Southbridge, MN Training Day - Video

So much for a free day... - Photo

Well, let's just say that if this is how free days will be...I don't want any more! Lisa and I were supposed to have a day of freedom, time to ourselves before things get incredibly busy, but so much for that idea. We had a youth event this morning with Jacob and the youth at the Central Church. We had to get some stuff from the camp and take it to the city for the event. Afterwards, we had the night and the next day free. We borrowed Kristal's truck so that we could not only carry the stuff to the youth event, but also so that we would have a car in order to stay in San Salvador. We were going to get a hotel room to get away from the camp for a night, planned on going out to eat somewhere nice and maybe catch a movie. Well, you see what happened was...

We loaded the stuff for the event by backing into the area by the sewing room. I didn't realize that a lot of the area of the camp is set on terraced landings because the camp is built on the slope of the volcano crater. So, I backed in by the door and started to pull out and turn so that we could leave. Lisa thought I knew about said landings and I pulled out and suddenly we came to a halt. Not so much a screeching halt, but more a sudden "THUMP" of a halt, as the front end of the truck left the landing and rested on the cement wall ON THE FRONT AXLE! Neither front tire was touching and the back tires were spinning without getting grip. Meanwhile, everyone else had already left the camp for the event (and my pride was thankful no one saw my blunder) and so we had to get the guard. God managed to look on us with favor, probably as He laughed at my idiocy, and John Strean happened to be on site. John is the resident mechanic MA for Castle. He came down and after an hour's worth of sweating, moving wood to make a ramp, and raising the front of the car with a jack we finally got the car off the landing without any damage and Lisa and I were off to start our day.

The youth event went off without a hitch and at lunch we took off into the city for our time away. Well, neither of us had driven much in El Salvador and all we had was a map to guide us through the confusing streets of San Salvador. After an hour of roaming through the side streets of San Salvador we managed to find the hotel, grabbed some food, and checked into our air conditioned haven away from the madness. Lisa laid down to rest and I worked some on the computer. At about 5 pm I started getting antsy because I wanted to go out and do something so I woke her up. We planned on going to eat at Benihana's, which is far cheaper here than in the States, and so she started to wake up as I went in the bathroom to get ready.

As I entered the bathroom I noticed that the air was hotter in there than in the room and that was because there was a window open over the bathtub. So, not wanting to air condition all of the city I decided to close the window. Life lesson #3784: When staying in a hotel and something doesn't work, get a staff person to fix it...NOT YOU! As you can guess, the window wouldn't close so I pulled on it with both hands and it slammed down...trapping my middle finger between the window and the window sill. The window bounced off my finger and back open (all of my grunting in vain). I shook my hand and looked thinking that I had merely smashed it. In horror I saw my finger cut from side to side at the top knuckle and because it was bent my first thought was, "I just cut the tip of my finger off!"

Meanwhile, Lisa only heard "THUD" and "Dang it" from the bathroom, which is a common sound in our house. I often hit my head on things so a "THUD" and a "Dang it" isn't a new thing. I said I had cut myself and she asked if I needed to get stitches. Face drained of color I exited the bathroom and Lisa came over to see my mangled finger. As I opened my left hand, which to this point was holding my finger, she saw the blood everywhere and being squimish immediately went for the keys to drive. I grabbed the nearest thing I could find to stop the bleeding, a dirty sock. We call Faith and Bro. Don to get directions and they leave to meet us at the hospital. Lisa got her first driving lesson in El Salvador with me holding my bleeding finger in a dirty sock with ice and talking on the phone to get directions. Oh yeah, did I mention that Kristal's brakes are more sensitive than a bi-polar teenager during puberty? Look at the brakes and they freeze up! So, we take off to the hospital, driving and halting through the streets. Thankfully, our hour long trip through the city showed us many of the side streets and the hospital was easy to find. Faith and Bro. Don meet us at the hospital and we go inside.

Lisa waits outside the treatment area and Bro. Don came in to translate for me. As Lisa is filling out the paperwork she hears the nurse ask, "Dirty or clean?" Well, thinking she's asking about the wound she says it's dirty. Then the nurse asks if we want to keep it and she's like YES we want to keep his finger. Well, the nurse asked about my sock, which was dirty, and when she asked if I wanted to keep it I had a very logical reply. "Of course I do, you know how hard it is to find socks in my size here?" Well, Don translated that for me after he stopped laughing hysterically. Meanwhile, I took the bloody sock and stuffed it into my pocket. They stitched up my finger with 4 stitches, gave me antibiotic, a tetanus shot, and pain killers. They wrapped my finger up and sent us on our merry way. All this work in the ER cost us a whopping $179, about $9,821 less than it would in the US. They don't seem to have splints anywhere so I ate a popsicle and used the stick for a splint (how creative of me!) and we proceeded to go out to eat. We still had Benihana's, although it was quite fun eating with chopsticks with my middle finger sticking straight up.

Wow...what a free day! I think I'll pass on the next one.

First contact

When I first watched the documentaries of the Salvadoran gangs I was moved with compassion and brokenness, desiring to change a culture. Recently, Lisa and I had our first encounter with the gangs of El Salvador. After a few days of intensive training and prayer with the 23 summer interns, we left for San Salvador for a week of ministry. On Monday, June 8, we were working David Gamez, pastor of Zone 1 in San Salvador, and we entered into MS-13 turf. We walked back into the heart of a neighborhood, walls marred by gang ensignia, and made our way to a small concrete court, occupied by some rough looking teenagers. Who knows what exactly their names are or what they have done, but the tatooed leader clearly stands out, cell phone hanging from a strap on his arm, cigarette smoking from his lips. Naun, the national assigned to work with the interns this summer, walks up to the leader and in a conversation too distant to understand obtains permission for us to use the court for our program. Let me say first that I'm amazed at how God works. Here we have hardened criminals who could just as easily shoot us as let us stay and somehow we have the respect and permission to share the Gospel. Not only could we stay, but they found power for us and allowed us to use one of the barrels they were using for chairs for our dramas. No power of darkness can withstand the piercing light of the Gospel!

As the lively music begins to pound from our speakers, children come out to see what this group of gringos is doing in their dangerous barrio. 35 gang members sit around the court, smoking, laughing, gambling, shades covering bloodshot eyes. Children come and play, and as the program begins they watch intently as we dance and sing, playing games and acting silly to draw their attention and make a connection with their young, innocent hearts. The program transitions from funny to serious, as Naun takes the mic and begins to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The group beings the ministry drama, "The Hammer", telling the story of a Roman soldier who nailed Christ to the cross, ending with the proclamation that we are responsible for His death, that our sins and transgressions are the nails that fastened the dying Messiah to the cross of atonement. Naun takes the mic and pours out his heart, admonishing the people that there are only two roads in life, the Way of Life and the Way of Death. As he speaks, anointed by the Holy Spirit of God, the gang members stop and watch intently. The Gospel was being planted in the cold, stony hearts of criminals, thieves, murderers, pimps, and addicts, as were many of us, and though they may not have responded by running to accept salvation like many of the children did, we know that the seed has been planted and as Isaiah 55 states, "As the rain and snow don't fall without saturating the earth, germinating seed and causing it to sprout, providing seed for the sower and food for the farmer, so the Word of God doesn't go out in vain, but ALWAYS accomplished the purpose and plan for which it was sent." 

That same day we were able to minister in another area, on a similar concrete court that served as the dividing line between 18th St. and MS-13, the line of blood in the sand between life and death. This was a neighborhood so bad the cops patrolled regularly, especially with the appearance of North Americans; however, once again the Power of the Gospel prevailed. As we began playing music and games, a teenager approached Pastor David, apparently the leader of the gang in this area, and informed him that the gang wanted to come watch, but couldn't because of the presence of the cops. Even though they weren't present, they watched from windows and listened from their doors. Once again, the Gospel doesn't go out in vain, because it is "the POWER of God for the salvation of all who believe, first for the Jew and then for the Gentile (or gang member, murderer, addict, pimp, thief, accountant, student, teacher, banker, mechanic, etc.)"

The battle has begun...a battle that will end in victory, no matter what the enemy may throw our way!

Changing seasons...

It's amazing how life changes without you really knowing it or understanding exactly what is happening at the moment. I've been involved in various kinds of ministries, at times being in leadership but mostly serving underneath someone else. Recently, I've noticed a change in life, as I've moved from stage of ministry leadership to another. 

The last time I was in El Salvador was as an intern, serving under Gary and Karen Crump. That was a very influential time in my life, a summer of being mentored, trained, and taught the different avenues and means of ministry. When I lived in Glenwood Springs, serving as an associate pastor, I was able to try new things in ministry, but still was under Pastor Travis' leadership, continuing to be trained and mentored in ministry. When Lisa and I arrived here in El Salvador, I quite honestly did not know what to expect from the ministry we would be involved in. I've never really thought of myself as a great leader, or as a leader period for that matter. I've always served under or with someone else and taken directions. Well, this summer has signified a key change in the seasons of my life. While we are still under the direction of Don and Terri Triplett, we are at the same time in charge of an area of ministry directly, with a group of interns looking to us for spiritual leadership, mentoring, and teaching. 

Jacob, Faith, Kristal, Lisa and I serve as the leadership team, overseeing the interns and AIM teams that are ministering throughout the country this summer. We just finished Intern boot camp and somewhere along the way in the past couple weeks, I've noticed that what I once was in ministry I am no longer. I suddenly realized one night in prayer that I view these interns as people I am helping mould, shape, and mentor. We have transitioned from mentoree to mentor. I told Lisa that I feel as though this is my own personal flock. Through times of prayer God has used me to speak into and over their lives, more than He has spoken into my life through someone else. I find myself sharing experiences and teaching them in the ways of ministry rather than being taught. All this happened without me knowing it! It's like I woke up one morning and suddenly I was someone different in ministry than I was just a few weeks ago. They look up to us for leadership and guidance, they come to us with their problems and concerns, when they are throwing up all night they knock on our door. 

I count it a great privilege and honor to be awarded such a grand opportunity. It's even as thought the AIM teams that arrive look to us as the experts in Salvadoran culture and ministry. It's funny and humbling at the same time. We are missionaries...this is our life....my how time changes all things without you even noticing. I reminds me of the coming of fall. We don't notice the first changes of color in the leaves or the subtle cooling of the air, until one day we wake up and the world has gone from green to reds, yellows, oranges, and browns. We wake up one morning with a chill in the air instead of comforting warmth, and wonder how it changed so quickly, when all along the changes were happening under our noses without us noticing. So too God has subtly changed the colors of our life and the temperature of our climate as He moved us from stage to another, growing us and shaping us. I'm not saying that we aren't in need of continuing training and mentoring, but we have gone from continual learning to being the teacher and student at the same time. How amazing is our God!

Gangs, drunks, and witches

Today we were working in Zone 1 with Pastor David. Today was a bit different as we worked in heavily ganged areas. In fact, the first place we went was a basketball court in the middle of a MS 13 controlled neighborhood. Naun, the national working with us, took extra precautions with the girls walking in the center and the guys surrounding us on the outside. When we arrived at the basketball court, gang members were all hanging out around the court, huddled in groups laughing and talking with the leader himself. Naun went up and asked the tattooed leader for permission to use the court to do a Castle program there. He said yes and even found us electricity to use.

Luckily, Castle has the respect of the gangs. They even let us use the barrel they had been using as a table in one of our skits. They played basketball and soccer with us and some brought their kids out to watch the program.

As the music started to blare through the neighborhood, children slowly started to come out and see what was happening. An obviously retarded teenager came out and I asked if he would like to play with us. He was so excited and said yes as he came running up. I asked his name. “Walter,” he replied. So I played with Walter until the start of the program. The gang members watched intently as we sang children songs and danced around all silly to carefully chosen songs that spoke about the love of God. We ended with a drama called “The Hammer” that said that each of us nailed Jesus to the cross through our sins and transgressions and we are all responsible for the death of God’s only son.

We asked all of those who wanted to accept Jesus as their only savior to come up and several kids rushed up, including Walter. My heart was overjoyed. Then I looked around because I always like to go up to the ones left behind to ask if I can pray for them for anything else. As I looked around, I saw over 30 gang members still sitting in their same spots. They didn’t budge. “Satan, I’m tired of the stronghold you have on them!” I thought to myself. Luckily, just as I was thinking that, I heard Naun start to preach and speak directly to those guys that were still sitting there. He spoke to them about how Jesus could heal their hurts, how they only had to ask and He would wash them clean. He spoke about how God was the Father to the fatherless. He decided to pray over the microphone for all those still sitting there and he said that anyone who wanted to accept Christ didn’t have to come forward if they were afraid of persecution. He also said they didn’t have to close their eyes. They only thing they needed to do was bow their heads, which several did. Only God knows how sincere they were, but I know that the Lord’s word does not come back in vain. I know seeds were planted and I pray that no matter how hard it may be, that those that were serious, would stand for God and that He would give them the strength change their lives and their family.

Later Naun told me that he told them they didn’t have to close their eyes because many times they don’t want to for fear of the opposite gang coming up while they are off their guard. He said they are always looking around and always on watch for police and gang members from the other side. What a sad life to live in fear when there is so much more to live for! Also, the woman that allowed us to use her electricity said she was a Christian, but she was also an alcoholic when Kristal, one of the other leaders, went to talk to her. Alcoholism is a huge problem because it’s the temporary solution to make people forget about their problems for a short while. What they don’t realize is that it creates so many more long lasting problems in the lives of their children and other family members. Also, many get addicted and are held in this stronghold for a lifetime as they know no other way to handle their problems.

We continued onto the second program where it was the dividing line for 18th Street Gang and MS 13. However, not many came out because the police were obviously present and stayed and watched the program. They said they wanted to come, but they couldn’t risk being seen by the police. Again, living in constant fear.

At the end of this program we had an intern start to vomit and she got seriously dehydrated so we went to get her some Gatorade and anti-nausea medicine. We did our last program after that and again were encountered with some strange happenings.

I took several girls to the bathroom and when I returned to the program to get caught up on what was going on, an older guy approached me and started to rub my arm while just saying “Cristo,” or Christ over and over again. As I looked at him, he had several earrings up his ears and a 4 inch long feather poking through the bottom of his ear. He was dressed in a half buttoned shirt and had a ton of necklaces on with skulls and other cultic stuff on them. He had a black cheap top hat on it with glitter and other decorations that looked like it was straight out of a Mardi Gras parade. I quickly moved away from him as I didn’t know what he was on or what he was capable of.

As a woman, you must always be on your guard, but even more so when you are on the streets of a foreign country. As I watched him, he started going around and touching people who walked by, including the heads of the babies that were being carried in their mother’s arms. I started to pray against the works of the enemy. No witch is going to send curses on little children while I’m watching.

While we started the program, our drunk witch danced and made all of the adults laugh at him. He included himself in our drama of “Querido Senor Jesus” or Dear Mr. Jesus. At the alter call, he came up and Josh and several other guys took him off to the side and he said he wanted to accept Jesus and he wanted to be prayed for about his alcoholism. He didn’t want to be a drunk anymore. They prayed for him and by the time he walked away, he looked much more sober and was more sound in mind. Praise God!

Continue to pray for the Walters that are unaccepted and surrounded by bad situations, the gang members who are hardened and feel there is no other way, and the alcoholics that find solace in liquor instead of Christ. He is the only one that can heal hearts, lead and guide, and comfort those that are in need.

Who said God can't use children

Today we went to church and Brother Don introduced Josh and I and all the interns to the church. He spoke to them a little about my background and had me come up and greet the church while Josh was getting the music ready because we did Super Heroe in front of the church. It was lots of fun and several nationals came up to be and told me it was “Bien pelado,” or really cool.

Afterwards, we went back to the casona to eat lunch and wait for the bus to arrive. We only got to do one program but we picked up one of the Guardians of the Vision (the children that have gone through the discipleship program and are awesome children of God) to do a program right in front of his home. You see, the church is trying to promote Grupos Alphas (cell groups) and he was trying to start his for the other children of the neighborhood. It was really cool to do a program and be able to bring children to the Lord knowing that they will have a cell group and be discipled right in their own neighborhood.

The fact that an eleven year old child would be so willing and yearning to start his own cell group and want to pour into the lives of his peers around him is awesome to me. Children reaching children. Now that’s an idea!

I just thought that was really neat and I’m amazed by how God uses the willing whether they are 25, 50, or 11.

Relaxation...kind of

Ah finally, a day to relax…kind of. Ha, we were able to catch up on some of our computer work today. We went up to the Strean’s house as they are the only ones at the camp that have electricity to do our laundry and upload some stuff on the internet. We had to get all of our laundry done because we are going to be staying at the casona for the next several days as we’ll be ministering in the zones of San Salvador.

After lunch we went to the young adult service that Jacob is pasturing right now. He had Dan speak since this will be his last Saturday here. Dan has been serving as an intern for the last four months and is an incredible servant. God has really used him as he has been working with our first year master’s commission group up in Potrerillos, just up the side of the mountain. He has formed great relationships with several of the families and children up there and has even formed a coffee group (bible study and devotion group) up there. He has also been a great addition to our intern team as we’ve been out ministering. He has done the ministry portion of many of our programs and he just has a great spirit about him that attracts children and adults alike.

Anyhow, he spoke about accountability partners and how important they are to the Christian walk. I think that we as human beings have a hard time keeping the promises that we make to God, so in order to not break more promises, we just don’t make them. In reality though, if we just asked for the help of an accountability partner, we would be able to form the good habits that we should be making. However, many times because of our own pride and arrogance, we don’t want to admit to anyone that we have weaknesses and we need help with certain areas of our lives. We all do though. We’re humans. We’re weak and we’re frail. The Bible says though that through our weaknesses, He is made strong. We need to remember that. Dan spoke an amazing message and I think it really touched a lot of hearts.

The amazing thing is that come to find out, that was Dan’s first time EVER preaching and it was in Spanish! Wow! God has a call on that young man’s life! I can’t wait to see what he does.

Well, we have a long day tomorrow with church and programs, so I’m getting to bed!

Last day of Intern Boot Camp

Today was the last day of boot camp. Although I’m so excited to see the interns doing so well and jumping in and taking leadership of the ministry, it’s sad to see the boot camp week go. We worked in some of the same places as Wednesday as the schools are split. Some children go in the morning and others go in the afternoon. So we figured if the ones that came in the morning before, the afternoon crowd would be different and we could reach out to those children. We ministered in Los Planes and Santa Rosa.

Also, this afternoon we got to speak to the feeding program children again. I think there are some great relationships building there.

We ended up only doing 3 programs today because we had to take the interns to the mall in Santa Ana to get some cell phones to call back to their parents. However, in those programs, we ministered to 131 and saw 31 salvations. We also prayed for 19 for either healing or problems.
I’m so exhausted that I'm falling asleep! Goodnight!

Going two different ways today - Video

Today there is much work to do so Josh and I are splitting up to make sure that all of our responsibilities are filled.

Intern Interview - Video

I did a quick interview with one of our interns, Jason, who has been an intern here in El Salvador for 3 different summers. Check out what he has to say:

Go Colonels!

Today we had our first team of the summer come in from Houma, Louisiana. As 5 of our interns and two of our leaders are from Louisiana, this was a big day! So, we lost a couple interns as they got there first team, but we still got to go out and minister again today.

We ended up going to the opposite side of the lake to Santa Monica and into the hillside of the mountain. We did 4 programs again today, with many of them being on a slant so, it was interesting. I got some great shots of kids today. It was a long drive for just being on the other side of the lake, but Lago de Coatepeque is HUGE!

We got to minister to 151 people and saw 48 salvations. We also prayed for healing or problems in the home for 14 people! What an awesome day!

Oh, then I get off the bus just to see Ruth Montes sitting in front of the kitchen. How I love that girl and always look forward to seeing her! She is a spectacular Christian woman and hysterical friend! After catching up, I came down for a cold shower. Now it’s off to dinner!

Hey City Kidz! - Video

Hey Pastor Dan and City Kidz,

We just wanted to give you a quick update from the field about what's been going on here in El Salvador.

Feeding Program Ministry - Video

Josh explains a little about how the interns were able to minister to the kids of the feeding program a little today.

Back on the streets of El Salvador again... - Video

I can’t tell you how good it felt to be back out on the streets of El Salvador doing programs again today. This time I have Josh by my side which is even more awesome! He is so good with the kids and you can tell he gives his all every program, every song. He is the biggest (and I mean that quite literally) kid out there by far!

We went out with all the interns and two of the Missionary Kids (MKs) here and did programs around the lake with Pastor Julio. Somehow we managed to squeeze close to 30 full grown people into a tiny little bus. It was tight quarters, but let’s just chalk it up to some good team bonding!

We did 4 programs today in Los Planes, Aguas Calientes (next to the hot springs and the island) and in Santa Rosa. The first program had a ton of kids and several moms there. The program that we did in Aguas Calientes was in a new spot were castle doesn’t do many programs. We had to play and wait forever to get any kids to come. I think we had about 10 there by the end of the program. They are more wealthy on that side and it’s harder to get them to come to programs.
In all, we ministered to over 150 people today and at least 50 people got saved. We also prayed for healing or problems for at least 15 people. That’s not even including the ministry that we did at lunch. We came back for the feeding program and did the Bible classes that they give after the kids eat. We broke up into four groups and four different interns gave testimonies to God’s faithfulness and then played games and loved on them. It was really neat. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, Duck, Duck, Goose is a universal game! :)

Programs! - Video

Josh explains how we gather children for a program and shows some of the games we play with them before the program begins.

Prayer is powerful

Man, we just finished up with an awesome time at the prayer fortress. However, we started the day with devos and finishing up training the rest of the skits, then we finished talking about how to be an intern in the afternoon after lunch. I must admit though, Josh and I missed most of that because we had to go to Santa Ana to purchase a few things and Naun needed some jeans. However, we did get to help train the rest of the ministry dramas and wrap things up before prayer time tonight.

You see, every time we have a team come in, we make sure to take them up to the prayer fortress to anoint them and send them out before they go to minister. There is a building (that looks an awful lot like a castle surprisingly enough) that there is 24 hour intercession for the nations and has been for over 10 years now. We decided that since the interns will be going out to minister tomorrow we should take them up and pray for them.

Well, let me just say that I love how God works and uses us. We had a time of personal prayer and preparation, then we, as the leadership team, started to anoint and pray for the interns individually. Even after 4 days together, I don’t really know the interns well enough nor their background well enough to know what exactly to pray for them. So, I just started to pray in the spirit and all of a sudden, it’s like the Holy Spirit gave me the words to pray over them. I spoke some very specific words over people and I usually don’t do that. However, I felt like I should and even when I resisted at some times, the Holy Spirit continued to nudge me that I had to go and say that to that person.

Well, Jacob and Josh had been running around doing the same thing. Jacob took me with him to pray for any of the female interns as to be appropriate. As I heard him pray, he was saying some of the same things that I had been to them just moments earlier. I thought it was so cool how God had used two different people to speak the same thing into their lives. Soon, we had realized it was almost 10 and we had been up there since 7:30 so we wrapped things up. I don’t think any of us left the tower unfilled and unchanged.

It’s late now, but I’m still reflecting on the goodness and faithfulness of God.

Training the Interns - Video

The interns are busy learning all the songs and dramas for the programs this week. This is a new one we just learned called, "Super Heroe" or "Super Hero" and it talks about how Jesus is our superhero. He's better than Spiderman, Superman or Batman!

Team building is a blast...

Well, today was our first real day of boot camp. We started the day with devotions, like always. I spoke about the power of our words and encouraged the interns to keep a guard and a filter over their tongue. The Bible speaks very clearly about the power of life and death in one of the smallest organs in our body, yet the most powerful – the tongue. Then we did some training of some basic songs and went over how to be an intern in the morning.

After lunch, Oscar, Sulma, and Jairo came out to the camp to do some team building with us and we got to do some of the ropes course as well. That took all afternoon, but it was a great time!

I really feel like God’s been moulding and uniting this team of interns. They’ve been getting along great and they are so on fire for God. They’re so thirsty for the things of God. I can’t wait to see how God is going to use this group. I guess I don’t have long. We only have one more day of training and then we’ll be out ministering for the rest of the week with Pastor Julio in all the areas around the lake.