Sunday Thanks - The team wishes to thank all of the local people who supported us yesterday in driving us to the different services, interpreting at the services, and all who welcomed us with warmth!

Monday, February 25 - We started the morning with devotions reviewing when God told Moses that He was sending him to Pharaoh. Remember Moses' reaction? How many times did Moses make an excuse as to why he should not be the one to go? And what did God say? Exodus 4:11 - Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say. What a great lesson for us as we started our outreach projects...it is not to be our mouth or hands at work, it is to God at work! In that we can have peace!
So, how can we put into words the love, hugs, tears, and laughs we shared with our new El Salvadoran friends today? If only our computer here would let us import the pictures from our camera so you could see some of them, however, it does not have that type of connection. So here we go with just words.
First thing, we went to Blume Children´s Hospital where we split into teams to show Christ´s love to the patients and their parents. Our first instruction from the hospital administrator, who is a Christian and was in this same hospital with leukemia from which he has been cancer free for about 12 years, was to not cry. That was tough seeing the condition of many of the children and speaking with their parents. We passed out one toy OR 5 crayons and a coloring book to the children and the book of Romans to the parents as well as a bag of food supplies. It is so refreshing to see a child get excited about 5 crayons (yes, not 5 boxes of crayons but 5 crayons) and see them put them to use immediately (when they were not too sick to do so). We had individual prayers with families and group prayers with many families. We shared the gospel. Even through the language barrier the love of God was very present.
In the afternoon, we were in Astoria. This is a an area in El Salvador which is very poor. It was impacted by the earthquake when many of the homes here were destroyed. We went to the church where the community members were waiting for us and we had a service together. The church was a tin roof on a rough hewn frame with a dirt floor and plastic chairs set up for some while the rest stood. Many from our team shared in this service and expressed that we are brothers and sisters in Christ and came to share Christ´s love with them. These people sang and prayed with their hearts. They hugged and hugged and hugged some more. Their love radiated from them. After the service and time of sharing we passed out bags of food which contained flour, beans, sugar and a few other very basic items. We also passed out small soaps and lotions. They were soooo appreciative and once more we were reminded that anyone who has a personal relationship with God is not poor except from man´s view. When you do get to see pictures of their homes and one of the local dogs, you will have a much better understanding of their poverty level.
What did we see God do through us today? Without a question, share His love!
For those interested, this will help you understand the lack of zoning requirements mentioned yesterday. During the night, we had roosters crowing from tin homes that are directly across the street from the Comfort Inn. As we drive, it is very common to have independent 'stands' alongside the road with thatch roofs from which coconuts or other items are being sold.
Enough for today. Please pray for God to use us in mighty ways for His glory.