El Salvador is blowing up my life!!!!
The country is beautiful, the food is delicious, the weather is far too hot for enjoyment, but none of that even matters because this country is wrecking me. I am being challenged. I am loving my team more and more every day. I get to speak life into people. I get to speak truth into people. I get to be poured into by people. And more than all of that I get to be blown up in the face by God’s truth every single day.
My new favorite activity is riding in the back of a work truck. Standing at the front of the truck bed, with my arms and head above the cab. The wind in my hair, bug guts and dirt coating my face. I dodge tree branches and leaves. I hold on tight when there are bumps in the road. I get sunburned on my nose. But, there really is nothing like it. It provides a whole new view of life from up there. I positively love it. Too bad it is illegal in the states. [Sorry mom, you didn’t need that visual].
We go to church five times a week. Sometimes we have a translator but mostly not. We have prayer services and youth services and women’s services and missionary services and regular church services. We are close to two other teams this month, but not living with them but that means every time we have church we get to see them and sometimes we also get to see them for ministry.
Our ministry this month is much more laid back than last month. The church we are working with is going through a lot of changes with leadership and such, but we are enjoying getting to be a part of this transition with them. So as far as ministry goes we have been going to schools and doing dramas and songs; we have been going into communities around El Salvador and have been praying for people, handing out food, and doing church/a message in their communities. It has been a really cool experience so far. The other day I even met a Salvadorian named Amanda.
I met some precious little girls who are sisters and I bonded with them through smiles, tickling, and hand clapping games. Those need no translation. That day I was able to give their family some food. They live with their mother and their great grandma. My team was able to pray for some physical problems of their grandmother one day. As we left, I wasn’t sure if our ministry was going to take us back there again and the next day we went back to their village to walk around and pray for people and the first people we see when we get out of the truck are the three little girls.
My team is doing really well. Although we are doing ministry sort of with two other teams we live alone this month. It is really awesome. Our team is growing and stretching each other in ways that I didn’t even know existed. We are calling out greatness in each other and it is so good. There is some conflict sometimes but it is generally resolved quickly and in the words of my team leader “intimacy is built through it.” We are jealous for each other and words are being spoken into our team by people of honor and it is just really encouraging.
I know this isn’t my usual blog about how God is wrecking my world, I am still really processing that and trying to figure out how to put it into words exactly. But just know that I am really stoked about it and I can’t wait to see what the rest of this month and year will look like.
With that being said, I am still about $3,400 away from my next goal deadline which is April 1st. If I don’t make that deadline I am going home and won’t get to finish my race. Would you PLEASE prayerfully consider helping support me to keep me on the field? It doesn’t matter if it is $5, $10, $100, $500, Anything helps, honestly. I mean it is only sacrificing something small in comparison to the things that God is doing here. If you can’t help, can you share me with someone who might be able to help? I can’t go home. Thanks for those who have given so far, I am so grateful for you and the ministry you are doing for me so that I can even be here. Really it is such a blessing to be able to serve and go into communities who literally have nothing and bring joy and hope.
I will try to put into words what is going on in my heart within the next few days. Also, I will get some pictures for you. My facebook is not working properly so check my tagged pictures from the girls on my team and you will see pictures of me.
Much love from The Microwave,
-A
p.s. also be watching for a cribs episode of the microwave.
