The second week has been SO BUSY! A lot happens in one week here. It’s almost as if time here and time in the U.S. are not measured the same. When it’s 3:00, it feels like 6:00. 20 minutes feels like an hour. One week is like a month. I’m connecting with people here like I’ve known them for years. And I’m trying to capture, remember and write everything possible and, with the best of my ability, get all the information on here (without it being unbearably long). So, here you go! Love you guys :)
Tuesday:
Training with Jorge: Jorge is an amazing guy that is connected to La Iglesia and he comes out and teaches us twice a week. During this training session we talked about our worth. “We are human beings, not human doings.” Our worth is not based on the things we do, but who we are in Christ.
Wednesday:
Training with Brant: During this training session we talked about group communication and some common problems found in conversation. For instance, some people monopolize conversations, others think about their response instead of truly listening.
Gym: Due to the high fat content of the fried foods we eat, we have a high risk of gaining weight...quickly. lol So we decided to join a gym also. :)
Thursday:
We went downtown to watch a Salvadoran friend of ours play his championship game in soccer. It was actually pretty awesome. He is the star player of the team scoring like 11 or 12 goals in the tournament.
After the game we headed home via bus and when we got off at our stop I hear Jessica Newell, the intern, say, “Don’t look.” Naturally, the sound of urgency in her voice sparked my curiosity, but I didn’t look. As we are walking across the street I happen to glance in the direction that she said not to look in and I see a guy on the ground. Part of his skull smashed. He had been hit by a car about 5 minutes before we stepped off the bus. On our walk back home I prayed for his family who was probably expecting him home for dinner, for his friends and everybody else that will never see him again. We had been dodging cars (walking downtown, no we weren’t playing in traffic) all day. That could’ve been any one of us. Life passes so quickly. Our days are like a fleeting shadow, we are like breathe and life is like vapor. I could not be more grateful to be alive and doing His work.
We also shared the timelines of our lives. We each spent 20-25 minutes basically walking through all of the major events of our lives. It was actually a very cool and intimate experience. This allowed Brant and Julie to understand why we are who we are and where we come from.
Friday:
Training with Brant:
We talked about handling conflict and we went and looked at scripture to find the biblical way to handle tension that may occur during the year.
Saturday:
Did chores!
Although I haven’t done much ministry with Salvadorans, I have been doing ministry. I have been ministering daily to my teammates as I learn to serve on a level that I haven’t truly been exposed to. Putting myself last, to cater to the comfort of someone else. Washing dishes just so they could go and enjoy some down time. Helping our cook clean up while everyone goes about their own business. Cleaning up and picking up just before locking up the house. Doing all these things with a cheerful attitude, because there is more joy in serving than being served. More joy in helping and doing for others, even when it means sacrifice like time or money. It is completely worth it. Don’t serve to receive, but serve to glorify the Father.
Sunday:
La Iglesia:
I can’t wait until I really understand Spanish, because then the services will be more fruitful. However, I am making Salvadoran friends!!
English Church:
I’m quickly realizing that this is my most favorite time of the week. We literally sit in a circle and worship and study. Jessica Newell, the intern, can sing and play guitar and she’s so AWESOME. I can always feel the Holy Spirit moving everytime we worship together. Some of us are sitting, others are standing. Some of us are on our knees, others have their hands in the air. The worship is genuine. This week we talked about Trust and Deliverance which was tied into our discussion from last week in 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 1:7-10
vs. 7 “And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.”
This is referring to Paul’s hope in the Corinthians suffering. When he says partakers, he means partner. We are partnered with Christ as co-heirs. He has inheritance of all blessings and we are co-heirs of those blessings. We are also partners with Christ in His sufferings. But where there is suffering, there will be matched consolation.
vs. 8 “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life…”
Paul’s suffering was so bad, it couldn’t even be measured. It was beyond human endurance.
vs. 9 “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead…”
Paul’s experiences gave Him an incredible ultra human perspective of life. He walked around with the sentence of death in himself , so that he could be a better minister. God will lead His people through anything necessary, because trust in Him is more valuable than physical existence. Trust will go on forever. This life will not.
1 Peter 1:6-7 says, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ…”
It’s the tested genuineness of our faith that is more precious than gold. He does not blink to allow persecution in our lives, because it builds our trust in Him. Paul’s suffering was extreme, but he continued to trust in God. This says that our God is INCREDIBLY trustworthy.
vs. 10 “...who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us…”
He was, is and will continue to be faithful. However, your trust in God shouldn’t be dependant on your deliverance. Sometimes the deliverance God offers isn’t always what we want. This life is just the stage of eternity. Eternity started when I gave my life to Christ. If God doesn’t deliver me physically, it is insignificant to how he spiritually delivered me. So regardless, God will always deliver us. He keeps our faith in the palm of His hands. It is imperishable. What it means to be delivered is that our deliverer will never leave us or forsake us. He is always there. When I saw verse 10, my mind immediately went to Psalms 31:14
“But as for me, I trust in you O Lord,
You are my God.
My times are in Your hands.”
Monday:
Training with Brant at the Mall:
We talked about respect and the difference between respecting peers and leaders.
Bible study with Mario:
We will be doing a study of Exodus throughout the year going through the verses step by step. You all have no idea. Pastor Mario is one of the most awesome men I have ever met in my life. We went through Exodus 1:1-7 and he gave me a fresh perspective. I’m so excited to do these bible studies every week. I will post about this study next week :)
Tuesday:
Metro Centro:
This is the largest mall in El Salvador, and I’ve also heard Central America! This was just a part of orientation where we walked through and they showed us some of the stores.
Museum:
We went to an adult museum that gave me a new view of El Salvador and the history of the culture. Normally I HATE history museums, but for some reason, this time I was sucked in. I just couldn’t get enough. In the short time that I have been here, the culture has absolutely captured my heart.
Also while we were there I noticed that in the Post Classic period, they worshipped a lot of gods. They had a god of: water, sun, rain, earth, planets…pretty much a god for everything. It just made me think about how truly awesome our God is. Our God is THE God of water, rain, storms, earth, creation, the heavens, and best of all, He is MY God! As I was standing there I came to the realization that my life is nothing but a blip on the heartbeat of eternity, but the author of all things created me and prepared me beforehand for glory. I am an object of His mercy and I was created that I might make known the riches of his glory...like woah.
Random Facts:
Upcoming…
Tuesday:
Training with Jorge: Jorge is an amazing guy that is connected to La Iglesia and he comes out and teaches us twice a week. During this training session we talked about our worth. “We are human beings, not human doings.” Our worth is not based on the things we do, but who we are in Christ.
Wednesday:
Training with Brant: During this training session we talked about group communication and some common problems found in conversation. For instance, some people monopolize conversations, others think about their response instead of truly listening.
Gym: Due to the high fat content of the fried foods we eat, we have a high risk of gaining weight...quickly. lol So we decided to join a gym also. :)
Thursday:
We went downtown to watch a Salvadoran friend of ours play his championship game in soccer. It was actually pretty awesome. He is the star player of the team scoring like 11 or 12 goals in the tournament.
After the game we headed home via bus and when we got off at our stop I hear Jessica Newell, the intern, say, “Don’t look.” Naturally, the sound of urgency in her voice sparked my curiosity, but I didn’t look. As we are walking across the street I happen to glance in the direction that she said not to look in and I see a guy on the ground. Part of his skull smashed. He had been hit by a car about 5 minutes before we stepped off the bus. On our walk back home I prayed for his family who was probably expecting him home for dinner, for his friends and everybody else that will never see him again. We had been dodging cars (walking downtown, no we weren’t playing in traffic) all day. That could’ve been any one of us. Life passes so quickly. Our days are like a fleeting shadow, we are like breathe and life is like vapor. I could not be more grateful to be alive and doing His work.
We also shared the timelines of our lives. We each spent 20-25 minutes basically walking through all of the major events of our lives. It was actually a very cool and intimate experience. This allowed Brant and Julie to understand why we are who we are and where we come from.
Friday:
Training with Brant:
We talked about handling conflict and we went and looked at scripture to find the biblical way to handle tension that may occur during the year.
Saturday:
Did chores!
Although I haven’t done much ministry with Salvadorans, I have been doing ministry. I have been ministering daily to my teammates as I learn to serve on a level that I haven’t truly been exposed to. Putting myself last, to cater to the comfort of someone else. Washing dishes just so they could go and enjoy some down time. Helping our cook clean up while everyone goes about their own business. Cleaning up and picking up just before locking up the house. Doing all these things with a cheerful attitude, because there is more joy in serving than being served. More joy in helping and doing for others, even when it means sacrifice like time or money. It is completely worth it. Don’t serve to receive, but serve to glorify the Father.
Sunday:
La Iglesia:
I can’t wait until I really understand Spanish, because then the services will be more fruitful. However, I am making Salvadoran friends!!
English Church:
I’m quickly realizing that this is my most favorite time of the week. We literally sit in a circle and worship and study. Jessica Newell, the intern, can sing and play guitar and she’s so AWESOME. I can always feel the Holy Spirit moving everytime we worship together. Some of us are sitting, others are standing. Some of us are on our knees, others have their hands in the air. The worship is genuine. This week we talked about Trust and Deliverance which was tied into our discussion from last week in 2 Corinthians.
2 Corinthians 1:7-10
vs. 7 “And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation.”
This is referring to Paul’s hope in the Corinthians suffering. When he says partakers, he means partner. We are partnered with Christ as co-heirs. He has inheritance of all blessings and we are co-heirs of those blessings. We are also partners with Christ in His sufferings. But where there is suffering, there will be matched consolation.
vs. 8 “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life…”
Paul’s suffering was so bad, it couldn’t even be measured. It was beyond human endurance.
vs. 9 “Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead…”
Paul’s experiences gave Him an incredible ultra human perspective of life. He walked around with the sentence of death in himself , so that he could be a better minister. God will lead His people through anything necessary, because trust in Him is more valuable than physical existence. Trust will go on forever. This life will not.
1 Peter 1:6-7 says, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ…”
It’s the tested genuineness of our faith that is more precious than gold. He does not blink to allow persecution in our lives, because it builds our trust in Him. Paul’s suffering was extreme, but he continued to trust in God. This says that our God is INCREDIBLY trustworthy.
vs. 10 “...who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us…”
He was, is and will continue to be faithful. However, your trust in God shouldn’t be dependant on your deliverance. Sometimes the deliverance God offers isn’t always what we want. This life is just the stage of eternity. Eternity started when I gave my life to Christ. If God doesn’t deliver me physically, it is insignificant to how he spiritually delivered me. So regardless, God will always deliver us. He keeps our faith in the palm of His hands. It is imperishable. What it means to be delivered is that our deliverer will never leave us or forsake us. He is always there. When I saw verse 10, my mind immediately went to Psalms 31:14
“But as for me, I trust in you O Lord,
You are my God.
My times are in Your hands.”
Monday:
Training with Brant at the Mall:
We talked about respect and the difference between respecting peers and leaders.
Bible study with Mario:
We will be doing a study of Exodus throughout the year going through the verses step by step. You all have no idea. Pastor Mario is one of the most awesome men I have ever met in my life. We went through Exodus 1:1-7 and he gave me a fresh perspective. I’m so excited to do these bible studies every week. I will post about this study next week :)
Tuesday:
Metro Centro:
This is the largest mall in El Salvador, and I’ve also heard Central America! This was just a part of orientation where we walked through and they showed us some of the stores.
Museum:
We went to an adult museum that gave me a new view of El Salvador and the history of the culture. Normally I HATE history museums, but for some reason, this time I was sucked in. I just couldn’t get enough. In the short time that I have been here, the culture has absolutely captured my heart.
Also while we were there I noticed that in the Post Classic period, they worshipped a lot of gods. They had a god of: water, sun, rain, earth, planets…pretty much a god for everything. It just made me think about how truly awesome our God is. Our God is THE God of water, rain, storms, earth, creation, the heavens, and best of all, He is MY God! As I was standing there I came to the realization that my life is nothing but a blip on the heartbeat of eternity, but the author of all things created me and prepared me beforehand for glory. I am an object of His mercy and I was created that I might make known the riches of his glory...like woah.
Random Facts:
- I had the honor of serving someone their first peanut butter and jelly sandwich!
- Ants are all over the place, but they don’t bite so it’s okay :)
- The smog in L.A. can’t even compare to the smog in El Salvador.
- I laid in a hammock for the very first time.
- My group has a lot of awkward silences, especially during our group training and meetings. At one point in one of the training sessions it was so quiet in there you could hear a fly fart...It was like an angelic whistle. It was quite beautiful actually lol
- We have roaches the size of small cats here...okay not really, but they are HUGE! I was also told that they can crawl out of the shower drain at night, so that freaks me out.
Upcoming…
- We start Spanish classes (16th).
- We start really working with La Iglesia. We have been divided into groups to organize youth group, English class and children’s ministry.
- We start our small groups with our leaders soon too!