Funding status: 95%
Hola mi amigos! Just wanted to give an update about my first of 11 stops on the World Race. As mentioned in a previous blog, we are working with one of the churches here in La Libertad called La Red. We are staying at their site. We are also working with a local orphanage called REMAR. We got to go visit their site on Tuesday. It is like a 5-10 minute walk to the orphanage. The church and other ministry partners are trying to make repairs and improvements so that the orphanage can become self-sustainable. I believe they are working on creating a bakery. They also have a pool and a few people from the team got to go swimming with some of the kids.
They have another orphanage in a city called San Miguel where we were fortunate to visit this past Wednesday. It was a 3 hour van ride one way. However, we got to partner with a lady named Elly and her organization called 100SmileProject and spoil the kids there. The kids at that orphanage don’t have many visitors because it is in a pretty remote location and kind of hard to get to. We got to play games with the children, have a snack, play more games, go out to lunch in town and take them to a movie. The kids had so much fun and it was great to be a part of it. When we got back from the movie, some of the girls performed a choreographed dance for us, it was cute. We said good-bye shortly after that because of the long trip back home.
Another aspect to our ministry is gardening and maintaining the grounds at La Red. Several days a week we get to sweep, pull weeds, and water the plants. If you have ever gardened, then you know that pulling weeds is necessary to maintain a beautiful looking piece of land. While pulling weeds this morning (Thursday), I had these thoughts: Improving your life is a lot like pulling weeds. We all have weeds in our lives (issues). Some weeds (issues) are rooted deeper than others. Sometimes we have to move things around and sift through dirt (sin) and rocks (problems or hurts) to get to the root of the weeds (issues). We sometimes have to allow others to help us deal with the weeds (issues). Riding ourselves of the weeds can seem daunting at times, but the end result is so worth it. And if we don’t get to the root of the issue then they will keep coming back.
The weather is completely opposite of Michigan right now. For one, it is like their summer here. It has been in the upper 80’s/90’s everyday and I am not use to this kind of weather so I have been sweating like crazy. Also, La Red is within walking distance of the beach/ocean… maybe like 3 blocks. We went there to hang out for a bit on our free day. The waves are huge and there were quite a few surfers.
Prayer requests:
– That we adjust to this heat and stay hydrated. It is very easy to get dehydrated if you are not careful and drink lots of water.
– Upcoming ministry: discipleship program with teen girls of REMAR (Wednesday & Friday afternoons), church service working with the kids ministry (Saturday mornings), beach day with REMAR kids (Saturday), and other organizations where we will be ministering to kids.
– Health for the team
Thank you so much for covering me/us in prayer! God is doing some awesome things here in El Salvador and I am thankful for this opportunity to be a part of it. God bless!
Keep Lookin’ Up,
Misha
