El Salvador 2011 Day 7-8

Our last day in El salvador was a day of relocating to the Quality Inn at the El Salvador airport. The majority of us went to a mall to eat lunch and shop for souvenirs. The rest relaxed at the hotel. We had planned to take a small group to a coffee plantation but it was "closed for maintenance". I am not sure how you close a plantation for maintenance, but we are happy we found out BEFORE riding a bus for several hours!

Our day ended with a tremendous banquet at the hotel. Several folks reported on activities for the week and impressions from the work. We even had two marvelous impersonalizations from Buck and Taylor G.

The immediate results of the campaign were 13 baptisms and 7 restorations. We need to continue to pray for these souls and the workers who remain in this difficult field of El Salvador.

Our travel day began with loading groups of 8-9 on vans at 430 am and shuttling them to the airport. We were disappointed to find the counter didn't open until almost 6 am, but we were there and ready to check in.

Both flights left on time and arrived early for those returning to the Nashville airport. I trust the rest of the team has arrived safely by now.

Great week and a lot of good work was done and many seeds were sown.

Thanks to this team that worked extremely hard to overcome numerous challenges. I ask each reader of this blog to pray for the work and the workers in El Salvador.

# Posted @ 6:44 PM on Saturday, March 19, 2011
0 comments

El Salvador 2011 Day 6

The campaign has ended but there is still much work to be done. We have had a good five days working in Usulutan; there were a number of restorations and baptisms. I can't give you a good count as I was gone a good bit of the week. Hopefully we will have the numbers tomorrow night.

We had some disappointments-spending three days trying to get our medicines through and being able to work the dental crew only two days because we didn't have a local dentist. Those were the disappointments. But even good came out of those: we have lots of new friends at the health department and understand the new procedures much better than we ever hoped to.

There were far more highlights like arranging for a little boy with cerebral palsy get a wheel chair thanks to donations, the baptisms and restorations mentioned above, seeing our young people meet fellow Christians from other countries, numerous Bible studies, and adult team mates meeting new people from other countries and the USA. I could go on but I will stop at that.

Our work is done here except for bugging out in the morning and heading to the hotel to recoup, shopping or sightseeing at a coffee plantation.

It has been a really hot week and losing the electricty and A/C on a couple of nights has not helped. Yes, this is the same hotel we stayed at when we lost electricity and water last time. This time we were able to catch things before they went too far and were able to salvage the lights and the water pump (for the most part). Our maintenance team is incredible! You just don't know what they can do in a pinch. Brushy, Pikeville and MJ men blended and made sure everything was done.

Well, it is late and I need to get some rest so I will sign off for tonight.

More tomorrow, hopefully.

Buddy

# Posted @ 11:00 PM on Thursday, March 17, 2011
2 comments

El Salvador 2011 Day 5b

Here is my entry for today.

Good things are happening--studies, baptisms, restorations, medical patients being treated and dental patients being treated. We had a local dentist come for a few hours, but she stayed longer than she planned. We are hoping she comes back tomorrow.

Medicine update. We arrived back from the airport at 4pm after leaving at 630am to pick it up. It wasn't a simple "show them your paperwork, have someone review the contacts and leave". We ended up working with 10 different people to free all but a few where there were some discrepancies in the inventory. Tomorrow we should have 200 pharmacy patients in addition to the 250 or so that come thru the full clinic. We will see if we have a dentist from the Health department so we can put Dr. Yankandhow's group back to work.

The heat is pretty intense this week and it is wearing us down, but we have one more day of clinic operation. It is finishing up way too fast.

I am in the eating area where we have stayed on three trips. There is a group singing in one corner and cards being played in another. What a wonderful way to end the day.

Keep praying for the work and the people here.

Buddy

# Posted @ 9:21 PM on Wednesday, March 16, 2011
5 comments

El Salvador 2011 Day 5a

Tonight we have a post from Amanda Brown, Elizabeth Pelfrey Jimenez's sister:

The trip to El Salvador is a tremendous success! Although the week is not yet over, the many positive works of the team are being manifested every day. It has been great to see the number of attendees to Bible classes increase each day. I have been involved in the children's classes. Some students come each day to hear the new story from God's word. But there are more and more new students each day as well. And they are coming with their parents. Church services have more and more people each night too. The singing is great with everyone singing out in praise. The Bible studies have increased and most importantly, more baptisms. This is the reason we are here so it has been great to see the results of these labors every single day. Enthusiasm and energy have not diminished. The team continues to be fired up for the good work and likewise, that energy has only grown. The devotional speakers continue to motivate and we are all encouraging and uplifting one another. This is truly a blessing and no question our work here is worthwhile and a benefit to others in the community but to ourselves as well.

El Salvador 2011 Day 4d

OK, now I will finish out today's report from sunny and warm El Salvador.

I am not sure who enjoyed the comments on the blog more those who got a post from home or me. I just loved giving hugs to all the kids from their parents. Planting a big kiss on Martin Porter was not the best for him or me, but we complied. By the way Steph, Martin is working in the shade and he did bring a hat. All is good.

McClain mentioned the babies. Here is a pix of him holding this 21 day old little girl.

Not to be out done someone else needed to hold that little girl. Look out Colton and Lacie you may have someone living in your house when you return. Surprise David! Emilee is excited.

We had another frustrating day with our meds. Victor sent the day at the Health Department but got the final approval around 3 pm. Off to the airport to pick them up. Not so fast moose breath, you now get to deal with CUSTOMS. Five windows and at least 10 people later we got the paperwork completed, BUT we need a policeman to look thru the trunks for any control substances and he went home at 3. So it is up early, head to the airport at 630 and see if we can free the meds. If we can't we may just abandon them. So sad we could have helped so many people.

Still only one tooth pulled. No local dentist showed up today so Dr. Mike's outstanding crew has been just that out standing around wishing they could help the people of Usulutan, El Salvador.

We are getting some pub however. Phil was interviewed Monday by one TV station. Not to be out done the rest showed up to today for an interview. I was elected to talk to the media. I will sell my autograph when I return home.

Well, time to call it quits for today.

More tomorrow hoefully.
Buddy

# Posted @ 10:28 PM on Tuesday, March 15, 2011
12 comments

El Salvador 2011 Day 4c

Now Amelia Smith adds for today:

Hola mis amigos en los Estados Unidos! Well for those of you, like me, who don’t speak any Spanish that is Hello my friends in the United States! My name is Amelia Smith and this is my first trip to El Salvador. It was also my first plane ride so I was pretty scared. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be though. For those who have never been down here you should really look into coming. Everything is so colorful and pretty. The people are super nice too. I absolutely love it here!
I have been working with teen evangelism this week. We have gone into the school, performed a skit, and then played with all the children. All they really want is attention. When you pull out your camera to take a picture you'll automatically be surrounded with children wanting to have their picture taken. My sunglasses are also a big hit. They like to put them, pose, and get their picture taken. All the kids are so sweet and I just wanna take them all home with me. I realized that I don’t know a lick of Spanish. I try to talk to them and they just laugh so I laugh too.
Well, of course, everything would happen to the rookies. The room I'm staying in is full of first timers. Within the first five minutes we had a lizard in our room, and Rebecca named him Gilbert. That same night our shower flooded and got all over our room. We probably would've never noticed if I had not bent over to get a snack. Mr. Mark Crisp and all the maintenance people got that fixed very quickly. Sunday the time had changed back in the US but not here. All our clocks had changed time so we got up an hour early. That was a very long day. Yesterday we accidentally locked our key in our room. We were all scared because our passports and everything were in there. Luckily Mr. David Burka got the keys and let us in. So far nothing else has happened.
The translators are awesome! They are all some of the funniest people I've ever met. Some of the girls have been teaching Hector and Juan English slang and terms. It is so funny to hear them say them to us. One of the things we taught Hector was Boom Shockalocka Boom. He had a little dance for it and everything. Ashley and Nicole taught Juan to say things like kinda and sorta which is hilarious to hear him say.
The people here are such crazy drivers. I've only seen two stop signs since we've been here.

I love being here in this environment. The people are so much more accepting of God's word than at home. I pray that many more souls will be reached and adding to the church.
I miss everyone and can't wait to see you!
-Amelia Smith

El Salvador 2011 Day 4b

The next short ditty is from Rose Kennedy:

Now that you know McClain let me tell you more. He is a standup comedian. He had everyone at the registration area laughing their heads off most of the day today….. American and Spanish alike. He teaches health and hygiene class. Don't know what was so funny about it but they were laughing a lot.

Rose Kennedy

El Salvador 2011 Day 4a

We have some guest blogger tonight. First McClain Richardson writes:

Hola! Well before we get started lets get to know each other, my name is McClain Richardson. I am a member of the Mt. Juliet Church of Christ, and this is my first trip to El Salvador. This week so far has been GREAT and its only Tuesday. I have been working in the clinic the whole time we have been here. I have met many new people, and have loved every single one of them. This week there have been seven baptisms and five restorations. Many other people have been studying to be baptized.
A typical day here starts at about 6:30 for breakfast and morning devotional, then we all start moving chairs to the clinic and class areas. The youth evangelism teams and door knockers leave at about 9:00. That is when the fun begins, the clinic door opens and we start seeing patients. I have been teaching a class of basic hygiene, to reinforce getting clean and stopping the spread of germs. My favorite part of this job is seeing all the many faces of the people here. I have seen more babies in one group of people than I have ever seen before! When I first arrived I hardly knew any Spanish, but I have picked up a lot and can now help translate for the clinic.
Many locals have volunteered to work with the doctors and nurses to help break down the language barrier. I have grown close to one man named Fausto Sanchez. He was originally my translator but now been helping at the gate to see what the people are here for. He heard about us when he ran into David Shannon and Phil Waggoner at the Wendy's on Saturday. Many of us got a chuckle when he referred to Phil as Dr. Phil and a few people said they watched that show. But no, he was talking about our Phil! Mrs. Tracie and I set him straight real quick. Fausto is not a Christian but has been studying with Mr. David and has shown interest in becoming a child of God.
I hope this trip turns many people to God and brings people that knew God but have strayed away back to Him. Please continue praying for us and the souls we hope to save throughout the rest of our trip!
-McClain

El Salvador 2011 Day 3

Sorry for missing a post yesterday. It was kind of a crazy day and by the time I got to writing one the internet was down. Sigh.

OK, let's back up to Saturday, Day One, with a few details. Most flights ran on time, but our two teammates from Roanoke, VA. They had mechanical difficulty and couldn't leave to Sunday. They hooked up with our nursing student from Montgomary and arrived one day late. We had one bag from the big group that came on the early flight that didn't make it.

Our biggest problem was our medical trunks. Rules changed from lat year and we couldn't bring our supplementary meds in with us without some additional paperwork which couldn't be completed until Monday. Bigget issue is that our dental lidocaine was in the supplementary luggage. How would you like to have a tooth extracted with weak weak lidocaine?

Sunday we had our devo and starting working on opening the clinic. Due to a good plan developed by our advance team we had the clinic operating at 930am and that was from scratch!. Excellent job.

We were able to get the door knockers going fairly early and sent the teens out to recruit kids to our classes. Things went fairly smoothly with only major slip up was not getting the clinic closed early enough for all workers to get to services at the beginning.

The most important result of the day was a baptism of an elderly lady.

Great singing last night and bedtime.

Today started normally for some of our team. Four of us headed to the health department to get our meds released. Let's just say by the end of the day we felt like ping pong balls and we headed back to the hotel without any meds. We did make progress but more changes in rules and regulations that seem to be directed to protecting their people from some of the bad campaigns left us frustrated. Ever heard that all the kids get punished because of some of the bad ones. That is how I feel tonight.

The good thing is that the clinic worked well without us, we got some TV exposure to the work here, and most importantly the Gospel was taken to more people.

Today two more souls put Christ on in baptism. The work continues.

While it is quite hot here about normal with highs in the low 90's. Sun will cook you in short order if you don't wear protection (hat and sunscreen). It was good looking at all the happy faces tonight after we got back and over all everyone seems healthy and happy.

I am planning on getting someone else to blog the nect few days so we can get some different perspectives on the campaign.

Keep the prayers going up for us!
Buddy

# Posted @ 10:00 PM on Monday, March 14, 2011
4 comments

El Salvador 2011 Day 1

Really short post. Everyone is here and everyone is fine. Lots to do to get going tomorrow. More details then. Buddy

# Posted @ 12:20 AM on Sunday, March 13, 2011
5 comments

El Salvador 2011 Pretrip---for the most of us

It doesn't seem like a year has gone by, but it has and we are deep in the execution of the 2011 El Salvador mission trip, March 12 thru March 19.

The ground has been prepared for 68 folks from the USA and about 30 or so from Latin America to conduct a Evangelistic/Medical Campaign March 13 thru March 17 in Usulutan, El Salvador. While the trip starts on March 12 that is mainly a travel and settle in day. Also Friday March 18 is a rest and recovery day and Saturday, March 19, is a travel day home. I thought some of you loved ones back home would be wondering what the rest of the trip was all about.

The planning began months ago, but the execution began the first of this week as North Americans began to arrive. Phil Waggoner, Dave Huffman, Bill Staggs, and Dennis Buchanan flew to San Salvador on Monday. They went down early to buy meds and make final preparations for the main body of the team to arrive on Saturday, March 12. Chef Rone' Travis arrived on Wednesday to procure delicacies for nourishing the team for their week in Usulutan, as did Sarah Dutton to make sure everything was done right.

The rest of the team is scheduled to arrive on Saturday afternoon and evening with one coming in on Sunday. We have 2 from Alabama, 2 from Arkansas, one from Florida, 2 from Georgia, 2 from Oklahoma, 5 from Virgina, and 54 from Tennessee. The Tenneseans are mainly Mount Juliet members but we have folks from Bell Buckle, Centerville, Henderson, Hendersonville, Leoma, Memphis, Nashville, and Pikeville. Quite an assembly of workers for the Lord.

OK, that is where things are on Thursday, March 10. I hope to have a post on March 12 after we arrive so be looking for that. Also I am hoping to have guest bloggers during the week to give you their thoughts on the work.

Please pray that the hearts in Usulutan are ripe for the Message and for our safety and success while there.

Buddy Pickler
For the El Salvador 2011 Team

# Posted @ 10:13 AM on Thursday, March 10, 2011
3 comments


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El Salvador 2011 Day 7-8 Our last day in El salvador was a day of relocating to the Quality Inn at the El Salvador airport. The majority of us went to a mall to eat lunch and shop for souvenirs. The rest relaxed at the hotel. We had planned to take a small group to a coffee plantation but it was "closed for maintenance". I am not sure how you close a plantation for maintenance, but we are happy we found out BEFORE riding a bus for several hours! Our day ended with a tremendous banquet at the hotel. Several folks reported on activities for the week and impressions from the work. We even had two marvelous impersonalizations from Buck and Taylor G. The immediate results of the campaign were 13 baptisms and 7 restorations. We need to continue to pray for these souls and the workers who remain in this difficult field of El Salvador. Our travel day began with loading groups of 8-9 on vans at 430 am and shuttling them to the airport. We were disappointed to find the counter didn't open until almost 6 am, but we were there and ready to check in. Both flights left on time and arrived early for those returning to the Nashville airport. I trust the rest of the team has arrived safely by now. Great week and a lot of good work was done and many seeds were sown. Thanks to this team that worked extremely hard to overcome numerous challenges. I ask each reader of this blog to pray for the work and the workers in El Salvador. # Posted @ 6:44 PM on Saturday, March 19, 2011 0 comments El Salvador 2011 Day 6 The campaign has ended but there is still much work to be done. We have had a good five days working in Usulutan; there were a number of restorations and baptisms. I can't give you a good count as I was gone a good bit of the week. Hopefully we will have the numbers tomorrow night. We had some disappointments-spending three days trying to get our medicines through and being able to work the dental crew only two days because we didn't have a local dentist. Those were the disappointments. But even good came out of those: we have lots of new friends at the health department and understand the new procedures much better than we ever hoped to. There were far more highlights like arranging for a little boy with cerebral palsy get a wheel chair thanks to donations, the baptisms and restorations mentioned above, seeing our young people meet fellow Christians from other countries, numerous Bible studies, and adult team mates meeting new people from other countries and the USA. I could go on but I will stop at that. Our work is done here except for bugging out in the morning and heading to the hotel to recoup, shopping or sightseeing at a coffee plantation. It has been a really hot week and losing the electricty and A/C on a couple of nights has not helped. Yes, this is the same hotel we stayed at when we lost electricity and water last time. This time we were able to catch things before they went too far and were able to salvage the lights and the water pump (for the most part). Our maintenance team is incredible! You just don't know what they can do in a pinch. Brushy, Pikeville and MJ men blended and made sure everything was done. Well, it is late and I need to get some rest so I will sign off for tonight. More tomorrow, hopefully. Buddy # Posted @ 11:00 PM on Thursday, March 17, 2011 2 comments El Salvador 2011 Day 5b Here is my entry for today. Good things are happening--studies, baptisms, restorations, medical patients being treated and dental patients being treated. We had a local dentist come for a few hours, but she stayed longer than she planned. We are hoping she comes back tomorrow. Medicine update. We arrived back from the airport at 4pm after leaving at 630am to pick it up. It wasn't a simple "show them your paperwork, have someone review the contacts and leave". We ended up working with 10 different people to free all but a few where there were some discrepancies in the inventory. Tomorrow we should have 200 pharmacy patients in addition to the 250 or so that come thru the full clinic. We will see if we have a dentist from the Health department so we can put Dr. Yankandhow's group back to work. The heat is pretty intense this week and it is wearing us down, but we have one more day of clinic operation. It is finishing up way too fast. I am in the eating area where we have stayed on three trips. There is a group singing in one corner and cards being played in another. What a wonderful way to end the day. Keep praying for the work and the people here. Buddy # Posted @ 9:21 PM on Wednesday, March 16, 2011 5 comments El Salvador 2011 Day 5a Tonight we have a post from Amanda Brown, Elizabeth Pelfrey Jimenez's sister: The trip to El Salvador is a tremendous success! Although the week is not yet over, the many positive works of the team are being manifested every day. It has been great to see the number of attendees to Bible classes increase each day. I have been involved in the children's classes. Some students come each day to hear the new story from God's word. But there are more and more new students each day as well. And they are coming with their parents. Church services have more and more people each night too. The singing is great with everyone singing out in praise. The Bible studies have increased and most importantly, more baptisms. This is the reason we are here so it has been great to see the results of these labors every single day. Enthusiasm and energy have not diminished. The team continues to be fired up for the good work and likewise, that energy has only grown. The devotional speakers continue to motivate and we are all encouraging and uplifting one another. This is truly a blessing and no question our work here is worthwhile and a benefit to others in the community but to ourselves as well. El Salvador 2011 Day 4d OK, now I will finish out today's report from sunny and warm El Salvador. I am not sure who enjoyed the comments on the blog more those who got a post from home or me. I just loved giving hugs to all the kids from their parents. Planting a big kiss on Martin Porter was not the best for him or me, but we complied. By the way Steph, Martin is working in the shade and he did bring a hat. All is good. McClain mentioned the babies. Here is a pix of him holding this 21 day old little girl. Not to be out done someone else needed to hold that little girl. Look out Colton and Lacie you may have someone living in your house when you return. Surprise David! Emilee is excited. We had another frustrating day with our meds. Victor sent the day at the Health Department but got the final approval around 3 pm. Off to the airport to pick them up. Not so fast moose breath, you now get to deal with CUSTOMS. Five windows and at least 10 people later we got the paperwork completed, BUT we need a policeman to look thru the trunks for any control substances and he went home at 3. So it is up early, head to the airport at 630 and see if we can free the meds. If we can't we may just abandon them. So sad we could have helped so many people. Still only one tooth pulled. No local dentist showed up today so Dr. Mike's outstanding crew has been just that out standing around wishing they could help the people of Usulutan, El Salvador. We are getting some pub however. Phil was interviewed Monday by one TV station. Not to be out done the rest showed up to today for an interview. I was elected to talk to the media. I will sell my autograph when I return home. Well, time to call it quits for today. More tomorrow hoefully. Buddy # Posted @ 10:28 PM on Tuesday, March 15, 2011 12 comments El Salvador 2011 Day 4c Now Amelia Smith adds for today: Hola mis amigos en los Estados Unidos! Well for those of you, like me, who don’t speak any Spanish that is Hello my friends in the United States! My name is Amelia Smith and this is my first trip to El Salvador. It was also my first plane ride so I was pretty scared. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be though. For those who have never been down here you should really look into coming. Everything is so colorful and pretty. The people are super nice too. I absolutely love it here! I have been working with teen evangelism this week. We have gone into the school, performed a skit, and then played with all the children. All they really want is attention. When you pull out your camera to take a picture you'll automatically be surrounded with children wanting to have their picture taken. My sunglasses are also a big hit. They like to put them, pose, and get their picture taken. All the kids are so sweet and I just wanna take them all home with me. I realized that I don’t know a lick of Spanish. I try to talk to them and they just laugh so I laugh too. Well, of course, everything would happen to the rookies. The room I'm staying in is full of first timers. Within the first five minutes we had a lizard in our room, and Rebecca named him Gilbert. That same night our shower flooded and got all over our room. We probably would've never noticed if I had not bent over to get a snack. Mr. Mark Crisp and all the maintenance people got that fixed very quickly. Sunday the time had changed back in the US but not here. All our clocks had changed time so we got up an hour early. That was a very long day. Yesterday we accidentally locked our key in our room. We were all scared because our passports and everything were in there. Luckily Mr. David Burka got the keys and let us in. So far nothing else has happened. The translators are awesome! They are all some of the funniest people I've ever met. Some of the girls have been teaching Hector and Juan English slang and terms. It is so funny to hear them say them to us. One of the things we taught Hector was Boom Shockalocka Boom. He had a little dance for it and everything. Ashley and Nicole taught Juan to say things like kinda and sorta which is hilarious to hear him say. The people here are such crazy drivers. I've only seen two stop signs since we've been here. I love being here in this environment. The people are so much more accepting of God's word than at home. I pray that many more souls will be reached and adding to the church. I miss everyone and can't wait to see you! -Amelia Smith El Salvador 2011 Day 4b The next short ditty is from Rose Kennedy: Now that you know McClain let me tell you more. He is a standup comedian. He had everyone at the registration area laughing their heads off most of the day today….. American and Spanish alike. He teaches health and hygiene class. Don't know what was so funny about it but they were laughing a lot. Rose Kennedy El Salvador 2011 Day 4a We have some guest blogger tonight. First McClain Richardson writes: Hola! Well before we get started lets get to know each other, my name is McClain Richardson. I am a member of the Mt. Juliet Church of Christ, and this is my first trip to El Salvador. This week so far has been GREAT and its only Tuesday. I have been working in the clinic the whole time we have been here. I have met many new people, and have loved every single one of them. This week there have been seven baptisms and five restorations. Many other people have been studying to be baptized. A typical day here starts at about 6:30 for breakfast and morning devotional, then we all start moving chairs to the clinic and class areas. The youth evangelism teams and door knockers leave at about 9:00. That is when the fun begins, the clinic door opens and we start seeing patients. I have been teaching a class of basic hygiene, to reinforce getting clean and stopping the spread of germs. My favorite part of this job is seeing all the many faces of the people here. I have seen more babies in one group of people than I have ever seen before! When I first arrived I hardly knew any Spanish, but I have picked up a lot and can now help translate for the clinic. Many locals have volunteered to work with the doctors and nurses to help break down the language barrier. I have grown close to one man named Fausto Sanchez. He was originally my translator but now been helping at the gate to see what the people are here for. He heard about us when he ran into David Shannon and Phil Waggoner at the Wendy's on Saturday. Many of us got a chuckle when he referred to Phil as Dr. Phil and a few people said they watched that show. But no, he was talking about our Phil! Mrs. Tracie and I set him straight real quick. Fausto is not a Christian but has been studying with Mr. David and has shown interest in becoming a child of God. I hope this trip turns many people to God and brings people that knew God but have strayed away back to Him. Please continue praying for us and the souls we hope to save throughout the rest of our trip! -McClain El Salvador 2011 Day 3 Sorry for missing a post yesterday. It was kind of a crazy day and by the time I got to writing one the internet was down. Sigh. OK, let's back up to Saturday, Day One, with a few details. Most flights ran on time, but our two teammates from Roanoke, VA. They had mechanical difficulty and couldn't leave to Sunday. They hooked up with our nursing student from Montgomary and arrived one day late. We had one bag from the big group that came on the early flight that didn't make it. Our biggest problem was our medical trunks. Rules changed from lat year and we couldn't bring our supplementary meds in with us without some additional paperwork which couldn't be completed until Monday. Bigget issue is that our dental lidocaine was in the supplementary luggage. How would you like to have a tooth extracted with weak weak lidocaine? Sunday we had our devo and starting working on opening the clinic. Due to a good plan developed by our advance team we had the clinic operating at 930am and that was from scratch!. Excellent job. We were able to get the door knockers going fairly early and sent the teens out to recruit kids to our classes. Things went fairly smoothly with only major slip up was not getting the clinic closed early enough for all workers to get to services at the beginning. The most important result of the day was a baptism of an elderly lady. Great singing last night and bedtime. Today started normally for some of our team. Four of us headed to the health department to get our meds released. Let's just say by the end of the day we felt like ping pong balls and we headed back to the hotel without any meds. We did make progress but more changes in rules and regulations that seem to be directed to protecting their people from some of the bad campaigns left us frustrated. Ever heard that all the kids get punished because of some of the bad ones. That is how I feel tonight. The good thing is that the clinic worked well without us, we got some TV exposure to the work here, and most importantly the Gospel was taken to more people. Today two more souls put Christ on in baptism. The work continues. While it is quite hot here about normal with highs in the low 90's. Sun will cook you in short order if you don't wear protection (hat and sunscreen). It was good looking at all the happy faces tonight after we got back and over all everyone seems healthy and happy. I am planning on getting someone else to blog the nect few days so we can get some different perspectives on the campaign. Keep the prayers going up for us! Buddy # Posted @ 10:00 PM on Monday, March 14, 2011 4 comments El Salvador 2011 Day 1 Really short post. Everyone is here and everyone is fine. Lots to do to get going tomorrow. More details then. Buddy # Posted @ 12:20 AM on Sunday, March 13, 2011 5 comments El Salvador 2011 Pretrip---for the most of us It doesn't seem like a year has gone by, but it has and we are deep in the execution of the 2011 El Salvador mission trip, March 12 thru March 19. The ground has been prepared for 68 folks from the USA and about 30 or so from Latin America to conduct a Evangelistic/Medical Campaign March 13 thru March 17 in Usulutan, El Salvador. While the trip starts on March 12 that is mainly a travel and settle in day. Also Friday March 18 is a rest and recovery day and Saturday, March 19, is a travel day home. I thought some of you loved ones back home would be wondering what the rest of the trip was all about. The planning began months ago, but the execution began the first of this week as North Americans began to arrive. Phil Waggoner, Dave Huffman, Bill Staggs, and Dennis Buchanan flew to San Salvador on Monday. They went down early to buy meds and make final preparations for the main body of the team to arrive on Saturday, March 12. Chef Rone' Travis arrived on Wednesday to procure delicacies for nourishing the team for their week in Usulutan, as did Sarah Dutton to make sure everything was done right. The rest of the team is scheduled to arrive on Saturday afternoon and evening with one coming in on Sunday. We have 2 from Alabama, 2 from Arkansas, one from Florida, 2 from Georgia, 2 from Oklahoma, 5 from Virgina, and 54 from Tennessee. The Tenneseans are mainly Mount Juliet members but we have folks from Bell Buckle, Centerville, Henderson, Hendersonville, Leoma, Memphis, Nashville, and Pikeville. Quite an assembly of workers for the Lord. OK, that is where things are on Thursday, March 10. I hope to have a post on March 12 after we arrive so be looking for that. Also I am hoping to have guest bloggers during the week to give you their thoughts on the work. Please pray that the hearts in Usulutan are ripe for the Message and for our safety and success while there. Buddy Pickler For the El Salvador 2011 Team # Posted @ 10:13 AM on Thursday, March 10, 2011 3 comments	Mt. Juliet Church of Christ Physical Addrees: 1940 N. Mt. Juliet Road Mt. Juliet, TN 37122 Mailing Address: P.O.Box 248 Mt.Juliet, TN 37121-0248 (615)758-2274 Fax:615-754-2351 Email Worship Services: Sunday Early Worship: 8AM Sunday Bible Study: 9:15AM Sunday Late Worship: 10:15AM Night Worship: 6PM Wednesday Bible Study: 7PM Past Archives: March 2007 March 2008 March 2009 March 2010 March 2011 March 2012 March 2013 March 2014 March 2017