had here. Words are powerful, but the language barrier can get complicated at times. But there are some things that are universal and that everyone can understand, such as smiles, laughs, and more importantly the love of Christ. Just looking in the Latinos' big brown eyes, young and old, comforts each and every one of us. Mr. David Shannon was talking about how it will be so great if we all get to heaven and get to have a long conversation that everyone will understand and then sing praises to our Lord.

This morning I woke up around 5:30 to get in the shower before anyone else. The quiet time in the morning is great. Then I ate breakfast, which consisted of tamales and refried beans… never thought I'd ever eat that so early on in the day, but it was good. Next we were off to the Casa Comunal, where we set up the clinic each day. The journey there is interesting. There are cattle pulling carts, kids walking to school with their madres, and men in the backs of trucks on their way to work. All the while, dodging other vehicles and pedestrians.

When we got there, Terry (from another congregation) led the morning devotional. He talked about how he's been going out and evangelizing, in particular to the people who have fallen away from the church. He stressed how important it is to stay a part of the church and participating in the Lord's work. I'm sure he was especially pumped because someone he had been studying with got baptized yesterday. Number one priority: SAVE SOULS. It's great to hear when people get baptized. Now we just need to pray that they continue their journey and grow in Christ and that God saves more through us.

Next we had morning devotionals. I went with the ladies class, taught by our on Mrs. Melissa Burka. She does such an outstanding job. We talked about being a part of the church, and how we, the ladies, need to do our parts.

For the first half of the day, I worked in the pharmacy typing prescriptions into the computer. It's crazy to see all the different types of problems that are prevalent in the community, such as worms, headaches, poor vision, and urinary tract infections. Sorry if you didn't want to get into that much detail. Everyone that goes through the clinic is asked if they would like to learn about the Bible and have a study. Itls good to see when they say yes.

For the second half of the day, I was part of the school evangelism. We went to visit a school, which had kids aged from first grade to probably sixth grade. That's just a guess. We went throughout the classes teaching the lesson from Mark about the poor man given sight. We always ask what can be applied from the lesson, and in every single class, there's at least one kid that says that it's important that we have faith. Let that be a lesson to each and every one of us. When they got out for recess, we played with them. A lot of them were fans of duck, duck, goose. It's so amazing how much they adore us. We pray that they will learn to adore Christ so much more. Oh their smiles… I could go on for days. It's heartbreaking that we have to leave them after tomorrow. One week just isn't enough to form relationships, but hopefully we can all take the passion back to the U.S. and form relationships that blossom into a Christian family.

Last thing... we had the nightly devo. It seems like more people are coming each day. Our teen girls' class is getting bigger. One girl asked to study with our teacher, Kristi Roque, after the devotional. Awesome! Then we headed back to the hotel, had an awesome meal, and now a group is singing. But I'm going to head off because some people from my room and I are going to wake up early to watch the sun rise over the lake. We'll see if that actually happens. God bless.

Submitted by Nicole Harris

El Salvador 2010 Day 5

Day 5 (Tuesday)
If you have been on a mission trip you know that after a couple of days of seed sowing the power of God's Word begins to work in the honest hearts. We experienced that today! After lunch today three different studies ended with four individuals asking to be immersed into Christ. Ashley McIndoo and I were sitting in a small house during one of these studies. Five of us were studying in a room that was about 4' x 8' with five of us studying the beautiful story of Jesus. Omar was studying in Spanish giving us occasional updates in his broken English. The passages he was using gave us insight to what was being studied. Their faces were serious and at the same time optimistic with the hope of something great about to happen in their lives. Once their heart was pricked and the message of grace was learned Omar turned in his broken English saying to us, "They baptized now. Right now." As we walked back to baptize this husband and wife Ashley said to me, "I love the way they see the urgency of baptism." I do too. It is just like in Acts. The Apostle doctrine still produces the same results.

The fourth baptism today was a woman pregnant with twins. In the new converts' class tonight, which was attended by five young Christians, I used her as an example of commitment. I asked her, "Will you be faithful to the Lord when those twins are 18 years old? Will they grow up seeing a mother who faithfully loves the Lord and His church?" With a huge smile and energetic nod she exclaimed, "Si!" What a class!

The fact is sobering that today is "hump day." The medical and evangelistic aspect of the campaign began on Sunday and ends on Thursday night. We only have two more days to plant and water. Will you pray fervently for this next 48 hours?

If you were with me right now you would hear Phil leading the late night singing. There is about 18 gathered tonight outdoors overlooking a beautiful lake probably made by a volcano years ago. There are Christians from five congregations in Tennessee and congregations in Kentucky, Virginia, Georgia, Florida and Oklahoma lifting their hearts to God. One of our team members mentioned today how quickly you get to know and love Christians on these trips. We hope and pray to do much good here, but we are blessed as much as anyone.

Before I close, you may be asking, "What does a day of evangelism look like?" In the morning after women's and men's classes we will divide into about 12 to 14 teams. Many of the teams will have three members. Two of the teams will have 6 to 8 members. These larger teams will go to local schools and tell a short Bible story and conclude by inviting the children and their families to the medical clinic and the Gospel Meeting that evening. The children in the schools love our youth. They ask them for their autographs and hang on every word of the Bible stories. The smaller teams will spend an hour and half to two hours in each Bible study all throughout the day. These Latin American brothers are mighty evangelists.

To all of our MJ family we would be remiss if we didn't mention one aspect of this campaign that is spectacular. The preacher chosen to preach the Gospel meeting each evening is none other than our Elias Roque! He is doing a superb job! There were five or six responses the first night. To God be the Glory!

Well Phil and the group are closing with "We gotta ready when He calls my name!" That is why we are here. Enough said.

Submitted by David Shannon

# Posted @ 12:23 PM on Wednesday, March 17, 2010
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El Salvador 2010 Day 4

Monday Day 4. The day went well. Started our day early with cereal for breakfast with fruit and toast. A quick half an hour ride to the site (maybe more like 35 minutes). We had our devo in the big room where we conduct the clinic each day. This day the line was fully formed and noisy when we arrived. It was little hard to hear Dave speaking with the noise coming from the folks outside. The number of people out and about was dramatically different from Sunday. Many shops were closed and not very many people were out in the streets on Sunday. That did allow us to start a little slower and get the kinks out.

After the devo we broke up in three groups-ladies class, preacher's class which was primarily the evangelistic organization meeting, and the crew to set up the clinic. While the last two sessions ran a little long, the clinic opened for registration just a minute or two late. By the time the medical staff joined us from the ladies class we had a good number of patients ready for health teaching and then the nursing staff.

I spend almost all my time in the clinic and therefore have very few comments on the evangelistic activities. I do get snapshots from the folks as they come in for lunch and the end of the day. It is interesting to observe the first timers (we have 16 this year). I see their excitement and how quickly they establish bonds with our Latin brothers and sisters and the people in the community. Don't get me wrong not everyone finds this work their cup of tea, but even those who don't seem to have a good week and find fulfillment in serving the Lord.

We made adjustments to pick up the pace in the clinic and by the afternoon things were moving quite well. We joke that we will be a well oiled machine by the end of the day on Thursday when we shut the doors. We are a little more challenged this year from a people control standpoint. We like having a closed facility such that we control who comes and goes. There are several active government offices in the facility. We have to grant them and their clients access to and from the facility. If those offices were commercial endeavors and got paid one traffic they would be wealthy! Larry, our crowd control guy, does a great job keeping the flow moving and not allowing the extraneous traffic to disrupt the clinic.

Anyway, with some good suggestions from the nursing staff and their hard work we turned out far more than two the patients than we did yesterday.

The Health Department superintendent stopped by to let us know we were only going to receive a doctor, a nurse and a nursing assistant. Last year we had quite a few more. They just don't have the manpower to provide more. But the help is tremendously appreciated and we should seem significantly more patients tomorrow. That makes we tired so I have better sign off and get some sleep.

More later, Buddy

# Posted @ 10:53 AM on Tuesday, March 16, 2010
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El Salvador 2010 Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3

Sounds like a lot-my title. But we don't seem to have done much.

Day 1 was getting to Atlanta. We left close to on time and had a good turn out of friends and family to see us off. Our trip to Hot Lanta was pretty normal. A little traffic here and a little more there. But we ate supper and got to Atlanta around 9 or so and bedded down for the night.

Day 2 started early (for me) we were up and going by 6. Jim Pelfrey and 2 men from Fayetteville, GA, congregation met us about 6:30. They drove us to the airport and stored our vehicles at Fayetteville. At the airport the group was split into two parts- 6 on Delta and 31 on Continental. Steven Kirby and his group joined us there. We picked up 1 from Virginia and 3 from North Florida in Atlanta. Our group had grown to 45. Two more joined us in Houston and by the time we landed on San Salvador we had swelled to about 50.

Both flights were on time and others had arrived from earlier flights. Dave Huffman met us at the airport and assisted getting our meds cleared thru custom. Our ride to the Hotel Vista Lago overlooking Lake Ilopongo was uneventful. Well, some folks thought it was a wild ride but it was normal for the mission field in Latin America. After all we got there safely and on time. Chef Rone' (Ronnie Travis for you folks at home) had prepared our dinner and the group grew even more as those from Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama hooked up to the train.

The hotel is in a beautiful setting on the side of the mountain. The weather has been very kind: good breeze, mid 90's in the daytime and 60's at night. Things are actually greener than normal it seems.

Day 2 was all about getting on site and was quite long. We rode on trains, planes, and automobiles and vans and buses. No boats as far as I know. The real work started on Day 3.

Day3: we had a wonderful worship service with our brethren from Latin America. It is an experience that you have to live. Reading about it or listening to some one talk about it is just not the same.

After services concluded we set up the clinic and organized the evangelistic teams. This year we had an optician join the team from MJ. We have nurses, dentists, pharmacist, children's teachers, and teachers of all types.

We got everything planned and set up and then took time for lunch. After lunch the clinic opened. We only saw 87 patients for the day and that was a little disappointing but that is 87 more than we saw last year as we were unable to work due to the national elections.

Our preaching this week is being delivered by a fine young man and quite a talent. Have you heard of him? Our very own Elias Roque, Jr. The Spanish congregation that meets at MJ is quite blessed. We had several restorations.

Back to the hotel to a feast prepared by Chef Rone' and crew ended a very good day.

# Posted @ 2:51 PM on Monday, March 15, 2010
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